[akv]

Sigaba,

It seems there is evidence both ways. I'm not sure what percent of the US military was for desegregation in 1948, though as folks have pointed out since then our military has grown in capacity and faced every challenge, in hindsight that issue proved to be a molehill. Even if we discount the cultural norms of the time, there were already numerous clear examples Black troops could fight alone or alongside fellow Americans. Instances going back to the Revolution, or the Civil War's 54th Massachusetts Regiment, the Tuskegee Airmen or Red Ball Express to name a few. It is unclear to me the MLDC's recent suggestions have a similar basis in proven fact.

At the same time instances such as the extensive PC epidemic in US society also manifests itself in the Army, for example in the case of that Ft. Hood dirtball Hassan, who set off Red Flags but it seems folks around him were scared to act. It does make sense our military must remain congruent with America as a whole, it must have been shocking for the Germans with their Prussian tradition to believe we would would sack General Patton for merely slapping a soldier, or for AQ to believe we would fire the skipper of the USS Enterprise for some sophomoric videos, but that is who we are. We will also put all sorts of assets at risk to rescue a single downed pilot, and that is who we are too. When times are tough people lean on who they are, and we should be proud of this.

I certainly agree there is a growing separation between the experience of our military and civilians, we must find some way to address this. Our military already has a tough dangerous job in a cold world. The price of folly for folks in harms way is paid in blood. Perhaps I am jaded by my CAL experience but forced affirmative action is degrading to all parties involved, and the stakes were not nearly as high.

We have a motivated all volunteer professional military, change is inevitable and constant, one could make the argument the military due to the harsher nature of their environment is already forced to evolve faster on their own, than the civilian sector (desegregation for example). General McChrystal's dynamic systems based warfare strategy is another example. It is unclear to me if or how pro-active social experiments based on race or gender benefit or hinder this equation given the mission of our military, or specifically effect the unit cohesion folks in the combat arms reference often. I don't know the answer for this question, but I do know the penalty for failure in this example trumps a mere pink slip.

My religious friends might cite " the road to hell is paved with good intentions". The MLDC might well have the best of intent but once again unless they have a palantir, it is unclear to me what specific foresight or predictive wisdom beyond utopian hopes guides their process and plan, or even how such a process is even executed, or how in any way this is superior to an all volunteer force in a free country developing the situation as the environment plays out?