The Army is to White

[rkam98]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110308/ap_on_re_us/us_military_diversity



Apparently the leadership of the Military is to white male dominated, and greater diversity is required. As a non White Male, I am all for being promoted regardless of competence and dice. However, the slither of integrity I have tells me this report is bullshit.

From a Comparative stand point the Military probably has greater diversity at its top than most major private and public entities in the U.S. I would be suprised if the percent of Minority/ Women CEOS of Fortune 500 Companies is higher than the percent of Women/ Minority GOs.

Also I think that there are probably a variety of reasons having to do with non-race/gender issues that have lead to the current situation which are fully justifiable given the unique role of the Military in Society.

[Wes]

*Looks at the USF-I CG and USF-I CSM* .... yeah, not so much. Though the CG is the 5th African American 4-star, and the 200th 4-star to make that rank.

We are talking about the U.S. Military. Fuck civilian opinions on this. We are the worlds greatest military, ever. Why are people trying to fuck with that? Read the regs on how promotion boards are composed, they even implemented EO into it. I honestly do not believe that the promotion system is broken with regards to race and gender. Not saying I'm a huge fan of the promotion system in other regards, but race isn't an issue.

[Un4given]

What branches are GOs typically from? They're combat arms. Dempsey = Armor. Petraeus = Infantry. Craddock = Armor. Just to name some off the top of my head.

I remember reading about this somewhere in the past. I don't think this is the exact article, but it coincides with what I read...
http://www.ashbrook.org/publicat/oped/owens/02/combat.html

The fact is that blacks disproportionately serve in Army combat-service support units, not combat units. When Ricks wrote his piece, such units had become "majority minority," with more black soldiers than white. By contrast, he observed, the infantry, which generally suffers the most casualties in wartime, had become "whiter than America." African Americans constituted nine percent of the infantry, compared to 11.8 percent of the age eligible civilian population. In 1995, 79 percent of the new troopers were white, compared with 74.3 percent of civilians. There is little evidence to suggest that these figures have changed much over the last five years.

Why is this the case? Ricks pointed out that the new demographics of the Army have to do with the dynamics of an all-volunteer force—Blacks and whites join the military for different reasons. On the one hand, white youths are frequently looking for adventure while they try to raise money for college. As a result, they tend to flock to the combat arms, especially elite units like the Rangers and airborne. On the other, young black males, "are generally seeking skills, and so gravitate toward administrative and technical jobs.

When I stepped back and thought about it, I've only known one non black supply sergeant. Out of the 10 or so that commissioned with me at my HBCU, only one went infantry and even then he didn't want to go infantry and it was just a branch detail.

So of course when you look at anything that is just skin deep you're going to get skewed answers, but that's the kind of thing that fucks us over. These reports come out, people start going crazy without doing their research and start making changes that don't make sense. According to the article I posted above, our recruiting standards are fine, in the original article the recruiting standards need to change. wtf?

[Jake the Skillet]

I clicked here thinking we had to finish the SAT Question. The Army is to White, as _________________. But you mean TOO white. It's like the other word that no one uses right (there, they're, their).

Anyways, is there a good one to fill in the blank??

[airjun]

That's why you're 'SPECIAL' ... well maybe not yet.

[Jake the Skillet]

You sound jealous.... I know you're not though. You takin' care of that old AS3 now Commander for me? Get back home safe....

[airjun]

He was ranting about how he has more deployment time than I do which I then registered in my head as 'blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah'

[I274]

I like Rep Allen West, R-Florida. :-)

The Daily Caller 12:19 AM 03/11/2011

The Military Leadership Diversity Commission’s (MLDC) conclusion this week that there are too many white men in senior positions in the military “is a slap in the face” to those minorities who have achieved seniority, according to retired Lt. Colonel and Florida Republican Rep. Allen West.
…
In an interview with The Daily Caller, West, who is black, was not pleased with the report, saying that the military is not a social experiment for outside groups to impose their theories. Rather, he said, it is a merit based organization where anybody can succeed.

“Everyone that comes into the military has an equal opportunity to get promoted to the next level. It is not about outside entities trying to engineer and design results and outcomes or create a sense of equal achievement and when some military diversity group writes a report saying there are too many white men on top,” West said. “It is kind of a slap in the face to those who have risen through the ranks such as four star General [Lloyd] Austin, [General] Kip Ward, many others. We don’t need these outside entities trying to design or shape a military.”

West continued by noting that many confuse privileges with rights. To West, it is a privilege to serve in the military. He also said it is not an institution with which outsiders should tinker, especially while engaged in conflicts abroad.

“I think that when you look at these groups and other liberal special interest groups that keep trying to chip away at the military,” he said. “We are engaged with a very vicious enemy in two combat areas and who knows what is going to happen in North Africa and the Middle East and now is not the time for us to stop and start sensitivity training.”

West suspects that the military as an institution is targeted by liberals because of the things it represents.

“The military stands for things that liberals don’t care for: standards, discipline, honor, character. And those are things they don’t like because they believe everyone should be equal…that is not what the military is all about.”

[Un4given]

Amen to that! In addition to what the military stands for, I also think that liberals target the military because it's the low hanging fruit to them. They win an election and now they can run the military as opposed to ascending the ranks themselves.

[airjun]

Amen to that! In addition to what the military stands for, I also think that liberals target the military because it's the low hanging fruit to them. They win an election and now they can run the military as opposed to ascending the ranks themselves.

Really? Because all of the elites in this country are left wing liberals right? I seem to remember plenty of right wing pundits complaining about the CIA black helicopters, the ever looming tyranny of the federal government, ever so watchful of the Army coming in the middle of the night to take away their right to bear arms.

[Aries]

When I left USMA (yeah, havent started a sentence off with that in awhile) one of the concerns they had was a lack of officers that were looking to go into combat arms. Everyone knew I didnt want to sit behind a desk, and that my desire was to do Spec Ops. African-Americans tend to go to the support roles for some reason. Dont know why, but thats what I saw a lot of at the Academy. The ones that do go to combat roles, tend to stay in for a long time and do quite well (the General Brooks brothers for example).