FreeRepublic , LLC
PO BOX 9771
FRESNO, CA 93794
STOP BY AND BUMP THE FUNDRAISER THREAD
Posted on 01/21/2003 1:38:52 PM PST by strider44
Front-line troops disproportionately white, not black Numbers refute long-held belief By Dave Moniz
and Tom Squitieri USA TODAY
WASHINGTON -- The American troops likeliest to fight and die in a war against Iraq are disproportionately white, not black, military statistics show -- contradicting a belief widely held since the early days of the Vietnam War.
In a little-publicized trend, black recruits have gravitated toward non-combat jobs that provide marketable skills for post-military careers, while white soldiers are over-represented in front-line combat forces.
The tilt toward white combat troops is recognized by many senior commanders and a small group of scholars who study the military.
''If anybody should be complaining about battlefield deaths, it is poor, rural whites,'' says Charles Moskos, a military sociologist at Northwestern University in Illinois.
When Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., called recently for the return of a military draft, he evoked images of inequality raised during the early years of the Vietnam War, when black soldiers died at rates much greater than their share of the U.S. population.
Though Rangel is right that blacks and lower-income Americans still serve in disproportionate numbers, that fact misses another significant trend. While blacks are 20% of the military -- compared with 12% of the U.S. population -- they make up a far smaller percentage of troops in combat jobs on the front line.
In a host of high-risk slots -- from Army commandos to Navy and Air Force fighter pilots -- blacks constitute less than 5% of the force, statistics show.
Blacks, especially in the enlisted ranks, tend to be disproportionately drawn to non-combat fields such as unit administration and communications. They are underrepresented in jobs shooting rifles or dropping bombs.
Examples:
* Of the Army's 45,586 enlisted combat infantryman, 10.6% are black.
* Of the Air Force's 12,000 pilots, 245, or about 2%, are black.
* In the Navy, 2.5% of the pilots are black.
Senior Air Force officials say they are troubled by the number of black pilots and plan to do better.
* The Army's enlisted Green Berets are among the least diverse groups in the military. Only 196 of the Army's 4,278 enlisted Green Berets -- fewer than 5% -- are black.
The reasons for the racial divide are unclear, but several theories have emerged, including lingering racism in some quarters of the military and a tendency among black recruits to choose jobs that help them find work in the civilian sector.
Racism? lets see you take an A.S.V.A.B. test when you first sign up to evaluate where best your skills can serve you go through boot camp and throught the various schools after boot camp to sharpen those skills and these skills mostly draw off the information derived from how well your A.S.V.A.B. turned out if your just an enlisted man you know what your going to do almost from the time you talk to your recruiter [ of course recruiter sometimes will promise things he has no control over. ]
For instance after my A.S.V.A.B i had 3 choices of schools [B T.]Boiler Tech [M M.] Machinist Mate. [G M.] Gunners Mate i knew i wasnt going to spend my life in the military so for me it was a toss up between BT and MM i chose BT because the skills i learned transfered directly to what ive been doing in civilian life and still am doing there was nothing racist about it !
The choice these people make are their own .
Bringing racism into it is just another ploy to discredit our armed services .
It also helps when people use the true headline and dont change it to spice it up.
EASY big boy i wasnt refering to you i was refering to the article at the bottom of it the paragraph that ends it .
As far as i can see you made no comment your comment block is empty!
Thats it? This country of 280+ million is relying on 45,586 infantrymen?!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.