Population Diversity and the U.S. Army

At times, an institution needs to examine itself and take stock of its future. The “Army” writ large as an institution is, above all, an assembly of people—all with a common bond and task. This book deals with the vital question of how the United States armed forces in general, and the Army as an institution in particular, can best accommodate in their recruiting efforts the rapid changes in U.S. population patterns over the next half century. It is an effort at self-examination. The book is an outgrowth of convergent initiatives on the part of two American educational institutions—the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, and Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia the two having formed a fruitful partnership to co-sponsor a conference titled “Population Diversity and the U.S. Army in 2030,” held at Spelman College on August 7, 1998. The Army War College, through its Strategic Outreach Program, makes a concerted effort to connect with various American civilian entities not only to promote mutual understanding, but also to find collaborative solutions for military problems that ultimately affect all Americans. Spelman College, positioned at the core of the network of historically black colleges in Atlanta and having a student body of black women, provided an ideal venue for examining issues regarding demographic and ethnic change that we expect in America over the next several decades. We should acknowledge as well the yeoman assistance of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command located at Fort Knox, Kentucky, which provided to conferees useful briefings wholly devoid of academic vapors, focusing rather upon the unvarnished realities of future projections of the composition of America’s population. Our Recruiting Command colleagues also discussed in clear terms the Army’s efforts to enlist women and members of other diverse groups in the recruiting market of today—and what we can expect tomorrow. This book is not intended as a transcript of all conference proceedings. Rather, it is an anthology of selected presentations that not only portrays the main challenges confronting those who must staff the future force in the face of unprecedented demographic flux, but also provides the attitudes and hopes of women and minorities who are part of today’s Army. The reader should pay particular attention to Chapter 2, which examines the Russian military. Its author, Robert Pringle, gives us a case study in what happens when an institution collapses because it can not accommodate diversity and change.