Ideologically, as a co-signer of the 09 Aug 2022 memorandum. People of any race, creed, gender (in the XY or XX chromosomal sense), class or national origin can hold foolish ideas. Folly does not discriminate.
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who went missing aboard his Titan submersible vessel along with four other passengers on Sunday, told an interviewer he didn't want to hire a bunch of "50-year-old white guys" like other submarine companies because he wanted his team to be "inspirational."
Well, you can't have a good groupthink 'everything is perfectly safe' cutting corners when you have people with actual experience with things like fighting fires on submarines.
This is basic reading comprehension stuff Shipmate.
Here's a suggestion for a healthy and happy life John - stop assuming the absolute worst from everyone, especially those you've spent time talking with.
Sal, you are correct, I did read the memo but drew the wrong conclusion as to the comment and overstepped. I will do better. I do think there is a difference between goals and quotas, though. But that is a different conversation.
There is no way they will achieve numbers that mirror the population on initial accessions as the percentage of degree attainment is low, and most of the degrees earned by minorities are not STEM or technical in any way.
They could be actively seeking and identifying enlisted minority service members with 2 to 3 years service who came in with AA degrees and sending them to college for the needed/desired degree fields in exchange for eight years after graduation.
John, you and I both have worked on senior staffs. 9 of my 21 years were spent on US & NATO GOFO staffs. It did not matter if the GOFO was a USN RDML or a German Army 4-star ... when he has a "goal" - especially one that is on a signed and date-stamped Memo, not just by that 4-star but is co-signed by a peer, his boss and his boss's boss - that goal is not a soft, warm and fuzzy wish. That "goal" is your requirement. If it isn't, you are a poor staff officer. Everyone knows that. The effects of operationalizing that memo may be ugly and unattractive ... but regardless of our opinion otherwise of those who put their names to it, you have to look at it with clear and unblinking eyes. Fewer documents are more serious or will elicit more action down the chain of command than such a document. Again, we all know this.
Those goals might fit the USAF, but they are contraindicated for the USMC and the Army combat Arms. Those groups recruit from a candidate pool that is more male, more rural, more white, more Southern/Western and more likely to have a family tradition of service.
Interesting. The Army's apparent goals are outcomes that match the ERI of the Army = ERI of the population, meaning "Equity of outcome" rather than "Equality of opportunity"
However, they finesse that by misrepresenting "Equity" as:
"Equity - The fair treatment, access, opportunity, choice, and advancement for all
Soldiers and Civilians while striving to identify and encourage drivers and identify
and eliminate barriers that have prevented the full participation of the total force."
On this note, I am curious how the NYT map would shift by branch. Of the folks I've seen on their way in here in the Rockies, it's all Army or Air Force, none of the nautical branches, though I know plenty of older Navy veterans around here.
I got picked to be a Grunt due to my first and second choices required more maturity than the age of this Pvt. At seventeen I wanted to be a K-9 security guard, I was told the Commandant wanted more Mature Marines as it's dog handlers, the same for Tank Driver LOL then the question came up "Would you mind being an Infantry field Marine?" I said sure, why not!
I mean heck I watched John Wayne movies and The TV show combat looked exciting!
The persistent use of the one drop rule is annoying, especially by people "dedicated to destroying the bad, old ways". Then again, as Steve Sailer has noted, no TV show has the most common interracial couple of a Hispanic male and White female since "I Love Lucy" went off the air. Paying attention to changes in America is too hard for our "elites".
Jackie Chan? There is some doctor fellow who my soap opera watching friends would recognize. I was in an advertisement once, though I suppose I'm hardly an actor.
In any case, we Asians are a very small proportion. Hispanics are nearing 20% of the population, especially in the younger generation.
The first thing that jumped out at me on the map of counties with the highest recruitment rates was to notice where those counties are not. The map looked very much like those 2020 maps of Trumpland, and the obverse of the Hillary Archipeligo. How in the world a set of diversity goals can be met when the raw material to create them are so heavily skewed against the creation of diversity? That the top brass of the Air & Space Forces walked right past that question, probably didn't even notice it, is a sure measure of how weak that military leadership has become.
With a few exceptions in the sourtheast (Jax, Atlanta, Montgomery) essentially no large core metropolitan areas. It would be interesting to see this plotted on decade increments over the past 50 years. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data_access/urban_rural.htm
My home county and the one next to it have a large memorial to the Military men of the counties.
One memorial in my county has an M-60 Tank as a gate guard, a Huey on a large high pylon along with two Lead sleds in take off attitude, an 8" artillery SP, 105 field gun and several trucks and jeeps.
So it's not hard to see why my county is in that area of high military enlistment.
"These goals are aspirational, aligning resources to invest in our long-term objectives and will not be used in any manner that undermines our merit-based processes. You are directed to develop a diversity and inclusion outreach plan aimed at achieving these goals no later than 30 September 2022." What a couple of strangely worded sentences. Aspirational, in the legal sense, implies the hope of attainment without confering an obligation. Yet, the following sentence implies that attainment is a requirement and not an option. Achievement of said aims must come solely from a merit-based process. Has racial identity been redefined as a meritorious quality? Is the first sentence implying that those acting on said plan cannot shift around resources to implement any changes in the plan that is developed? Just weird.
Nobody is going to come right out and say so but, yeah, it looks like racial identity has been redefined as a meritorious quality. Looks, walks, and quacks like a duck.
My S-i-L was a 20-year Navy man. Started out as a SeaBee, did his share of deployments, was always the go-to guy to un-f___ some deployed Det gone wrong. He made the choice to become a Navy Recruiter because he was really good at it, and it allowed him to homestead and be with his family in Oregon, where he grew up. He made quota every quarter for 9 years and got converted from EO1(SCWS) to NC1(SCWS). He helped his fellow recruiters by letting them take credit for his excess catches. In recruiting, you only have to fail meeting quota once to turn from Prince Charming into a frog. Furthermore, he was so good that they made him an Officer recruiter for his last several years. He had tales of woe about that. While he met quotas generally, he had great difficultly in finding STEM non-White females for the highly technical officer slots. He had many White males with qualifying resumes/curriculum vitae for the billets but was not allowed to recruit them until the quotas for women of color were met. They were never met. Those men walked away after long waits and wisely pursued a nonmilitary career. My S-i-L's reward for spectacular service was a new star on his NCM or NAM every quarter, and to retire as an NC1 (SCWS) at lesser pay rate percentage than I got back in 1991. Him 40%, me 65%. He loved his Navy too, but wasn't sorry to leave.
Given that it's Diversity Thursday, I think it's only proper to mention that Oceangate Expeditions made it corporate policy to not hire 50 year old plus white males. Hmmm? What pool of talent chock full of 50 year old white males did they avoid? Deep sea experience with years of demanding hard service and high tech and engineering skills?
CEO was looking for people to do what he said, not people who would challenge him. Fired the safety guy for challenging the submersible's construction material.
"a goal is a quota is a TERMINAL cancer" fixed it for ya, and China does not give a flipping F--- about the USAF "diversity is our strength" Orwellian mottos.
Absolutely. Diversity is a strength, but it occurs by nature in the United States. It is ironic and asinine that we, of all nations, have twisted ourselves to strive for something we already have in spades.
It has become that way simply because the civil liberties act of 1964 has not prevented the destruction of public schools in blue cities by Progressive Unions that have publicly stated their primary goal is take care of their employees and not educate their charges.
I’d say the ability to draw from a wide array of strengths and experiences is one of the factors that has always made the US as successful as it is-and yes, diversity occurs by nature here. The New World generally, and the US particularly, is remarkably diverse.
Has been mentioned before here but for a recap, diversity achieved by equality of opportunity: Good. Diversity achieved by equality of outcome: Double-plus-ungood. You and Shiv seem to be on the same team, Shipmates.
Unless they wish to fly or do something that is unique to the military? Very few of the POC they seek will join as long they are the flavor of the month.
I still fail to understand how scholarships specifically for people of color are legal; I have always felt demeaned in situations wherein I was selected or pointed out on the subject of my skin tone rather than any merits.
#Me-Too. I identified as Black in 1973. My life since has been one hellish promotion after another. Except that Asst. Feed Store Manager job at $4.25/hr I landed right after retirement. It was a fun job but everyone knew it was some kind of AA or good ol' boy hire. I don't look Black but who'd dare gainsay the one drop rule? But then I tan pretty good.
But? While warning my children that they will have to work twice as hard to prove they weren't the diversity hire? I want them (particularly the son.) to ride the flavor of the month train as long as they can.
As far as academics and other aspects of life? The Democrats have done for African-Americans what they have done for the Native Americans, so in that case where a case can be made I do believe special efforts should be made to rescue them from their supposed saviors.
My two daughters are mixed race. Didn't seem to be a handicap. Both worked hard in school, got scholarships based on merit, never embraced negative life distractions, then 15 years of college between them, in their 40s now, 3 grandkids just like them coming up and seem to be following their lead. Hoorah for equality of opportunity. It kinda helped that their mom was old-school, old-country strict and that the girls are smart. I can remember when I was a kid living in military housing at Redstone Arsenal. I rode a school bus to school. There was also a different school bus that came to pick up all the non-White kids. That was the way things were. But I thought it unfair that the Asian kids had to go to a Negro school. I was in elementary school. What did I know? Anyway, I think that if my kids were born in the 40s instead of the 70s, things may have turned out differently. I am rambling but my point is that once we were lost, then we found our way, and now we are lost again.
Hah! Then I had it good. Dad was an ex-Enlisted USAF pilot. Mom and dad were both Okies. Enlisted at 17 and retired at 43, so I had strict parenting for 4+ decades. By 1991 I'd turned out OK. Been coasting along on that for 32 years.
Interesting that the powers at be have decided to denigrate and insult the heritage and ancestors of the areas who have and contribute the most to our military.
It's almost as if TPTB are actively trying to purge & remake our military for domestic jackbootery (performed by newer troops who are dumber, weaker, and woker).
Not quite accurate there. The map only shows the MOST SUCCESSFUL recruiting areas (recruits as percentage of population). Percentage of folks in the most populated areas even eligible to enlist (physical/mental/education/drugs) is a big hit. Family tradition of service is limited when so many have no real family or traditions. So, few from the big cities enlist, not because they are victims of recruiter discrimination, but because they were not interested or not eligible. Frankly, the services are better off without such folks who would likely be chronic disciplinary problems and low performers on any but the most menial tasks. Not a PC view, but reality sometimes sucks.
Very good job on pointing out the frankly, insidiously creepy continuing usage of a "one drop rule" by many supposed opponents of racist policy. I am mixed race and do, reasonably owing to the circumstances of my raising, primarily identify with my Indian side, but were I to have children with a white woman, I am certain they would appear, and be, white, and the idea that they would be considered anything but is ludicrous (though not as ludicrous as the idea that whatever they would be considered would have any impact on their outcomes in the workforce, military, or college admissions process).
The military, by its very nature, is among the most colorblind institutions in America. One finds those from all walks of life, which is for the best, and the reality of the situation is that considering color at all is detrimental to the mission.
Re: Sal’s comment -“ If you don’t pick the best, your organization will underperform. If your military underperforms, more of your people will die, and your nation is more likely to lose its battles and its wars. Nations that do that on a regular basis decline and disaggregate.”
I firmly believe that many in DC don’t care about the first two outcomes, and would largely prefer the latter outcome, as long as they remain rich and in power. Prove me wrong.
Ever wonder what proportion of members of Congress and the political elite ensconced in DC have sons and daughters serving as compared to the general population? How about the proportion representation of the sons and daughters of the financial elites and professors at "elite" universities? Let me dig out a magnifying glass and tweezers for that one. Yet these same self-appointed elites drive our foreign policy and determine when (not some much "if" these days) we engage in "overseas contingency operations" lasting decades. So what price in lost and deeply wounded human treasure do these people pay? These parents have little to no skin in the game when the consequences are and/or are potentially so grave. Grifters don't pay that price... they make others pay for their handiwork.
Of the Represenatives in my state, one has a son who just recently graduated from the USNA, one’s married to a retired Air National Guard NCO, and the others, nothing.
Math says the AF's Black/African American goal is impossible. Assuming an officer requires a college degree, and that the AF will target Blacks in college for recruitment.
That works out to 4.4% of all Blacks/African Americans
And 0.6 % of the total population. Rough numbers, but the fact remains it is not a recruitment problem, it is an education achievement problem AND a recruitment problem.
The recruitment pool is too small, there are more limited paths to commissioning and the flagship institution which the SECAF and Congress can manage the quotas for, is lagging their goal.
You say that the goal is impossible, KappaZo, but I am confident that any selective recruiting goal can and will be met. It'll just take the bold vision of the DEI/HR USAF staff wonks to make it happen and for the foot-draggers and naysayers to be crushed.. Raw numbers are easy to recruit, train, train, re-train, re-train, re-train, graduate and commission.
Anecdote. Have a friend, former HT3 Enlisted man. Became a Naval Aviator, flew Lamps Mk III's, was blimp certified and then flew the E-2 Hawkeye. When he was an O-2 he went through a nasty divorce which included false allegations of abuse. Got a crappy eval for it. Fast forward about 7-8 years. He is on a deployment and up for promotion to O-4. A fellow LT, a heavy set female POC fails her CarQual's and gets sent to fly a desk and eventually to fly P-3's instead. My friend passes all his quals and flies like he was born to it. The woman promotes, he doesn't...that crappy eval as an O-2. He got separated and flew for The Company in Afghanistan and now flies for an airline. You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs.
The Marines in our unit had a rotating advancement for many Marines, back then 50+ years ago you had a quota to meet, so many promotions men were promoted by race then, the civil rights was big.
They promoted men on Monday, wrote them up on Wednesday and demoted them on Friday.
Or in the case of one Marine we will call SNAFU He was always promoted in the field, not really a promotion no pay or stripes, then back in the barracks he would revert to PFC.
He was the most slovenly dressed and laid back Marine I ever met, but damn if he wasn't the best field Marine I ever met.
Now a great many by race quota promotions turned many of those Marines around and they became good leaders and performers.
It all worked out as Action beat regulations every time.
No issue with reaching out to communities that may not have historically served. And it's understandable that senior leadership would want some metrics to go along with assessing success/failure of such efforts. If there are unnecessary barriers to get recruits that have no basis in logic or sound reasoning... again logical to get them off the table. In the end, we want members who desire and are able to serve. But if the ultimate intent is to game the system to ensure a gender, race and/or ethnic proportional representation, then a merit-based system is going to take a back seat because leadership will argue that loftier and more "inclusive" goals serve a greater good. Good luck with getting traditional geographic centers of gravity for military recruiting signing on for this approach to doing business.
I wasn't asked, Captain, but I think it's from the words out of his mouth. The man appears to be a True Believer.
Ideologically, as a co-signer of the 09 Aug 2022 memorandum. People of any race, creed, gender (in the XY or XX chromosomal sense), class or national origin can hold foolish ideas. Folly does not discriminate.
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who went missing aboard his Titan submersible vessel along with four other passengers on Sunday, told an interviewer he didn't want to hire a bunch of "50-year-old white guys" like other submarine companies because he wanted his team to be "inspirational."
Well, you can't have a good groupthink 'everything is perfectly safe' cutting corners when you have people with actual experience with things like fighting fires on submarines.
The thinking probably wasn't that deep. I'd betchya' dollars to donuts he didn't want to pay prevailing wages and that was his excuse.
Don't think this is a woke thing. Likely is that he had his own "out of the box" ideas and didn't want any experienced voices questioning his actions.
The man wanted Yes men, women, POC, the right political affiliation and Trans.
Did you even read the attached memo?
That.
Is.
The.
Reference.
This is basic reading comprehension stuff Shipmate.
Here's a suggestion for a healthy and happy life John - stop assuming the absolute worst from everyone, especially those you've spent time talking with.
Sal, you are correct, I did read the memo but drew the wrong conclusion as to the comment and overstepped. I will do better. I do think there is a difference between goals and quotas, though. But that is a different conversation.
The numbers they seek are vacuous at best.
There is no way they will achieve numbers that mirror the population on initial accessions as the percentage of degree attainment is low, and most of the degrees earned by minorities are not STEM or technical in any way.
They could be actively seeking and identifying enlisted minority service members with 2 to 3 years service who came in with AA degrees and sending them to college for the needed/desired degree fields in exchange for eight years after graduation.
A rich field lies fallow.
John, you and I both have worked on senior staffs. 9 of my 21 years were spent on US & NATO GOFO staffs. It did not matter if the GOFO was a USN RDML or a German Army 4-star ... when he has a "goal" - especially one that is on a signed and date-stamped Memo, not just by that 4-star but is co-signed by a peer, his boss and his boss's boss - that goal is not a soft, warm and fuzzy wish. That "goal" is your requirement. If it isn't, you are a poor staff officer. Everyone knows that. The effects of operationalizing that memo may be ugly and unattractive ... but regardless of our opinion otherwise of those who put their names to it, you have to look at it with clear and unblinking eyes. Fewer documents are more serious or will elicit more action down the chain of command than such a document. Again, we all know this.
What a joke.
Those goals might fit the USAF, but they are contraindicated for the USMC and the Army combat Arms. Those groups recruit from a candidate pool that is more male, more rural, more white, more Southern/Western and more likely to have a family tradition of service.
And yet...
https://www.army.mil/e2/downloads/rv7/the_army_people_strategy_diversity_equity_and_inclusion_annex_2020_09_01_signed_final.pdf
Interesting. The Army's apparent goals are outcomes that match the ERI of the Army = ERI of the population, meaning "Equity of outcome" rather than "Equality of opportunity"
However, they finesse that by misrepresenting "Equity" as:
"Equity - The fair treatment, access, opportunity, choice, and advancement for all
Soldiers and Civilians while striving to identify and encourage drivers and identify
and eliminate barriers that have prevented the full participation of the total force."
that is putting a smiley face on hard quotas
The smiley face makes all the difference!
The smiley face is a good touch only if it is Camo and resembles a Bulldog.
That definition of equity is not what the DIE people use elsewhere, nor is it what they live by.
OK - Quickly skimmed approved annex (15 pages)
“No diverse nation has ever survived in peace by having a spoils system
based on race and ethnicity. None.”
On this note, I am curious how the NYT map would shift by branch. Of the folks I've seen on their way in here in the Rockies, it's all Army or Air Force, none of the nautical branches, though I know plenty of older Navy veterans around here.
I got picked to be a Grunt due to my first and second choices required more maturity than the age of this Pvt. At seventeen I wanted to be a K-9 security guard, I was told the Commandant wanted more Mature Marines as it's dog handlers, the same for Tank Driver LOL then the question came up "Would you mind being an Infantry field Marine?" I said sure, why not!
I mean heck I watched John Wayne movies and The TV show combat looked exciting!
So a Grunt I became.
Never looked back.
The persistent use of the one drop rule is annoying, especially by people "dedicated to destroying the bad, old ways". Then again, as Steve Sailer has noted, no TV show has the most common interracial couple of a Hispanic male and White female since "I Love Lucy" went off the air. Paying attention to changes in America is too hard for our "elites".
Hispanics generally, I believe, are the most underrepresented group in media.
Asian men are most under-represented.
Name an Asian actor and most people will spit-out Bruce Lee as their answer.
Jackie Chan? There is some doctor fellow who my soap opera watching friends would recognize. I was in an advertisement once, though I suppose I'm hardly an actor.
In any case, we Asians are a very small proportion. Hispanics are nearing 20% of the population, especially in the younger generation.
The first thing that jumped out at me on the map of counties with the highest recruitment rates was to notice where those counties are not. The map looked very much like those 2020 maps of Trumpland, and the obverse of the Hillary Archipeligo. How in the world a set of diversity goals can be met when the raw material to create them are so heavily skewed against the creation of diversity? That the top brass of the Air & Space Forces walked right past that question, probably didn't even notice it, is a sure measure of how weak that military leadership has become.
With a few exceptions in the sourtheast (Jax, Atlanta, Montgomery) essentially no large core metropolitan areas. It would be interesting to see this plotted on decade increments over the past 50 years. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data_access/urban_rural.htm
A close match to gains in population density, I imagine, irrespective of CDC definitions.
My home county and the one next to it have a large memorial to the Military men of the counties.
One memorial in my county has an M-60 Tank as a gate guard, a Huey on a large high pylon along with two Lead sleds in take off attitude, an 8" artillery SP, 105 field gun and several trucks and jeeps.
So it's not hard to see why my county is in that area of high military enlistment.
"These goals are aspirational, aligning resources to invest in our long-term objectives and will not be used in any manner that undermines our merit-based processes. You are directed to develop a diversity and inclusion outreach plan aimed at achieving these goals no later than 30 September 2022." What a couple of strangely worded sentences. Aspirational, in the legal sense, implies the hope of attainment without confering an obligation. Yet, the following sentence implies that attainment is a requirement and not an option. Achievement of said aims must come solely from a merit-based process. Has racial identity been redefined as a meritorious quality? Is the first sentence implying that those acting on said plan cannot shift around resources to implement any changes in the plan that is developed? Just weird.
Nobody is going to come right out and say so but, yeah, it looks like racial identity has been redefined as a meritorious quality. Looks, walks, and quacks like a duck.
My S-i-L was a 20-year Navy man. Started out as a SeaBee, did his share of deployments, was always the go-to guy to un-f___ some deployed Det gone wrong. He made the choice to become a Navy Recruiter because he was really good at it, and it allowed him to homestead and be with his family in Oregon, where he grew up. He made quota every quarter for 9 years and got converted from EO1(SCWS) to NC1(SCWS). He helped his fellow recruiters by letting them take credit for his excess catches. In recruiting, you only have to fail meeting quota once to turn from Prince Charming into a frog. Furthermore, he was so good that they made him an Officer recruiter for his last several years. He had tales of woe about that. While he met quotas generally, he had great difficultly in finding STEM non-White females for the highly technical officer slots. He had many White males with qualifying resumes/curriculum vitae for the billets but was not allowed to recruit them until the quotas for women of color were met. They were never met. Those men walked away after long waits and wisely pursued a nonmilitary career. My S-i-L's reward for spectacular service was a new star on his NCM or NAM every quarter, and to retire as an NC1 (SCWS) at lesser pay rate percentage than I got back in 1991. Him 40%, me 65%. He loved his Navy too, but wasn't sorry to leave.
Given that it's Diversity Thursday, I think it's only proper to mention that Oceangate Expeditions made it corporate policy to not hire 50 year old plus white males. Hmmm? What pool of talent chock full of 50 year old white males did they avoid? Deep sea experience with years of demanding hard service and high tech and engineering skills?
old subbies, bold subbies, but no old bold subbies...
CEO was looking for people to do what he said, not people who would challenge him. Fired the safety guy for challenging the submersible's construction material.
"a goal is a quota is a TERMINAL cancer" fixed it for ya, and China does not give a flipping F--- about the USAF "diversity is our strength" Orwellian mottos.
Absolutely. Diversity is a strength, but it occurs by nature in the United States. It is ironic and asinine that we, of all nations, have twisted ourselves to strive for something we already have in spades.
"Absolutely"? I dunno, Shiv. Here, have this...
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/15/72/de/1572de614f2dc49bd2f4e6f4cdaf0c09.jpg
It has become that way simply because the civil liberties act of 1964 has not prevented the destruction of public schools in blue cities by Progressive Unions that have publicly stated their primary goal is take care of their employees and not educate their charges.
No, diversity is not a strength. And it does not occur by nature in the US. Stop defending a flawed premise.
I’d say the ability to draw from a wide array of strengths and experiences is one of the factors that has always made the US as successful as it is-and yes, diversity occurs by nature here. The New World generally, and the US particularly, is remarkably diverse.
Yeah, that's not the diversity that's being pushed.
Has been mentioned before here but for a recap, diversity achieved by equality of opportunity: Good. Diversity achieved by equality of outcome: Double-plus-ungood. You and Shiv seem to be on the same team, Shipmates.
Unless they wish to fly or do something that is unique to the military? Very few of the POC they seek will join as long they are the flavor of the month.
Plus? Many new options exist.
For American https://aacadetacademy.com/program-cost/
For Southwest
https://careers.southwestair.com/D225University
Lots of free ride scholarships for POC pilot candidates too.
I still fail to understand how scholarships specifically for people of color are legal; I have always felt demeaned in situations wherein I was selected or pointed out on the subject of my skin tone rather than any merits.
#Me-Too. I identified as Black in 1973. My life since has been one hellish promotion after another. Except that Asst. Feed Store Manager job at $4.25/hr I landed right after retirement. It was a fun job but everyone knew it was some kind of AA or good ol' boy hire. I don't look Black but who'd dare gainsay the one drop rule? But then I tan pretty good.
I find it conflicting in some ways.
But? While warning my children that they will have to work twice as hard to prove they weren't the diversity hire? I want them (particularly the son.) to ride the flavor of the month train as long as they can.
As far as academics and other aspects of life? The Democrats have done for African-Americans what they have done for the Native Americans, so in that case where a case can be made I do believe special efforts should be made to rescue them from their supposed saviors.
My two daughters are mixed race. Didn't seem to be a handicap. Both worked hard in school, got scholarships based on merit, never embraced negative life distractions, then 15 years of college between them, in their 40s now, 3 grandkids just like them coming up and seem to be following their lead. Hoorah for equality of opportunity. It kinda helped that their mom was old-school, old-country strict and that the girls are smart. I can remember when I was a kid living in military housing at Redstone Arsenal. I rode a school bus to school. There was also a different school bus that came to pick up all the non-White kids. That was the way things were. But I thought it unfair that the Asian kids had to go to a Negro school. I was in elementary school. What did I know? Anyway, I think that if my kids were born in the 40s instead of the 70s, things may have turned out differently. I am rambling but my point is that once we were lost, then we found our way, and now we are lost again.
Too grossly over simplify? All it takes is decent schools and strict parents.
Me thinks your point is on point.
Hah! Then I had it good. Dad was an ex-Enlisted USAF pilot. Mom and dad were both Okies. Enlisted at 17 and retired at 43, so I had strict parenting for 4+ decades. By 1991 I'd turned out OK. Been coasting along on that for 32 years.
The scholarships are legal because they're considered necessary to achieve other goals. Also, Private money vs. Public money.
Interesting that the powers at be have decided to denigrate and insult the heritage and ancestors of the areas who have and contribute the most to our military.
It's almost as if TPTB are actively trying to purge & remake our military for domestic jackbootery (performed by newer troops who are dumber, weaker, and woker).
"domestic jackbootery"
I'm stealing this
That NYT map. We are not recruiting in the most populated cities. Bizarre.
Not quite accurate there. The map only shows the MOST SUCCESSFUL recruiting areas (recruits as percentage of population). Percentage of folks in the most populated areas even eligible to enlist (physical/mental/education/drugs) is a big hit. Family tradition of service is limited when so many have no real family or traditions. So, few from the big cities enlist, not because they are victims of recruiter discrimination, but because they were not interested or not eligible. Frankly, the services are better off without such folks who would likely be chronic disciplinary problems and low performers on any but the most menial tasks. Not a PC view, but reality sometimes sucks.
Very good job on pointing out the frankly, insidiously creepy continuing usage of a "one drop rule" by many supposed opponents of racist policy. I am mixed race and do, reasonably owing to the circumstances of my raising, primarily identify with my Indian side, but were I to have children with a white woman, I am certain they would appear, and be, white, and the idea that they would be considered anything but is ludicrous (though not as ludicrous as the idea that whatever they would be considered would have any impact on their outcomes in the workforce, military, or college admissions process).
The military, by its very nature, is among the most colorblind institutions in America. One finds those from all walks of life, which is for the best, and the reality of the situation is that considering color at all is detrimental to the mission.
No diverse nation has ever survived.
Re: Sal’s comment -“ If you don’t pick the best, your organization will underperform. If your military underperforms, more of your people will die, and your nation is more likely to lose its battles and its wars. Nations that do that on a regular basis decline and disaggregate.”
I firmly believe that many in DC don’t care about the first two outcomes, and would largely prefer the latter outcome, as long as they remain rich and in power. Prove me wrong.
Ever wonder what proportion of members of Congress and the political elite ensconced in DC have sons and daughters serving as compared to the general population? How about the proportion representation of the sons and daughters of the financial elites and professors at "elite" universities? Let me dig out a magnifying glass and tweezers for that one. Yet these same self-appointed elites drive our foreign policy and determine when (not some much "if" these days) we engage in "overseas contingency operations" lasting decades. So what price in lost and deeply wounded human treasure do these people pay? These parents have little to no skin in the game when the consequences are and/or are potentially so grave. Grifters don't pay that price... they make others pay for their handiwork.
Of the Represenatives in my state, one has a son who just recently graduated from the USNA, one’s married to a retired Air National Guard NCO, and the others, nothing.
Math says the AF's Black/African American goal is impossible. Assuming an officer requires a college degree, and that the AF will target Blacks in college for recruitment.
Here are the numbers:
331.4 Million Americans (https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/POP010220)
Of which 13.6% or ~45.1 million are Black (same source), which is their goal
But only 1.99 million of Blacks are enrolled in undergraduate programs circa 2020 (https://pnpi.org/factsheets/black-students/)
That works out to 4.4% of all Blacks/African Americans
And 0.6 % of the total population. Rough numbers, but the fact remains it is not a recruitment problem, it is an education achievement problem AND a recruitment problem.
There are only 10 HBCU with AF ROTC programs (https://www.afrotc.com/college-locator/) out of 106 HBCU (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_historically_black_colleges_and_universities).
Further USAFA only has 5.8% of its cadet population listed as Black/African American (285 cadets) and Congress has a great deal of power over who is appointed. (https://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/united-states-air-force-academy/student-life/diversity/#ethnic_diversity).
The recruitment pool is too small, there are more limited paths to commissioning and the flagship institution which the SECAF and Congress can manage the quotas for, is lagging their goal.
You say that the goal is impossible, KappaZo, but I am confident that any selective recruiting goal can and will be met. It'll just take the bold vision of the DEI/HR USAF staff wonks to make it happen and for the foot-draggers and naysayers to be crushed.. Raw numbers are easy to recruit, train, train, re-train, re-train, re-train, graduate and commission.
Anecdote. Have a friend, former HT3 Enlisted man. Became a Naval Aviator, flew Lamps Mk III's, was blimp certified and then flew the E-2 Hawkeye. When he was an O-2 he went through a nasty divorce which included false allegations of abuse. Got a crappy eval for it. Fast forward about 7-8 years. He is on a deployment and up for promotion to O-4. A fellow LT, a heavy set female POC fails her CarQual's and gets sent to fly a desk and eventually to fly P-3's instead. My friend passes all his quals and flies like he was born to it. The woman promotes, he doesn't...that crappy eval as an O-2. He got separated and flew for The Company in Afghanistan and now flies for an airline. You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs.
The Marines in our unit had a rotating advancement for many Marines, back then 50+ years ago you had a quota to meet, so many promotions men were promoted by race then, the civil rights was big.
They promoted men on Monday, wrote them up on Wednesday and demoted them on Friday.
Or in the case of one Marine we will call SNAFU He was always promoted in the field, not really a promotion no pay or stripes, then back in the barracks he would revert to PFC.
He was the most slovenly dressed and laid back Marine I ever met, but damn if he wasn't the best field Marine I ever met.
Now a great many by race quota promotions turned many of those Marines around and they became good leaders and performers.
It all worked out as Action beat regulations every time.
No issue with reaching out to communities that may not have historically served. And it's understandable that senior leadership would want some metrics to go along with assessing success/failure of such efforts. If there are unnecessary barriers to get recruits that have no basis in logic or sound reasoning... again logical to get them off the table. In the end, we want members who desire and are able to serve. But if the ultimate intent is to game the system to ensure a gender, race and/or ethnic proportional representation, then a merit-based system is going to take a back seat because leadership will argue that loftier and more "inclusive" goals serve a greater good. Good luck with getting traditional geographic centers of gravity for military recruiting signing on for this approach to doing business.
"No issue with reaching out to communities that may not have historically served." - Fix the schools.
Now there's a can of worms.