The Army is reducing its officer corps and the forced culling is taking a bigger toll on black officers than those of any other ethnic group, according to Army personnel documents.

Almost 10 percent of black majors are being removed, the records show, compared with 5.6 percent of white majors, 5.8 percent of Asian-Pacific Islanders and 8 percent of Latino majors.

In all, the Army is removing 550 majors. The move follows pink slips sent to about 1,000 captains as the Army seeks to shrink its force to 490,000 soldiers by the end of 2015.

If automatic budget cuts return after 2015, the Army could fall to 420,000 soldiers by 2019. Today, 513,000 soldiers are on active duty.

“We don’t want to do this,” Gen. John Campbell, the Army’s No. 2 officer, said.

Inevitably, Gen. Campbell said some soldiers will receive their notices while serving in Afghanistan.

The Army is working to mitigate the effect of their loss on their units and on the soldiers let go, he said. Officers serving in Afghanistan and deployed abroad elsewhere will be brought home within a month, regardless of the length of their deployment, so they can begin the transition to civilian life.

Soldiers losing their active duty jobs will be encouraged to join the Army Reserve or National Guard, Gen. Campbell said.

The Army combed the records of nearly 8,000 majors to find the 550 to force into early retirement. The Army has about 17,000 majors.

Electronic warfare, civil affairs, logistics, psychological operations had the highest rates of dismissals among military specialties for black majors, according to the Army.

Across the Army, regardless of race, the cuts hit combat veterans hard. Nearly nine out of 10 of those being dismissed have at least two years combat experience.

Among others getting pink slips: 17 majors wounded in combat, including 14 white soldiers and three black soldiers.