Michigan’s Eaton County has the highest Latino Army recruitment rate in the country at a rate of 7.2 recruits per 1,000. Muskegon County also was near the top of the list with 4.4 recruits per 1,000, making it the county with the thirteenth highest Latino recruitment rate in the country. The national average was 1.2 Latino recruits per 1,000. These numbers, compiled from the Army’s 2004 fiscal year statistics, are just a portion of the data that has been released by the National Priorities Project (NPP) following a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request submitted to the United States Army Recruiting Command by Peacework Magazine.
Back in January of 2006, Media Mouse reported that the military has recruited a disproportionate number of people of color in Kent County and this was also the case with national figures. When data from the NPP is compared with population statistics for the 15 to 24 year old population, with the exception of Latino youth, people of color are recruited into the active duty Army at a percentage greater than their percentage of the total population. In 2004, 16.4% of Active Duty Army recruits were African-American while they made up 14.3% of the population, 4.8% of recruits were Asian/Pacific Islander while making up 4.1% of the population, and Native Americans were 1.3% of recruits while making up 0.9% of the population. The numbers are considerably more disproportionate when one factors in income, with 70% of African-American youth coming from neighborhoods at or below the United States’ median income and 64% of Latino recruits living in such neighborhoods, compared to 57% of white recruits. This reveals what is clearly a class disparity in the active duty Army with households with median incomes at or above $60,000 (125% of the median household income) being under-represented. Interestingly, in those neighborhoods with median incomes over $60,000 white youth make up some 76.1% of the population but yet they only make up 70.2% of recruits while African-Americans make up 11.1% of recruits compared with their 5.5% of the population. In total, neighborhoods with average or below average median incomes were over-represented.
The numbers found that the certain sections of the country are also overrepresented in the Army, finding that 23% of all Army recruits came from the Southeastern United States (Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida) while the region is only 18% of the total United States population. Florida was the third among all states in the total number of Army recruiters. For its part, the Army claims that it “does not target youth from these areas” referring to its success in recruiting in “the Southern United States and rural areas,” but the numbers appear to indicate otherwise. Many of these states in the southern United States have a large number of Army bases and counties where military bases are located often have a recruitment rate higher disproportionate to their total population. Moreover, Georgia, Virginia, and Florida joined New York, Texas, and California in providing 36% of the total number of African-American recruits.
The data also tracks Army recruitment numbers in high schools, paying specific attention to schools with the highest recruitment rates for African-American and Latino youth. The high school numbers confirm the charge that JROTC (Junior Reserve Officer Training Corp.) programs act as vehicles for military recruitment, with 94% of high schools with the most African-American recruits having ROTC programs and 86% of high schools with the most Latino recruits having ROTC programs. Overall, ROTC is offered in 18% of high schools and middle schools and 40 to 45% of ROTC graduates enlist in the military. ROTC is represented as part of the formal curriculum in high schools in all fifty states and is a multi-year program that teaches subject matter relevant to the particular ROTC branch as well as general military history and culture. The Army operates 1,682 programs, the Navy 613, the Air Force 797, and the Marines 216.
Related posts:
- Military Recruits Disproportionate Number of People of Color in Kent County
- Analysis: Military Continues to Rely on People of Color and Low and Middle Income to Fill Ranks
- 372 Soldiers Recruited from Kent County in Fiscal Year 2005
- Early Look at 2008 Army Recruiting Numbers for Michigan
- Military Recruiting Numbers Released for Michigan and the Nation
