Southern thing...

One thing that I've noticed that's pretty dominant here in the south, is a healthy respect for the military. It may be because in almost every Southern family, there is at least a cousin or grandfather or some relative that is/was a war veteran and most probably have someone overseas right now as your reading this. In my family, my great grandfather on my mother's side was a world war vet and my grandfather on my father's side is a Korean war veteran. I have a great-uncle on my dad's side that's a world war ll veteran and one that's a Korean war vet.
I have a cousin that has went to Afghanistan and Iraq and a cousin in the Navy, army and air force right now. Some may have more and some may have less. But we as Southerners have a very healthy respect for our military.