As voters begin to make choices in this year’s election, some members of the military on campus will not let their jobs determine who they vote for, according to Army Major Dennis Connor.

“There is a big swath of people that are apolitical,” Connor said. “They do their job the best they can, and they will follow the orders of the Commander-in-Chief.”

Scott Kincaid, a junior in political science, and a member of State’s ROTC program said that being in the military is “a job, not a political identity.”

“The military is separate from politics,” Kincaid said.

Patrick Preston, a captain in the U.S. Army and ROTC employee, said political stereotypes about people in the military are not true.

“People think that just because you are in the military means that you are [a certain political party],” he said. “A lot of people in the military have different political views, but we will do our job.”

In a recent poll by The Army Times, a newspaper directed to members of the Army, 68 percent of Army respondents said they would vote for Republican presidential nominee John McCain, while 24 percent said they would vote for Democratic nominee Barack Obama.

McCain was a prisoner of war in the Vietnam War while he was serving as a naval officer, and 34 percent of respondents said that was important in making a voting decision, while 40 percent said it was somewhat important and 14 percent said it was not very important.

Also, Barack Obama’s lack of military experience was only very important to 34 percent of the survey’s respondents.

Navy Lt. Nathan Hall said McCain’s military career would not influence his vote.

“I had a paper route when I was a kid, but I’m not going to vote for someone just because they had a paper route,” he said.

According to Connor, not all members of the military are politically aligned either.

“We’re not in lock-step, and we’re not a monolithic group,” Connor said. “One guy will say that this general did this right and another will say that he did the wrong thing.”

Being in the military can provide an opportunity to discuss political issues, Preston said.

“It isn’t so much the military experience [that changes political ideas], it’s the fact that the military is a melting pot for peoples ideas,” he said.

But Hall said a person’s military background could affect his vote.

“Being in the military definitely affects how I view the world and politics,” he said.

According to James Reynolds, Navy Lt. Commander, political views should not interview with one’s service.

“Our job is above politics,” he said.