Military retirees, regarded by the Department of Defense as eligible for pension after twenty years of active duty service, constitute a significant portion of the U.S. labor force, yet it’s unclear which industries they work in after transitioning to the civilian labor force. This research paper has discovered a positive correlation in residence statistics of military retirees in regions with high occurrences of engineering and architecture, business and finance, computer and mathematics, and food service occupations. This study found that the presence of more physically demanding occupations such as nonfarm labor, construction and extraction, and buildings and grounds maintenance occupations have a negative effect on retiree population. Mean annual wages within the identified labor markets have similar effects on retiree population as the number of jobs within those professions.
Tattooing as a cultural practice has existed definitively in the archaeological record since the Bronze Age and continues in a diverse array of contemporary cultures. Throughout its extensive history, tattooing has often been closely tied to the military community, as either a mark of prestige or punishment, or through the military’s ability to transfer the practice between cultures. This study investigates tattooing among the contemporary military community in terms of image, location, motivation, and meaning in order to better understand influences of tattooing on identity formation. Quantitative and qualitative data collected through interviews in several tattoo parlors in the Colorado Springs area revealed that 71% of the tattoos observed had no military association in imagery or motivation, compared to 12% with direct military association. The results, when coupled with military tattoo history, indicated a higher level of personal identity assertion than anticipated. This study investigates this phenomenon further and formulates a new hypothesis on tattooing among the military community: the trend of individuality.
The military is inherently associated with violence. Some studies have attempted to forge a link between military members and property crime or previous abuse, but none have explored the specific link between domestic violence and the military. This study presents a game-theoretic model that attempts to determine if the presence of military bases is positively correlated with the rates of violent crimes in the area. A Tobit regression model is used to identify the determinants of violent crime at a county level. Results indicate that the branch of the military most consistently associated with elevated levels of violence is the Air Force. This may, however, be largely dependent on the specific time period used for the study.