Military Struggles to Recruit Hispanics [View All]

Military Struggles to Recruit Hispanics

By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Feb 8, 2009 8:52:30 EST

The military and Congress want the ranks to roughly mirror the racial and ethnic makeup of America. But the services can’t seem to recruit enough Hispanics — even though that community tends to view the military positively.

A new study by the Rand Corp. think tank says that’s because Hispanics, more than other racial and ethnic groups, typically come up short in high school graduation rates, test scores and in meeting military weight standards.

As such, many young Hispanics fall into the military’s second tier of most desirable recruit candidates — below high school graduates who are physically fit and score in the top three categories on the Armed Forces Qualification Test. The best-qualified Hispanics, Rand said, have excellent civilian job prospects, making the military a tougher sell.

As a result, their numbers in the military lag behind the percentage of Hispanics in the U.S. population, the study says.

But at the same time, polls show that Hispanic youth have a strong affinity for the military — and once in the service, they, like black recruits, have consistently higher retention and faster promotion speeds than their white counterparts, the study says. The exception is in the Navy, where whites are promoted faster than Hispanics.

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