Study shows 41% drop in number of black Army recruits since 2000

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=27532



The Army’s wartime recruiting challenge is aggravated by a sharp drop in black enlistments over the last four years, which internal Army and Defense Department polls trace to an unpopular war in Iraq and concerns among blacks with Bush administration policies.

The Army is straining to meet recruiting goals in part because the number of black volunteers has fallen 41 percent — from 23.5 percent of recruits in fiscal 2000 down steadily to 13.9 percent in the first four months of fiscal 2005.

“It’s alarming,” said Maj. Gen. Michael D. Rochelle, commanding general of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command in Fort Knox, Ky.

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Officer recruiting is hit, too. Black enrollment in the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program is down 36 percent since 2001.
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now couple that info with this:


U.S. should look beyond border to recruit troops

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.mpl/editorial/outlook/3059805


Recruit foreigners to serve with promise of citizenship

(we are already doing this and I read an article saying more of this kind of troops have died in Iraq and Afghanistan then americans)

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Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Bush has expedited the naturalization process for soldiers. But to enlist, the Pentagon requires either proof of citizenship or a green card. Out of an active-duty force of about 1.4 million, only 108,803 are foreign-born (7 percent) and 30,541 are noncitizens (2 percent).

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The military would do well today to open its ranks not only to legal immigrants but also to illegal ones and, as important, to untold numbers of young men and women who are not here now but would like to come. No doubt many would be willing to serve for some set period in return for one of the world's most precious commodities — U.S. citizenship. Open up recruiting stations from Budapest to Bangkok, Cape Town to Cairo, Montreal to Mexico City. Some might deride those who sign up as mercenaries, but these troops would have significantly different motives than the usual soldier of fortune.

The simplest thing to do would be to sign up foreigners for the regular U.S. military, but it would also make sense to create a unit whose enlisted ranks would be composed entirely of non-Americans, led by U.S. officers and NCOs.

Call it the Freedom Legion. As its name implies, this unit would be modeled on the French Foreign Legion, except, again, U.S. citizenship would be part of the "pay." And rather than fighting for U.S. security writ small — the way the Foreign Legion fights for the glory of France — it would have as its mission defending and advancing freedom across the world. It would be, in effect, a multinational force under U.S. command — but one that wouldn't require the permission of France, Germany or the United Nations to deploy.
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"the simplest thing to do" is bring the troops home now and stop invading countries that are not attacking us.

how crass of Boot (the writer) to want the non US to die for us.

after december 7th people COULD NOT wait to join the service, to the point people had to be TURNED AWAY.

Now people cannot wait to say no, or to leave the service.

PNAC was not counting on this folks