Is the military too dominated by caucasion males?
Well, no. We could use a little color in the higher ranks, but time will take care of that.
And a few women will attain higher levels as time goes by–particularly if the combat experience requirements are eased up, should that appear to be appropriate.
But there’s nothing wrong with having the military overrun by people who 1) have a lot of testosterone in their systems, and 2) are a bit left-brain dominant.
Because those are good things for fighters and strategists.
Sorry.
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The other reason we should not worry about the racial or gender balance of the military is that the people presently there want to be there. The only way to shift the balance is to turn away otherwise-qualified people who want to be in, or to force people in who would otherwise choose not to join up.
Neither of these is good for accomplishing the military’s mission.
If there are specific policies that have a disparate racial or gender impact, and those policies do not measurably impact military effectiveness, then those policies ought to go, otherwise the claim that the system is broken should rest on more than demographics.
We already know that white, upper class kids go for the really dangerous stuff in disproportionate numbers. As of about five years ago, we had a disproportionately HIGH number of minorities (I think it was double the population for blacks, and I can’t remember Asian/pacific islanders) represented in the non-command officer ranks, even when you don’t count chaplains. I notice that’s also where poor white city kids tend to go. (Be nice if they charted this out by ignoring skin color, and instead looked at socioeconomic data.)
It’s simple:
Go in as a non-line officer, get college, do twenty years keeping things running, get out with a degree, 20 years experience, Vet preference, your retirement AND all the connections you made in that time, with those who are interested doing at least one tour of Asia and finding a nice lady who treats you good and thinks you’re the best thing on earth. (and is miles above what you would rate state-side, but I digress.)
Our ship hit the PI twice a year, so we had at least 75% of supply made up of folks from the Philippines, because they were all working on their connections for when they retire at 20 years and move there to live like kings. Other departments weren’t as obvious, but even my department had a lot of chiefs who were going to retire in a few years getting their connections set up.
I bet that ships that hit NYC regularly have folks with the same plan, and I know the ones in San Deigo do it.
Now, they MIGHT have a point if they looked at the number of folks who go line officer, have the same experiences, then show that there’s a difference in who’s selected for promotion…but I think I know what that bias would be, and it wouldn’t support their notion.
As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, I’m a female vet who is utterly disgusted at female officers and their “supporters” being willing to sacrifice military effectiveness and female enlisted so that their service records look nice. Not surprised, just disgusted.
A family member and a good friend were two of those who pointed this out to me, claiming anti-female bias in the military. Family member is an administrator in the state DHS; of her eighty-odd case workers, exactly one is male. The other is a primary school teacher. Of her forty-odd peers, NONE are male. Neither saw anything wrong with this.
“Because those are good things for fighters and strategists.”
Can we put those guys in charge of our “war” in Afghanistan, please?
When I was in the Army (’65 to’68) there were so many black guys in the 82nd Airborne they were calling it The Mombasa Rifles. And as an added little footnote Jimi Hendrix was a paratrooper before hitting The Big Time as a rock star. Too bad he OD’d.
Off the thread, Ponce.
Yeah, I want opportunities for all, but I’m not into “equality of outcomes,” or into judging the military based on how it looks. Wrong emphasis.
It’s fortunate for the old white guys running the military that they are being judged using the same scale the Special Olympics uses: You show up, you get a medal, and nobody really notices if you won or lost.