The proportion of Marine Corps recruits who are African-American increased by 40 percent over the past 12 months, halting a seven-year slide that has worried service leaders.

In fiscal 2007, which ended Sept. 30, blacks were 10.9 percent of Marine recruits, up from 7.8 percent in 2006, the smallest proportion of black recruits for the Corps since the all-volunteer force began 33 years ago.

The increase is timely given a Marine Corps plan to expand its active force by 27,000 over the next five years in response to protracted wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and other worldwide commitments.

All active services met numerical recruiting goals for fiscal 2007. Only the Army missed a key quality benchmark. Twenty-one percent of its recruits in fiscal 2007 did not graduate from high school. The goal is that no service signs more than 10 percent non-graduates. Douglas Smith, spokesman for Army Recruiting Command, said the proportion of blacks among Army recruits in fiscal 2007 held steady at about 15 percent. The Marine Corps, however, relied on a rebound in black recruiting, along with continued growth in Hispanics accessions, to meet a recruiting target that was raised by 2,700, to 40,890, for fiscal 2007.

When numbers of recruits are compared, the increase in black recruits was 49 percent — a total of 4,440 in 2007 compared with 2,980 in fiscal 2006, said Maj. Wes Hayes, spokesman for Marine Corps Recruiting Command. He credited an expansion of the recruiting force in 2007 and a more effective marketing and advertising campaign.

Surveys show that parents, teachers, clergy and other "influencers" of black youth are advising against enlistment in the military, particularly U.S. ground forces. Part of the reason is wartime danger. But black communities also deeply opposed President Bush's decision to invade Iraq.

The jump in black recruits over the past 12 months came to light as Corps leaders weigh a recommendation from the Center for Naval Analyses to launch a public relations campaign in black communities armed with the findings of a CNA report, "Black and Hispanic Marines: Their Accession, Representation, Success and Retention in the Corps."

Through the 1980s, it says, blacks were about 18 percent of Marine recruits. That average fell after the first Persian Gulf War and stayed at between 12 percent to 14 percent through the 1990s. Black accessions then dropped steadily for the Corps from 1999 through 2006.

What CNA found is that blacks who do join the Marines go on to re-enlist at "significantly higher rates" than Marines from other racial or ethnic backgrounds, a strong sign of job satisfaction. In fiscal 2006, first-term re-enlistment rates were 40.4 percent for blacks, 27.6 for Hispanics and 23.8 percent for whites. Similar patterns held for second and third-term re-enlistments across racial groups, though at higher percentages.

Anita Hattiangadi, a CNA analyst, said the Corps is developing a strategy to get more senior enlisted African-Americans out into black communities to discuss Marine Corps opportunities.

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