Military sees big decline in black enlistees Iraq war
cited in 58% drop since 2000
By Joseph Williams and Kevin Baron,
Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent
October 7, 2007
WASHINGTON - African-Americans, whose longstanding
relationship with the US military helped them prove
their abilities and offered a way to get ahead, have
turned away from the armed forces in record numbers
since 2000, a period covering the Sept. 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks and the start of the Iraq war.
Defense Department statistics show the number of young
black enlistees has fallen by more than 58 percent
since fiscal year 2000. The Army in particular has been
hit hard: In fiscal year 2000, according to the
Pentagon statistics, more than 42,000 black men and
women applied to enlist; in fiscal year 2005, the most
recent for which a racial breakdown is available, just
over 17,000 signed up.
The unpopular Iraq war is the biggest reason, according
to military analysts, Pentagon surveys, and interviews
with young African-Americans. But they say mistrust of
the Bush administration is adding to the problem -
along with the notion that black soldiers are being
steered to combat jobs, a lingering perception from the
Vietnam War.
The decline in enlistment applications among blacks is
by far the fastest of any demographic group. Between
fiscal 2000 and 2005, white applicants declined by more
than 10 percent. Hispanic applicants dropped by almost
7 percent.
The Army Recruiting Command acknowledged that the Iraq
war has presented special challenges in the
African-American community, but said it continues to
reach out to black recruits.
"The main thing everyone has to realize is that an
all-volunteer force is just that," said S. Douglas
Smith, public affairs officer for the US Army
Recruiting Command. "We try to make sure we communicate
to every part of society and let them know what we have
to offer. We try to be as open as we can about the risk
of service and the benefits of service. After that,
it's a matter of people choosing if they want to come
in and serve."
But some military specialists worry that the trend
could persist long after the current administration and
war are over.
"African-Americans have been such a key part of the
modern military," said Michael O'Hanlon, military
analyst for the liberal-leaning Brookings Institution.
"There's obviously been a degree where the black
community in the United States has seen [military
service] as culturally valuable and promoted it. That
whole culture and value system is at risk in the black
community. That is a big, big change. To me, it
portends the possibility of a longer-term loss of
interest. It can be tough to get it back."
Interviews with young African-Americans confirmed a
lack of faith in the president and the war.
Nathaniel Daley, a young African-American from Atlantic
City, N.J., said he doesn't believe in the Iraq war and
won't enlist because of it. Daley, 28, and two friends,
Brian Jackson, 27, and Eddie Mickle Jr., 26, talked one
recent afternoon at the Pentagon City Mall in
Arlington, Va., a vast shopping complex just blocks
from the military's nerve center. As they talked,
uniformed servicemen and women, some wearing battle
fatigues, passed by.
In high school during the late 1990s, Daley said, he
signed a letter of intent to join the Army upon
graduation, "to pay for my college, get a better job,
and better myself." He said he broke that commitment
for a higher-paying job at a nearby casino.
Though the Army would likely consider them ideal
recruits - young, fit, high school-educated - each said
the Iraq war and Bush's presidency, particularly after
the Hurricane Katrina disaster in 2005, has kept them
out of uniform.
"Why would we go over there and help them [Iraqis],
when [the US government] can't help us over here?" he
said, referring to the cleanup after Katrina.
The war "is unnecessary," Jackson said. "It's not our
war. We got our own war here, just staying alive," he
added, noting his hometown of Philadelphia has racked
up more than 200 homicides so far this year, most
involving young black men.
Eager to bolster its stretched-thin ranks - and meet a
congressional mandate to increase its force by about
65,000 troops within five years - the Army has launched
an aggressive recruiting campaign targeted at young
black people like Daley and his friends, with ads
featuring a young black man convincing his parents that
enlistment is a good choice. The Army has also raised
its enlistment bonuses, highlighted its access to
college tuition money, and loosened its age and
physical fitness standards.
But Damon Wright, a senior at Anacostia High School in
Southeast Washington, was not impressed. "There's no
guarantee I wouldn't have to go over there," he said.
"I'm trying to play football in college. I might go
over there and lose a leg."
The Pentagon and military analysts say the downturn in
enlistments partly reflects the fact that young
African-Americans have broader options, pointing to the
growing number of black students in college. But the
decrease in enlistment also comes amid high dropout
rates among African-American youths and a 7.7 percent
unemployment rate in the black community, almost twice
that of whites.
Negative opinions about Iraq - and attitudes like
Wright's - have overshadowed the military's efforts to
highlight the positives about military service.
A recent CBS News poll showed 83 percent of
African-American respondents said the Iraq invasion was
a mistake. In addition, the president's approval rating
has hit rock-bottom with black voters at about 9
percent, according to a 2006 Pew Research Center poll.
The relationship between African-Americans and military
service is complex, dating back to the 1700s. Both
freedmen and slaves joined colonists in the fight
against British rule. A century later, the all-black
corps known as the Buffalo Soldiers helped settle the
West.
Meanwhile, during the Civil War, black Union regiments
won acclaim for heroism. In World War I, more than
350,000 black troops served in segregated Army units
but few were allowed to fight, dashing hopes that
courage under fire in Europe would help them defeat Jim
Crow laws at home.
In World War II, African-Americans were again assigned
mostly to support duty, but they made up 75 percent of
truck drivers for the Red Ball Express - a dangerous,
nonstop supply convoy that fueled General George H.
Patton's sweep across Europe.
When President Harry S. Truman desegregated the
military in 1948, African-Americans saw the Army as a
key avenue for advancement. Joining up became "a way
out of a worse situation," said Gregory A. Black, a
retired Navy dive commander and creator of
blackmilitaryworld.com, a website devoted to the
history of African-Americans and the military.
By the Vietnam War, the Army had a full complement of
black combat troops, including Colin Powell, who did
two combat tours as a captain and major and later
became secretary of state. But civil-rights leaders
complained about the disproportionately high casualty
rate among black soldiers, arguing that the Pentagon
was drafting young black men and sending them directly
into combat.
"A lot of African-Americans are still messed up over
Vietnam," said Black. Yet Defense Department statistics
show African-American soldiers today are more likely to
work in clerical or support jobs than fight on the
front lines.
Despite the sharp decline in enlistments, the
percentage of blacks in the military still slightly
exceeds that of the general population: 14.5 percent in
the military, as of 2005, versus 12.8 percent in the US
population. Nonetheless, recent Pentagon-sponsored
surveys suggest that attitudes among military-age
African-Americans may have changed for good.
Adult influencers of all youths, such as parents,
sports coaches, or mentors, say Iraq makes them less
likely to recommend military service, according to
Pentagon surveys. Of all racial groups,
African-American influencers are the least likely to
suggest enlistment, according to the surveys.
At Oxon Hill High School, located in a predominantly
black Washington suburb, guidance counselor Kabir
Tompkins is also an Army National Guard sergeant
wounded in Iraq. He tells interested students the Army
can lead to better life: a good salary, health
benefits, and tens of thousands of dollars for college.
But their parents are harder to convince, he said.
"They see it from the aspect of . . . 'I don't care
about the benefits, I don't care about the money, I
don't care about nothing. I don't want my child going
to Iraq,' " Tompkins said.
Lieutenant Colonel Irving Smith, a sociologist at the
US Military Academy at West Point, isn't surprised the
war "has had its toll" on black enlistment. But Smith,
who is black, said he fears that a proud legacy of
black men and women is at risk, and could be lost in a
generation.
"We fought for many reasons, we enlisted for many
reasons," Smith said. "Particularly in early times, we
fought because we thought we'd get all the
opportunities of citizenship . . . The fewer
African-Americans that enlist, the fewer
African-Americans there are that can tell their stories
in the future. The fewer that get commissioned as
officers, the smaller the leadership pool will be in
the future."
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to people on the left that will help them to
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