By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer 

Posted Oct. 3, 2007 – Black lawmakers joined forces Tuesday to find out from the Department of Defense why so few people of color are being given the opportunity to make rank and become part of the military’s leadership.

Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.) asked for a meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff to discuss why Blacks and Latinos are over-represented in the enlisted ranks and underrepresented in the officer ranks.  The meeting took place with lower-ranking Pentagon officers, and no one was happy with the results.

 “I was disappointed that the Joint Chiefs were not there,” Meek said. “It’s not a good thing when you bring the majority whip to the Pentagon, you bring several chairs of committees to the Pentagon, for a meeting to take place, and for those individuals who are making the decisions not to be present is unacceptable.”
Rep. Bobby Scott, (D-Va.) said, “We have a two-fold problem.  One is to make sure we get diversity into the lower ranks, and two is to make sure that once they get in that they get the opportunities to move up.”

Making rank in the military isn’t easy.  Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, (D-Ohio) told reporters, “The military needs to be involved in the process of increasing diversity in the leadership of the military by using mentoring programs and other various ways.”

Meek said this is why it’s so important to open a dialogue about diversity with the military now.  “If you go to a young African American or Hispanic and say in 21 to 22 years you can become a one-star general; nine times out of 10, they will opt for another field with faster upward mobility,” he said.

For example, Meek said that a commissioned officer who starts training in 2007 won’t become a one-star general until 2033 – that’s if they are deemed worthy of that star. 

Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee (D-Tex.) called the lack of upward mobility a crisis. “Of the 207,000 commissioned officers, 17,000 are African American, which is less than 10 percent.  And one, I said ‘one,’ four-star general.”

Minorities accounted for 15.3 percent of all officers 10 years ago, and that was an increase from 7.5 percent 20 years earlier.  Today, just over 38 percent of all officers in the four branches are minorities, which includes women; African Americans are only 8.7 percent of the officers but make up 20 percent of the enlisted ranks.

Freshman Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) said, “I am disappointed with the lack of enthusiasm, the lack of innovation, the lack of ability for our U.S. military to recognize that there is a crisis.”

Would you make the military a career?