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Old 05-01-2012, 05:20   #1
SouthernDZ
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Navy Renews Diversity Effort In Special Forces

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.
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