Military

Military data reveals dangerous reality for black service members and veterans

Top US military officials are seeking to reassure the nation's roughly two million active duty and reserve personnel that they are committed to addressing issues of racial inequality across the branches following George Floyd's death and protests across the country.

But the challenges they face are huge.

A CNN review of data provided by the Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs reveals the stark reality that black service members are less likely to become officers and, as a result, are more likely to be seriously injured serving their country than their white colleagues.

Those issues are very much intertwined, according to David Shulkin, who previously served asPresident Donald Trump's Veterans Affairs Secretary.

"While there's been some increase in relative numbers in minority officers, it's not been proportional to the increase that we're serving, so therefore you do have more minority members serving in the front line jobs and therefore getting higher numbers of these injuries," he told CNN in an interview Friday.