Number of blacks joining military down
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The number of blacks joining the military has plunged by more than one-third since the Afghanistan and Iraq wars began. Other job prospects are soaring and relatives of potential recruits increasingly are discouraging them from joining the armed services.
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The Army will meet its goal of recruiting 80,000 new active-duty soldiers this fiscal year but will fall short in the percentage of high school graduates as the education level of enlistees dips below the norm of the past decade, according to senior Pentagon officials.
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More than 1,300 members of the armed forces  receive criminal convictions while serving in Northern Ireland.
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There are not enough members of the armed forces to meet the UK's military demands, MPs say.
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Margie Black had wanted to enter the military as a teenager, but having her first child at 19 put off her ambitions. So when she learned the Army raised its enlistment age, Black, now a 41-year-old grandmother from West Columbia, Texas, didn't hesitate to join. The decision took "about 30 seconds," she said.
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The number of UK troops in Iraq by the end of 2007 is expected to be lower "by thousands", the defence secretary says.
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A lack of personnel is creating a "clear danger"  the military will be unable to maintain its commitments, MPs warn.
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Les Indigenes shows how North African soldiers were marginalised French President Jacques Chirac has announced that the pensions of foreign soldiers who fought in the French army are to be brought into line ...Comment
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A long-term decline in church attendance in England in recent years is &quot;pulling out of the nosedive&quot;, mainly due to ethnic minories and in particular black people.
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The Army and Army reserves expect to meet their recruiting goals this year, largely because nearly half the recruits who signed up last year were not counted until they reported for duty, officials said Monday.
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As of Saturday, Aug. 19, 2006, at least 266 members of the U.S. military have died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department.
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Desertion is a crime like few others. Along with mutiny, it hits at the heart of military service, violating a fundamental code of honor.
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Some 1.3 million Americans slid into  poverty in 2003 as the ranks of the poor swelled to 35.9  million, with children and blacks worse off than most, the U.S.  government said on Thursday in a report sure to fuel Democratic  criticism of President Bush.
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The decline in church congregations has been slowed by people from ethnic minorities, according to a survey.
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The army is losing the equivalent of nearly a battalion to illegal drug use every year, research released Friday said.
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Figures show black people were seven times more likely to be stopped and searched last year than white people.
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Thousands of British soldiers will leave Iraq over the next year, significantly downgrading the country's commitment in the region, the defense secretary said Monday.Comment