Posted on 03/04/2005 3:17:23 PM PST by Flavius
The Army’s wartime recruiting challenge is aggravated by a sharp drop in black enlistments over the last four years, which internal Army and Defense Department polls trace to an unpopular war in Iraq and concerns among blacks with Bush administration policies.
The Army is straining to meet recruiting goals in part because the number of black volunteers has fallen 41 percent — from 23.5 percent of recruits in fiscal 2000 down steadily to 13.9 percent in the first four months of fiscal 2005.
“It’s alarming,” said Maj. Gen. Michael D. Rochelle, commanding general of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command in Fort Knox, Ky.
No single factor explains the drop, Rochelle said, but clearly the propensity of black youth to enlist is impacted by the war and increasingly by views of parents, teachers, coaches, clergy and other “influencers.”
“The influencers of these youth are causing them to be less inclined to listen to what good the Army could do for them in the long run,” said Rochelle, one of the Army’s most senior black officers.
Officer recruiting is hit, too. Black enrollment in the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program is down 36 percent since 2001.
The Marine Corps also reports a drop in black recruits but its racial data on recruits is now suspect due to a government policy, effective Jan. 1, 2003, that allows recruits and all new federal workers to decline to identify their race. The Army has found a way to continue to track accurately its racial data, said S. Douglas Smith, spokesman for the recruiting command.
Rep. Charles B. Rangel, a Democrat whose New York City district includes Harlem, said he isn’t too surprised by the Army recruiting data.
“I have not found a black person in support of this war in my district,” he said. “The fact that every member of the Congressional Black Caucus emotionally, politically and vigorously opposes this war is an indication of what black folks think throughout this country.”
Rangel also said there was “overwhelming disappointment” among blacks after Bush, in a disputed election, became president in 2001, and the disappointment “plummeted after he declared war in Iraq.”
Results of the Defense Department’s own Youth and Influencer Polls, conducted last May, affirm that administration policies and the Iraq war have lowered the propensity of black youth to enlist, particularly in the Army and Marine Corps, the ground forces taking most of the casualties.
While the war reduced the likelihood of youth in general to join the military, says the Youth Poll report, “Black youth reported being more negatively affected … . Black youth were less supportive of U.S. troops’ presence in Iraq, less likely to feel the war was justified, more disapproving of the Bush administration’s handling of foreign affairs and more disapproving of its use of U.S. military forces than were whites or Hispanics.”
Black youth unemployment remains above 10 percent, higher than for Hispanics and double that of whites. Blacks also tend to view military pay as more attractive than do other racial groups.
In years past, such factors enticed a disproportionate number of African-American youth to see opportunity in the Army. In some years since the draft ended in 1973, the percentage of blacks among Army volunteers approached 30 percent.
In fiscal 2000, blacks still represented almost a quarter of Army recruits. That percentage fell to 22.7 in 2001, 19.9 in ’02, 16.4 in ’03, 15.9 in ’04, and now to 13.9 percent through four months of fiscal 2005. No such decline has been seen among Hispanics or white recruits. Indeed, their percentages among Army recruits grew during the first Bush administration.
Because blacks are 14 percent of all recruit-age youth, their recruiting numbers remain “acceptable,” said Rochelle, proportional to blacks in society. But the steep drop in black recruits overall does hurt plans “to grow the Army,” he conceded. Congress has ordered a 30,000 increase in the number of active-duty soldiers by October 2007.
Rangel said many blacks still are enticed into service by benefits and cash incentives, which are rising sharply.
“It has amazed me that, not withstanding the general feeling of the community, they still have enlisted and fought. When my [Guard and Reserve] outfits come home, these guys get their medals and they’re proud. But when I’m called up [to speak], they cheer and stomp their feet, knowing that I fought against the war. It’s inconsistent as hell.”
Another Army-directed poll, the U.S. Military Image Study, is posted on a Defense Contracting Command Web site, likely by mistake. Based on interviews with 3,236 youth ages 16 to 24, this study says, “Recruiting an all-volunteer Army in times of war is increasingly difficult.”
While money for college remains a major motivator to enlist, the Iraq war leaves youth, particularly blacks, conflicted.
“More African-Americans identify having to fight for a cause they don’t support as a barrier to military service,” the study found.
Fear of being killed or injured was the top reason to avoid service for 26 percent of youth in 2004, almost double the 14 percent reported in 2000.
I am a Navy Nam combat vet. I think it depends what years you are talking about as far as proportion of volunteers is concerned. When I went in, they were drafting Marines.
The hearts and minds thing was not well executed. We were restricted from mining harbors, shutting off supplies to NVN from the USSR and going into the areas where they were staging in Laos and Cambodia.
We also kept letting them up after we bombed them effectively. We took hills and jungle for no real reason at the cost of many lives. But we won every military battle. OUr politicians betrayed us, with the coercion of the commies in this country. Now, many of them are professors teaching our kids to be wimps.
I don't think blacks have ever been over represented in the military.
They just can't stand being out of power. Of course, they corrupted everything while they were in power.
Now, if we could just get the Republicans to exercise power, things would get better.
"Now, if we could just get the Republicans to exercise power, things would get better."
Agreed, I like your formulation!
Could it be that the economy has improved so much that the black men who might have looked at the military as a job opportunity, have found other, more lucrative possibilities?
"Is this because the number of black volunteers has fallen or the number of non-black volunteers has risen?"
Oh gosh, that's a good point, isn't it!
They didn't meet their numbers for February, that I know. But it is a horrible thing the way the left-wing mainstrean media is turning the public against military service. They are making this war into some kind of a blood bath, when actually it is basically a miracle, we over threw a government of a big country and, to date, have only lost 1500 soliders. I don't know how many people have been maimed, but I do know this is a very low casualty level for what has been achieved.
I lament the drop in new recruits, but I don't see how it is a problem that the number of black enlistee's is roughly proportional to the percentage that blacks make up in the American population. Must be some kind of racial bean counter thing.
No what do you mean? I live in a predominantly black and hispanic area and the recruiters push the college money thing a lot and downplay the whole "God and country" angle almost down to nothing.
Charlie Rangel wanted the draft back in an attempt to help Kerry win. There's also a concerted effort to keep recruiters OUT of public high schools as well. I wonder what effect on enrollments does that have.
No question the VN ground war was poorly executed, and politically hamstrung; but the military strategies were not bad. The "strategic hamlet" concept was the closest we really came to thinking territorily, and that was abandoned by the late 60's.
Taking hills and then walking down off them was exactly the kind of thing which I would cite as evidence we did NOT think about conquering territory (jungle or otherwise) as a key to victory. The idea was, you held key terrain features in order to disrupt the operations of a foot-bound enemy force. When the enemy no longer operated in the area, you no longer needed to hold Hill 880.
Under McNamara we embarked on a war of attrition against the VC, in which we would grind them up and sustain whatever casualties we had to, indefinitely, while the South somehow forged a viable noncommunist government.
Clearly we bollixed it up, with a little help form our "friends" like Walter "the chickenshit liar" Cronkite.
In VietNam, consistently AFAIK, the combat ground troops were about 30% Black, a clear over-representation by a factor of three. Even so, most volunteered to go there.
While we did indeed draft Marines for awhile, the troops who went to VN were largely volunteers. Most troops who served during the VN era never went to SE Asia; and of those who did, only about one out of seven ground troops in theater ever saw combat action.
If you separate out the last few years, say 1970-74, then I couldn't say. But we were well into withdrawal by then too, and the game was up for all intents. Casualty rates had dropped dramatically, the cliche being that "search and destroy" had been replaced by "search and avoid."
Although that wasn't fair to many valiant troops, the idea was alive and well that nobody wanted to be the last man to die for a mistake.
I am not that familiar with naval personnel and would not want to try to apply the Army parameters to the Navy (or USAF.) In any case, Thanks to You for your service. All the greatest respect to combat vets.
First of all, I'm not surprised at Charlie Rangel's statements...
The Marine Corps also reports a drop in black recruits but its racial data on recruits is now suspect due to a government policy, effective Jan. 1, 2003, that allows recruits and all new federal workers to decline to identify their race. The Army has found a way to continue to track accurately its racial data, said S. Douglas Smith, spokesman for the recruiting command.
*** If you can decline to identify your race, then pray tell MC what way did you find to continue to track this data? Hmmmmmmmm?
Even the MSM are grudgingly having to report on the sucesses of the American efforts, such as: Liberation and elections in Afghanistan, liberation and elections in Iraq, elections in Lebanon (with Syria getting ready to get kicked out), elections in Egypt, Palestinian elections, significant strides for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, Libya giving up on WMD programs and paying reparations for past terror incidents. Some "failure".
Actually, the military is more picky now than in the Viet Nam era. The heavy use of technology makes the recruitment of high-school dropouts a non-starter. And the felony records of many black men of military age also figures in to these numbers.
Most blacks I know do not have any sense of patriotism due to the constant drumming of the left that the country doesn't care about them etc.
"I thought the war was being fought by minorities"
I was kidding. We keep hearing that the fortunate son does not have to go to war; he hires the downtrodden minority to go for him.
Pat Tillman didn't have to go to Afghanistan.
Depends on whether they're put in the general population or not ...
Sorry, pal. I get touchy these days about this.
I deny it.
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