Reply #6: Compare this article with the Dec 2005 story

[Maq]

In my opinion, American Society has incarcerated so many millions of Blacks,(this includes those who are out of prison but with a felony record) that a large proportion of the black population is ineligible even with a waiver.


Published on Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Fewer African-Americans Enlisting in the Military

by Drew Brown WASHINGTON -

Fewer African-Americans are joining the Army, a trend likely to make it harder to keep the all-volunteer military at full strength.
The percentage of African-Americans among all those who signed up for active-duty Army service fell from 24 percent in 2000 to 14 percent in 2005, according to Army statistics. That's the lowest percentage since 1973, when the draft ended and the all-volunteer military began, say David R. Segal and Mady Wechsler Segal, sociologists with the University of Maryland's Center for Research on Military Organization.


In the past, African-Americans have enlisted at higher rates than their overall percentage of the U.S. population, which was 12.9 percent in the 2000 census. "These trends may spell trouble for the Army, which has depended on blacks to meet its recruiting goals and re-enlistment targets," the Segals wrote in a November study.


In 1974, blacks made up 27 percent of new Army recruits and 21 percent of new Marine recruits, 16 percent of Air Force enlistees and 10 percent of Navy enlistees, according to the study.

"Basically, what has happened over time with the all-volunteer force is that the Army has become sort of dependent on the overrepresentation of African-American recruits, who have been more inclined to stay," David Segal said in an interview.
Blacks have tended to enlist in administrative, medical and support specialties, the Segal study said...

The rest of the story at commondreams
SOURCE: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1221-04.htm