This thread is dumb.
Military members and veterans don't care if a candidate ever served. If they agree with the rest of your policies, they'll get some additional brownie points if you did. But a pro-life Navy E-7 wouldn't have voted for Kerry just because he was a Navy man. Likewise, when you consider that he won 95% of the black vote, it's a pretty safe assumption that a black Marine E-3 probably voted for Obama in 2008.
Military and veterans have a strong turnout for the GOP because:
1) You're less likely to be demonized (intentional or not, direct or passive agressive) for their occupation from conservatives vs liberals. e.g. rhetoric of civilians casualties vs investment in better weapons to keep them safe.
2) If you joined the military, you probably don't have any problems with guns as a household item, tool, or hobby. After going to grad school in the New England after the Navy, I was amazed at the level of vitriol disgust some of my classmates have of guns...all guns. I was thought of as a Neanderthal for having a .22 lever action just to have fun at the range. If you were wondering, none of those classmates voted Republican. Even if you weren't a gun person before the military, and while you may also have your own views about gun control that are different from the NRA...you have a respect and appreciation for them afterwards.
I don't also mean to call out guns as a DEFINITIVE reason, but simply as a very obvious and visible difference in a way of thinking, in lifestyle choices, in perspectives that a military person has in evaluating Republicans and Democrats.
3) The military is a viable career option for young men and women that come from conservative families. While I'm sure liberal families respect the men and women of the military, I don't think they promote that career option around the dinner table like conservative families do. That's just my observation as a naval officer managing sailors and marines and as someone with a lot of Obama loving friends from grad school.
WSJ: The Truth About Who Fights For Us
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