Racial Selection in Deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan

Abstract

The US Armed Forces officially desegregated in 1948. Over the following 70 years, the military has made great strides in promoting racial integration. However, we find evidence that, even today, African American soldiers’ experience of military service differs significantly from that of other racial and ethnic groups. Exploiting a database of administrative records for 110,000 Army personnel serving during the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, we find that African Americans were less likely than other service members to have deployed, or to face intense combat if deployed.

Keywords: Military Manpower, Soldiers, Combat, War, African Americans, Race, Poverty, OEF, OIF

JEL Classification: H0, J4, J7