The Democrats Abroad Hispanic Caucus urges all members to contact your U.S. representative and your two U.S. senators regarding the below issue.

Background: One of the lesser talked-about issues of importance is the major lack of Hispanic Americans serving in the U.S. military’s highest officer ranks. It’s unclear as to exactly why that is, but given that Hispanics comprise a large percentage of all U.S. service-members, clearly there needs to be some changes to ensure fairer officer representation of Hispanics and that they are able to fill these top leadership roles. (A broader discussion of this topic can be heard on our podcast episode from May 2019.)

For the purpose of filling out the online forms on the web sites of your members of Congress, see below for a basic template where you simply need to add in your personal details, or modify to your liking.

* * * * *

Dear Representative ______ / Senator _______,

My name is [your name] and I’m your constituent from [name of home town]. I’m writing because I believe there is an important issue currently happening within our military that needs to be immediately addressed.

When it comes to diversity in our Armed Forces, there are Americans of every color who fill the ranks and serve our nation with pride. However, within the very top officer ranks -- such as generals and admirals -- Hispanic Americans are almost completely absent. This is significant considering that America’s top officers make life and death decisions on the battlefield, contribute to our nation’s national security intelligence, advise strategies to the White House, serve as role models to younger service-members of color, and provide critical input on countless other issues.

Latinos not only comprise a decent percentage of America’s military, both enlisted and officer, but they are also nominated to U.S. military academies, earn Medals of Honor, and are adequately represented in almost all other aspects of the U.S. military. Numerous studies have proven that having diversity in leadership contributes to beneficial outcomes. Why there’s a lack of Hispanic representation among America’s top officer ranks is an important question in which we all deserve to know the answer.

Therefore, I urge you to create a Defense Advisory Committee on Latinos in the Services to formally investigate potential solutions to this lack of diversity such as demanding adequate mentoring, development and promotion of Hispanic American officers.

I respectfully request your response to this message.

Thank you for your consideration,

[your name and contact details]

p.s. I strongly encourage you to read this article from The Hill which directly speaks on this topic: https://thehill.com/latino/398139-latinos-arent-reaching-top-military-positions-study-shows