MILITARY UPDATE
Army takes hit in black enlistment

By Tom Philpott

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 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. 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."

"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 Officer Training Corps program is down 36 percent since 2001.

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.

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 Hispanics or white recruits. Indeed, their percentages among Army recruits grew during Bush's first term.

Because blacks are 14 percent of all recruit-age youth, their recruiting numbers remain "acceptable," said Rochelle. 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 2009.

Rangel said many blacks still are enticed into service by benefits and cash incentives, which are rising sharply.

But many African Americans still believe that black soldiers suffer higher casualty rates than other racial groups. The numbers, Rochelle said, "do not bear that out, neither from Vietnam nor subsequent conflicts."

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