NEW YORK -- The harassment of 19-year-old Danny Chen started in basic training -- teasing about his name, repeated questions of whether he was from China, even though he was a born-and-raised New Yorker. He wrote in his journal that he was running out of jokes to respond with.
It got worse in Afghanistan, military investigators told his family. They said the other men in his unit showered Chen, the only Chinese-American in his unit, with racial slurs and physical abuse in the weeks leading up to his suicide in early October. Eight soldiers have been charged in connection with his death.
For some Asian-Americans who have served in the military, the racial prejudice aspect of Chen's alleged mistreatment comes as little surprise based on what they've seen or experienced. But others say the military is a place where everyone's limits are tested, and that the failure in Chen's case is one of leadership.
It's unclear how often military members experience racial bullying. Despite repeated requests, the Army did not provide any data and the Department of Defense said it didn't have any information since the service branches are each responsible for their own record-keeping. The Army did say that it has regulations against hazing and bullying in place.
Vietnam War veteran David Oshiro of San Rafael, Calif., isn't surprised to hear of the accusations of racial prejudice. The 63-year-old Japanese-American said he didn't have problems with the men in his unit but often heard slurs from other enlisted Americans. When he was injured, military Medevac personnel assumed he was Vietnamese and nearly delayed his evacuation until all the solders they thought were American had been flown out.
"It still upsets me, because I keep thinking, 'We're on the same team!' "
The Asian-American presence is small in the military, as in the U.S. population. The most recent data show 43,579 Asian-Americans on active duty in 2010, making up 3.7 percent of those enlisted. Most were in the Army or Navy.
Among the officer corps, a little more than 8,400 were Asian-American in 2010, or 3.9 percent.
They're people like Anu Bhagwati. The 36-year-old Indian-American woman spent five years in the Marines, and said she left in 2004 largely because she facing discrimination and harassment, even as an officer.
In her case, gender was the big issue, but she said she saw racial discrimination against others, including the few other Asian-Americans she saw in the service.
"The great American myth about the U.S. military is that racism doesn't exist," she said. "It's alive and well."
In the Fort Wainwright-based Chen's case, while his parents are immigrants, he was a New Yorker, born and raised on the lower east side of Manhattan. He enlisted in the military after high school.
Chen told family and friends, and wrote in his journal, that he faced worsening racial teasing, bullying and abuse. On Oct. 3, he was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a guardhouse.
By DEEPTI HAJELA
Associated Press