[News] Number of black Army recruits declining

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Last modified Friday, March 4, 2005 9:24 PM PST

Number of black Army recruits declining


By: TOM PHILPOTT - For the North County Times

The Army's wartime recruiting challenge is aggravated by a sharp drop in 
black enlistments in 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 strains to meet recruiting goals in part because black volunteers 
have 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. and one of the Army's 
most senior black officers, No single factor explains the drop, Rochelle 
added, 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.''

Officer recruiting is hit too. The number of blacks enrolled in the Army 
Reserve Officers' Training Corps program is down 36 percent since 2001.Ý

The Marine Corps also reports a drop in black recruits but their recruit 
racial data is now suspect because of 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.''

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.

Black youth unemployment remains above 10 percent, higher than for Latinos 
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 black 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 2002, 16.4 in 2003, 15.9 in 
2004, and now to 13.9 percent through four months of fiscal 2005. No such 
decline has been seen among Latino 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.

Another Army-directed poll, called 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.''

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.

Poll data also show that more black parents, particularly mothers, worry 
that their children could be killed or injured in the war.

"If we were able to tell the Army story in a very balanced way to more 
young blacks, as well as to their influencers, then clearly the numbers 
would grow,'' said Rochelle. "I'm convinced of that.''

To comment, write Military Update, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA, 
20120-1111, e-mail <mailto:milupdate at aol.com>milupdate at aol.com or visit 
www.militaryupdate.com.


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