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Hispanic
recruiting Double-edged sword
USA TODAY March 3, 2006 Commentary by Raul Reyes http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20060303/cm_usatoday/hispanicrecruitingdoubleedgedsword
When I was in 10th grade, the Army set up a mobile recruiting station in
the parking lot of my East Los Angeles high school. I stopped by long
enough to pick up a free pair of gym trunks emblazoned "Army." I wore
them a lot until my father, an Army veteran himself, discarded them
without asking me. I was annoyed at my dad. Although I had no intention
of enlisting, I felt cool and macho in my Army trunks.
Years later, the armed forces' marketing has become more sophisticated,
using tricked-out Hummer displays, hands-on combat simulators and free
meals to entice recruits. Hispanic enlistment has become a top priority.
Bilingual recruiters are a regular presence at high schools with large
Latino populations, and Army advertising has become common on
Spanish-language TV.
Their efforts have become so aggressive that a counter-recruitment
movement has emerged, led by groups such as the Aztec Warrior Project
for Peace. The group says recruiters are glossing over the risks
involved in military service. The fact is, enlistment has slumped among
the general population and fallen ! among blacks. As the country's
largest and fastest-growing minority group, Hispanics are a logical
target. From 2001 to last year, Hispanic enlistments in the Army rose
25%, and 18% in the military overall.
Latinos enlist for the same reasons others do: patriotism, educational
benefits, job training and a sense of purpose. Like other minorities,
Latinos have often seen the military as a path toward social acceptance.
Members of my own family have donned the uniform.
Yet
with our country at war, ! Latinos are uniquely vulnerable to recruiting
material. Hispanics are more likely to attend inferior public schools
than other Americans are. We have high dropout and incarceration rates.
According to the Pew Center, we are younger, poorer and less educated.
The military is a double-edged sword for
many Latinos because it offers opportunities not available in civilian
life, but it is fraught with clear risks. Worse yet, with a few notable
exceptions such as Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the former top commander in
Iraq. Latinos
occupy the lower rungs of the ladder, making up only 4.7% of the officer
corps.
Military service is an honorable commitment. I applaud all Americans who serve. But my heart breaks for those who choose the military because the most dangerous option happens to be their best option.
The military's successful Latino marketing campaign is the flip side
of our governm! ent's failure to provide socioeconomic opportunities
for all. It is a tragic irony that many young people are heading for
Iraq, trying to reach the American dream unattainable at home.
Raul Reyes is an attorney in New York and a member of USA TODAY's
board of contributors
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