After racial slurs, Confederate flags, and the intimidation that comes with wearing Afro style haircuts and using black power signs and trappings, blacks most complain about their failure to get coveted rear area assignments, medals and promotions on an equal basis with whites.

Among all black enlisted men surveyed, nearly half believe that blacks are assigned more dangerous duty than whites. Even some whites agree. "Percentage wise, I believe blacks do get more dangerous duty," said Dennis Camire, a white soldier from Clarksdale, Miss. Another white, Sgt. Dan G. Miller of Ft. Dodge, Iowa, agreed. "I think you have to honestly say that the black man in our brigade receives less consideration that his fellow white soldier. He has almost no chance of getting a support job."

The belief is well founded. Defense Department figures cited by Charles Moskos Jr. in his boo. "The American Enlisted Man," show that black combat deaths have been running about one-third above the proportion of blacks stationed in Southeast Asia.

Four of every five enlisted blacks and 41 per cent of the black officers said that whites are awarded medals at a greater rate than blacks. Nearly 20 per cent of the white enlisted men thought so too. And almost 64 per cent of the black GI's and 45 per cent of the black officers believe that whites are promoted faster.

The black soldier's bitterness deepens when his natural gravitation toward other blacks, his use of black power signs and banners, and his wearing of Afro-styled haircut is repressed.

These frustrations were illustrated in a remarkable, though confidential, report made by a Marine Division Commander in the I Corps battle zone. His insight into the "very deep layer of bitterness" among his black troops demonstrated a rare understanding of racial tensions at that high level. The two-star general summarized the grievances that he found in the following question:

Why is the natural gravitation of blacks to each other viewed as bad and subsequently labeled as black power plotting?

If restrictions are placed on banners, why is not the same restriction place on the display of Confederate flags as is placed on the display of black power banners?

Why are black soldiers ostracized by superior noncommissioned officers and labeled as troublemakers within the units?

Why is there a feeling among enlisted blacks that their superiors are not concerned with their problems?

Why are whites who freely associate with black soldiers ostracized by superior noncommissioned officers and also labeled as trouble makers?

Why are blacks threatened with transfer to the northernmost region of the Division's area of operation-the most dangerous place-at the slightest provocation?

Most black GI's, 58 per cent, and many black officers use the clenched fist black power sign as a form of greeting or recognition of one black by another. But a third of the white enlisted men and more than 40 per cent of the white officers in my survey condemn its use. "They shouldn't make that sign," complained Staff Sg. Bobby Edwards of Woodsboro, Texas. "That is a show of rebellion and strength." Specialist Lane Bragg of Los Angeles, a squad leader in a mortar platoon in the 82nd Airborne, recalled a white captain chastising him for making the sign to a black sergeant. "What's this clenched fist sign mean?" the Captain yelled. "That sergeant is a good man. You're just a black nigger."

Six black enlisted men in ten and half as many officers now wear Afro style haircuts though most whites object to them. "I had an Afro cut," Air Force Sgt. Herbert Harrison of Trenton, N.J., complained bitterly. "But I went through hell wearing it. So I shaved my head bald."

BLACK PRIDE and culture, as on the college campus, have spilled over into other areas: