18,000 Native Americans In The Fight In Iraq, Afghanistan

...Across the country, the journey from reservation to battlefield is a common passage. American Indians sign up at greater rates than virtually any other ethnic group. That’s partly because their cultures often give special status to warriors, and partly because economic prospects in many tribal areas remain so bleak.

While American Indians and Alaska natives account for just 0.8 percent of the country’s population, they make up about 1.6 percent of those serving in the U.S. military.

That translates to almost 22,000 people in uniform, more than 18,000 sent to Iraq or Afghanistan and almost 3,800 of those deployed today. More than 300 have been wounded in battle in the past six years, and 46 died...

...Since the start of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, military recruiters have found it ever harder to find people willing to sign up knowing deployment to a trouble spot was likely. Besides lowered standards and pumped-up bonuses, the wartime environment has produced a change in demographics.

Enlistment among most ethnic groups, especially African-Americans, has declined this decade. But the rate for American Indians has increased...

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