***** _Population Representation in the Military Services -- Fiscal Year 1999_, Chapter 2 "Characteristics of Active Component Accessions -- Race/Ethnicity" (November 2000)
Significant racial/ethnic differences exist among the Services, as shown in Table 2.5. Approximately 40 and 41 percent of Army and Navy accessions, respectively, are minorities, as compared to 32 percent of Marine Corps recruits and 31 percent of Air Force recruits. The overall percentage of minority recruits increased slightly from 36 percent in FY 1998 to 37 percent in FY 1999....
Blacks. In FY 1999, Blacks comprised nearly 20 percent of enlisted recruits, approximately 6 percentage points more than in the civilian population (14 percent). The Army continues to have the highest percentage of Black accessions, 24 percent in FY 1999....
While Black men comprise nearly 18 percent of DoD male recruits, Black women make up more than 29 percent of female recruits (Table 2-5 [@ <http://dod.mil/prhome/poprep99/html/chapter2/c2_race.htm>] and Appendix Table B-3 [@ <http://dod.mil/prhome/poprep99/html/appendices/B_3.html>]). Black women in FY 1999 comprised 36 percent of Army female recruits, 27 percent of Navy female recruits, 19 percent of Marine Corps female recruits, and 25 percent of Air Force female recruits. In comparison, the proportion of Black men ranged from 13 percent of Marine Corps male recruits to 21 percent of Army male recruits.
Hispanics. As the proportion of Hispanics has been increasing in the civilian population, so has the proportion of enlisted Hispanics. However, Hispanics were underrepresented among enlisted accessions in FY 1999, 11 percent of recruits compared to 15 percent of civilian 18- to 24-year-olds. The Marine Corps had the highest proportion of Hispanic accessions (14 percent) in FY 1999, followed by the Army, Navy, and Air Force (11, 11, and 7 percent, respectively).
The proportion of Hispanic accessions has increased over the years (Appendix Table D-7 [@ <http://dod.mil/prhome/poprep99/html/appendices/D_7.html>]). In FY 1983, less than 4 percent of new recruits were Hispanic. Today, nearly 11 percent of enlisted accessions are Hispanic. One factor influencing the representation of Hispanics in the military is high school graduation rates; Hispanics are less likely to earn a high school diploma than those in other racial/ethnic groups. [5] In FY 1999, 59 percent of 18- to 24-year-old Hispanics completed high school (Tier 1) or earned an alternative credential (Tier 2) compared to 73 percent of Blacks and 84 percent of Whites.
In contrast to Black females, Hispanic females are slightly less represented among female recruits than Hispanic men are among male recruits. Approximately 11 percent of NPS [Non Prior Service] accessions are Hispanic; 11 percent of male recruits and 10 percent of female recruits are Hispanic.
"Other" minorities. Members of "Other" racial minorities (e.g., Native Americans, Asians, and Pacific Islanders) are approaching 7 percent; they are slightly overrepresented in the Services. The proportion of "Other" minorities ranges from 5 to 10 percent in the Services, with the Navy having the largest percentage. In the civilian population, 5 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds are "Other" racial minorities, an increase of more than 2 percentage points since FY 1981....
[Endnotes Ommitted. <http://dod.mil/prhome/poprep99/html/chapter2/c2_race.htm>.] *****
***** _Population Representation in the Military Services -- Fiscal Year 1999_, Chapter 7 "Socioeconomic Status in Perspective" (November 2000)
...Three systematic analyses of the socioeconomic composition of accessions during the volunteer period suggest that little has changed with the All Volunteer Force. All found that members of the military tended to come from backgrounds that were somewhat lower in socioeconomic status than the U.S. average, but that the differences between the military and the comparison groups were relatively modest. [5] These results have been confirmed in recent editions of this report, which portray a socioeconomic composition of enlisted accessions similar to the population as a whole, but with the top quartile of the population underrepresented. [6] While the socioeconomic status of recruits is slightly lower than the general population, today's recruits have higher levels of education, measured aptitudes, and reading skills than their civilian counterparts....
5] See (1) Cooper, R.V.L., Military Manpower and the All-Volunteer Force (Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1977), pp. 223-250; (2) Fredland, J.E. and Little, R.D., Socioeconomic Characteristics of the All Volunteer Force: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey, 1979 (Annapolis, MD: U.S. Naval Academy, 1982); (3) Fernandez, R.L., Social Representation in the U.S. Military (Washington, DC: Congressional Budget Office, October 1989).
[6] See Population Representation in the Military Services, Fiscal Years 1991-1997.
<http://dod.mil/prhome/poprep99/html/chapter7/c7-perspective.htm> *****
Access the full report at <http://dod.mil/prhome/poprep99/html/contents/contents.htm>.
Soldiers tend to be more working-class than civilians, disproportionately people of color, but somehow with "higher levels of education, measured aptitudes, and reading skills than their civilian counterparts," if the above Department of Defense report is correct. Exactly the sort of people that we want for any social movement on the left!
Postscript: Since the fiscal year 2000, the DoD's annual reports on "Population Representation in the Military Services" have failed to include a chapter on "Socioeconomic Status in Perspective" -- see <http://dod.mil/prhome/poprep2000/html/contents/contents.htm>. -- Yoshie
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