The Army’s Unequal Opportunity Program

Bob Parks: Black & Right ^ | 12/8/08 | Bob Parks

[bocopar]

What is the mission of the United States Army? The most overused answer is to “kill people and break things.” While simplistic, that is their purpose. Sure, over the years and depending on the philosophies of the Commander-in-Chief serving, that mission has morphed into peacekeeping and disaster relief and security.

But for the men and women serving, they are not only serving at the convenience of the President and his subordinates, but also political correctness and sometimes reverse racism.

According to the Army’s “Unit Equal Opportunity Training Guide”,

This country was founded on the basic values of freedom, dignity, respect, and opportunity for all. In an ongoing struggle to ensure that these rights are enjoyed by all citizens, we must continue to educate ourselves and our soldiers on the importance of equal opportunity (EO). Through this education we can better appreciate the cultural diversity that has helped make this country great. Through education we can create an environment in which soldiers can excel.

Here we go with those liberal, touchy, feely buzzwords: “cultural diversity”. Most of us know what happens when we toss these words around. Common sense gets tossed out the window and assumptions as to the thoughts and motives of others are made; some on fact and some on myth.

[2banana]

The most overused answer is to “kill people and break things.”

And to drink their beer and dance with their women...

[decimon]

Have you no self respect? Your link to you is broken.

[bocopar]

Hmmm?

Try this:
http://www.black-and-right.com/2008/12/08/the-army’s-unequal-opportunity-program/

[Rhino54]

In 1972 i attended basic training in the US Army. The first week I was sent to a race relations seminar. I was placed in a subgroup of perhaps 12 trainees. The moderator was a black SFC (E-7). The SFC and the black trainee of the group commenced to tell the white trainees what horrible people we were. I was on active duty for 4 years and every year we had one of these little barn dances. My Company Commander in Berlin said to me that everybody in company got along fine until the annual race relations seminar. Each year they were more contentious. Most of the white soldiers despised these things and I am resentful to this day.

[Old Sarge]

Can anyone name a white, male EO officer?

Anyone at all...

Don’t be shy...

[decimon]

That worked.

[Old Sarge]

The most overused answer is to “kill people and break things.”

And to drink their beer and dance with their women...

"Crush their enemies, see them driven before them, and hear the lamentation of their women!"

[decimon]

In 1972 i attended basic training in the US Army.

Mine was in 1966. They made it clear that the only color was to be Army green but I don't recall any browbeating.

One area where race came up was in camouflage and concealment. They informed us that there is no color after dark and that dark skin would not keep any of us safer at night. To demonstrate, they showed a film of a white and a black soldier at night and showed that it is skin oil that will give you away if that oil reflects any light. I've since wondered if training has become too PC to pass on that valuable lesson.

[Future Snake Eater]

Our Company EO rep was one of my squad leaders and the most un-PC white guy you could imagine. He was a good fit.

[PVT4evr]

I’m currently in the Regular Army, and we have our little EO kumbaya sessions every quarter. We do less combat oriented training (basic soldier skills) than that. I’m a POG, and I know it, but we spend and excessive amount of time training on nonsense like that.

[decimon]

One observation, should we get into comparing today’s volunteer Army to the older conscript Army. When I was in I encountered little racial conflict because most soldiers just wanted to do their time and get out without getting into trouble.

[BerryDingle]

In 1972 i attended basic training in the US Army. The first week I was sent to a race relations seminar. I was placed in a subgroup of perhaps 12 trainees. The moderator was a black SFC (E-7). The SFC and the black trainee of the group commenced to tell the white trainees what horrible people we were. I was on active duty for 4 years and every year we had one of these little barn dances. My Company Commander in Berlin said to me that everybody in company got along fine until the annual race relations seminar. Each year they were more contentious. Most of the white soldiers despised these things and I am resentful to this day.

I've had a few experiences like that myself back around 73. A black female PFC complained because she got a traffic ticket on post because she was black and the MP was white. The instructor asked the rest of the room (who was white) how many got traffic tickets in the last 6 months we've gotten and the whole room raised their hands, all from the same black MP. Another forced reeducation opportunity involved the post commander attending as the instructor. A black soldier complained that his direct supervisor was lazy and incompetent and he was doing his supervisors job, so the Commander recommended him for promotion after he told the class immediately that he was.
I had a white draftee in one of my units that said "off the cuff" one day, "you know, I never knew what racism was until I attended a race relations class". I replied "look around you, five years from now they will all be Staff Sergeant Majors, the PT test will be very important on the evaluation reports and the MOS test will be dropped completely.