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Jemah
Lieutenant
Joined: 04 Mar 2005
Posts: 209
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 Tue Mar 08, 2005 4:32 pm Army Finds Recruiting Young Blacks Tougher |
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| Quote: | Army Finds Recruiting Young Blacks Tougher
Study Says Branch's Image Suffering Among All Groups of Youth
By ROBERT BURNS, AP
WASHINGTON (March  - Young blacks have grown markedly less willing to join the Army, citing fear of being sent to fight a war in Iraq they don't believe in, according to unpublicized studies for the military that suggest the Army is entering a prolonged recruiting slump.
Fear of combat also is a leading reason fewer young women are choosing the Army, the studies say. Although female soldiers are barred by law from assignments in direct combat, they nonetheless have found themselves under attack by insurgents in Iraq, and 32 have died.
''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.''
Statistically, the fear factor is about twice as strong among potential recruits as a whole as it was in 2000, the study said. That and other studies, all of which are posted on an obscure Defense Department Web site, cited the Iraq war as a major turnoff for many.
The Army has suffered more of the 1,500-plus U.S. deaths in Iraq than any other service, and thousands have been wounded. Some soldiers will serve their second tour in Iraq this year. While Army leaders say soldiers have shown a strong interest in re-enlisting, the strains of war seem to have become a barrier to first-time enlistees.
The Army's recruiting challenge is critically important not only to the long-term commitment in Iraq but also to the Army's goal of expanding by 30,000 soldiers. Through the first five months of the budget year which began last Oct. 1, the active Army is about 6 percent behind schedule to meet its 2005 recruiting goal.
Explaining the overall drop-off, Army officials cite an improving national economy that offers more career opportunities as well as concern about the war in Iraq.
Blacks make up about 23 percent of today's active-duty Army, but the share of blacks in the recruit classes of recent years dropped. From 22.7 percent at the time of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the share slid to 19.9 percent in 2002; 16.4 percent in 2003 and 15.9 percent last year, according to figures provided by Army Recruiting Command spokesman Douglas Smith.
The slide has continued, dropping to 13.9 percent as of Feb. 9.
A July 2004 study of parents' influence on young people of recruiting age found that black parents have more say in their child's career decisions than is the case with white parents. Also, black parents trust the military less and have more moral objections to military service.
The Army isn't the only service having trouble finding recruits. The Marine Corps fell slightly short of its recruiting goal in January - the first month that had happened in nearly a decade - amid parents' concerns about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, the Marines remain on target to meet their full-year goal.
The Navy and Air Force have had no problems meeting their goals.
A separate study, done shortly after President Bush declared major combat operations in Iraq had ended, concluded, ''Combat is the number one reason why'' blacks don't want to join the Army.
Smith, the Army Recruiting Command spokesman, said Monday that the current, reduced level of black recruits is closer to the percentage of young blacks in the eligible population. ''Our strategy of being representative of America is working,'' he said.
As recently as 2001, before the global war on terrorism, young people tended to think of military service as less risky. The 1991 Gulf War had ended after only 100 hours of ground combat with relatively few deaths, and no American soldier died in the 1999 air war over Kosovo.
Females also are getting harder to recruit, with the share of females in Army recruiting classes falling for four years running, from 21.6 percent in 2001 to 19.2 percent last year. It has slipped still further this year to 17.1 percent.
''Over time, females are seeing less benefits to joining the Army and more barriers, particularly combat-related reasons,'' concluded another study done for the Army last spring by the market research firm Millward Brown.
Another study cited a survey that said 50 percent of youth rate the Army as their last choice for a career.
''There is a lot of work to be done, and it will take a lot of time to make major changes in the Army experience and the Army's image,'' that study concluded. ''Risks of military service, and particularly the Army, are perceived to far outweigh the rewards for the vast majority of youth.''
03-08-05 10:26 EST
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL. |
i could see this coming..
what are your thoughts?
EDITED TO PUT ARTICLE IN QUOTES
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Birdy
Socialist
Joined: 20 Sep 2004
Posts: 13502
Location: Here.
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| Tue Mar 08, 2005 4:49 pm |
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Yeah, me too. Such a war as in Iraq, where you see many young (!) militairs come back from, severly injured for life (just one leg, all day long nerv pain)... I was very shocked when I saw that. Just boys, 20 or 19 years old! 
Course kids don't look at it as they used to, the Gulf war was a better example for them than the war in Iraq is now. That is, if they wanted to join the army. As you can see, they aren't so eager now..
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Nosce te ipsum
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Jemah
Lieutenant
Joined: 04 Mar 2005
Posts: 209
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| Tue Mar 08, 2005 4:51 pm |
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yeah and seeing as how this war isn't worth *beep* anyway, i can completely understand. and the fact that it is *beep* is showing. 
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Birdy
Socialist
Joined: 20 Sep 2004
Posts: 13502
Location: Here.
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| Tue Mar 08, 2005 4:54 pm |
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Exactly. I've explicitly told my boyfriend that he can't join the army. I just don't want that. He will be traumatized for life, come on, they just kill people there! My god! I would have my hands full on him. No way, no how, no mam. Thank you. I'd rather have him to be a garbageman 
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Nosce te ipsum
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Leo Wyatt
Sweetest Angel
Joined: 25 Feb 2004
Posts: 19045
Location: Investigating A Crime Scene. What did Quark do this time?
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| Tue Mar 08, 2005 5:17 pm |
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U know, if there was no army who the hell would protect you from terrorist? My husband is in army and he is proud to be an American soldier to lay down his life for people even for those who don't deserve it umm people who bashes what he does.
But my husband isn't black either. but color does not matter. Black and white soldiers.
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Republican_Man
STV's Premier Conservative
Joined: 26 Mar 2004
Posts: 14823
Location: Classified
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| Tue Mar 08, 2005 6:57 pm |
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| Rbgirl wrote: | U know, if there was no army who the hell would protect you from terrorist? My husband is in army and he is proud to be an American soldier to lay down his life for people even for those who don't deserve it umm people who bashes what he does.
But my husband isn't black either. but color does not matter. Black and white soldiers. |
Yes, and we (at least most of us here, I'm sure) honor him for that. That articil is just quite ridiculous.
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"Rights are only as good as the willingness of some to exercise responsibility for those rights- Fmr. Colorado Senate Pres. John Andrews
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webtaz99
Commodore
Joined: 13 Nov 2003
Posts: 1229
Location: The Other Side
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| Tue Mar 08, 2005 7:46 pm |
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| Belanna1985 wrote: | | Exactly. I've explicitly told my boyfriend that he can't join the army. I just don't want that. He will be traumatized for life, come on, they just kill people there! My god! I would have my hands full on him. No way, no how, no mam. Thank you. I'd rather have him to be a garbageman |
I don't say this to offend you, but thank God everybody doesn't feel that way or we'd be writing German now.
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