WSJ: Black Recruits Slide As Share of Army Forces

[question everything]

Black Recruits Slide As Share of Army Forces

By CHRISTOPHER COOPER
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
October 7, 2004; Page B1

The U.S. Army's ability to attract African-American soldiers has plummeted recently, a trend that threatens to place further strains on a military already stretched by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Blacks attracted to the force numbered 12,103, or 15.6% of the total enlistment pool, in the year ended Sept. 30, down from a peak of 16,695, or 21% of recruits, in fiscal 2002, statistics gathered by the Army's recruiting command show. The timing of the drop in the share of black recruits roughly corresponds with the mass movement of troops to the Middle East and the outbreak of the Iraq war. Figures for the Army Reserve show a similar, albeit more dramatic, drop -- of about 27% for the same period.

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In each of the past four years, the Army overall has recruited about the same number of enlistees, and so far, it has been able to reach its goals for the regular service, says Brig. Gen. Michael Rochelle, head of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command. Gen. Rochelle says he believes he will meet the next annual goal of attracting 80,000 regular Army soldiers overall and 22,000 reservists, although privately many people both inside and outside the Pentagon are skeptical.

Far from an exact science, recruiting is subject to a number of variables, and Army officials caution that the drop in black recruitment may not signal a trend. Indeed, the Army says the drop in black recruits as part of the overall force is a positive sign, since it wants to build an organization that roughly matches the demographic makeup of the nation. Black Americans accounted for 24% of the Army as of fiscal 2003, but make up about 13% of the U.S. population.

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The current decline comes at an awkward time for the Army, which is being pressed by the Pentagon to provide more combat-ready soldiers. In August, the Army began offering $10,000 bonuses to recruits. Yesterday, it sweetened the offer, tacking on a $3,000 "quick ship" bonus for recruits who are ready to enter immediately. Also in August, it bumped up the cash awarded for college to $70,000 from $50,000. Such incentives, Pentagon officials and others say, often appeal to potential recruits from less wealthy families. The Army has traditionally used cash bonuses to nudge up enlistments in peacetime.

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Write to Christopher Cooper at [e-mail]

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109710242102938547,00.html

[punpirate]

1. Good...

... black kids are beginning to understand that a year or two making $6/hr at McDonalds is preferable to having a leg blown off or a bullet in the brain.

Time for the rich, Republican folks to step in to fill the void.

Yeah, right....

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. Well, there is another possibility.

If the military wanted to target the black community, they could do it in two ways. They can reverse the damage they caused the black community with the imbalanced and unfair drug sentencing for crack cocaine by offering full pardons for those who complete their military service AND they can begin to re-offer full scholarships, which is something the military isn't doing across the board.

Hey, free market and all that. Supply and Demand. The military doesn't have to draft people into their unholy wars. Everybody has a price.