Military sees big decline in black enlistees

Boston Globe ^ | October 7, 2007 | Joseph Williams and Kevin Baron

[DMZFrank]

The basis for the whole myth about blacks dying in greater proportions in Vietnam originated in the fact that when the initial Army combat units were deployed to Vietnam in the mid sixties, black soldiers WERE over represented in the elite airborne and airmobile units. Racial identity politics had not yet so throughly insinuated itself amongst black youth, and they had disproportionately volunteered for the airborne and airmobile units, for the jump pay of course, but mostly for the pride of membership in the Army’s fighting elite, which historically had been often denied them. That is the reason that I joined and went to jump and Ranger school . These units took the brunt of the initial combat, the highest casualties, and it was only natural that blacks took an uneven number of them in 1965. By the end of the war, this imbalance had leveled out, but owing to the anti-war MSM press bias, they were not interested in correcting it. The MSM and the anti war left used the kernel of truth in the lie to radicalize the black comunitte againmst the war effort

[libs_kma]

"No American president was ever more mistrusted by the U.S. military—from the Pentagon down to the most junior rifleman—than Bill Clinton"

My enlistment was up in '95, and when my retention NCOIC did the obligatory interview, he asked me if he could do anything to keep me in.

I said unless you can get that worthless POS out of the white house, I'll pretend you didn't even ask that question.

[B-Chan]

I 99'd my ASVAB. Unfortunately, it doesn't test for depression... which is why I washed out of Nuke School (and later, the Navy). Untreated Major Depressive Disease turned me from a 4.0 sailor to whimpering meat.

I'd like to serve our country again in some capacity, but with an OTH there's just no way, 99 ASVAB or not. (My depression is treatable and fully under control these days.)

The need for cannon fodder in the Navy is pretty much over. Yardapes do all the heavy work these days, and contractors do the fun stuff. That leaves bright young enlistees with nothing to look forward to except six years of swabbing decks and cleaning heads.

Although I "harbor" no hard feeling all these year later, I still think that the Navy needs to rethink the way it does a lot of things.

B-chan
Former MM3
USS ENTERPRISE (CVN-65)

[Brad from Tennessee]

I was in a rifle company in the 1st Marine Division from April ‘67 to May ‘68. I never took a count and may be wrong in my recollection but we seemed to always have about 25 percent black Marines. Blacks were well-represented in the NCO and senior NCO ranks.

When the armed forces were fully integrated under President Truman the military was one of the only institutions where blacks had any chance for advancement. As serious careerists they were drawn to elite units which required much sacrifice and risk but offered prestige and career enhancement.

None of the black Marines I knew ever really acknowledged it, but I surmised many hoped their extraordinary sacrifice would somehow help them attain a greater degree of equality back in The World.

[Brad from Tennessee]

The military lost a lot of good people in the ‘90’s, many because of the politics and many because of the Post-Cold War draw-down. Vice President Gore boasted about how many federal jobs his “Reinventing Government” scheme had eliminated. Ninety-nine percent of those jobs were military. The damage of the Clinton years was enormous.

[cherry]

I agree....its a terrible thing that blacks are cutting off one of the most effective tools to prosper in this life as joining the military....

[cherry]

I know for a fact, at least per my Guard husband....that the Air national Guard stopped doing drug interdiction immediately after BJ Clintoon took offfice....they had been running flights off the coast of Florida....

my husband got out as soon as he could....

[Riverman94610]

Not passing the test is the more likely explanation since most black teens out there today are certainly not politically engaged on any ideological level.
The schools are just warehouses for hordes of young black males without a clue how”Whitey’s World”operates.The girls are somewhat better off but even they will soon be proverbial”victims of the ghetto”if they don’t change their self destructive thought patterns.