corrente

I was going to call this "What If They Gave A War And Nobody (Black) Came"? but my interest in this subject is not racially based, unless you extende the term to "human race." My interest in the subject is aged 16, has an IQ in the neighborhood of 140, good eyesight, nearly perfect health, and is of heterosexual orientation. I live in fear of bad influencers...

(via Fredericksburg VA Free Lance-Star)

THE ARMY'S wartime recruiting challenge is aggravated by a sharp drop in black enlistments over the past four years, which internal Army and Pentagon polls trace to the unpopular war in Iraq and concerns among blacks with Bush administration policies.

The Army strains to meet recruiting goals in part because black volunteers have fallen 41 percent--from 23.5 percent of recruits in fiscal 2000 to 13.9 percent in the first four months of fiscal 2005.

"It's alarming," said Maj. Gen. Michael D. Rochelle, commanding general of the Army Recruiting Command in Fort Knox, Ky.

No single factor explains the drop, he added, but the propensity of black youth to enlist is clearly affected by the war and increasingly by the views of parents, teachers, coaches, clergy and other "influencers."

Officer recruiting is hit, too--down 36 percent since 2001 among blacks in the Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps.

The Marine Corps also reports a drop in black recruits, but its racial data is suspect due to a government policy that allows recruits and all new federal workers to decline to identify their race.

Rep. Charles B. Rangel, a Democrat whose New York City district includes Harlem, wasn't surprised by the Army data.

"I have not found a black person in support of this war in my district," he said. "The fact that every member of the Congressional Black Caucus--emotionally, politically and vigorously--opposes this war is an indication of what black folks think throughout this country."

Because blacks are 14 percent of all recruit-age youth, their recruiting numbers remain "acceptable," proportional to blacks in society, Rochelle said. But the steep drop in black recruits overall does hurt plans "to grow the Army," he conceded. Congress has ordered a 30,000-person increase in the number of active-duty soldiers by October 2009.

Rochelle worries that black youth now "are depriving themselves of pretty substantial opportunities.

"If we were able to tell the Army story in a very balanced way to more young African-Americans, as well as to their influencers, then clearly the numbers would grow," he said. "I'm convinced of that."

Tell ya what, Gen. Rochelle--how about you do a little research at places like Free Republic and Little Green Tomatoes. Do a search (if they have such capabilities; I sure as shit ain't going there myself to find out) for the term "sand nigger." Then do a bit of deep thinking on where the White Feather Brigade of the 101st Fighting Keyboarders might have come up with such a term. It might help you get a handle on part of your problem.

The rest of your recruiting difficulties--particularly in, oh let's say small, poor, very rural schools in West Tennessee--that's me. I'm out there "influencing" my ass off, because you'll take me off to thy Wrack before you take my kid, or any others I get to first.