Fewer Black Recruits Joining the Armed Forces

Fewer Black Recruits Joining the Armed Forces

By CHRISTOPHER COOPER Staff Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

(Oct. 7) - 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.

By contrast, the percentage of white recruits has held relatively steady. White enlistees made up 65.2%, or 50,586, of the recruiting pool in fiscal 2004 and 62.7%, or 49,846, of recruits in fiscal 2002.

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.

"We want the Army to be representative of the overall population," says Douglas Smith, a spokesman for the Army's recruiting command. Even with the recent drops, black recruits, he says, "are still at or above their percentage in the overall population."


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Though the decline in black recruitment isn't unprecedented -- the Army also had a 15.6% black enlistment rate in fiscal 2001 -- such dips usually come when the economy is booming and high-school graduates have more employment options.

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.

Some military officials and outside analysts say a sustained decline in black enlistment could disrupt how the Pentagon staffs its operations.

Black recruits have historically been overrepresented in "behind-the-line" support roles. Indeed, Pentagon statistics from fiscal 2003 show that 67% of all black soldiers were in combat service or support units. At the time that the Iraq war began, only 16% of black soldiers were in combat arms units. This gravitation toward support roles reflects what some potential black enlistees hope to receive from a career in the Army: stable employment with good benefits and the ability to develop skills that can be easily transferred to the civilian sector. Front-line positions, such as those in the infantry, don't provide much in the way of marketable job skills.

But the war in Iraq has turned such distinctions on their head. Almost from the outset, enemy fighters concentrated their attacks on rear-guard soldiers, and soldiers in support functions make up many of the more than 1,000 Americans that have been killed there. "There's really no front line/rear echelon any more," says Charlie Moskos, a Northwestern University sociologist who specializes in military organizations. "Obviously, the war is one major factor" in the sharp decline in black recruitment, he says.

In a recent discussion with reporters, Gen. Rochelle of the Army's recruiting command says that while a variety of conditions have an effect on enlistment -- such as the economy -- combat also can have a powerful influence on overall induction rates. "Obviously, there's a war going on and, for some of our prospects, that is a drawback and it will deter them," he says.

If the trend toward a lower share of black recruits continues, however, its effect could be wide-ranging. Black recruits generally deviate from their white counterparts by re-enlisting in greater numbers after their initial tour of duty is over. Though unable to provide current statistics, an Army spokesman says that early-career black soldiers routinely re-enlist at a higher rate than their white counterparts. In 1998, the re-enlistment rate for black male specialists was 82%; the corresponding rate for white specialists was 74%. One of the primary benefits of a volunteer force as opposed to a draft is that increased incentives encourage recruits to stick with the Army and make it a career.

Northwestern's Mr. Moskos says one of the main reasons that black recruits stick with the Army is the perception that African-Americans have of it as a relatively color-blind institution that allows minorities opportunities for advancement. Rare is the American institution, Mr. Moskos says, "where whites are routinely bossed around by blacks."

Some say, however, that the perception of the Army as an egalitarian institution may be eroding, again because of the Iraq war. David Segal, a University of Maryland sociology professor, says two recent events connected to the war may have resonated among potential black recruits in a way that wasn't reflected among white enlistees.

The first was a recent bill submitted by Rep. Charles Rangel, a black congressman from New York, which called for a resumption of a universal military draft. Though the bill was killed this week by Congress, it drew extensive attention, as did Mr. Rangel's justification for submitting it. Mr. Rangel says he wanted a draft, in part, because he wanted to ensure that the offspring of wealthy citizens shared equally in the burden of war. And though Mr. Rangel couched his argument in terms of class, many black Americans equated it to race, Mr. Segal says.

A second event occurred at the beginning of the Iraq war, when Pvt. Jessica Lynch, a white female soldier in an Army maintenance company, was taken hostage by marauding Iraqis. The story of Pvt. Lynch and her eventual rescue by special-forces soldiers was extensively chronicled by the Pentagon and the U.S. media.

Less noticed was the story of Spc. Shoshona Johnson, a black woman, who was in the same maintenance unit as Pvt. Lynch and was also taken hostage and later rescued. Her story got far less attention, and Mr. Segal says he has heard anecdotally that this has fostered resentment in the black community.

Whether the Pentagon was fair in its treatment of the two women is beside the point, Mr. Segal says; the perception is all that matters. "The Department of Defense needed a hero, and it was nice to have one who was pretty and blond," he says. "I've heard a great deal about that."