of the all-volunteer force, evidence seemed to support the prediction that military recruits would be drawn disproportionately from the nation's lower socioeconomic classes. Since the mid-1980s, however, studies suggest that military recruits tend to come from families in both the middle and lower half of the SES distribution. At the same time, although recruits can be found at all SES levels, persons at the top and the bottom of the scale are underrepresented. These studies, it should be noted, have examined enlisted recruits only and have not taken into account officers, who enter the military as college graduates (U.S. Department of Defense, 1997).

Table 6.2 shows the distribution of men and women in the Army's active-duty enlisted force by occupational area. Almost one-third of all male soldiers serve in the Army's general combat