Ethnic groups in the military?

You really don't get out much. "Did you know that the 7th Special Forces Group's area of operations is Central and South America?" This is accurate. MrsJVB's assumption is incorrect and has not been the case since Vietnam. The percentages of the races in the military are very close to what they are in the overall civilian world. Therefore, the military is just as diverse as the total population of the US. However, there are pockets of certain groups because they have skills that enhance the military's ability to perform its mission. Therefore, since the 7th operates mainly in Spanish speaking nations, it only makes sense to have folks that are native speakers and understand the culture in order for the total force to be more successful. Not saying some white guy from Iowa or Kansas couldn't do the job, but how good would that guy be infiltrating East LA for example? Not very. In other words, the diversity of the military is our strength as a nation. That being said, it is fair speculation as to why we were getting our butts kicked at the beginning of the war was because we had very few Arabic speaking Muslims in the military and still don't have enouh. Caucasian arrogance (the majority...as you said, caused this. If you don't understand your enemy or even speak his language, how can you hope to defeat him? Gen. Armstrong Custer found that out the hard way. Its why we used the Navajo code talkers in WW2. Not racist; a fact.