The cost of a diverse Naval Academy

The Capital (Annapolis, MD) ^ | June 14 2009 | Bruce Flemming

[Saint X]

The Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead announced in Annapolis recently that "diversity is the number one priority" at the Naval Academy.

The Naval Academy superintendent, Vice Adm. Jeffrey Fowler, echoed him. Everyone understands that "diversity" here means nonwhite skins.

Fowler insisted recently that we needed to have Annapolis graduates who "looked like" the Fleet, where enlisted people are about 42 percent nonwhite, largely African American and Hispanic.

The stunning revelation last week was that the Naval Academy had an incoming class that was "more diverse" than ever before: 35 percent minority.

Sounds good, only this comes with a huge price tag. It's taxpayers who bankroll the military. Yet nobody has asked us if we're willing to pay this price. Instead we're being told there is no price to pay at all. If you believe that, you probably also believe in the Tooth Fairy

[Astronaut]

Shouldn’t the number one priority of the Naval Academy be training officers that can lead men into combat? I am so sick of “diversity” and PC bullsh*t.

[Jeff Chandler]

I can’t wait for the Navy Seals, Army Special Forces, etc., to start enforcing racial quotas on graduation numbers.

[aposiopetic]

The writer is an English professor at the Naval Academy.

[Hodar]

First we were commanded to be ‘tolerant’ of other people.
Then we were commanded to ‘celebrate’ people who were not like us.

Now, we are commanded to ‘embrace and make sure that everyone is represented’.

So, my question is simple.
If these ‘different’ people represent something superior to what we already have; why did they leave their culture, their country and their lifestyle to join ours?

[ArtyFO]

The PC bullsh!t will only get worse with Obummer as CIC.

[DoughtyOne]

How about we base things on grades and personal achievement. I know that's as outmoded as our founding documents, but what the heck. Right is right...

Fowler insisted recently that we needed to have Annapolis graduates who "looked like" the Fleet, where enlisted people are about 42 percent nonwhite, largely African American and Hispanic.

So another words, the fact that the the clear majority of the fleet is still White, doesn't matter. 58% white, 42% others, obviously the other must rule.

And here I thought the important thing was that the best of the best assumed leadership.

What a fool I was.

[exit82]

Hey, Admiral, your number one priority is not diversity—it is the training and equipping of the finest naval officers on the face of the earth.

You must be a Rear(end) Admiral.

[Clock King]

Then Black people need to get off their ass and study hard to get into college, make excellent grades and join the Navy Nuclear Officer program. There's no excuse for not studying. And a nuclear reactor don't give a damn about your skin color, past prejudicial experience, or how you feel about it.

[RC2]

They will most likely tear down all the buildings and build new ones facing the east. Notice to all cadets....No pork served in the chow hall.

[DoughtyOne]

Amen

[Mr. Mojo]

The Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead announced in Annapolis recently that "diversity is the number one priority" at the Naval Academy.

If "diversity" is priority #1 at Annapolis as Mr. Raghead claims it won't be long until the USN is a second rate Navy.

[rabidralph]

Feel free to contact the public affairs office at the academy and let them know how you feel.

To contact Public Affairs, pao@usna.edu or 410-293-2291,for Public inquiries 410-293-1520. For media requests, please contact the media relations branch: mediarelations@usna.edu or 410-293-2292.

[Myrddin]

By the time I was heading to college, my dad had been a Commander in the Navy for 10 years. The arrival of Elmo Zumwalt as CNO implemented changes that left him very disappointed in the Navy. Dad had been XO of the USS Marshall, USS Prairie, USS Arlington and 32nd St Naval Station (San Diego) in addition to a special project at the Pentagon to develop the patrol gunboat hydrofoils (PGH-1 and PGH-2). Earlier in his career he was the port 5 inch battery officer on the Iowa. His crew eliminated the communist ammunition dumps at Wonson Harbor on September 23, 1952. He would be very disappointed to see the "ring knockers" lowering themselves into the abyss of PC diversity.

[ansel12]

Shouldn’t the number one priority of the Naval Academy be training officers that can lead men into combat?

That ended 34 years ago.

[Mr. Mojo]

Yep. On Oct. 7, 1975, to be precise. The beginning of the end.

[andy58-in-nh]

Shouldn’t the number one priority of the Naval Academy be training officers that can lead men into combat?

Any other priority will get a lot of people killed for no good reason. This is stupidity on stilts.

[Knitebane]

Hey USNA!

How about making the words of the father of the US Navy your number one priority?

Qualifications of a Naval Officer

It is by no means enough that an officer of the Navy should be a capable mariner. He must be that, of course, but also a great deal more. He should be as well a gentleman of liberal education, refined manners, punctilious courtesy, and the nicest sense of personal honor.

He should be the soul of tact, patience, justice, firmness, kindness, and charity. No meritorious act of a subordinate should escape his attention or be left to pass without its reward, even if the reward is only a word of approval. Conversely, he should not be blind to a single fault in any subordinate, though at the same time, he should be quick and unfailing to distinguish error from malice, thoughtfulness from incompetency, and well meant shortcomings from heedless or stupid.

In one word, every commander should keep constantly before him the great truth, that to be well obeyed, he must be perfectly esteemed.

[wintertime]

Yes, there is a cost to the taxpayer. But...the cost to **real** people is very, very sad indeed, both for the white student and the minority.

What the Navy is doing is taking minority students who might have excelled in another field and setting them up for failure or mere mediocrity.

So....Let's say a bright minority can't fully compete with the white students. The minority either fails and drops out, or spends a career struggling to be mediocre. This same minority might ( in a free economy that was free of racial prejudices) may have been an outstanding entrepreneur or employee in a different field of study. Admitting students who are not qualified is not doing these students any favors.

[andy58-in-nh]

I’m sure some people here don’t know what that date refers to - Public Law 94-106, signed by President Gerald R. Ford.