--- title: U.S. Army Laying Off Black Majors at Disproportionate Rate description: Almost 10% of black majors are being retrenched, compared to 5.6% of white majors and 8% of Hispanic, in a cull of 550 positions in total canonical: https://time.com/3081680/us-army-black-majors-retrenchment-layoff/ author: Per Liljas article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-05T08:52:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:30:02.468Z article:section: U.S. og:title: U.S. Army Laying Off Black Majors at Disproportionate Rate og:description: Almost 10% of black majors are being retrenched, compared to 5.6% of white majors and 8% of Hispanic, in a cull of 550 positions in total og:url: https://time.com/3081680/us-army-black-majors-retrenchment-layoff/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: U.S. Army Laying Off Black Majors at Disproportionate Rate twitter:description: Almost 10% of black majors are being retrenched, compared to 5.6% of white majors and 8% of Hispanic, in a cull of 550 positions in total twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The U.S. Army Is Laying Off Black Majors at a Disproportionate Rate by [Per Liljas](/author/per-liljas/) ## Per Liljas Aug 5, 2014 8:52 AM CUT by [Per Liljas](/author/per-liljas/) ## Per Liljas Aug 5, 2014 8:52 AM CUT The U.S. Army’s retrenchment of 550 majors is [hitting](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/04/army-black-majors-dismissed-higher-rates-than-whites/13587821/ "undefined") black officers considerably harder than those from other ethnic groups. Almost a tenth of the army’s black majors are being let go, while the same proportion for white majors is only 5.6% and 8% for Hispanics, reports _USA Today_. The Army intends to cut its force from 513,000 to 490,000 soldiers by the end of 2015 and has already culled about 1,000 captains from its ranks. Bad performance evaluations have weighed heavily in retrenchment decisions Combat veterans have been hit especially hard with nearly 9 out of 10 of the dismissed having at least two years combat experience. \[[_USA Today_](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/04/army-black-majors-dismissed-higher-rates-than-whites/13587821/ "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3081680/us-army-black-majors-retrenchment-layoff/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3081680/us-army-black-majors-retrenchment-layoff/"},"headline":"The U.S. Army Is Laying Off Black Majors at a Disproportionate Rate","datePublished":"2014-08-05T08:52:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:30:02.468Z","description":"Almost 10% of black majors are being retrenched","url":"https://time.com/3081680/us-army-black-majors-retrenchment-layoff/","keywords":["Military","Army"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Per Liljas","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/per-liljas/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/military/","name":"Military"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3081680/us-army-black-majors-retrenchment-layoff/","name":"The U.S. Army Is Laying Off Black Majors at a Disproportionate Rate"}}]}] ```