Armed Forces, U.S.

Personnel

The total number of military personnel (including Active Duty military, Active Duty Coast Guard, Ready Reserve, Coast Guard Reserve, Retired Reserve, and Standby Reserve) is over 3.6 million, making it the largest employer in the United States. According to the DOD report “Demographics 2010 Profile of the Military Community,” there are 1,458,697 Active Duty and Coast Guard service members. The Active Duty force comprises 14.4 percent women and 85.6 percent men. Women comprise a slightly higher percentage of the Reserve and Guard (Selected Reserve) members at 17.9 percent, compared to 82.1 percent for men. Thirty percent of Active Duty service members identify as belonging to a racial minority (Black/African American, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, Hawai'ian or Pacific Islander, Multiracial, or Other/Unknown). The Selected Reserve has a slightly lower proportion of minorities, only 24.1 percent. As Latino is categorized as an ethnicity, it is analyzed separately. Latinos make up 10.8 percent of the Active Duty force and 9.5 percent of the Selected Reserve. Minorities make up only 27.6 percent of the total U.S. population according to the 2010 census, yet are slightly overrepresented in Active Duty and Selected Reserve forces. This is not the case for women and Latinos, however. Women comprise 50.8 percent of the total U.S. population and Latinos 16.3 percent. The Navy has the largest percentage of minority personnel (37.9 percent) and the Marine Corps the smallest (21.4 percent).

The number of minority enlisted personnel compared to minority officers remains disproportionate. While minority Active Duty commissioned officers doubled between 1977 and 1997 (7 percent to 15.3 percent), in 2010 there were just seven minority enlisted personnel to every minority officer. Blacks represented 18.5 percent of enlisted personnel but only 9.5 percent of officers; Asians, 3.7 percent enlisted and 3.8 percent officers; Native Hawai'ian and other Pacific Islanders, 0.7 percent enlisted and 0.2 percent officers; Native Americans and Native Alaskans are 1.9 enlisted percent and 0.6 percent officers; Multiracial groups comprise 2.3 enlisted and 0.9 percent officers; and Other/Unknown are 4.4 percent enlisted and 7.7 percent officers. In total, in 2010, 22.7 percent of officers and 31.4 percent of enlisted members identified themselves as a minority.

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