COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: Youth of Color
More Blacks Deciding Not to Serve
Associated Press
March 6, 2006
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- War. College. A better job. The answers are as
numerous as the number of young black people who are deciding against a
military career.
Defense Department statistics show that the number of black active-duty
enlisted personnel has declined 14 percent since 2000.
The decrease is particularly acute among the troops most active in the
Middle East: The number of black enlisted soldiers has dropped by 19
percent and the number of black enlisted Marines has fallen by 26
percent in the same period.
Even in this area near Fort Bragg, where serving in uniform is a family
tradition, the drop in Army enlistment by blacks from 2000 to 2005
matches the national average.
Kashonda Leycock is the daughter of a soldier, and the 17-year-old has
been a member of the Junior ROTC at Westover High School for more than two
years.
She joined to prove to her parents and herself she could do it -- not
because she wants to join the military. She doesn't. Her primary
objection is the war in Iraq.
"Why are we fighting?" Leycock asked. "Nobody has really said why the
war is still going on. I don't think it should be going on because it's not
solving anything. ... None of my people want to go there."
The lack of support for the war by blacks -- in uniform or not -- is
striking. A poll of Cumberland County residents, commissioned last year
by The Fayetteville Observer, showed that 69 percent of whites said the
war in Iraq was worth the costs. Only 19 percent of blacks agreed.
The survey, conducted between March 31 and April 18, found that 71
percent of whites with military ties believed the Iraq war was worth fighting,
but only 21 percent of blacks with military ties.
Curtis Gilroy, who works on recruiting issues for the Department of
Defense, said that sentiment has been noticed nationwide -- and with
concern.
"We want to make sure all recruits see the military as a viable career
option. But we also understand the reservations that individuals might
have," he said.
He noted the influence of adults such as parents, teachers and
ministers on young people -- and how their opposition to the war would make them
less likely to recommend a military career.
"Mothers, in particular within the black community, play a more
prominent role and are far less likely to recommend military service," Gilroy
said.
Despite the declines, the percentage of blacks in the military
continues to exceed the percentage in the U.S. population. Nineteen percent of the
military's active-duty enlisted force is black, compared to 13 percent
of the country's population.
And there are young black people who do see that career option, despite
or even because of the Iraq war.
Tyrell Rembert, a Westover senior, is a private in the North Carolina
Army National Guard. He joined in April 2004 at the age of 17, picking the
Guard over active duty so he could begin training before graduation.
He said he joined because he knows people who have served and are
serving in Iraq.
"I wanted to be able to help them out, I guess you'd say," he said.
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