Military Sees Drop in Black Recruits

[wakeme2008]

Source: AP

June 24, 2007
Military Sees Drop in Black Recruits
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 10:01 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The number of blacks joining the military has plunged by more than one-third since the Afghanistan and Iraq wars began, as other job prospects soar and relatives of potential recruits increasingly discourage them from signing up.

According to data obtained by The Associated Press, the decline covers all four military services for active duty recruits, and the drop is even more dramatic when National Guard and Reserve recruiting is included.

The findings reflect the growing unpopularity of the wars, particularly among family members and other adults who exert influence over high school and college students considering the military as a place to serve their country, further their education or build a career.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Military-Recruits-Blacks.html

[marmar]

1. No surprise there.....

What good is free tuition if you're severely injured or worse, and for what? Ironically, this war that's supposed to scare the rest of the world into submission is doing more damage to the military than anything.

[Nikki Stone1]

2. Since poor and minority recruits were the "volunteer"military, no wonder overall numbers dropped

:kick:

[rocktivity]

3. Runner up for this month's "You Call This NEWS?" award

And its because of a competitive civilian job market and malevolent relatives? Yeah, right--it's because even living in your parents' basement is preferable to going on a suicide mission!

:headbang:
rocknation

[jamesinca]

4. Good

Let the war monger idiot Republics kids sign up and die for this stupid war on terror. There is no way to make that sound good, because they are all human beings. I am just tired of good people who believe in this country getting killed. Maybe Utah will pick up the slack, they have the highest approval for Bush and the fewest people dying in this war on terror. Like I said I am tired of good people that believe in this country getting killed. Let those war mongering people who love this war send their kids. It is not such a lovely war anymore when they do.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

6. what you said. nt

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. despite a BILLION - that's with a "B" being spent on

a HUGE TV, radio, and magazine campaign, targetting poor and black populations, this is great news. It means that word on the street is out, and that word is not good. The Army of One has been morphed into You da Man, which morphed into something else. But the basic message was the same. This is a manly thing to do, this is good for you, it helps ma out, and boy is it fun to jump out of choppers!

[neuvocat]

20. I'm pretty sure the reason it fails...

is because of the Freeper spin that the soldiers volunteered and knew what they were getting into, and that's all the more reason not to support them. Any potential recruit can hear those words and see that if people won't support them then they won't join.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

21. But they did volunteer

they volunteered to donate their time, effort and obedience and to follow orders.

They did not volunteer to suffer injuries because of lack of adequate personal or vehicular armor, bad planning, understaffing, Rummie's whims and Cheney's lies.
They did not volunteer to suffer untreated mental and psychiatric conditions that go untreated for life.
They did not volunteer to paint huge concentric circles on their backs
They did not volunteer to go into an occupation in a civil war we created wearing body armor that profits a friend of the admin, when better technology remains untested.

[MikeNearMcChord]

7. Frankly I would not encourage anyone

to join the service now, with this cabal of criminals in charge.

[MADem]

22. Nor would I. In fact, I actively discourage people from joining. NT

[saigon68]

32. Only Fools join the military today

I actively tell young people they would die for Dick (5 deferments) Cheney's corporate profits.

Young people are becoming smarter. They see their inevitable deaths are for nothing.


Sure there are those idiot types who want to kill, most of them still join for the thrill of killing a few brown kids

[sendero]

8. "other job prospects soar"...

... what a load of propaganda.

Some cultures are more adept at spotting bullshit and manipluation. And when you've been treated like crap for centuries, it's not hard to not believe the lies.

[LiberalFighter]

9. I wonder what the numbers are based on grades/intelligence

[LiberalFighter]

10. What are the numbers for Hispanics?

[Igel]

16. As of 2004,

Latinos were slightly overrepresented in the military--we're talking something like 2-3%. Whites and Asians were underrepresented by the same amount.

Blacks made up just a smidgeon more than you'd expect by percentage of population.

Note that these numbers were against the overall population. Black and Latino children made up a large percentage of those 18 in 2004 than the overall figures for their race/ethnicity as percentage of the population would lead you to expect. White kids made up a smaller portion of the overall 'kid pool' than you'd expect.

Moreover, the supply network was disproportionately black and Latino. This means that as a percentage of the armed forces, they're disproportionately lacking on the front lines. There the number of whites is at or exceeds overall population percentages, and the number of blacks is significantly lower. "Minorities as cannon fodder" seems to be based on misleading 35-year-old stats.

[John Q. Citizen]

28. There are front lines in an occupation? I thought the supply networks got a high

percentage of the IED hits.

[FloridaJudy]

11. They may be poor, but they're not stupid

No sense dying for an Adminstration that treats them like crap (see NOLA, vote caging, gutting civil rights, etc.).

[MrPrax]

12. Apalling...

You read through the piece and there is NO context for any statistics whatsoever. The story in no way shape or form provides even a hint as to why 'black' is being singled out for reporting as far as declining recruitment. Not a single fucking reason.

One has to assume that recruitment is down across the board because of cites elsewhere -- or is it?

This is conscious racism done to LEAVE the impression that black people are not pulling their fair share and lying low in the 'hood, get rich off of all that 'opportunity' being provided by liberal goubbermint.

Real newspapers tend to have policies against this 'race-baiting' horse shit. It's a fairly simple rule: unless you are showing precise evidence for singling out a racial group in a story, then you don't do it.

[Mnpaul]

14. Maybe it is because

they just want their vote to count next time

[HughBeaumont]

13. This brings to mind a lyric from "I Wanna Kill Sam" . . . verse 3 . . .

Now in ninety-one, he wanna tax me
I remember, the son of a bitch used to axe me
and hang me by a rope til my neck snapped
Now the sneaky motherfucker wanna ban rap
and put me under dirt or concrete
But God, can see through a white sheet
Cause you the devil in drag
You can burn your cross well I'll burn your flag
Try to give me the H-I-V
so I can stop makin babies like me
And you're givin dope to my people chump
Just wait til we get over that hump
Cause yo' ass is grass cause I'ma blast
Can't bury rap, like you buried jazz
Cause we stopped bein whores, stop doin floors
So bitch you can fight your own wars
So if you see a man in red white and blue
gettin janked by the Lench Mob crew
It's a man who deserves to buckle
I wanna kill Sam cause he ain't my motherfuckin Uncle!

[Name removed]

15. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[I Have A Dream]

17. I'm really glad to here this. The government considers them to be expendable.

(The same with poor people.) It's disgusting, and I'm happy to hear that the victims are not allowing themselves to be victimized any longer. (Not that there was any way that they could have seen it coming beforehand.)

[dkofos]

18. They still have the illegal aliens to exploit!!

[Roy]

19. So now they believe 'ADD' and other "liberal invented nonsense"...

Does Rush know about this????

(snip)
At the same time, the military is opening the door to many recruits it has not welcomed in the past. That includes people who are a bit older; who score lower on aptitude tests; and who have medical conditions such as asthma or attention deficit disorders that can be controlled better now with medicine.
(snip)

[19jet54]

23. After New Orleans...

... I am surprised any black person would work for George W. Bush period?

Personally, I would rather be homeless and a vagrant than work in his government again!

[2Design]

24. good - I hope to see decline in all minorities enlisting in this bogus

marketing ploy from this admin which is a death sentence to them. Get loans and stay in college forever so you do not have to pay - work your way up to a job.

[krispos42]

25. Blacks don't want to fight a war for rich while Republicans?

All together now, Bushies...

"Who could have anticipated..."




You know the drill.

[Screwfly]

26. The unpopularity of the war

with blacks must be pretty disturbing to the military since black youth culture influences white youth culture to no small degree.

[Gman]

27. Their mama's didn't raise any stupid kids

[Lost-in-FL]

29. I don't think it will get any better post Katrina

African Americans saw how the government let their fellows die in NOLA and how they are still struggling after almost 3 years of that tragedy.

[classysassy]

30. I wonder why?

hello white america,no cannon fodder from the ghetto.

[hardtravelin]

31. Casualty rates do not support that statement...

While African Americans make up 22 percent of the Army (which has taken the brunt of the casualties-2K+), they make up about 12 percent of casualties.

www.jointcenter.org/publications1/Military%20Affairs/Bearing%20theBurden%20of%20the%20Iraq%20War%20.pdf

[saigon68]

33. K & R

[kath]

34. "as other job prospects soar" - WTF?!?!?!

yeah, the economy is booming, I tell ya, just booming...

[Sparkly]

35. I'd like to see the numbers by economic status, not race

and also numbers of white recruits for comparison.

Without those, the meaning of the figures for black recruits alone isn't so clear. Race and income are unfortunately linked, but need to be separated out for studies like this, imho.

Is any such data available?