Quote Originally Posted by Steve Blair View Post
Avoiding the draft was definitely related to socio-economic status, and I suspect that it contributed to both the ignorance of things military and to the urge to "over-credential" following generations.
I'd agree with that, but why did you have to send so many of them up here !

Back to Ken's comment about genetics for a minute, I suspect that there is some genetic component(s?) that increases the potentiality of being involved in conflict. BTW, this is not a "gene for the military" or any such idiocy. What it probably is is a constellation of gene sequences that increase the likelihood that a person would be socially and/or culturally encouraged to join a military group.

All too often the concept of genetics is misunderstood when it is applied in a social setting. The why's and wherefores of that misunderstanding go back quite a ways and are rooted in philosophy, epistemology and politics rather than in a real understanding of genetics (which, BTW, I don't have; I know just enough about genetics to know that I don't really know anything ).