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Demographics is the answer. Marketing is not going to do the job. That is already maxed out.
For four years, I interviewed nearly every minority candidate still at SFAS on selection day.
After four years, I had zero complaints of racism against the cadre. Okay, one bitched that the company chain of command was prejudiced, till he met the black Company Commander, who told him what a disgrace he was.
Look at our target audience we are trying to reach. There is a very small number of minority soldiers who want to be combat arms in the first place, much less SF.
The people we are looking for are male HS grads, minimum, with clean legal records, able to obtain a minimum of a Secret clearance, strong swimmers, no significant personality disorders, above average intelligence, comfortable in the woods, day and night, alone or with others, physically, mentally, and emotionally prepared, free from drug and alcohol problems, with an aptitude for languages, preferably a foreign language speaker already, no financial issues, airborne or willing to be airborne, etc., etc.
Minorities with these quals are in very high demand, especially outside the military.
Some of the best SF soldiers I ever served with are black. I think any minorities who want to be SF and who meet the standards, succeed at a rate equal to or better than white candidates.
The recruiters have been told to keep an eye out for potential minority 18Xs, and they do. The 18X program was intended to bring more minorities into SF. I think the qualified ones make it, and I am proud to serve with my fellow SF soldiers of any race or ethnicity.
Just my .02 and experience, YMMV.
TR
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"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - President Theodore Roosevelt, 1910
De Oppresso Liber 01/20/2025
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