Diversity Thursday
you knew it was a swamp
After the DivThu a couple of weeks ago, I had a few readers send me this great summary by Micaela Burrow over at DCNF on why Senator Tuberville (R-AL) is making the stand he is.
As I pointed out a few years ago, one of the largest own-goals that our uniformed military made is becoming “of” DC as opposed to “in” DC. They began to think the WaPo worldview was the center and proceeded to make enemies of their natural allies who wrote their checks. They supported and promoted people who are in their political image - and eventually it would get so off centerline that the correction was coming.
So, we now find ourselves with much of our senior uniformed leadership politized and self-reinforcing - as intellectually and culturally isolated from the people they serve as the entire area inside a 1-hr commute of DC is to the rest of the nation.
You may not agree with the Senator’s actions, but they do not take place in a vacuum. The pushback was going to come at one point or another. All the warning signs were there for years upon years - and now it is time to pay the bill.
You cannot hide behind the uniform and promote civilian political agendas forever. Eventually the friction wears through that uniform until the threads are transparent, then you and your agenda are exposed. Actions have consequences.
Don’t forget, as we’ve outlined for two decades of DivThu, DEI as implemented by DOD is a socio-political, Cultural Marxist construct that derives power, profit, and position by keeping people divided in to competing sectarian groups. It is not about good order and discipline. It plays in to the worst instincts of fallen man for the benefit of those promoting division. It forces an artificial disconnect between objective societal metrics, qualifications, fairness to the individual, and combat effectiveness of the service.
Who are the standouts as described in Micaela’s article?
Air Force Gen. Charles. Q. Brown, who was recently nominated to replace Gen. Mark Milley as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff…
…In August, Brown ordered the Air Force’s recruiting wing to cultivate an applicant pool that meets racial and gender percentage quotas, a memo shows. The order was meant to ultimately increase diversity in the Air Force itself.
“I hire for diversity,” he told Air and Space Forces Magazine in 2020.
Never forget that in the zero sum game that is accessions, promotion, and orders - to give to one person based on immutable characteristics is to take from another. Each time that is done, it increases sectarianism, cynicism, degrades the combat effectiveness of the service - and worst - calls in to question people who would have been selected based on objective criteria regardless of their self-identified sectarian classification.
…Air Force Brig. Gen. Scott Cain for promotion to Major General in March, shortly after Tuberville announced his hold.
As the top officer at Eglin Air Force Base in 2020, Cain issued a “unity message” to Air Force peers at other installations, encouraging them to engage their teams in conversation about the “tragedy in Minneapolis,” referring to George Floyd’s death in the summer of 2020, “the unrest and pain in our country” that followed “and what all of this means for our lives and our service” as he had done with subordinate commanders at Eglin. Cain promoted tools he developed alongside Cecil Williams, the DEI director for Eglin, meant to facilitate those conversations.
…
Cain oversaw the institution of a DEI office at Eglin, one of the first in the Air Force, calling it his “most significant long-standing accomplishment” in a June 2022 exit interview.
“Leaders must view the accomplishment of [diversity and inclusion] goals and objectives as an important part of their responsibilities,” states the office’s Diversity & Inclusion Strategic Plan for 2021 – 2026, which Cain personally approved.
The office conducts activities related to “affirmative employment” and “inclusionary program management,” according to the website.
…
Williams highlighted the importance of unconscious bias training
There’s our old friend, “unconscious bias training.” All the worst people push this Orwellian pre-crime mindset, as we first discussed it back in 2015.
Supporting that training is a tell. Defending it is an indication.
In the Army, Brig. Gen. Ronald Ragin … Speaking to ROTC cadets at a university panel discussion on “why representation matters” about the the Army’s Project Inclusion diversity initiative, Ragin said, “We’re gonna work hard and we’re gonna continue to strive to make sure that we’re the most diverse force in the Army, and that will allow us to dominate and win on future battlefields.”
Project Inclusion involved listening sessions, a review of the military justice system and removal of photos from promotion boards, according to a news release.
LOL. He should talk to the former Chief of Naval Personnel about how that worked out for him.
Space Force Brig. Gen. Jody Merritt served as a panelist for an industry group DEI symposium in 2021 … She also spoke under personal social media accounts about her political standings, including a Jan. 26 tweet that appeared to exhort followers to vote for stricter gun control measures.
Not to leave the Navy out;
Navy Vice Adm. Jeffrey Hughes … As commander of Navy Recruiting Command, Hughes gave opening remarks at the command’s first Diversity Awareness Day in 2016, according to a media release. In 2022, as deputy chief of naval operations for warfighting development, Hughes participated in the Naval Information Force‘s inaugural DEI Summit where he emphasized the pillars of DEI throughout the force
…
…at the Navy’s first-ever Naval Surface Force Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Symposium in April 2022, Rear Adm. Brendan McLane headlined the event with a plea for participants to spread the word of diversity, according to a press release.
“You don’t always have to agree with different perspectives, but accepting them and moving on is progress,” he said.
…
“This is just like maintenance; it needs to be done 100% of the time,” he added.
You don’t have to go to those symposiums. You don’t have to join those “Affinity Groups.”
If you play divisive games, you get divisive prizes.
You played a game seeking favor from one side of the political spectrum - throwing away objectivity and fairness - do not be shocked when the other side wakes up and pushes back.
Play DC games; get DC officiating.
Never forget that time and attention are also a zero-sum game. Every minute you are focused on DEI is a minute you are not focused on how to become better at killing the enemy. Every minute you spend in listening sessions and unconscious bias training, Xi gets stronger and you get weaker. You can strive to become the most diverse force in the Army OR you can strive to become the force that can dominate and win on future battlefields. But for so long as generals and admirals are selected and promoted for conformity to ideological dogma rather than ability to win battles and wars, we are going to continue to lose battles and wars.
Good article. I never had a Sailor who cared about who led him, only that he was led well, and that his leadership cared for him and didn't lie to him.
The one time I had a CPO try to play the race card, I pointed out that he was 12 of 12 CPO's because a. he wasn't working in his rate but had volunteered for the mess decks b. was unanimously ranked that 12/12 by the E-8's and 9's...and 1-4 were black like him and 6 and 8 were also minorities. Basically 5&7 were whites.
So then I asked him which CPO I needed to drop in ranking and where he thought he should rank...no answer for 10 min. Slowly dawned on him that performance counts and he was outperformed by all his fellow CPO's.
IMHO, DC has become cancerous and we would be better off deemphasizing DC tours because of stuff like this.