Racial Divide Evident in the Military

[Paranoid Pessimist]

And, in my view, in the coverage of the military. I think of the "Salute to Fallen Heroes" or whatever it's called shown on CBS Evening News where they present someone killed that day in Iraq. I've watched a lot of those and have never seen an African American presented. I did see a couple of hispanics, and there may have been black fallen heroes that I missed. But the impression that is conveyed to me is that all the fallen heroes over there are middle class small town young white men with great senses of humor and great devotion to their families.

Well, here's the article:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/story/363387p-309512c.html

[Dan]

1. There is no racial divide with our fallen soldiers...

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[Captain Hilts]

2. The infantry is whiter than other parts of the army.

Blacks learned their lesson in Vietnam and are more likely to be in support or logistical units rather than infantry.

[Dan]

3. Nope, I don't think that it is that

but rather, I suspect that a lot of the combat that is taking place is probably specialized units.

Plus, I think that the Iraq fighters are taking on the soft targets - so maybe not engaging the 11B or other Combat Units, directly.

[Captain Hilts]

4. The infantry IS whiter.

The percentage of minorities in support units is much higher.

I've read a couple of articles about this and live in a military community.

[pbeal]

5. he is right infantry is much whiter

after 8 years in several infantry units I can say that whites outnumber blacks in the infantry at least 10 to 1 if not more in some units like the ranger battalions. While at the same time Ive seen some support units that were almost 100% black

[Igel]

6. For data, see this link.

http://www.dior.whs.mil/mmid/casualty/oif-deaths-total.pdf

As of Nov. 5:
Male 1998
Female 44

White 1510
Black 215
Latino 220
Other "racial" categories listed, as well.

It includes hostile as well as non-hostile. And I suspect that if non-hostile deaths were excluded (things like cars turning over or choppers failing) the racial "divide" would be skewed even more.