Number of Blacks Joining Military Down

Gen. James Conway, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force talks with reporters at his base on the outskirts of Fallujah, Iraq, in this May 1, 2004, file photo. Conway, now Marine Commandant, says the bloodshed in Iraq is the biggest deterrent for prospective recruits. "The daily death toll that comes out is, I think, causing people who are the influencers of young men and women in America to take a second look," he said. "So I think that's probably the single most dominant feature." (AP Photo/John Moore, File) (John Moore - AP)

With detailed, color-coded graphs, the military can chart the erosion in support for the war among the adults who surround recruits of all ethnicities.

A green line denoting the percentage of grandparents likely to recommend military service shows the steepest drop _ from a high of 56 percent in mid-2004 to 34 percent last fall. Support is lowest among mothers. At the start of the war, 36 percent of moms would recommend military service; by last fall, it was 25 percent.

Sgt. Carlos Alvarez, a recruiting station commander in Tampa, Fla., said many minorities have strong family ties and winning over parents, grandparents and other relatives is critical when talking to potential recruits.

"If you don't have a good relationship with the parents, you're not going to go anywhere," he said. "The kid might want to do it, but it's all about mom and dad."

Alvarez said it is not just high school students who turn to their parents for approval. Potential recruits in their late 20s will tell him, "I need to speak to my mom."

Conway said Marine recruiters need to "pump up the volume a little bit in terms of their recruiting efforts."

The military services, meanwhile, have created Internet sites that offer videos, downloads, interest tests and special pages for parents.

"You Made Them Strong. We'll Make Them Army Strong," says the headline on the Army's Web site for parents. It includes details on salaries, benefits, bonuses, education and training as well as stories about how a recruit made her decision to join and how one soldier deployed to war.

The Navy, Air Force and Marine recruiting sites offer similar information, often also in Spanish. Also available are personal stories and videos of service members.

"I've tasked our recruiters with ensuring that our minority percentages stay strong," Conway said. "We just want to make sure that we continue to look like America in the Marine Corps."

At the same time, the military is opening the door to many recruits it has not welcomed in the past. That includes people who are a bit older; who score lower on aptitude tests; and who have medical conditions such as asthma or attention deficit disorders that can be controlled better now with medicine.

The Army, for example, increased its age limit for recruits from 35 to 42.