@RaceInTheMilitary “Like most paths in life, military service is a mix of constraint and choice. Indeed, the enlisted ranks are tilted down in terms of social class, but this profile is comparable to that of similar occupational skills in the civilian labor force, which the military’s occupational structure has come increasingly to resemble. The military is selective in recruiting from the general population — as of the 2002 fiscal year, 99% of the armed forces had high school diplomas or the equivalent, compared with less than 80% of civilians aged 18 to 44. Eighteen percent of the military is black, compared to 13% of the population, but this figure has been declining — in FY 2002 it was 16% of those entering service. About ten percent of officers are black. No civilian institution approaches the military in the extent to which blacks exercise authority over whites. Military “affirmative action” programs combine maintenance of standards with extended opportunities; civilian institutions – including universities — rarely match this performance. Hispanics are the fastest growing group in the military as in the population but remain at two-thirds of their proportion in the nation – respectively, 10% and 14%.

From any perspective on American citizenship, the military is not just another employer — persons in the armed forces are prepared to risk their lives as servants of the nation’s political will. Whether that will is wise or foolish, risk of death and injury in combat is not an incidental occupational hazard. The distribution of military risks is now shaped by considerations of equity as well as changes in the nature of war. When black soldiers suffered disproportionate battle casualties in the early years of the Vietnam War the military, responding to political pressures, altered its procedures so that casualty figures became proportionate. Of deaths to date in Iraq, casualties among blacks are a third under their proportion in the armed forces service (respectively, 11% versus 18%). While 18% of whites are in combat units, the comparable proportion of blacks is 12%. In limited combat, as currently in Iraq, the participation of whites in point-of-the-spear units is elevated, and casualty rates among whites correspondingly higher. In warfare of larger scale, as earlier in the Iraq campaign, casualty rates among all groups tend to converge. Among combat-related deaths to date in Iraq, graduates of high schools below the poverty line comprise about 30%, the same percentage of such graduates in the population. The Hispanic casualty rate is slightly elevated, in part because Hispanics’ voluntary service in the Marine Corps is a third higher than their proportion in the armed forces.

The modal combat soldier is white, working class, and from modest to limited circumstances. Some enlist in the military for patriotic reasons, some for lack of alternatives, some for educational benefits, some for adventure and in search of maturity, many for several motives. This pattern reflects the mix of military standards and needs, and of constraint and choice in American society. Certainly, limited access to opportunity plays a role in inducing some to enter the armed forces. If this is a scandal, set it next to the egregiously meager presence in the military of graduates from elite universities.”

Excerpt from: http://advocatesforrotc.org/columbia/SilverApril2005.html

@how can they prevent ROTC on campus for being anti-gay when they negotiate with hunger strikers who are anti-thought?