In many survey questions — and there are over 100, many with sub-questions — the demographic gap either wasn’t so wide or didn’t neatly correspond to age. Asked how it affected unit morale to serve alongside a comrade believed to be gay, 56 percent of the youngest troops surveyed, ages 18 to 24 years old, believed it either not to matter or lacked the basis to judge. The same was true of 53.1 percent of the oldest, ages 53 and up.
Youth and experience found common ground on whether knowing a unit member is gay mattered for performance in combat. Sixty-two percent of 18-to-24 year-olds said they couldn’t tell or it didn’t matter, and 59.1 percent of the eldest troops agreed. Similarly, only 23.1 percent of 18-to-24-year olds said repealing the ban would make it more it more difficult to lead gay troops into combat, and a near-identical minority of the eldest, 24.9 percent, said the same thing. Over 48 percent of the oldest troops said working with gay comrades in a post-repeal military wouldn’t affect their own motivations to serve. That’s almost identical to the 49-percent plurality of 18-to-24 year olds who agree.
When it came to on-base living, a wide plurality of the eldest servicemembers, 40.2 percent, said they’d “get to know” a same-sex couple stationed at the same base “like any other neighbors.” The same is true of a 43.2-percent plurality of the youngest troops.