In this assessment of the prevailing assumptions about the U.S. all-volunteer armed forces, Dr. Berryman identifies strong and widespread misconceptions about the military's social composition. Using statistical analyses and extensive historical documentation, she shows that the discrepancies between image and reality are patterned and have been evident since the beginning of the Republic—in war and peace and under draft and volunteer conditions. For example, even in 1979, a time of furious debate about the declining quality of new recruits, the data incontrovertibly showed that for white enlistees the military was drawing from families of higher socioeconomic status than were full-time civilian employers. For black and hispanic enlistees the military was drawing from the same socioeconomic pool of youth as were two-year colleges.

Arguing that these misperceptions about the composition of the armed forces reflect the often conflicting objectives that political actors have for the enlisted forces, Dr. Berryman examines such different goals as enlistees' loyalty to their civilian and military leaders, deterrent and combat effectiveness, equal entitlement, and equal sacrifice. She shows that these misconceptions exact a price in military effectiveness, efficiency, and public support for military action.