Post on 05-Dec-2014
description
MILITARY
RECRUITMENT
STATE
STATISTICS Mircea Hirko
GIS Certificate Program
Physical Science 202
Harold Washington College
Chicago, IL
05/12/10
Table of Content
I. Rational
II. Methodology
III. Work
1. Research
2. Extracting Data
3. Interpreting Data
4. Classifying
5. States & Numbers
6. Interpolating
7. Expressing Data
8. Arranging Data
9. Results
IV. Results
V. Discussion
VI. Conclusions
VII. Recommendations
VIII. References
Figures : 1A, 1B, 1C, 2A, 2B, 2C, 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 4A, 4B, 4C, 5A, 5B, 5C, 6A, 6B, 7A,
7B, 8A, 8B, 9A, 9B, 10A, 11A, 12A, 13A, 13B, 14A, 14B, 15A, 16A, 17A, 18A, 19A
Tables: T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, T7, T8, T9, T10
Abstract
As most people know the United States spends hundreds of billions, more than any
other nation and in many cases even more than other countries GDP's all together, on
its Military. This money doesn't all go to new equipment and weapons research though;
the Department of Defense who is in charge of the military spends money also on
operations and maintenance, personnel, construction, veteran care and even family
housing. The back bone, brain and heart of the military are its people. Without people
taking part in every single facet of the military, there would be no manpower to operate
the machines, use and construct various equipment, provide the security for the nation
and many other things. People join the military for various reasons, some stay as career
personnel and go on to become officers, and others enlist and stay for the minimum
requirement for financial help for college and so on. As time goes on people
leave/discharge, retire, age, and in a dangerous field like the military even die. So a
continuous cycle of recruitment, training, promotion and retention has to occur. The
United States is a very large country so it takes a big military to insure its security and
sovereignty. The research aims to find out which states recruit the most, which branch
of service do the majority serve in and if there is any correlation between amount of
recruitment and base distribution.
The Department of Defense, CIA and various government watchdog groups put out
and present statistical information on the military yearly. Not only do they include budget
information but also provide a breakdown for other aspects associated with the military.
The information these provide will be put together with shapefiles in ArcGIS. The raw
numbers will be turned into visual information that is more accessible and easier to
understand. The relevant data will be used to find if the research has any correlations
and if any of it is applicable.
The information will be valuable for websites that cater to aspects about the military.
People writing political blogs or on military forums can help debate their point of view
and maybe reach some kind of consensus on what ever issue that arises that is
comparable to what is being provided. The information will be readily available for
reference.
Rational
The research does not intend to fix a specific problem but instead aim to be an aid
for further research, debate and information. The research will provide easily accessible
data in a visual format that can be understood more readily than raw data. Although this
research only aims to provide some visual representation for baseline research it is
deeply connected to issues and areas of importance for the country.
The United States of America is a large country of nearly 4 million square miles, over 4 million acres and about 307 million people as of 2009. The country itself has a GDP of $14.3 Trillion dollars (2009). The United States not only has a rich cultural background but also a deep relationship to history. Its relationship to the past, present and future is conspicuous. Anyone who watches the news, has opened a school book or just been exposed to the world outside will know that the United States has just about taken part is every major facet of the world especially from the 20th century up. Because of the countries enormous wealth and power it is no stranger to being a belligerent in conflicts, engagement and relations around the world. As the world knows, diplomacy does not always work and the United States has been through various wars. There have been 23 million veterans from these conflicts and over a million combat deaths.
Obama has set the new defense budget for 2010 which will be looked over by Congress, the amount being $663.8 billion dollars. This includes $533.8 billion in defense programs and $130 billion for support to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.. This alludes to the business aspect of the U.S. military which in 2007 made over $7 billion in arms sales. This does not mean imply that the military is evil or malevolent. It just means that the military is a massive entity and quite powerful in its operations. To its core it exists to provide security, against perceived or evident threats, hold onto U.S. interests and maintain its sovereignty.
For the military to function it needs an enormous amount of personnel. Most people have been exposed to some form of recruitment adverts. Some from High School, others from ads all over media outlets and sometimes it’s just picked up for through being patriotic and a U.S. Citizen. The United States spends a lot of money on new recruits, to be able to meet quotas, gain necessary exposure and maintain longevity. Often giving sign up bonuses and other incentives. The military gives bonuses from a few thousand to $40,000. On average is had to pay around $10,000 incentives and after that for food, housing, clothing, training etc.
The research may provide information to possibly change the direction of these trends. To hopefully aim for smarter and more prioritized spending of tax money. Also may prove valuable to people who interested in joining the service and which branch would be more fitting. With two wars and an unsure future domestically and abroad the military, its services and opportunities may appeal to new recruits and their ideologies.
Methodology
19A
Work
1. Research began by scouring the internet and searching for military statistic. Through the search two websites stood out the most; The Department of Defense and the National Priorities Project. Also various bits of miscellaneous information came from sites like InfoPlease, Wikipedia and CIA Fact Book. Also shapefiles were attained to visually show the data, they were downloaded from the US Census TIGER service.
2. From the main websites which proved to be most valuable data which was specific to the researches intent was scrutinized and looked over. Data was then put into Open Office to create a spreadsheet.
3. The Spreadsheet created in Open Office was then opened in Office Excel and organized and trimmed. In other to create a database for the map the spreadsheet was then put into Office Access and converted to a more recognizable form for ArcGIS to understand when changed into a database The information had to be formatted correctly to properly be able to open in ArcGIS 9.3.
4. Classified data into location, specifically states and also classified statistically numbers into year and states respectably.
5. Inserted database information into shapefile through joining tables. The tables were formatted correctly and were linked by a key which was the State name information.
6. Turned data into visual representation on map of contiguous United States. Preceded to color code information by numbers and percentages. Also the information was turned into pie and bar charts.
7. Group similar information together to represent different time periods of same specific attribute.
8. The information was observed and linked it to hypothesis while finding correlations between bases, recruitment levels and service branches.
Results
Does not include Alaska and Hawaii on map
Does include them in computation of percentage
Alaska and Hawaii are included in total numbers
Map only shows contiguous United States
Does not represent any territory helped by U.S.
The first three images will help illustrate and be the foundation for the research. The first image is a refresher on U.S. States. The second shows United States Military bases on google maps. This serves as a visual reference for the rest of the data being provided. The third shows land designated for military use.
The information is broken down into the following:
1. Active Military Employees 2. Defense Contracts and Expenditure 3. Defense Procurement and All Salaries 4. Civilian Employees 5. Reserve & National Guard Employees 6. Total Active Duty Air Force Recruits 7. Total Active Duty Army Recruits 8. Total Active Duty Marines Recruits 9. Total Active Duty Navy Recruits
Also includes other maps to better understand the above:
1. Map of United States 2. Map with Locations of Military Bases 3. Map of Military Base Territory 4. 5 Pie Charts / 2 Bar Charts / 1 Conceptual Map
18A (above) T10 (below)
ALABAMA AL
ALASKA AK
ARIZONA AZ
ARKANSAS AR
CALIFORNIA CA
COLORADO CO
CONNECTICUT CT
DELAWARE DE
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA DC
FLORIDA FL
GEORGIA GA
HAWAII HI
IDAHO ID
ILLINOIS IL
INDIANA IN
IOWA IA
KANSAS KS
KENTUCKY KY
LOUISIANA LA
MAINE ME
MARYLAND MD
MASSACHUSETTS MA
MICHIGAN MI
MINNESOTA MN
MISSISSIPPI MS
MISSOURI MO
MONTANA MT
MONTANA MT
NEBRASKA NE
NEVADA NV
NEW HAMPSHIRE NH
NEW JERSEY NJ
NEW MEXICO NM
NEW YORK NY
NORTH CAROLINA NC
NORTH DAKOTA ND
OHIO OH
OKLAHOMA OK
OREGON OR
PENNSYLVANIA PA
RHODE ISLAND RI
SOUTH CAROLINA SC
SOUTH DAKOTA SD
TENNESSEE TN
TEXAS TX
UTAH UT
VERMONT VT
VIRGIN ISLANDS VI
VIRGINIA VA
WASHINGTON WA
WEST VIRGINIA WV
WISCONSIN WI
WYOMING WY
17A
16A
1A
1B
1C
2A
2B
2C
3A
3B
3C
3D
4A
4B
4C
5A
5B
5C
6A
6B
7A
7B
8A
8B
9A
9B
10A
11A
12A
13A
13B
14A
14B
15A
Discussion
The main hypothesis was that states with more military bases had higher recruitment levels. Also other hypothesizes included such as if Southern states have higher recruit levels than other parts of the U.S. and that the Army would have the highest number of recruits. From the data it is indeed shown that states with more military bases have higher recruitment levels than states with less base distribution. The second hypothesis proved not to be exclusively true. The West Coast has the largest amount of territory for military purposes and the East coast had higher recruitment levels than expected. Most of the recruitment concentration was around ocean bordering states and states bordering Mexico. The third hypothesis was tricky to answer because from the data it is technically true that most joined the Army. This is because technically the U.S. Military is broken down into five services; The Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard. Information on the Coast Guard was not as readily available so it was not factored in but interestingly enough the National Guard and inactive personnel had the highest recruitment and employment levels in military service. The National Guard which, is a reserve force, is mostly linked to States but when needed used by the Federal government, it arguable whether it is a true military faction. Another interesting fact is that non-military civilian employees, people who work with the military but are not a part of it, had exponentially more employees than any recruits in the five branches and had more employees than the in reserve (in-active units) and National Guard.
If the viewer looks closely he will notice trends in the data from year to year including seeing hotspots, i.e., most of the states with higher recruitment and employment numbers stayed the same color value (very red) meaning they continually saw high numerical trends.
Active Military Employees (T1)
1A - 1995, 1B - 2001, 1C - 2008
Total Active Military Employees in:
1995 = 1,085,473
2001 = 991,006
2008 = 1,009,000
Defense Contracts and Expenditure (T2)
3a– 1986, 3B – 1995, 3C – 2001, 3D – 2008
1986 = $150, 188,022
1995 = $126,003,864
2001 = $149, 314, 126
2008 = $355,654,514
Defense Procurement and All Salaries (T3)
4A – 1995, 4B – 2001, 4C – 2008
1995 = $197,196,071
2001 = $219,587,789
2008 = $447,467,278
Civilian Employees (T4)
2A – 1995, 2B – 2001, 2C – 2009
1995 = 767,907
2001 = 627, 347
2009 = 665,467
Reserve & National Guard Employees (T5)
5A – 1995, 5B – 2001, 5C – 2009
1995 = 5,153,854
2001 = 1,172,988
2009 = 1,031,706
Total Active Duty Air Force Recruits (T6)
6A – 2000, 6B – 2006
2000 = N/A
2005 (*not shown) = 34,362
2006 = 19,174
Total Active Duty Army Recruits (T7)
7A – 1999, 7B – 2008
1999 = 67,007
2008 = 69,357
Total Active Duty Marine Recruits (T8)
8A – 1999, 8B – 2005
1999 – N/A
2005 – 38,152
Total Active Duty Navy Recruits (T9)
9A – 1999, 9B – 2005
1999 = N/A
2005 = 38,146
Conclusion
Higher Recruit levels where Military Bases are concentrated
More people join the Army than Air Force, Navy and Marines
Hotspots are on ocean or Mexican border
More Civilian and Reserve & National Guard Employees than Recruits
Trends tend to stay same or near same
Number One location is California
Number Two is Texas
Recommendations
Calculate Ratio between Population and Recruit numbers
Include Alaska and Hawaii on Map
Include Army Reserve
Include data on Gender and Ethnicity
Include Coast Guard
Create GIS map of Base locations
Find more correlations
More Precise numeric allocations
As for recommendation for possible use :
A. Target recruiting more effectively if ratios are figured out. B. Target recruiting if gender and ethnicity is figured out. C. Locate hotspots of large military activity and either:
1. Move away 2. Move to 3. Accept 4. Avoid 5. Explore Other Options
References
United States Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, 2009, Department of
Defense: Budget DoD Releases Fiscal 2010 Budget Proposal
http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=12652 (last accessed 11 May 2010).
National Priorities Project (NPP) Research Organization: National Priorities Project
Database
http://www.nationalpriorities.org (last access 11 May 2010).
U.S. Census Bureau Geography Division, 2008: TIGER/Line® Shapefiles
http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/ (last access 11 May 2010).
National MACA Working group, Chief of Aviation Safety, Air National Guard Aviation Safety Division: SeeAndAvoid http://www.seeandavoid.org/ (last access 11 May 2010).
National Resource Center for Paraprofessionals, 2010: Paraprofessional Resources from Each of the US States http://www.nrcpara.org/states (last access 11 May 2010).