View Full Version : Navy Renews Diversity Effort In Special Forces
SouthernDZ
05-01-2012, 05:20
Despite the recruitment effort, the command says training standards are not being lowered.
USA Today, May 1, 2012
Navy Renews Diversity Effort In Special Forces
By Gidget Fuentes, Navy Times
The Navy's special warfare forces are launching a renewed effort to recruit minorities with outreach at events ranging from local swim meets to NFL scouting combines.
Today's force of SEALs and special warfare combatant-craft crewmen (SWCCs) is roughly 85% white, according to the Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado, Calif.
That's much higher than the Navy overall -- which in 2010 was about 64% white, according to the Defense Manpower Data Center -- and is also out of whack with the cultural environments in which SEALs operate.
The gap remains despite concerted efforts to seek more minority candidates. A recent directive from Rear Adm. Sean Pybus, head of Naval Special Warfare Command, expanded the range of targeted minorities to young men of Asian and Arab descent as well as Hispanics.
Recruiting efforts are being stepped up in San Diego and Norfolk, Va., where SEALs and SWCCs have joined in local swim programs geared toward children and young adults, as well as in Detroit and Dearborn, Mich., home to large concentrations of blacks and Arab Americans.
"The swim component of SEAL and SWCC training across all cultures is one that is a dividing factor," said Capt. Duncan Smith, a SEAL who heads Naval Special Warfare Command's recruiting directorate.
He noted that those unfamiliar with swimming have the toughest time passing the physical screening test.
"We absolutely have a need for operational diversity. Our mission is more easily accomplished if we have people with the cultural and racial identities that allow us to create lasting relationships to better understand our partner forces," he said. "Our real mission is to make sure the SEAL/SWCC opportunity is open to anyone."
This year, the command also participated in nine of the NFL's regional scouting combines, where prospective players show off their skills.
"As it turns out, what got you here, with your opportunity with the NFL, is a lot about what makes the SEAL program successful," Pybus told one group at a session supported by members of Naval Special Warfare Group 2.
Nearly 100 of the 1,900 athletes, about 80% of whom were minorities, asked for more information about naval special warfare or becoming a SEAL, Smith said. "That is a pool of 100 young talented men. That right there is success for us."
Despite the recruitment effort, the command says training standards are not being lowered.
DJ Urbanovsky
05-01-2012, 07:05
Diversity for the sake of diversity is just stupid. It has never been my experience that skin color or ethnicity were accurate indicators of one's ability to do work. Shouldn't the training slots go to the most qualified candidates? How about simply seeking the best men for the job, wherever and whomever they may be, instead of focusing on meeting demographic quotas?
Team Sergeant
05-01-2012, 07:10
How about simply seeking the best men for the job, wherever and whomever they may be, instead of focusing on meeting demographic quotas?
Not a chance! We'll fix it by lowering the standards!
Then we'll put in place a promotion system that works on quotas, and not hard work or intelligence.........:munchin
Sorry, this system is already in place.
IMO it's an enormously complicated issue compounded by a process with, understandably, a great deal of subjectivity to its selection, qualification, and rating mechanisms.
I only hope nobody ever has to suffer the loss of a good life merely because the processes were politically flawed. :( :mad:
And so it goes...
Richard :munchin
Recruiting efforts are being stepped up in San Diego and Norfolk, Va., where SEALs and SWCCs have joined in local swim programs geared toward children and young adults, as well as in Detroit and Dearborn, Mich., home to large concentrations of blacks and Arab Americans.
Also home to high crime rates.
Nearly 100 of the 1,900 athletes, about 80% of whom were minorities, asked for more information about naval special warfare or becoming a SEAL, Smith said. "That is a pool of 100 young talented men. That right there is success for us."
So out of that 100, 30 might actually be eligeble and want to sign to join, some with waivers...and after passing the entry PT exam, 20 might go to BUDS. (If they "survive" basic). Out of that, two or three might actually make it, four tops. And that is a big might all things considered.
Which basically means the rest of the 26 washouts will go to the general fleet and experience life at sea...diversity for the fleet.
Meanwile, hotels, meals and other per diem and general travel expenses rack up in an effort to find those 3 or 4 out of 1900...:rolleyes:
Wouldn't it make more sense to recruit from within the ranks?
IMO it's an enormously complicated issue
No its not. I don't want a diverse workplace, I want everyone to be the same...competent and professional. Either you can do it or you can't.
Blue
What's the Navy lookin at SF for anyway ;)
No its not. I don't want a diverse workplace, I want everyone to be the same...competent and professional. Either you can do it or you can't.
Blue
That just nails it smack on the head.
I don't want a diverse workplace, I want everyone to be the same...competent and professional. Either you can do it or you can't.
NAVSPECWARCOM seems to disagree in part with such a position:
We absolutely have a need for operational diversity. Our mission is more easily accomplished if we have people with the cultural and racial identities that allow us to create lasting relationships to better understand our partner forces.
Our real mission is to make sure the SEAL/SWCC opportunity is open to anyone.
Despite the recruitment effort, the command says training standards are not being lowered.
I think this makes sense if (1) this is, indeed, their reasoning and (2) they do what they say they're going to do.
Seems to me like an extension of our "Lodge Act" thinking which filled the ranks of SF in its early Cold War days.
I'll be interested to see how it actually turns out.
And so it goes...
Richard :munchin
NAVSPECWARCOM seems to disagree in part with such a position:
I'll be interested to see how it actually turns out.
And so it goes...
Richard[/COLOR] :munchin
Good thinking.
NAVSPECWARCOM seems to disagree in part with such a position:
Screw them.
Blue
[B][I]
"We absolutely have a need for operational diversity. Our mission is more easily accomplished if we have people with the cultural and racial identities that allow us to create lasting relationships to better understand our partner forces," he said. "Our real mission is to make sure the SEAL/SWCC opportunity is open to anyone."
And here I sat, thinking that SEALS are a "direct action" force, just because of their earlier remark in the news "We aren't there to talk." :rolleyes:
The Reaper
05-01-2012, 19:08
Despite the recruitment effort, the command says training standards are not being lowered.
USA Today, May 1, 2012
Navy Renews Diversity Effort In Special Forces
By Gidget Fuentes, Navy Times
The Navy's special warfare forces are launching a renewed effort to recruit minorities with outreach at events ranging from local swim meets to NFL scouting combines.
Today's force of SEALs and special warfare combatant-craft crewmen (SWCCs) is roughly 85% white, according to the Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado, Calif.
That's much higher than the Navy overall -- which in 2010 was about 64% white, according to the Defense Manpower Data Center -- and is also out of whack with the cultural environments in which SEALs operate.
The gap remains despite concerted efforts to seek more minority candidates. A recent directive from Rear Adm. Sean Pybus, head of Naval Special Warfare Command, expanded the range of targeted minorities to young men of Asian and Arab descent as well as Hispanics.
Recruiting efforts are being stepped up in San Diego and Norfolk, Va., where SEALs and SWCCs have joined in local swim programs geared toward children and young adults, as well as in Detroit and Dearborn, Mich., home to large concentrations of blacks and Arab Americans.
"The swim component of SEAL and SWCC training across all cultures is one that is a dividing factor," said Capt. Duncan Smith, a SEAL who heads Naval Special Warfare Command's recruiting directorate.
He noted that those unfamiliar with swimming have the toughest time passing the physical screening test.
"We absolutely have a need for operational diversity. Our mission is more easily accomplished if we have people with the cultural and racial identities that allow us to create lasting relationships to better understand our partner forces," he said. "Our real mission is to make sure the SEAL/SWCC opportunity is open to anyone."
This year, the command also participated in nine of the NFL's regional scouting combines, where prospective players show off their skills.
"As it turns out, what got you here, with your opportunity with the NFL, is a lot about what makes the SEAL program successful," Pybus told one group at a session supported by members of Naval Special Warfare Group 2.
Nearly 100 of the 1,900 athletes, about 80% of whom were minorities, asked for more information about naval special warfare or becoming a SEAL, Smith said. "That is a pool of 100 young talented men. That right there is success for us."
Despite the recruitment effort, the command says training standards are not being lowered.
Great. :rolleyes:
Has anyone been denied an opportunity to try out for BUDS or SEAL training based on their race or ethnicity?
How many are strong swimmers, comfortable in near drowning situations, and meet the required physical, mental, and psychological standards? And make no mistake, standards will be "changed," to get as diverse a force as possible. The heat is on now.
Finally, how seriously can you take a correspondent named Gidget talking about Navy Special Forces?
TR
Peregrino
05-01-2012, 19:38
Personally, I think recruiting ethnics to "achieve operational diversity" is BULLSHIT. Admittedly I have never deployed to the current conflicts so I don't have experience with today's target populations; however, when I used to deploy, the fact that I didn't look like the indig was to my benefit (until the shouting started, then it tended to resemble a Sesame Street moment :D). They saw somebody who was different making an investment in their issues and that was an instant "foot in the door". The times I deployed with "ethnics" selected for "operational diversity" (because some armchair danger thought it was a brilliant idea) were generally abject failures - the locals refused to accept them. The 1-2 who worked out were promptly snatched up and sent to the SFQC, the rest just made our job more difficult. I'm sick to puking of PC BS. Blue said it best:
I don't want a diverse workplace, I want everyone to be the same...competent and professional. Either you can do it or you can't.
Blue He's absolutely correct - it is NOT complicated.
"Our real mission is to make sure the SEAL/SWCC opportunity is open to anyone."
Is he saying that it hasn't been? Can anyone remember such a short period of time in which there has been this much tinkering with the military? We cannot afford to give this bunch another four years.