Pentagon's precious 'diversity' now affecting the SEALs

[nousdefions]

From Blackfive

The Navy Times reports that Naval Special Warfare is trying to boost the amount of minorities in the SEALs:

The Naval Special Warfare Center is embarking on new marketing and awareness campaigns to reach more minority candidates who have the best odds of becoming Navy SEALs in the hope that those efforts will diversity the commando force.

The campaign is the latest move by Naval Special Warfare Command to boost its recruitment of minorities, particularly African-Americans, to attend the Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL course and follow-on SEAL Qualification Training and join the all-male community of special operators — one that historically has been largely white.

White... black... I thought SEALs were the men with green faces. In my experience, we all bleed red. How about the pencil-pushers at the Pentagon get it through their tiny heads that they should be in the business of finding the BEST men for the job rather than the most ethnically representative sample of society.

Naval Special Warfare Command hired three contractors for the diversity initiative, which will renew naval special warfare’s outreach to historically black colleges and universities; develop new marketing strategies that focus awareness, screening and recruiting efforts on minority communities; and develop research that identifies the traits of successful BUD/S candidates to hone recruiting.

“Each initiative has a different approach to get a candidate that we want. When you have a multifaceted approach, you start to mesh the different initiatives together to get more successful candidates,” Cmdr. Brodes Hartley, naval special warfare’s force diversity officer, said in a Navy Compass article.

This sounds like a massive investment in Fraud, Waste, and Abuse to me. A NSW "diversity officer?" Three diversity contractors? I wonder how much all this costs.

I can't speak for black SEALs, but if the Navy were going out of its way to recruit white SEALs, I would feel pretty insulted. Does the Pentagon think that blacks are so dumb that they have to launch an initiative to coax them into serving? Or perhaps they think blacks are too scared? Who the hell knows? (Actually, the article alludes to the racist stereotype that blacks can't swim)

The latest plan comes as top military leaders — including Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a former CNO — have spoken publicly about the importance of diversifying the military for the next generation, with diversity targets set for 2037.

Perhaps these Admirals could focus more on achieving victory in our war against the jihadists, and then they can move on to their social agendas.

To reach those goals within its senior officer ranks, naval special warfare must boost the number graduating and completing all BUD/S and SEAL Qualification Training by 15 or 16 minority officers and 40 to 50 sailors, the command wrote in the solicitation.

And just how do these diversity gurus propose we increase the minority SEALs, magic wands? Or would they be willing to utilize a double standard in order to keep up diversity requirements? And what if the military doesn't meet these requirements, would some Sonya Sotomayor wanna-be judge decide to freeze BUD/S because it was unfair to minorities like firefighters in New Haven, Conn., FDNY, and other cities nationwide? Or maybe they could institute a racist policy like the NFL's, where minority coaches have to be interviewed for a job (I would be VERY insulted if I knew I was only being interviewed to check off a box on a legal form). This nonsense is something we firefighters have to live with already; the SEALs shouldn't have to.

I think the United States and the free world in general would be better off if this puss-nut "diversity" program disappeared, and the money they are spending on this racist nonsense would be better spent on operational items.

[The Reaper]

How about the NBA requires no less than 80% of all players to be white, to reflect the diversity of our society?

TR

[ZonieDiver]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

How about the NBA requires no less than 80% of all players to be white, to reflect the diversity of our society?

TR

Yeah, and they can't all be from Eastern Europe!

[Dozer523]

We shouldn't be dealing with this issue at all!

And we wouldn't be if Robert De Nero hadn't carried Master Chief Boatswain's Mate Carl Maxie Brashear, USN (Ret.) through Salvage Diver School in 1953.

The United States Navy has a long and prestigious record of racial equality, harmony and equal opportunity.

Unfortunately, thanks to De Nero, we will never know for sure if Master Chief Boatswain's Mate Carl Maxie Brashear, USN (Ret.) would have attained the rank of Master Chief Boatswain's Mate if he had stayed on the mess deck where he belonged. But, I'm willing to bet . . .

GMAFB Photo below titled "Minority Seals". These studs look integrated to me. And those SEAL masks are soooo scary. total BS-stirring from Black Five again. Another reason why I don't go there.

[JimP]

Heck, all they have to do is to waive the swim test. Shouldn't be a problem.

[Richard]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qwEv...re=BF&index=53

SSDD - and marketing for applicants does not mean changing/lowering standards.

I would think the STs might need a few more ffolkes who don't look like Dolph Lundgren playing CPT Ivan Drago to be able to best perform some of their current and future taskings.

I understand Charlie Sheen might be looking for a new gig soon.

And so it goes...

Richard's $.02

[lksteve]

Originally Posted by nousdefions

I can't speak for black SEALs, but if the Navy were going out of its way to recruit white SEALs, I would feel pretty insulted. Does the Pentagon think that blacks are so dumb that they have to launch an initiative to coax them into serving?

When I was a 2LT in 1/10 in Bad Toelz, I was assigned the additional duty of RR/EO officer...it went with the territory, along with being Mr. Vice at the Dining In...that said, I had to go to some touchy-feely training...Day 1, we are supposed to get up and introduce ourselves, say something about the racial make-up of our unit and outline our ideas for making the world and our unit a better, happier, friendlier place for peoples of all ethnic backgrounds and creeds to serve...lucky me...at the time, there were two blacks serving in 1/10...the Battalion Medic, and the Senior Medic on ODA-8, the same team I was the XO of...oddly, SFD(A)E had their own RR/EO officer, a black guy, and they had a more diverse population as well...be that as it may, I noticed one thing almost immediately...I was the only white male officer in the room...there were a couple of white females in attendance, a few black women, but for the most part, of the 30 or 40 of us gathered in Vilseck that day, I was the only male white officer...and the unit I represented was 97% white, only 1% black...before I could finish my introduction, folks got angry, insulting and attempted to shout me down.."Why aren't there more blacks in SF...why is this allowed to exist..." Blah, blah, blah...not so tactifully, I told the group at large to be quiet and I'd do my best to answer that question...I briefly explained the training, that while in SFTG the branch chiefs were a very large black guy, (my FAC was also black), Phase II was a Filipino MSG, and Phase III was another black guy...I was pretty sure there wasn't overt racism in so far as I could tell when it came to getting through training...when asked in a more civil tone why there weren't more blacks in SF, I told the group that it seemed to me the only folks really upset by it were RR/EO folks in the class...maybe they should ask themselves...a verbal riot ensued...a black LTC, OIC of the RR/EO training pulled me aside as the "class" degenerated into chaos and told me that he understood where I was coming from, but perhaps it would be better if I returned to my unit, as from what he could tell, and from the records of complaints he had (none), maybe we didn't have a problem...he called the BC in advance, thanked them for my attendance, and the group went back to whatever they do in those "classes"...

[The Reaper]

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

[monsterhunter]

Interesting thoughts on the issue. In a somewhat related thought, I began to wonder why I've rarely ever seen a black surfer. Being in So Cal, I've spent a lot of time at the beach.

A quick Google search led me to the Black Surfing Association (BSA) http://www.blacksurfingassociation.com/. Here is a paraphrased quote, "From the need for companionship, commorodary [sic], and socialization on a path shared by so few of our own..." Further into the site it mentions little black representation in hockey, golf, and a few other sports.

It seems to me that in order to get more folks into anything. There must first be a will and an interest. But placing mandatory percentages on graduating classes? My department did it in order to promote more women to the rank of sergeant or any other "coveted" positions. The only way to get the numbers you need (and currently don't have) is to lower the standards. Even then we can't always get the number and have to go to a special board for a waiver.

[aegisnavy]

While at the boat school, IIRC, I would estimate that approximately 80% of black midshipmen struggled with the basic swim test. They kicked a** in everything else, (especially a classmate who cleaned my clock in boxing-I woke up staring at the ceiling in the boxing gym wondering WTH?!?) Anecdotally, I knew that for a few, when they entered the pool at USNA, it was the first time in their life. My plebe year roommate, who was black, struggled as well, but he was just a lousy swimmer like me

The one exception that I knew personally of was on the diving team. Oh yeah, he became a SEAL.

[kawaishi]

I been training with a friend since January when he signed up for bud/s. We swim at a health club that has lots of black and white patrons and we also use the university pool which is available to a very diverse student population. I can't recall seeing a black swimmer in the lanes who wasn't an adult learning how to swim. I think it starts at the family pool where I see lots of white parents bringing their babies into the water which I haven't seen any black parents doing. In fact, out of eleven months of swimming four to five days a week I've seen many more asians and arabs than blacks getting in the water. There is no comparison between the small asian and arab populations and the large black population down here. At the same facilities we work out on the track and in the weight room with lots of black athletes. I think that many of them just choose not to swim whether it's their cultural influence or personal preference.

[Dozer523]

Originally Posted by kawaishi

I been training with a friend . . .
. . . I think that many of them just choose not to swim whether it's their cultural influence or personal preference.

Yeah, well I have a friend who grew up on the wrong side of the segregated south and he NEVER wanted to swim in the 'Whites Only" public pool.

That's cuz at night, he and his friends climbed the fence and pissed in it. He says there are occasions when he misses the "good old days".

[Guy]

I would've terminated! No problem with water however, the COLD is painful!

I'll never forget that ass chewing I took when, some HEMF came up with the bright idea of scrubbing the SF swim test...I just couldn't hold it in.

Stay safe.

[kgoerz]

The number of Blacks in MLB has declined dramatically in years. It's easy to put up a Basketball court and walk away. Little league takes money and Parent involvement. Little league programs are at an all time low in the inner cities. This was all brought up on a recent ESPN special covering the decline of black MLB players.

[Richard]

I'll never forget that ass chewing I took when, some HEMF came up with the bright idea of scrubbing the SF swim test...

The more things change...

They did waive the swim test at one point in the mid-to-late-60s - discovered pretty quickly that it was a mistake and reinstated it as a non-waiverable requirement.

Also, swimming is one thing, combat diving is another - I saw many good swimmers who found they lacked the physical or mental requirements required of a combat diver.

And so it goes...

Richard