Percentage of Black U.S. Army Recruits Plummets

The U.S. Army was roundly criticized in 2003 for its "Taking It To The Streets" campaign, a hip-hop flavored tour aimed at recruiting urban Black kids with pimped-out Hummers featuring popular rappers, blaring boom boxes and off-da-hook merchandise. This year the Army was hit with a stinging attack from award winning filmmaker Michael Moore. His box office smash Fahrenheit 911 lamented the Army's targeting of urban kids as misleading, because it markets a life-changing and possibly life-threatening commitment as a fun, cool consumer choice.  The Army defends the campaign, saying its just good business sense. However, recently the Army's ability to attract Black soldiers has plummeted, a trend that threatens to place further strains on a military already stretched by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Blacks attracted to the force numbered 12,103 or 15.6% of the total enlistment pool, in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, down from a peak of 16,695, or 21% of recruits, in fiscal 2002, statistics gathered by the Army's recruiting command show. The timing of the drop in the share of Black recruits roughly corresponds with the mass movement of troops to the Middle East and the outbreak of the Iraq war. [more ] Pictured above: The Army's "Takin it to the Streets Hummer" used for recruitment.