Blacks, women avoiding US Army

[MORTARDUDE]

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0309/dailyUpdate.html

Blacks, women avoiding US Army

Army study says recruiting all-volunteer force 'increasingly difficult.'

By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com


A study conducted by the Army last year and posted recently on a Defense Contracting Command website (but since removed after news stories discussed the study) indicates that women and young black men are increasingly staying away from the Army. The poll, based on interviews with 3,236 youth ages 16 to 24, showed that "recruiting an all-volunteer Army in times of war is getting increasingly difficult."
Associated Press reports that these trends, combined with "the negative effects of the Army's image as a last-resort career choice for what one study called the 'average Joe,'" mean the military, and the Army in particular, could be entering a "prolonged recruting slump" just at the time when the US government wants to increase the Army's numbers.

"More African-Americans identify having to fight for a cause they don't support as a barrier to military service," concluded an August 2004 study for the Army. It also said attitudes toward the Army among all groups of American youth have grown more negative in recent years. "In the past, barriers were about inconvenience or preference for another life choice," the study said. "Now they have switched to something quite different: fear of death or injury."




The number of blacks in the Army's recruiting classes has dropped 41 percent over the past five years, from 23.9 percent in 2000 to 14 percent last year. The number of women has dropped 13 percent. AP reports that the possibility of being sent to Iraq is the "biggest turn off" for both groups.

Stars and Stripes reported Friday that the Army study noted black youth are strongly affected by the views of "influencers" - parents, teachers, coaches, clergy - and their views of the conflict in Iraq. The paper also reported that the Pentagon's own Youth and Influencer Polls, conducted last May, show that administration policies in Iraq have also caused fewer blacks to enlist.

While the war reduced the likelihood of youth in general to join the military, states the Youth Poll, 'Black youth reported being more negatively affected. Black youth were less supportive of US troops' presence in Iraq, less likely to feel the war was justified, more disapproving of the Bush administration's handling of foreign affairs and more disapproving of its use of US military forces than were whites or Hispanics.'
The Washington Post pointed out that the 14 percent recruitment figure now matches the actual percentage of blacks in the American population. Meanwhile, Hispanics, Asiams, Pacitic Islanders and whites are enlisting in slightly higher numbers. The Post also points out that fear of serving in Iraq is not the only factor reducing black enlistment.
'I think it's bad for the Army in the long run because it makes their recruiting more difficult as they had become dependent on the overrepresentation of African Americans,' said David R. Segal, director of the Center for Research on Military Organization at the University of Maryland. But, he said, 'it's good for the military in the long run to have it more representative of the population. African Americans are simply finding alternatives other than the military for their post-high-school trajectories.'
USA Today reports that the Army National Guard continues to struggle finding new recruits. The Guard wants to find 63,000 new members - a higher number than normal in part to make up for a shortfall last year. But through January, four months into a recruiting year that began in October, only 12,821 men and women had signed up, a figure 24 percent below the target for that date.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, however, that while the Army is concerned about this shortfall, it doesn't mean that the Army "will be short by year's end." (February was the first month in five years that the Army has not met its targets.) Larger enlistment bonuses recently approved by Congress, more money for college, and more recruiters will help the situation.

As these resources come 'on line,' recruiting will improve, S. Douglas Smith, public affairs officer for the Army's Recruiting Command predicted.
The US Department of Defense site points to a bright spot in the recruiting picture.
In units that have deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, the re-enlistment rate actually is higher than in units that have not deployed. This is true throughout the total Army ? Guard and Reserve retention is higher in units that have deployed than in those that have not, Pentagon spokesman Larry Di Rita said.
Meanwhile, the Age reported that the US Marines also fell short of their recruiting goals in January and February, the first time that has happened in nearly a decade. But Major David Griesmer, spokesman for the US Marine Corps Recruiting Command, noted that in both months, "the Marines reached their goals for new recruits actually entering boot camp."
The Air Force and the Navy continue to meet recruiting goals.