Demographic Tuesday: Do You Have Any Military, Guard or other Uniform Service?

Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, State, National Guard, Reserves, or other uniform service such as Public Health Srevice or NOAA Corps?

This seemed to be a good topic after Memorial Day.

Sorry, cub scouts does not count?

Since there is no primary today, I am considering this a real Demgraphic Tuesdays poll, and am asking everybody to keep it on the "Recommended List" for the next 24 hours, through Wednesday morning. We did this subject a year ago but polled only briefly and incompletely. As always, it's best if this poll stays up as a "Recommended Diary" for a full 24 hours, so that it will get an equivalent sample of us - morning to night, east & wst coast. So please click on Recommend.

And here is link to Netroots Support for out Troops

Military & Uniform Services:

There are actually seven uniform services: there are the military ones you usually think of:

1. Army

2. Navy

3. Marines

4. Air Force

5. There is also the Coast Guard.

And there are also the the two relatively smaller non-military commissioned corps uniform services of the:

6. U.S. Public Health Service

7. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration  

In addition, I am breaking the poll list into two main groups:

1. Currently which includes active duty, but also being in any reserve capacity where they can still call you up for any sort of duty. Any reserve status counts as currently, since you can still get sent to Iraq (or at least to backfill while somebody else gets sent).

2. Retired veteran which is if you have served in past and are currently really really so retired that they cannot possibly re-call you into service.

Comparative data is available from the Census Bureau.

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American Wars and Other Military History Events:

My Memorial Day diary Just War, Just Songs, led me wonder just how many American Wars have there been? Like everything else, this depends on the definition one uses.

Of the two original sins of America (the other being enslavement of Africans), the occupation and genocide of native America involved one war after another, with descendents from both sides being Americans today. These are often coveniently omitted from listings of American wars.

In addition have been many other little internal armed conflicts in addition to the official civil war, and many uses of the American military abroad that some choose to neglect.  

Here are some lists of military conflicts with American forces that strive to be thorough: List 1 and list 2. Limiting themselves to after independence (colonial wars of conquest when we were still part of England don't count) these lists also then strive for completeness: Wiki list 1 and Wiki list 2, About's list. Compare those lists to this pathetically redacted short list of official wars and you will get a sense of American historical forgetfullness.

Below is a list compiled from the sources above:

Pequot War (1637)
Iroquois War (1642-1653)
King Philip's War (1675-1676)
King William's War a.k.a. The French and Indian Wars (#1) (1689-1697)
Queen Anne's War a.k.a. War of the Spanish Succession a.k.a. The French and Indian Wars (#2) (1702)
Tuscarora Indian War (1711-1713)
Dummer's War a.k.a. Lovewell's War (1721-1725)
War of Jenkins' Ear (1739-1742)
King George's War a.k.a. War of the Austrian Succession a.k.a. French and Indian Wars (#3) (1744-1748)
French and Indian War (#4) a.k.a. Seven Years' War (1754-1763, although some say 1756-1763)
Cherokee War  1759-1761
American Revolution (1763-1789)
Northwest Indian War, 1785 - 1795
Franco-American Naval War  1798-1800
Whiskey Rebellion (1794)
Barbary Wars (1801-1805)
Sabine Expedition, 1806
War of 1812 (1812-1814)
Creek Indian War (1813-1814)
War against Algeria (1815)
First Seminole War (1817-1818)
Winnebago War, 1827
Black Hawk War (1832)
Second Seminole War (1835-1842)
The Alamo (1836)
Battle of San Jacinto (1836)
The Caroline Affair (1837-1842)
Aroostock War (1838-1839)
Antirent War a.k.a. Helderberg War (1839-1846)
the Creole incident (1841-1842)
Dorr's Rebellion (1842)
Catholic riots in Philadelphia (1844)
War with Mexico a.k.a Mexican-American War (1846-1848)
Cayuse War, 1847 - 1855
Third Seminole War, 1855 - 1858
Wakarusa War (1855, 1856)
Mountain Meadows Massacre (1857)
The Civil War (1861-1865)
Occupation during Reconstruction, 1865-1876
Red Cloud's War, 1866 - 1868
Irish riot of 1871 (1871)
Korean Expedition, 1871
Modoc War, 1872 - 1873
Red River War, 1874 - 1875
Black Hills War, 1876 - 1877
Battle of Little Big Horn (1876)
Anti-Chinese Riots (1877)
Nez Perce war (1877)
Bannock War, 1878
Cheyenne War, 1878 - 1879
Sheepeater Indian War, 1879
Ute War, 1879-1880
Controversey of 1889 (1889)
Pine Ridge Campaign, 1890-1891
Sitting Bull (1890)
Mob in Valparaiso (1891)
Miners Riot (1894)
Battle of Leech Lake, 1898
Spanish-American War, 1898
Philippine Insurrection, 1899 - 1902
Boxer Rebellion, 1900 - 1902
United States occupation of Nicaragua, 1909-1933
United States occupation of Veracruz, 1914
United States occupation of Haiti, 1915-1934
Mexican Expedition, 1916 - 1917
United States occupation of the Dominican Republic, 1917-1924
Battle at Nogales, Arizona, 1917
World War 1 (1917-1918)
Polar Bear Expedition, 1918 - 1919
American Expeditionary Force Siberia, Soviet Union, 1918 - 1920
Yangtze Patrol, 1920's  
World War 2 (1941-1945)
Korean War (1950-1953)
Guatemala, 1952
Iran coup (Ajax) 1953
Guatemala, 1954
Lebanon, 1958
Bay of Pigs Invasion  1961
Vietnam War (1961-1973)
Laotian Civil War, 1962 - 1973
Cambodian Civil War, 1969 - 1970
Iran hostage crisis, 1980
First Gulf of Sidra Incident, Libya, 1981
Lebanon 1982-84
Operation El Dorado Canyon, Libya, 1986
Grenada 1983
Panama 1989  
Persian Gulf War (1991)
Somalia 1992 - 1994
Bosnia and Herzegovina  1995-1996
Afghanistan 2001
Iraq 2003  

Actually there are many more... see Instances of U.S. Armed Forces abroad 1798-2004 and the even more lengthy list of U.S. military  history events that includes more domestic insurrections, slave revolts, range wars, etc., etc.

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The Usual Caveats:

Of course these polls are not "scientific." Since the poll is inherently self selecting and is not a random sample there is always the presumption of selection bias, making the survey results different than truth.  These will never be valid random sample. And just size alone does not make it valid since still self selecting and has inherent selection bias. But probably has some validity... though since not a random sample, and don't know enough about total population, sample frame and self selecting factors, cannot even measure how inaccurate it is... Yet probably has some validity... yet not valid and can't even measure how invalid... yet....

Granting all that, there are some indicators suggestive of possible validity in these polls: for example if distriubtion is relatively stable and does not jump around wildly this is not definititive but suggestive (at least that it is not being "freeped". Also, when poll done repeatedly, either same way, or only slightly different way (some advantage to doing slightly differently, if thought out, as test of validity), at different times, lets say different day of week, weekday and weekend, morning vs. night, months or years apart.

Some folks asked why should we do these demographic polls at all, and raised the issue of privacy concerns.  As to the why question, the simple answer is "know thyself."  Who are we when we spout off and comment? Also, it can be fun. It also helps the discussion of whatever the topic is. And yes, maybe it will be reported by other media or be used to market advertising to the site.  

As to the privacy concerns, Kos has certainly made clear his strong views against "outing" the real identities of anybody. I do not know what access the site administrators have to the data or linkages of usernames to poll responses. Myself, I am just a regular user, and have nothing to do with administration or behind the scenes here. I am not doing anything with these polls (though I imagine somebody somewhere might be using them for a political science or sociology thesis). I don't know who has voted or what age goes with whom. I have no special access or use.  All I have is the same bar graph and diary that is publicly visible.  Also, there are no cross-tabs between any variables (e.g., prior urban-rural with region with religion). It is not like a questionnaire with multiple separate questions per single interviewee.  I guess the question is a matter of what the site administrators COULD access and link or identify if they were so inclined, whether they WOULD do so; and what protections are there on system to prevent an outsider from doing so?  Clearly if there were a serious break of confidentiality/privacy, the Kos community would react very badly. The simple answer is, if you are that concerned, with this or any other issue, then do not participate; don't vote. This is a voluntary poll, within one of many diaries on DKos, with DKos just among the nearly infinite number of webpages you can browse.

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