Active Component Officers
Race/Ethnicity

 

The percentages of minorities among newly commissioned officers and the Active Component officer corps are shown in Table 4.5.  In FY 1999, almost 22 percent of entering officers were minorities—Blacks, Hispanics, and “Others” (e.g., Native Americans, Asians, and Pacific Islanders)—and nearly 17 percent of all commissioned officers on active duty were members of minority groups. The Air Force had the smallest proportion of minority officer accessions at 19 percent and the Army had the largest proportion at more than 23 percent.  The most populous minority group, Blacks, were represented at 9 percent of officer accessions and 8 percent of all active duty officers.

Over the last few years the focus on minority representation within the officer corps has increased.  Concern stems from the appearance of underrepresentation among officers in stark contrast to the trends for the enlisted ranks.  A number of factors contribute to the seeming underrepresentation of Blacks and  Hispanics  (though  not "Other" minorities)  in the officer corps. For reasons too complicated to dissect within this report, minorities disproportionately suffer from poverty and disorderly learning environments. ^[1]   These  risk factors take their toll in the form of lower college enrollment and graduation rates, and, on average, lower  achievement  than  other population groups.  Although  test score trends have improved for minorities over the  past  two  decades, large  average  differences  compared  to  Whites remain. For example, the mean verbal Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) scores for college-bound seniors in 1998 were 526 for Whites and 434 for Blacks; mean math scores were 528 for Whites and 426 for Blacks. ^[2]   In light of these and other factors (e.g., fierce labor market competition for college-educated minorities), ^[3] minority representation among officer accessions appears rather equitable when compared to the 21- to 35-year-old civilian population of college graduates which stands at 7.4 percent Black, 5.3 percent Hispanic, and 9.1 percent “Other.”  Blacks and Hispanics are proportionately represented and “Other” minorities are slightly underrepresented.  

Table 4.5.  FY 1999 Active Component Minority Officer Accessions and Officer Corps, by Service (Percent)
Minority	Army	Navy*		Marine Corps		Air Force		DoD
ACTIVE COMPONENT OFFICER ACCESSIONS
Black	11.6	7.5		7.3		6.9		8.6
Hispanic	4.6	5.5		8.2		1.6		4.3
Other	7.2	9.9		5.2		10.5		8.8
Total Minority Officer Accessions	23.4		22.9		20.6		19.0		21.7
ACTIVE COMPONENT OFFICER CORPS
Black	11.3		6.3		6.5		6.2		7.9
Hispanic	3.8		5.2		4.9		2.2		3.7
Other	5.3		4.6		3.4		5.4		5.0
Total Minority Officers	20.4		16.0		14.8		13.7		16.5
Columns may not add to total due to rounding.  * Navy accession data provided by U.S. Navy, Minority Affairs Office.  “Other" includes Native Americans, Asians, and Pacific  Islanders.  Also see Appendix Table B-34 (Race/Ethnicity by Service).

  Academic achievement differences factor into the divergent racial/ethnic distributions across the commissioning sources as shown in Tables 4.6 and 4.7.  In FY 1999, White and “Other” minority officer accessions were more likely than other racial/ethnic groups to be commissioned via one of the academies, but were less likely to have attended OCS/OTS than other groups.  “Other” racial/ethnic officer accessions were more likely than other groups to have direct appointments, but were the least likely to attend OCS/OTS.  For the overall Active Component officer corps in FY 1999, Black officers were less likely to have attended a Service academy, but more likely to have graduated from an ROTC program.  Among the FY 1999 officer corps, “Other” minorities were more likely than other groups to be given a direct appointment.

 

 

 

The DoD is actively looking into issues affecting minority officer recruitment, performance, promotion, and retention in keeping with its track record of dedication to equal opportunity.  The Services have programs designed to increase minority participation in the officer corps.  In addition to academy preparatory schools, ROTC programs have a considerable presence at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and there are Army ROTC units placed at predominantly Hispanic institutions.  Furthermore, there are incentive and preparation programs aimed at boosting the presence of minorities within ROTC programs and the officer corps.

Targeted recruiting programs, together with a focus on equal opportunity once commissioning takes place, have contributed to increased representation of minorities (especially Blacks) within the officer corps over the years  (see  Appendix Tables D-22,  D-23, D-27, and D‑28).  The 8.6 percent of Blacks, for example, among officer accessions in FY 1999 compares favorably with figures from one and two decades ago (1989: 7.5 percent; 1979: 6.4 percent).

These accession trends have been contributing to greater minority strength levels in the total officer corps.  For example, Blacks comprised 4.6 percent of all active duty officers in FY 1979, 6.8 percent in FY 1989, and 7.9 percent by the end of this past fiscal year.  The lagging long-term minority progress seen through the Active Component officer percentages, relative to the near-term success seen among officer accessions, is mirrored in the pay grade distribution differences by minority status as shown in Table 4.8.

Table 4.8.  FY 1999 Pay Grade1 of Active Component Officers, by Service and Race/Ethnicity (Percent)
Race/Ethnicity and Pay Grade	Army	Navy	Marine Corps	Air Force	DoD
White
O-1 through O-3	57.8	56.2	61.2	55.9	57.0
O-4 through O-6	41.6	43.4	38.2	43.6	42.5
O-7 through O-10	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.4	0.5
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Black
O-1 through O-3	60.1	71.4	73.9	59.9	63.2
O-4 through O-6	39.6	28.4	25.8	39.9	36.5
O-7 through O-10	0.3	0.2	0.3	0.2	0.3
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Hispanic
O-1 through O-3	68.6	78.0	79.8	55.0	70.4
O-4 through O-6	31.2	21.9	19.9	44.9	29.5
O-7 through O-10	0.1	0.1	0.3	0.1	0.1
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Other
O-1 through O-3	70.0	73.6	76.8	77.0	73.8
O-4 through O-6	29.9	26.3	23.2	23.0	26.1
O-7 through O-10	0.1	*	0.0	0.1	0.1
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Columns may not add to total due to rounding. * Less than one-tenth of one percent. 1 Excludes those with unknown rank/pay grade. Also see Appendix Table B-49 (Active Component Officer Corps by Pay Grade, Service, and Race/Ethnicity).

  Compared to Whites, higher percentages of minority members are found in the lower grades (O-1 through O-3).  More notable differences between Whites and minorities were found in the Navy and Marine Corps, where 56 and 61 percent of Whites, respectively, held the rank of captain or lower but 71 and 74 percent of Blacks and 78 and 80 percent of Hispanics, respectively, were company grade officers. The pay grade distributions were closest in the Air Force, with approximately 4 percentage points separating Whites and Blacks in terms of the percentage in grade O-3 and below.  Additionally, the Air Force has a slightly greater proportion of Hispanics than Whites in field grade positions.  Factors such as increased college graduation rates and targeted recruiting programs have provided minorities with greater access to the officer corps.  However, it is also important to monitor progress further along the pipeline. [4]  

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