Page images
PDF
EPUB

Figure 8

Mental Category II

a/
Average Mental Abilities Based on AFQT Test Results
for Male True Volunteers, by Service,
and for the Total U.S. Male Ropulation,

Fiscal Years 1970-73 D

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[ocr errors]

Source: 1970-72, Grissmer and others, "Evaluation of the Modern
Volunteer Army, pp. 53, 95, 137, 172, 221. 1973, updated in
consultation with Grissmer.

a/ Average mental categories are calculated by assigning the
Following values to each mental category group:

[blocks in formation]

b/ Percentages for 1970 and 1973 based on data for last six months

of fiscal 1970 and first nine months of fiscal 1973.

Educational Level

Apart from using AFQT test results as a standard, service personnel planners have found that high school graduates have fewer disciplinary problems than non-graduates. For example, of those high school graduates who enlisted in the Army in fiscal 1971, 3.2 percent had been discharged as "unsuitable" by the end of fiscal 1972; among those who had not completed high school, 12.4 percent had been discharged during the same period (see Table 1-2).

TABLE 1-2-PERCENTAGE OF MALE ENLISTEES DISCHARGED BY THE ARMY AS "UNSUITABLE" IN FISCAL YEARS 1971-72, BY AFQT MENTAL GROUP AND EDUCATIONAL LEVEL

[ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Source: Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Manpower and Reserve Affairs (April 1973).

The services have therefore attempted to attract a high proportion of volunteers who have completed high school. Figure 9, which shows recent trends in the proportion of recruits who were high school graduates for fiscal years 1970-73, suggests that while the proportion of high

Figure 9

Percent 100

75

50

25

0

High School Graduates: Comparison of Initial Accessions,

and of Civilian Labor Force, by Service, Fiscal Years 1970-73

[graphic]
[blocks in formation]

All Services

Source:

Department of Defense, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Manpower and Reserve Affairs (February 1973); and Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (April 1973).

a_/ Percentages for 1973 derived from data for first nine months of fiscal 1973.

"Unsuitability" discharges are given for a variety of reasons. These include: character or behavior disorder, alcoholism, drug abuses, financial irresponsibility, civilian court convictions, court martial, and AWOL or desertion.

school graduates has been declining, the services, except for the Marine Corps, have successfully maintained proportions comparable to or greater than that characterizing the civilian labor force (ages 16-24).

In both the Army and Navy there was a marked decrease in the proportion of high school graduates among true volunteers recruited during the first nine months of fiscal 1973 (see Figure 10). Both services actually recruited more high school graduates during that period than in the same period the previous year but there were unusually high fiscal 1973 accession requirements. Both services have adopted more stringent standards for the latter half of fiscal 1973. As a result, from January through March 1973-traditionally bad months for recruiting high school graduates-60 percent of the Army enlistees and 75 percent of the Navy enlistees were high school graduates.

Figure 10

Percent

High School Graduates: Comparison of True Volunteers, a/ and of Civilian Labor Force, by Service, Fiscal Years 1970-73:

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Sources: D. W. Grissmer, J. D. Pearson and R. Szymanski, "Evaluation of
the Modern Volunteer Army (MVA) Program," RAC-R-147 (Research Analysis
Corporation, 1972; processed) Vol 2, pp. 53, 95, 137 & 221; undated
material provided by the General Research Corporation (April 1973).

a/ Percentages for 1970 and for 1973 derived from data for last six months of fiscal 1970 and first nine months of fiscal 1973, respectively.

Racial Distribution

Growth in the proportion of racial minority groups (nonwhites) in the military enlisted ranks has been quite pronounced during the transiton period.' That proportion, in close coincidence with the national population ratio of whites to nonwhites throughout the sixties, now exceeds the national average by nearly 4 percentage points, as shown in Figure 11.

7 To simplify presentation in this study and because data are available on this basis, racial minority groups are treated as one group and termed nonwhite. According to Department of Defense definition, these are blacks, Indians, Orientals, and Filipinos. Blacks constitute about 85 percent of the nonwhite enlisted military population and about 88 percent of total nonwhite population, ages 17-22 based on 1970 Census data.

Figure 11

Nonwhites as Percentage of Active Duty Enlisted Forces,
All Services, and of Total Population, Calendar Years 1960-72

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]

1960 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72

Sources: 1962, 1964-72, Military data provided by the Department of Defense, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Manpower and Reserve Affairs (April 1973); 1960-61, 1963, authors' estimates; 1960-70, total male population (nonwhites), U.S. Bureau of the Census, U.S. Census of Population: 1960, General Population Characteristics, United States Summary (1962), Table 42, p. 1-143; 1970-72, U.S. Bureau of the Census, U.S. Census of Population: 1970. General Population Characteristics, United States Summary (1972), Table 52, 1-273.

Figure 12 depicts recent trends by Service.

Figure 12

Nonwhites as Percentage of Active Duty Enlisted Forces,
by Service, Calendar Years 1970-72

[merged small][merged small][graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Sources: Military data, provided by the Department of Defense, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Manpower and Reserve Affairs (April 1973); total male population, U. S. Census of. Population: 1970, General Population Characteristics, Table 52,. pp. 1-269, 1-273.

a/ Males aged 17-44 in 1970.

Because of the low proportion of nonwhite officers, the comparison is less striking when all military personnel are included. The nonwhite proportion in the armed forces is reduced to 14.2 percent, which is about 2.0 percentage points above the national average.

Figure 13 depicts the steadily rising proportion of nonwhites to whites in initial accessions (inductions and initial enlistments) from 1960-73. The increase in nonwhite accessions, from 12.8 percent in 1970 to 17.6 percent in 1973, stands in sharp contrast to the slow, but steady, growth in the proportion of military-age, nonwhite males in the total population during the period.

The increase can be explained in part by the fact that the proportion of true volunteers who are nonwhite has been increasing over the past few years: in 1970, the proportion was 14.4 percent; in 1971, 16.8 percent; in 1972, 19.8 percent; and in 1973, 19.6 percent.

Figure 13

8

[blocks in formation]

Sources: Military data provided by the Department of Defense, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Manpower and Reserve Affairs (April 1973); 1960-1970, total male population, U.S. Census of Population: 1960, General Population Characteristics, Table 52 pp. 1-269, 1-273; 1970-73, total male population, U.S. Census of Population: 1970, General Population Characteristics, Table 42, p. 1-143.

a/ Males aged 17-22 in 1970.

The proportion reached a peak at about 20 percent in fiscal 1972, a level that remained fairly constant through the first nine months of fiscal 1973.

Assuming pay comparability is maintained, what happens in the future in regard to the racial composition of the military services will depend partly on the standards established by the services for volunteers. On the basis of present test scores, changes in these standards could substantially affect the composition of volunteers, as can be seen in Figure 14.

Proportions are indicated by service in Figure 15, which shows that, in fiscal 1973, the nonwhite proportion of total enlistments for each service, except the Navy, exceeded the national average.

8 Department of Defense, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Manpower and Reserve Affairs (April 1973). Data are for first nine months of fiscal 1973.

« PreviousContinue »