Camaraderie key for US blacks fighting in Iraq

Atlanta, Dec 26: When people ask Tracy Smith to describe theyear she spent in Iraq with the Georgia Army National Guard, shebluntly responds, ''It sucked. ... What do you want me to say?'' The48th Brigade lost 26 soldiers during a tour south of Baghdad that endedin May.

But Smith said the camaraderie she experienced with her unit was ahigh point of her life. It transcended racial barriers in a way she'dnever seen before as a black American.

''You have to muster every ounce of strength you can muster forthat situation. Any differences go out of the window -- white, black,male, female, Jew, Muslim,'' she told Reuters.

''You get shot at. You're in the same uniform. You're going tohave to employ every ounce of that training to get back to your camp... in one piece and not in that nasty little bag that you have in yourHumvee to put body parts in.'' According to Department of Defensefigures, more African American women have fought in Iraq than in anyprevious U S conflict, even though the proportion of blacks in the Armyhas been declining for a decade.

At the same time, the experience of blacks in the army is becoming less likely to be defined by race, they said.

''The combat experience and the camaraderie and the will to livetakes precedence over a person's racial background,'' said David Segal,a sociology professor at the University of Maryland and an expert inmilitary organization.

Segregated Units

During World War Two, the Army was segregated andblacks typically fought in separate units, often with inferiorequipment, training and poor leadership by white officers.

As a result, many black units performed poorly, a fact blamed atthe time on their race, but later shown to be a result of theinstitutional disadvantages they faced.

''In World War Two it (the U S Army) was a pretty horrible, racistplace where African Americans were treated as animals,'' said YvonneLatty, author of a book about black Americans in the Army.

Only one unit of black American women, the 688 Postal Battalion, was deployed to Europe, to sort and deliver mail, Segal said.

Black veterans returned to a United States that was stillsegregated. Having fought for a country that denied equality helpedgive rise to the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

The U S military was desegregated in 1950, four years before alandmark Supreme Court decision that provided much of the legal impetusfor civil rights.

Few women fought in Korea, Vietnam or in the first Gulf War, buthigh black casualty rates during Vietnam led to accusations by civilrights leaders that blacks were being sacrificed by U S leaders.

DECLINING NUMBERS For years, blacks have enlisted in the militaryat higher rates than whites, in large part because of the educationaland career opportunities it provided, Segal said.

But the Iraq war changed things. During a war, many young peoplestart to think those opportunities are outweighed by the risk ofbecoming a casualty, he said.

The unpopularity of the Iraq war with blacks and the fact that fewblacks voted for U S President George W Bush also helped explain thetrend, he said.

John Butler, professor of management and sociology at theUniversity of Texas, said the decline began long before the airplaneattacks of September 11, 2001, and showed that black youths wereincreasingly coming to see the military service in the same way aswhites.

Black youths were primarily motivated to join the Army bypatriotism and the opportunities military service provided, saidButler, who studies military organization. Patriotism is still afactor, but he agreed that blacks and other groups are now weighing therisks of joining up.

''Black American youth, in terms of their attitude to themilitary, are more likely to resemble white youth because of commonexperience (formed at integrated high schools) and that was not trueyears ago,'' he said.

Since coming home, Smith, who lost the hearing in her right earfrom an explosion in Iraq, said she was conflicted about the intensehighs and lows of her Iraq experience.

But asked whether she'd return if asked, she said, ''You bet.''

Reuters