Latinos in Iraq

Hispanic Military Service (October 2010)
Article mentions enlistment data.
http://www.usfallen.org/2010/10/01/hispanic-wounded-warrior-establishes-organization-to-help-others/

Hispanics in the U.S. Military: In the service of their country, 2001 through 2009 (May 2009)
This overview provides statistics on numbers of Hispanic recruits and casualties.

Immigrants in the US Armed Forces (May 2008)
According to data from the Department of Defense, more than 65,000 immigrants (non-US citizens and naturalized citizens) were serving on active duty in the US Armed Forces as of February 2008. Since September 2001, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has naturalized more than 37,250 foreign-born members of the US Armed Forces and granted posthumous citizenship to 111 service members. http://www.migrationinformation.org/feature/display.cfm?ID=683

Latinos become focus for US Army Recruitment (October 9, 2007)
“The US military says it has met its recruitment goals for 2007. However, signing new soldiers is getting more difficult, with an unpopular war in Iraq and open-ended commitments both there and in Afghanistan. New figures reveal there has been a 40 per cent drop in African-Americans signing up for the army. The Pentagon wants to expand the size of the army to 547,000 soldiers by the year 2010, and are counting on Hispanics to fill the gap. To do so, recruiters are turning to incentives to bolster their numbers. Mike Kirsch explores the sometimes questionable tactics being used to entice Latino recruits into the US army.” This video, less than 4 minutes long, can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzYmC8XvDDM

Yo Soy el Army: If you’re an immigrant, at least Uncle Sam wants you (September 19, 2007)
“An executive order signed by President Bush on July 3, 2002, provided for the expedited naturalization for aliens and noncitizen nationals serving in an active-duty status in the Armed Forces of the United States during the period of the war against terrorists of global reach. Under this order, any noncitizen in the military can apply for expedited citizenship on his first day of active duty. Not only is this order still in effect, but it has been codified in the National Defense Authorization Act 2006. With the law so clear on this issue, the treatment of illegal immigrants in the military, both by the Pentagon and by ICE, is difficult to understand.” Read this Metroactive (Silicon Valley, California) article at: http://www.metroactive.com/metro/09.19.07/news-0738.html

Latinos know up close the cost of Iraq war (January 19, 2007)
Hispanic enlistments have risen steadily. Hispanics made up 8.9% of the active Army in 2001 but 10.5% in 2005. Like other Americans, Latinos enlist for educational opportunities, adventure and love for country. About 7% of the active fighting force are citizens with green cards, the Christian Science Monitor has reported. Yet Hispanic recruits face sobering statistics. Latinos are 9.4% of the armed forces, but 17.7% of combat troops and 11% of military deaths in Iraq. http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2007-01-18-opcom_x.htm

Latinos and the War in Iraq (January 4, 2007)
A new Pew Hispanic Center study found that two-thirds of Latinos want U.S. troops home as soon as possible, while just 25% believe the United States made the right decision in invading Iraq. http://pewhispanic.org/files/factsheets/27.pdf

A Military Path to Citizenship (September 2006)
More than 25,000 immigrants have become citizens and another 40,000 have become eligible for citizenship through the military since President Bush signed an executive order in July 2002 speeding the process. The 40,000 immigrants in the U.S. military can become citizens after only a year of active duty. The previous requirement was three years. Only legal residents — or immigrants who entered the country illegally and then applied for residency — can enter the armed forces. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4185659.html

Service in Iraq: Just How Risky? (August 26, 2006)
Identifying racial and ethnic differences in mortality is not straightforward because the Defense Department uses a different classification system for deaths than for deployments. Nevertheless, all attempts we have made to reconcile the two systems reach the same conclusion: Hispanics have a death risk about 20 percent higher than non-Hispanics, and blacks have a death risk about 30 to 40 percent lower than that of non-blacks.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/25/AR2006082500940.html
http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=psc_working_papers

In Iraq, fewer killed, more are wounded (August 29, 2006.)
Hispanics have a slightly higher “death risk” than non-Hispanics. The Marine Corps, for example, contains a disproportionately higher number of Hispanics than other military branches and also carries a higher casualty rate. http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0829/p03s02-usmi.html

Life lottery: US military targets poor Hispanics for frontline service in Iraq (May 2005)
They have been variously described as ‘working class mercenaries’, ‘green card troops’, ‘non-citizen’ armies, or desperate recruits of the US Government’s ‘poverty draft’. They are the huge contingent of Hispanic personnel who–for personal and economic reasons–have been recruited into the ranks of the US military. According to US journalist Jim Ross, by February 2005 there were 110,000 of them. The biggest single contingent of such troops is made up of Mexicans and Mexican descendants. Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Central Americans and Ecuadorians are also well represented. Since the start of the war about a third of the US forces stationed in Iraq–between 31,000 and 37,000 troops out of a total of about 130,000–were non-US citizens serving in the navy, Marine Corps, army and air force. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0JQP/is_378/ai_n13807724,
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/july-dec05/milestone_10-25.html

Texas Hispanic soldiers dying at higher rate: Iraq toll falls unevenly on Latinos, rural whites (February 27, 2005)
Hispanic Texans are dying in Iraq at a rate more than 60 percent higher than the rate for the nation’s military-age population as a whole, according to an Austin American-Statesman review of war fatalities. In a separate study, a University of California professor has found that during the first six weeks of the war, 16.5 percent of troops killed were Latinos, although Latinos made up only 11.2 percent of the combat troops. Click here to read the article.

Researchers Finding Surprises In Figures On Deaths In Iraq (September 28, 2004)
“Hispanic deaths were way over-represented in the opening war phase in Iraq, comprising about 16 percent of all deaths,” Gifford said. “But they represent just 11 percent of Army and Marine combat personnel and less than 9 percent of all active-duty personnel.” Other studies show that in some Marine units involved in the heaviest fighting before the occupation, Hispanic casualties were as high as 19 percent of all deaths. http://www.amren.com/mtnews/archives/2004/09/researchers_fin.php, http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/09/national/09deaths.html?ex=1252468800&en=ce13bb5c1a5f3eb3&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt

Hispanic Soldiers Die in Greater Numbers in Iraq (September 22, 2003)
According to the Pew Hispanic Center, while Latinos make up 9.5 percent of the actively enlisted forces, they are over-represented in the categories that get the most dangerous assignments — infantry, gun crews and seamanship — and make up over 17.5 percent of the front lines. DOD numbers reveal 35,000 non-citizens currently in the active Armed Forces, 15,000 of whom became eligible for expedited naturalization under the executive order.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4804.htm
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0922-02.htm
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Articles8/Berkowitz_Military-Latinos.htm

Latinos & the Vietnam War (November 2000)
“Latinos answered the call to combat in Vietnam in unprecedented numbers and paid a heavy price: One in two Latinos who went to Vietnam served in a combat unit, 1 in 3 were wounded in action, 1 in 5 we killed in action.” Read more at http://www.latinoadvocates.org/filteredwebapge.htm