ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a portrait of race relations based on recent data collected by United States Army, Europe headquarters in Heidelberg. Race relations in the armed forces of the United States are a subject of enduring concern and analysis. Since the establishment of thoroughly integrated military forces in the mid-1950s, race relations in the forces have alternated between varying degrees of animosity and harmony, more or less in tandem with the quality of race relations in US society. Relatively less attention has been paid to the qualitative aspects of race relations in the military. In the mid-1970s military leaders instituted several new programs aimed at improving race relations. The Germans possess a lively curiosity about race relations in the US forces in their midst. In the mid-1980s, race relations are generally stable and nonconflictive, much better than they were a decade ago but still not of the quality that could and should be achieved.
