Tag veterans

Looking Back at Young Americans’ Support for the War in Iraq

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Today, the New York Times and other news outlets reported that the U.S. military announced that its withdrawal of troops from Iraq is complete, closing the latest chapter in more than two decades of American military involvement in the country. U.S. forces invaded Iraq in 2003 and withdrew in 2011, before returning in 2014 as part of the campaign against ISIS. The current withdrawal follows an agreement between the United States and Iraq to wind down that mission.

For us at GenZMilitary, today’s news also provides an opportunity to look backward. We have been studying young Americans’ attitudes toward this and other wars and conflicts since the years immediately following 9/11. In a 2006 article in Armed Forces & Society, David Rohall, Morten Ender, and Michael Matthews compared West Point cadets, ROTC cadets, and civilian college students. We found that the military-affiliated students were more supportive of military action in Iraq and Afghanistan than civilian students, although much of that difference could be explained by gender and political identification.

We continued following these attitudes as the wars continued. That work eventually included a chapter examining trends and variations in American undergraduates’ attitudes toward the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in The Routledge Handbook of War and Society: Iraq and Afghanistan (Ender, Rohall, and Matthews 2010).

With the latest U.S. military mission in Iraq now ending, we returned to those surveys to ask a simple question: What happened to young Americans’ support for military action in Iraq over time?

What Our Surveys Found

The figure below shows the percentage of civilian students and military-affiliated students (ROTC and service academy cadets) who favored military action, including the use of ground troops, in Iraq between 2002 and 2016.

Two patterns stand out.

First, support for military action was consistently higher among students affiliated with the military. During the early years of the Iraq War, roughly seven in ten or more military-affiliated students favored military action. Civilian support was substantially lower.

Second, support among military-affiliated students was remarkably persistent. It declined from more than 75 percent during the early years to around 50–60 percent during much of the later period, but a majority generally continued to favor military action. Civilian opinion was not only lower but considerably more variable, frequently falling below 30 percent.

There is one particularly interesting exception. In 2014, civilian support jumped to 50.7 percent, nearly matching the 55.4 percent support among military-affiliated students. That year coincided with the rapid rise of ISIS in Iraq and the return of U.S. military operations to the country. The survey cannot establish that those events caused the increase, but the timing makes the convergence particularly noteworthy.

Looking Back

More than two decades after the 2003 invasion, today’s withdrawal provides a natural point to revisit the attitudes that accompanied America’s long involvement in Iraq. Our surveys show that support for military action was never static. It changed as events changed and as successive cohorts of young adults entered college.

These descriptive data cannot tell us by themselves why that difference existed. Our earlier research suggests that some of the apparent military-civilian divide reflects differences in the characteristics of the people who select into military and civilian institutions—including gender and political identification—rather than simply an effect of military culture itself.

As the last American troops leave Iraq, these surveys provide a record of something that can easily be lost when we look back at a war decades later: what young Americans—both those preparing to serve and those remaining civilians—thought about the use of military force while the events themselves were still unfolding.

References

Rohall, David E., Morten G. Ender, and Michael D. Matthews. 2006. “The Effects of Military Affiliation, Gender, and Political Ideology on Attitudes toward the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.” Armed Forces & Society 33(1): 59–77.

Ender, Morten G., David E. Rohall, and Michael D. Matthews. 2010. “American Undergraduate Attitudes Toward the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: Trends and Variations.” Pp. 294–305 in The Routledge Handbook of War and Society: Iraq and Afghanistan, edited by Steven Carlton-Ford and Morten G. Ender. New York: Routledge.

Independence Day 250: Has the Intensity of Military Pride Changed Among Future Officers?

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In a 2022 Veterans Day post, we reported that support for those who serve was overwhelmingly positive. Among college students, nearly all respondents agreed, either strongly or somewhat, that they are proud of the men and women who serve in the military. That analysis focused on overall agreement.

Here, we take a different approach by examining only those respondents who “strongly” agreed with that statement. We also focus only on ROTC and Military Academy cadets because they represent the nation’s future officers. This approach allows us to explore whether the intensity of military pride and confidence has changed over time—for those headed into the force.

And a great deal has indeed changed since our first post on this topic. Over the past several years, the U.S. military has found itself at the center of public debate. Questions about diversity initiatives, recruiting challenges, the withdrawal from Afghanistan, the military’s role along the southern border, and its place in an increasingly polarized political environment have generated considerable discussion. During this period, the United States has experienced changes in presidential administrations and commanders-in-chief. We were interested in whether these broader changes were accompanied by changes in the attitudes of the young men and women preparing to become military officers

* Values represent the percentage of ROTC and academy cadets selecting “Agree Strongly” to two survey statements: (1) “I am proud of the men and women who serve in the military” and (2) “I have confidence in the ability of our military to perform well in wartime.”

As Figure 1 illustrates, the percentage of cadets who strongly agreed that they were proud of those who serve and who expressed strong confidence in the military’s wartime performance declined during the early 2020s before showing signs of recovery in the most recent surveys.

Although the proportion of cadets selecting “Agree Strongly” fluctuated over time, the overwhelming majority continued to express pride in those who serve and confidence in the military’s ability to perform in wartime. Our broader conclusion remains unchanged: support among future officers has remained consistently high, even as the intensity of those attitudes has varied modestly over time.

The trends presented here raise interesting questions but do not identify their causes. Changes in presidential administrations, international conflicts, military operations, recruiting trends, and public discourse may all play a role in shaping attitudes toward military service. Understanding which factors matter most remains an important question for future research.

Do Veterans Feel Valued in 2025?

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Last Veterans Day, we explored the many ways to be a veteran. Our research found clear differences in how connected young people are to the military. Nearly one in five academy cadets (19%) and ROTC cadets (20%) came from military families—almost double the share of civilian students (11%). Meanwhile, only 4% of civilians were veterans themselves, compared to 9% of academy cadets and 11% of ROTC cadets.

That’s a reminder that the next generation of officers and leaders often has deep family or personal ties to service. But how do those who have already served—the young veterans now in college or training—feel about how society views them? Do they think Americans truly appreciate their service?

Back on Memorial Day, our data showed that 55.8% of young people believed Americans appreciate veterans’ sacrifices. Yet, cadets—especially those at the academies—were less convinced that the public understood their work. Now, with new data from 4,307 respondents, we can take a closer look at veterans’ own perspectives.

Roughly 9% (360) identified as having prior military service—whether active duty, reserves, or National Guard. When asked whether “most members of civilian society have a great deal of respect for the military,” 82% of veterans agreed, along with 80% of civilians (Table 1). But when the question shifted to understanding—“The American people understand the sacrifices made by those who serve in the U.S. military”—agreement dropped: 61% of veterans versus 57% of civilians said yes. Even so, that small gap was statistically meaningful (p<.003).

 VeteransCivilians
Most members of civilian society have a great deal of respect for the military.  82.1%  79.6%
The American people understand the sacrifices made by the people who serve in the U.S. military.  61.4%  57.1%

Table 1. Percent Agreement that Americans Respect and Understand the Sacrifices of Service Members

The data show something subtle but powerful: Young veterans feel respected—but they also sense a gap in understanding. They believe the average American appreciates their service but doesn’t fully grasp what military life demands—the long deployments, transitions home or to another forward deployment, long working at home hours, and physical, emotional, social and psychological tolls associated with military life. That disconnect may not stem from apathy but from distance: only a small share of young Americans today personally know someone who serves (Pew Research Center 2011).

Sociologists and other scholars often call this the civil–military gap—the social distance between those who serve and those who do not (Feaver and Kohn 2001). Our findings suggest that while respect remains high, understanding remains thinner. That’s an important distinction for educators, policymakers, and communities trying to bridge the divide.

So, this Veterans Day, it’s worth asking:
Respect is clear—but are we taking the time to understand?

References

Feaver, Peter and Melvin Kohn. 2001. Soldiers and Civilians.  Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.

Pew Research Center. 2011. The Military-Civilian Gap: Fewer Family Connections. Research Report. Accessed from https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2011/11/23/the-military-civilian-gap-fewer-family-connections/?utm_source=chatgpt.com.

The Many Shades of Veteran, Part 1

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Veterans Day is set aside each year to recognize all people who have served honorably in active duty military. While our data focuses on cadets, we have created a unique window to the many ways that people can be a veteran in today’s society. And, it makes a difference. Being a veteran gives you access to any number of services in society. Organizations like USAA provide insurance and other services not only to military personnel but also veterans and their families. USAA commercials with famous football player Rob Gronkowski (New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers) comically shows him trying to become a member of USAA only to be turned away each time because he has no ties to the military.

Our data show quite a variety of connections to the military. In this post, we focus on the connection between current military status (cadet or not), coming from a family in which at least one parent served (Brat), and previous military status (veteran). Does being a cadet relate to military status in other ways, like being from a military family and previous military experience? Morten Ender’s edited book, Military Brats and Other Global Nomads does a good job demonstrating the ties among military personnel and their families. Veterans produce veterans just like preachers produce preachers, though some rebel against the identity (see Preacher’s Kid (PK) Syndrome). Figure 1 demonstrates the many ways that military ties can occur among people in our samples.

Figure 1. Diagram Outlining the Ways that People can be Connected to the Military

For this post, we utilize some of our data from 2017 to 2024 (N=3540). Here, we see a good percent of our cadets come from military families (Table 1). Nineteen percent of our academy cadets and 20 percent of ROTC cadets come from military families compared to only 11 percent of civilian students. While a much lower percent of our sample actually served in the military, the divide in levels of service among civilians and military cadets is similar: nine and 11 percent of cadets, respectively, had military service prior to becoming a cadet. About four percent of civilian students had prior military service.

Academy CadetROTC CadetCivilian
Military Brat18.7%20.2%11.2%
Veteran (prior service)8.8%11.4%3.6%
Table 1. Distribution of Veteran or Military Family Status by Current Military Status

We will continue this analyses in future posts, to answer the question: does additional military exposure impact attitudes toward military service in a positive or negative way, if at all? Like PK syndrome, additional exposure could create a negative sentiment toward the military and its mission. Alternatively, it could strengthen their attitudes, at least among those who are willing to stay in service.

We wish a happy veterans day to all of those serving in the military now and who have honorably served their country in the past.