The stratification of military service and combat exposure, 1934–1994

Previous research has suggested that men who were exposed to combat during wartime differed from those who were not. Yet little is known about how selection into combat has changed over time. This paper estimates sequential logistic models using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to examine the stratification of military service and combat exposure in the US during the last six decades of the 20th century. It tests potentially overlapping hypotheses drawn from two competing theories, class bias and dual selection. It also tests a hypothesis, drawn from the life course perspective, that the processes by which people came to see combat have changed historically. The findings show that human capital, institutional screening, and class bias all determined who saw combat. They also show that, net of historical change in the odds of service and combat, the impact of only one background characteristic, race, changed over time.