Military Elite Target Diversity
U.S. Navy SEAL Trainees at the Beach
WSLS Channel 10 News claims that the U.S. military sees the key to combat extremism in the ranks – diversity.
US military’s elite commando forces look to expand diversity
WASHINGTON – The Navy never had to look too hard to fill its elite SEAL force. For years, eager recruits poured in to try out for naval special warfare teams — but they were overwhelmingly white.
Now, Naval Special Warfare Command leaders are trying to turn that around, developing programs to seek out recruits from more diverse regions of the country.
“We have been passive in the way that we recruit, We’re SEAL Team. Come find us,” said Rear Adm. H. Wyman Howard III, top commander for Naval Special Warfare, in an interview with The Associated Press. Now, he said, “we have to go where diversity lives.”
Army leaders have been doing some of the same things. Lt. Gen. Fran Beaudette, head of Army Special Operations Command, said they have loosened some restrictions on who can try out for special forces units — which included requirements on the amount of time in the service or in rank a soldier had done. And the Army has created new, specialized teams to better reach out to more diverse populations.
The effort comes as the military — and the nation — struggles with racism, extremism and hate crimes. Leaders see greater diversity as a way to combat extremism in the ranks, even as they increase other training and education programs.
Commando forces — particularly the officers — tend to be far less diverse than the military as a whole. While only a small percentage of those who try out eventually pass the grueling, years-long training for special operations, leaders hope that bringing in a wider array of recruits will lead to a more diverse force.
As of March 2021, a full 95% of all SEAL and combatant-craft crew (SWCC) officers were white and just 2% were Black, according to Naval Special Warfare statistics provided to the AP. The officers corps of Army Special Forces is 87% white, and also 2% Black.
The enlisted ranks are only slightly more diverse. About 84% of the Navy SEAL and SWCC enlisted troops are white, and 2% are Black. The greater diversity comes in the number of American Indian, Alaskan Native and those who say they are “multiple” races. The Army’s enlisted special forces are also 84% white, but the percentage of Blacks goes up to 4.
So it seems like the target is here is quotas. There could be two schools of thought when these numbers are looked at.
First, that perhaps there tends to be a trend among those that have interest and the numbers merely fall out along these lines. Taken as a percentage of the population, or perhaps more accurately, the percentage that exist in the armed forces, the races may not be that disproportionate.
Second, it assumes that people are not fine with these numbers. Outsiders count less than people that want to be in these programs. This article and these percentages assume that there are races being held back. What about Asians? They don’t mention Asians. What about all those Asian servicemen and women that want to be Delta or SEALs? What’s up with that?
What about transgenders? Are they equally represented within the military elite? If they were to reverse that trend at what percentage should they be represented? Equal to white males? Equal to blacks? Equal to the percentage of the military population of transgenders? Equal to the percentage of transgenders in the general population?
So many questions when it comes to deciding on equality and equity.
So here we go down the slippery slope. If Professional Basketball had complaints about lack of diversity would that get support? Rightfully so, the best player for a given position gets to start on the team. Would someone even want a position handed to them that they didn’t earn? Who would even watch basketball knowing your team is not fielding the best players for that position? Fans can always say that although their team lost, they had the most diverse team out there.
Sort of like the Biden administration.
Category: "Teh Stoopid", Politics
If you are “diverse”, you get nine recycles!
If you are “diverse”, you only have to hit 5 out of 10 targets!
If you are “diverse”, you get three lives instead of one!
Wonder how that will turn out.
When people start getting killed or worse because of this nonsense, it will stop. But only then.
^THIS^ Fuckin’ A!
The Army will see the Navy’s 2% Blacks and raise them 2%. They both need to get that 84% White percentage down.
When I put on my race-filtered glasses, this can only be attributed to racism and extremism.
Uhhhhh………isn’t 84% the approximate percentage of whites in the overall civilian population? So there’s your diversity already. What is the makeup of the other 16% in both the military and civilian worlds. Looks like the (koff!) “diversity” (koff!) is a non-problem already.
^THIS^ Brilliant minds do think alike, Tox. Glad I re-freshed all the comments before I posted what was in my head.
The only diversity that our enemies will see is the many diverse weapons they can bring to bear and the many diverse ways they can try to kill our Warriors.
Pure and utter pony pellets!
US demographic makeup seems to be 60% non-Hispanic white, 76% white including Hispanic/Latino, all according to https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045219
Uhhhhh………isn’t 84% the approximate percentage of whites in the overall civilian population?
Um no. Roughly 76% of the population is.
Overall the US Military is LESS white than the General Population 61%.
Just like anywhere else in the Country, Minorities are less likely to hold high level management jobs.
Belonging to an elite unit is usually pursued by someone who wants to serve at a higher level.
The Navy has been sucking ass and balls to get minorities into the SEALS for years.
At one time that had a PO named David Coggins,,, a SEAL, PT Stud and ultra Marathoner with an amazing story go out on recruiting.. If he cant get people to enlist no one can.
Like the PC crap of the Clinton years on steroids!
“If it wasn’t on WDBJ-7 then it ain’t news.”
– Most of the people in my family
It matters not one bit what color, gender, race, sexual orientation, zodiacal sign or blood type you are, if you are qualified, can meet or exceed the standards, you’re in. Everyone is scored the same. There are no participation trophies, no points for second place, not everyone makes the team. Diversity is an admirable goal, but it is not the primary goal. I can see a reason to increase recruiting in “underserved” minority groups. Qualification standards must be maintained regardless.
Word.
Anyone in the US who hasn’t heard of the special forces or the SEALS is probably too fucking stupid to reproduce thankfully.
Anyone in the US who wants to join those forces has tried, some have succeeded and many have not. There is no barrier preventing any minority from attempting the trial process.
No one has their records refused because of their race.
As we often say when working with variables, correlation does not equal causation. Or more directly outcomes do not indicate entry barriers in this instance. How many minorities actually apply? Of those who do how many fail based on some race related issue that can be confirmed to be solely race related?
We are constantly tilting after windmills in this country to find boogeymen that don’t exist in some areas. We are certainly a nation with problems, many of them far more pressing than this one.
What if they do all this outreach and nothing changes? Does that mean the outreach failed or does it mean something else, something far less sinister…something as simple as choice.
Why do some people join the military?
Why do the majority of minorities join the military?
Answer those questions and one might discover there is no need for outreach because people are serving exactly where they choose to serve for their own personal reasons.
And leave it at that for fuck’s sake.
“Liberals” are constantly tilting after windmills in this country to find boogeymen that don’t exist in some areas.
There, VOV, fixed it for ya…
I know you are of the belief that “both sides do it” but I think this is a clear instance where the left is far more inclined to find boogeymen under every rock and behind every tree, with “White supremacist terror groups are the nation’s greatest threat” being a prime example and “Systemic racism in our military” being another.
Poe, the “woke” mob has indeed stepped up their game rather dramatically over the last few years to the point where I might be inclined to agree with you that while they might not hold a monopoly on searching for boogeymen they certainly are close…
The military is supposed to be a meritocracy and especially so in the special operations arms. You can either do the job or not. Race, religion, and national origin don’t matter. It’s a very demanding job physically and mentally and you either make the cut or you don’t.
I wonder what the percentage is of white male combat related deaths is. Are they dying at a higher rate because more volunteered? Anybody know? Is that racist too? Jesus fucking Christ we are in trouble.
Targeting recruitment efforts to underrepresented racial/ethnic groups in spec ops isn’t a bad idea in and of itself. They are always struggling to keep units up to strength. Increase the size of your recruiting pool and (all things being equal) you could get more qualified bodies in the pipe line. This could translate to more qualified bodies in the fleet.
The problem comes in when standards get dropped. Dropped standards lead to poor performance and discipline problems. Lord knows there’s enough of that going on now.
If they’re increasing their recruiting pool while maintaining the standards then this is a good thing.
Given the rash of silly ass decisions with CRT, BLM , and other nonsense I have my doubts the standard will be held.
There’s a very practical reason why you don’t see more blacks volunteering for the SEALs–a very high percentage of them have never learned to swim and have a resulting fear of water:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-11172054
Quote from the article: “The US has almost 3,500 accidental drownings every year, almost 10 a day.
But according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the fatal drowning rate of African-American children aged five-14 is three times that of white children.”
That article, while from back in 2010, is from the very leftist BBC so it’s certainly not racist.
In Vietnam, where crossing numerous canals, rivers and shallow lakes/ponds was routine when on patrols, black soldiers frequently had to be assisted, even ferried. I remember once having to personally swim three black soldiers, one a buck sergeant like me, across a river, one after the other. All of them were terrified by water-crossings and young Sergeant Poe was exhausted by the time he crawled ashore for the last time.
In college, in a physical anthropology course, I learned that bone density and lower body fat content made swimming more problematic for blacks than for other races. This is borne out by medical studies:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9024231/
“Racial differences in bone density between young adult black and white subjects persist after adjustment for anthropometric, lifestyle, and biochemical differences”
Once again, liberals are pushing a social justice policy that is in defiance of science and reality.
Imagine that…😲😲😲😲
“Racial differences in bone density between young adult black and white subjects…”
Uh oh.
Isn’t that what Jimmy the Greek said?
” All of them were terrified by water-crossings…”
Me too, but it was the leeches that terrified me, not the water.
Perhaps the Navy could attract more gays to SEAL training if they’d include a block of training in synchronous swimming and water ballet set to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, Anton Rubinstein’s Ocean Symphony, Ralph Vaughan Williams’, A Sea Symphony, Claude Debussy’s La Mer, Handel’s Water Music and other nautical classics.
Hey, ol’ Poe’s just trying to help the Squids get all woke here…🤪🤪🤪🤪
Found a video of the training syllabus.
Imagine how cute they’d be in bellbottoms and Dixie cups for close-order drill.
And mermaid costumes for the aquatics…🧜♂️🧜♂️🧜♂️
Here you go, Poe…Straight from the Horse’s mouth.
Just as you shared.
“Why It’s Rare To ‘See A Black Face’ In The SEALs”
https://www.npr.org/2012/05/28/153701478/why-its-rare-to-see-a-black-face-in-the-seals
“MARTIN: Do you mind if I point out that you also happen to be African-American and I happened to look at some of the institutions where these physical fitness challenges and where the SEALs have gone have been diverse institutions. I’m wondering, what’s it like when you show up? Are people surprised to see you there?”
“JONES: Oh, yes. Regardless of whether it’s a predominantly white audience or mixed audience or African-American, they’re all kind of shocked because we are like – out of 2,500 SEALs, there’s only like 50 of us, and it’s very rare that you see a black face. So people are always a little shocked and African-Americans
impressed, usually, and kind of excited and more respondent to you because they see that – hey, that guy’s just like me.”
“MARTIN: Why do you think that is?”
“JONES: I’m glad you asked that and it’s something that I address to almost every diverse audience that I speak to because I get that question a lot and it’s not racism. It’s not because of anything other than two things that I’ve seen from personal experience, talking to other friends and family and it’s – one is awareness. You can’t aspire to be something that you have no idea – you truly don’t know what it is. And the other thing is swimming. A lot of African-Americans, especially ones that I know personally, don’t know how to swim or are not comfortable in the water and, obviously, being a U.S. Navy SEAL, you have to be very proficient in the water.”
“MARTIN: Because SEAL stands for what?”
“JONES: Sea, Air and Land. It’s a big part of the sea.”
This is going to work out SOOO fucking well. The SOCOM community is doing just fine with all volunteers and most of those don’t make it.
So what does this mean? Will it make SOCOM a more lethal force? NO! Will it increase their sense of Brotherhood? That’s absurd on its face.
So I can only imagine the liberal political screeches are determined to bring MANDATORY diversity and inclusion into an already well-oiled, highly functioning machine which in truth will turn out to be a monkey wrench.
This is brought to you by the same folks who have caused more racial and social division, upheaval, and turmoil to our nation than I have witnessed in my lifetime.
Diversityis code for too many white people…
Its actual diversity they mean. After all, the NBA isn’t diverse. Not stories about the league going out to the corn fields of Iowa, frozen ponds of Minnesota, or beaches of SoCal to try and get more white players. The league is 80+% black…not too diverse. The NHL…not too diverse so we gotta do something about that. The PGA…not too diverse, but neither is the US Track & Field Team. Only has to make some changes. Welcome to The Democrats world of “equity”.
The next target will include women in Spec Ops. Standards, we don’t need no training standards.
Let’s not forget the Army requires a GT score of 110 or higher for SF, GT of 105 or higher for Rangers…. Both must be airborne qualified….. And be able to qualify for at least a Secret Clearance…