Today, every branch of the American military is facing an alarming shortage of new recruits. Thousands of young minority men and women are unwilling to participate in a war they consider unnecessary and unjust. They are no longer willing to sacrifice their lives and endure the hardships of military life for a war in Afghanistan and Iraq. As a result, record numbers of African-American, Hispanic and Native-American youth are refusing to join.
Thousands of active-duty military personnel have gone AWOL (Absent without Leave) since the start of Bush’s War on Terror. The most recent Pentagon figures reveal that more than 5,000 troops are missing from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines.
From the Revolutionary War, where Crispus Attucks was the first to fall, through the Civil War, up until today, blacks have served this country with distinction, despite suffering segregation, lynching and Jim Crow discrimination. But, lately, enlistments have fallen significantly short of recruitment goals.
Askia Muhammad, of the Final Call, confirmed the number of young American men and women volunteering to serve in the U.S. military are declining, with young blacks leading the way. What was once a career option for youngsters who couldn’t afford college has now become an unsure and unsafe gamble.
All branches of service have fallen behind their 2005 recruitment goals. Young blacks (and black women in particular) “are marching away from offers to join the army,” according to an article by Robert Burns of Associated Press, a trend that suggests “the military’s largest service may be entering a prolonged recruiting slump at a time when it is trying to expand its ranks.”
The Washington Post reported that the percentage of new African-American army recruits “has slipped dramatically over the past five years.” In fiscal 2000, blacks made up 23.5 percent of army recruits; that number has now fallen to less than 14 percent, a 40 percent decrease. A Defense Department survey indicated that administration policies and the Iraq war have lowered the propensity of black youth to enlist, particularly in the Army and Marine Corps, the ground forces taking most of the casualties.
Although African Americans have participated in every major U.S war, it appears that President Bush’s lack of respect for the NAACP, Juneteenth and other black and civil rights causes is being reflected in the lack of military recruitment amongst African Americans. People are finally waking up and refusing to sacrifice their lives so the rich and powerful can continue to ignore the poor and powerless.
Equality, health care, fair and equitable housing and the hundreds of other issues that affect the grass roots are catching up with Bush and his war machine. And, now, amendments to the “No Child Left Behind act stipulate that public schools must provide student records to military recruiters, so perhaps the president’s cronies who drafted the legislation can fill the numbers from their ranks. Maybe their sons and daughters will enlist and volunteer to serve on the front lines.
What do you think? I can be reached by fax at (314) 837-3369 or by e-mail at: berhay@swbell.net.
