thedrifter
05-05-06, 04:57 AM
So proudly they serve
Web Posted: 05/05/2006 12:00 AM CDT
Sig Christenson
Express-News Military Writer
Jose Martinez is gung-ho for the Marines, eagerly awaiting boot camp late this summer after graduating from South San Antonio High School.
"I think I would like the life of wearing the uniform and being around the neighborhood," the 18-year-old said. "I think I would get a lot more respect."
It wasn't so long ago that the military struggled mightily to woo Hispanics. The problem drew attention from Pentagon policymakers, particularly those in the Army, where recruiting was a problem before the United States invaded Afghanistan and Iraq.
Since 9-11, there's been a surprising shift. And in the past two years, the percentage of Hispanics joining the Army and Army Reserve has been close to their share of the U.S. population — 14.2 percent, census data shows.
The Air Force exceeded the national average in 2005, and has doubled the number of Hispanic recruits over the past five years. The Navy and Marine Corps have gained as well, and today have more Hispanics in uniform than the other services.
Bexar County was the nation's No. 2 source of Hispanic Army recruits in 2004, with 316, according to the Northampton, Mass.-based National Priorities Project, a nonprofit, nonpartisan watchdog group. Only Los Angeles exceeded the San Antonio area, it said Thursday, while Harris County was No. 4 and El Paso County seventh.
Why the change?
"There may not be a good answer," said retired Army Lt. Gen. Roger Thompson, deputy chief of the U.S. Transportation Command from 1997-99.
A potentially rich source of recruits, Hispanics historically have failed to join in numbers proportional to their share of the U.S. population. In 1999, for example, they made up 5.5 percent of Americans in all military branches, even though they were 11.4 percent of the U.S. population.
It's an old issue. When he first began to monitor the phenomenon, University of Maryland military sociologist David Segal said Hispanics as a percentage of active-duty enlisted personnel were less than 4 percent in 1977.
The number remained flat until the mid-1980s, but mysteriously crept into the double digits around five years ago, he said, adding: "I'll be damned if I know the reason."
Some changes may have had an impact. The Army seeks out recruits who earn General Educational Development certificates. Its Education-Plus program puts potential recruits into GED classes — an action likely to help increase the number of Hispanics, who typically have lower high school graduation rates.
So far 1,272 people have used the program since it went into effect in September 2005.
The Army didn't have data showing the number of people enlisting under GED-Plus, a pilot program that ran from February 2000 until September 2003. But the concept has gained little traction with an Army recruiting office near SeaWorld. There, Staff Sgt. Felix Mamber said he's signed up only three or four recruits under the program.
Advertising is another critical factor in the recruiting equation. Armed with a advertising budget that last year topped $300 million, the Army has fine-tuned 30-second TV spots and direct mail to reach ethnic groups "right down to the ZIP code," said Col. Thomas Nickerson, director of strategic outreach for the Army Accessions Command. The Army also added 2,000 recruiters in the past few years, some Hispanic.
"We want to speak to them in their language, culturally, in their media, where they read, where they go on the Internet, what TV programs they watch, and that's done though a tremendous amount of research that we do," he explained.
If an evolving, high-tech science, the Army's slick, targeted ad campaigns are a high-stakes gamble. As the Iraqi insurgency raged last year the Army fell short of its recruiting goal despite a fat ad budget. Oddly, a greater share of Hispanics joined as enlistment among whites and blacks tapered off.
One study done for the Army two years ago found that African Americans shied away from the services in part because of the war, and that youths everywhere were more skeptical about the military.
That's true of Ceballos' high school friends, who he said "think I was stupid for joining, that I will be killed in Iraq, that it will be suicide."
Still, just who is serving — and why — is a big subject. The Air Force turnaround began with a Hispanic recruiting plan in 2003. It put spots on Univision and Telemundo, created a Spanish-language link on the Air Force Web site, and expanded its contacts with LULAC and other groups.
"It didn't happen by accident," Col. Robert East, vice commander of the Air Force Recruiting Service in San Antonio, said of the increase.
Military experts say the question of who joins the armed services is as much about class as it is skin color — a claim the government denies.
The University of Maryland's Segal and Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution, say Southern white men and people from traditional military families are typically drawn to the military and into combat units.
But something else has happened over the past six years, Northwestern University sociologist Charles Moskos said. Hispanic recruiting has been on the rise as the number of African Americans enlistees over the past six years has plummeted.
Hispanics, whose representation in the armed services has virtually tripled from 1977 to 2004, are especially drawn to the Navy and Marines these days. Turnover among first-term Marine enlistees is traditionally high, but it produces one positive byproduct: those returning home as civilians talk up about their adventures in the corps.
Recruiters call such people "influencers" because they can stimulate interest in the military. Martinez, who ships out to San Diego, Calif., on Aug. 1, still recalls the Marine he encountered in fourth grade "doing fun stuff with us like push-ups." Friends joined over the years, he said, and there were uncles in the Navy and Air Force.
Influencers, too, made the difference for Eduardo Ceballos. He was encouraged by his dad, who spent 10 years in the Army, as well as NCOs still in uniform.
"I talked to a lot of sergeants in Army ROTC and (was told) how the Army can do so much for me," he said.
But another factor also pushed Ceballos, an 18-year-old Southwest High School senior who graduated from boot camp last summer and will be a pharmaceutical specialist. His working-class parents cannot afford to send him to college despite the fact that he has a 3.6 grade point average, and dreamed of attending the Citadel, South Carolina's historic military academy.
Boston-area novelist Frank Schaffer said his son, John, served back-to-back Marine combat tours in Afghanistan before going to Iraq — while his friends "went off to swanky colleges."
But angst turns to awe as Schaffer, author of "AWOL: The Unexcused Absence of America's Upper Classes From Military Service — and How It Hurts Our Country," reflected on a visit to the Marines' Parris Island, S.C., boot camp. There, Hispanics talked of why they joined.
"They wanted to give something to their country," he said.
sigc@express-news.net
Ellie
Web Posted: 05/05/2006 12:00 AM CDT
Sig Christenson
Express-News Military Writer
Jose Martinez is gung-ho for the Marines, eagerly awaiting boot camp late this summer after graduating from South San Antonio High School.
"I think I would like the life of wearing the uniform and being around the neighborhood," the 18-year-old said. "I think I would get a lot more respect."
It wasn't so long ago that the military struggled mightily to woo Hispanics. The problem drew attention from Pentagon policymakers, particularly those in the Army, where recruiting was a problem before the United States invaded Afghanistan and Iraq.
Since 9-11, there's been a surprising shift. And in the past two years, the percentage of Hispanics joining the Army and Army Reserve has been close to their share of the U.S. population — 14.2 percent, census data shows.
The Air Force exceeded the national average in 2005, and has doubled the number of Hispanic recruits over the past five years. The Navy and Marine Corps have gained as well, and today have more Hispanics in uniform than the other services.
Bexar County was the nation's No. 2 source of Hispanic Army recruits in 2004, with 316, according to the Northampton, Mass.-based National Priorities Project, a nonprofit, nonpartisan watchdog group. Only Los Angeles exceeded the San Antonio area, it said Thursday, while Harris County was No. 4 and El Paso County seventh.
Why the change?
"There may not be a good answer," said retired Army Lt. Gen. Roger Thompson, deputy chief of the U.S. Transportation Command from 1997-99.
A potentially rich source of recruits, Hispanics historically have failed to join in numbers proportional to their share of the U.S. population. In 1999, for example, they made up 5.5 percent of Americans in all military branches, even though they were 11.4 percent of the U.S. population.
It's an old issue. When he first began to monitor the phenomenon, University of Maryland military sociologist David Segal said Hispanics as a percentage of active-duty enlisted personnel were less than 4 percent in 1977.
The number remained flat until the mid-1980s, but mysteriously crept into the double digits around five years ago, he said, adding: "I'll be damned if I know the reason."
Some changes may have had an impact. The Army seeks out recruits who earn General Educational Development certificates. Its Education-Plus program puts potential recruits into GED classes — an action likely to help increase the number of Hispanics, who typically have lower high school graduation rates.
So far 1,272 people have used the program since it went into effect in September 2005.
The Army didn't have data showing the number of people enlisting under GED-Plus, a pilot program that ran from February 2000 until September 2003. But the concept has gained little traction with an Army recruiting office near SeaWorld. There, Staff Sgt. Felix Mamber said he's signed up only three or four recruits under the program.
Advertising is another critical factor in the recruiting equation. Armed with a advertising budget that last year topped $300 million, the Army has fine-tuned 30-second TV spots and direct mail to reach ethnic groups "right down to the ZIP code," said Col. Thomas Nickerson, director of strategic outreach for the Army Accessions Command. The Army also added 2,000 recruiters in the past few years, some Hispanic.
"We want to speak to them in their language, culturally, in their media, where they read, where they go on the Internet, what TV programs they watch, and that's done though a tremendous amount of research that we do," he explained.
If an evolving, high-tech science, the Army's slick, targeted ad campaigns are a high-stakes gamble. As the Iraqi insurgency raged last year the Army fell short of its recruiting goal despite a fat ad budget. Oddly, a greater share of Hispanics joined as enlistment among whites and blacks tapered off.
One study done for the Army two years ago found that African Americans shied away from the services in part because of the war, and that youths everywhere were more skeptical about the military.
That's true of Ceballos' high school friends, who he said "think I was stupid for joining, that I will be killed in Iraq, that it will be suicide."
Still, just who is serving — and why — is a big subject. The Air Force turnaround began with a Hispanic recruiting plan in 2003. It put spots on Univision and Telemundo, created a Spanish-language link on the Air Force Web site, and expanded its contacts with LULAC and other groups.
"It didn't happen by accident," Col. Robert East, vice commander of the Air Force Recruiting Service in San Antonio, said of the increase.
Military experts say the question of who joins the armed services is as much about class as it is skin color — a claim the government denies.
The University of Maryland's Segal and Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution, say Southern white men and people from traditional military families are typically drawn to the military and into combat units.
But something else has happened over the past six years, Northwestern University sociologist Charles Moskos said. Hispanic recruiting has been on the rise as the number of African Americans enlistees over the past six years has plummeted.
Hispanics, whose representation in the armed services has virtually tripled from 1977 to 2004, are especially drawn to the Navy and Marines these days. Turnover among first-term Marine enlistees is traditionally high, but it produces one positive byproduct: those returning home as civilians talk up about their adventures in the corps.
Recruiters call such people "influencers" because they can stimulate interest in the military. Martinez, who ships out to San Diego, Calif., on Aug. 1, still recalls the Marine he encountered in fourth grade "doing fun stuff with us like push-ups." Friends joined over the years, he said, and there were uncles in the Navy and Air Force.
Influencers, too, made the difference for Eduardo Ceballos. He was encouraged by his dad, who spent 10 years in the Army, as well as NCOs still in uniform.
"I talked to a lot of sergeants in Army ROTC and (was told) how the Army can do so much for me," he said.
But another factor also pushed Ceballos, an 18-year-old Southwest High School senior who graduated from boot camp last summer and will be a pharmaceutical specialist. His working-class parents cannot afford to send him to college despite the fact that he has a 3.6 grade point average, and dreamed of attending the Citadel, South Carolina's historic military academy.
Boston-area novelist Frank Schaffer said his son, John, served back-to-back Marine combat tours in Afghanistan before going to Iraq — while his friends "went off to swanky colleges."
But angst turns to awe as Schaffer, author of "AWOL: The Unexcused Absence of America's Upper Classes From Military Service — and How It Hurts Our Country," reflected on a visit to the Marines' Parris Island, S.C., boot camp. There, Hispanics talked of why they joined.
"They wanted to give something to their country," he said.
sigc@express-news.net
Ellie