Monday, August 04, 2014

Black officers dismissed at greater rate than whites

Black officers dismissed at greater rate than whites: WASHINGTON — The forced culling of majors from Army ranks is taking a bigger toll on black officers than those from any other ethnic group, according to Army personnel documents.

Almost 10% of black majors are being dismissed from the Army, records show, compared with 5.6% of the white majors. Eight percent of the Hispanic majors will be dismissed, while 5.8% of the Asian-Pacific Islanders are to be relieved.

In all, the Army is cutting 550 majors from its force through notifications likely to take one month. The move follows pink slips sent to about 1,000 captains as the Army seeks to shrink its force to 490,000 soldiers by the end of 2015. If automatic budget cuts return after 2015, the Army could be reduced to 420,000 soldiers by 2019. There about 513,000 soldiers on active duty.