WASHINGTON – The lack of Black officers in the Army’s key combat commands has diminished the chances for diversity in senior military leadership for years to come, resulting in a nearly all-white leadership of an increasingly diverse military and nation.

The Army, the largest of the armed services, has made little progress in promoting officers of color, particularly Black soldiers, to key commands in the last six years, a USA TODAY analysis finds.

Black people make up 22.7% of enlisted soldiers, 16.5% of warrant officers and 11% of officers on active duty as of July 2020. At the officer levels, this is actually a decrease from 21%, 18.4% and 12.6%, respectively, in 2010. The stakes of fairness and equity are manifest. So, too, is military's ability to defend the nation.

“The public that we serve should see a reflection of that public in our ranks. From top to bottom and left to right," said Brig. Gen. Milford Beagle, a Black infantryman who commands Fort Jackson, S.C., the Army's largest basic training post. "Anytime you have a team that has diversity of thought, diversity of color, diversity of culture – all those things – it’s going to be a much stronger team. I’m a firm believer in that, and it gives our Army a strategic advantage. Looking out to our threats that are out there, they may not necessarily have that. But we do.”

But not enough, some argue. Consider the new commanders of what the Army considers its operational brigades, including front-line units such as infantry, artillery and armor. There are 96 such brigades of around 4,000 soldiers led by a colonel. Just two of the incoming commanders of those units are Black.

In 2014, when USA TODAY first began collecting such data, the Army had no Black colonels leading its combat arms units. Command at battalion and brigade level is practically a prerequisite to leading the Army's legendary divisions such as the 82nd Airborne, 10th Mountain and 1st Armored. Not coincidentally, the last five Army chiefs of staff have commanded infantry or armored divisions.

The story is only slightly better an echelon below brigade. At the battalion level, where lieutenant colonels are in charge of about 700 soldiers, there are 13 Black battalion commanders out of 231 combat units, or 5.6%.

AUGUSTA, Ga. — The unemployment rate for veterans was 2.9% when 2019 came to a close. Now, as the COVID-19 pandemic upends the U.S. economy, that figure has more than tripled, leaving nearly 800,000 veterans searching for work.

Allen Walker is one of them.

The 38-year-old south Augusta resident and Army veteran has spent all of 2020 trying to find a tech job with his new management information systems degree from Augusta University.

The former ammunition specialist with 12 years of service — including a tour in Afghanistan — said he believes the pandemic has made it more difficult to get a foot in the door. It’s hard to make an impression through emails and virtual meetings, he said.

“Some employers want to see how you interact face-to-face,” he said. “Most people like to meet face-to-face. Due to this situation (the pandemic), that is not viable.”

***

Many veterans are in need of vocational assistance, said Kevin Rasch, a regional director for the Wounded Warrior Project’s “Warriors to Work” program.

“The uniforms, hierarchy, protocols and language of military life are very different from the civilian world,” he said. “This makes the transition to civilian life challenging, and means that finding the right fit with a civilian employer can be difficult.”

The organization’s recent survey showed the top barriers to employment for wounded service members are mental health issues, difficulty being around others, physical limitations and lack of qualifications or education.

“These challenges, especially now during the pandemic, are often exacerbated for wounded veterans with visible and/or invisible injuries,” Rasch said.

PHOENIX -- A Native American U.S. Marine immortalized for helping raise the American flag over Iwo Jima during World War II. Two Arizona senators who were Republican nominees for president. The first female justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Those and other Arizona luminaries are among Republican Gov. Doug Ducey's picks for a new National Garden of American Heroes. President Donald Trump announced the effort this summer, and his administration reached out to governors and the public for suggestions to add to his own list.

The list by the governor's office recommends three senators, two governors, military and civil rights heroes, as well as two military units, including the Navajo Code Talkers. They used an unbreakable code in their Navajo language to communicate during battles in the Pacific during WWII.

Sen. John McCain: The son and grandson of Navy admirals was imprisoned after his Navy jet was shot down over North Vietnam in 1967. He moved to Arizona after marrying Cindy McCain and retiring from the military. He won a seat in Congress in 1982, then won Goldwater's old Senate seat in 1986. He was the Republican nominee for president in 2008 but lost and remained in the Senate until his death in 2018.