Sherrel Wheeler Stewart, BlackAmericaWeb.com
In the five years since the United States launched the Iraq war with a predawn strike on Baghdad on March 20, 2003, black enlistment in the armed services has dropped significantly, according to Department of Defense statistics. That decrease impacts the military and the black community, both observers and veterans say.
“There has been a 50 percent drop in recent years in the number of blacks enlisting in the Army and Marines,” said retired Navy Commander Gregory Black, founder of the website BlackMilitaryWorld.com.
