Can’t speak for their source, but here’s what I found:
Over 60 percent of 2016 enlistments came from neighborhoods with a median household income between $38,345 and $80,912. The quintiles below and above that band were underrepresented, with the poorest quintile providing 19 percent of the force and the richest Americans enlisting at a rate of 17 percent…Over the last 20 years as civilian wages plateaued, military compensation for the post-9/11 force steadily increased.
A mid-grade enlisted sailor, soldier, or airman (at an E5 paygrade) made 10 percent less than the median American in 2000 and at the time was eligible for food stamps. By 2011, service members of the same rank were making 10 percent more than the median American, even without including benefits.
The article is a bit short on analysis, but it seems like the standards for Army recruits were raised and the pay was also raised. So, these days, an army grunt makes a bit more than the average middle class civilian would make.
Is there an error in the “official” record? (The general narrative, I mean, without looking at the minute details or biased analysis.)
As I understand it, Kim Il Sung was a revolutionary before WWII. After the war, Stalin helped Sung solidify his position as a military and political leader. Yada, yada, yada, Korean War and Sung rose as the leader of the new DPRK. In the 90s, he started handing power off to his son, Kim Jong Il.
The DPRK clearly has the makings of dynasty, at least in the modern Western sense of the word (e.g., “The Bush Dynasty”). Kim Jong Un is the third generation to take the reins; he seems to be preparing his daughter for a similar role.
What else do you call a family that uses nepotism to claim authoritarian control over a country and holds power through three generations if not a dynasty?