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Navy Seeking More Minority SEALs
Time Magazine ^ | February 24, 2012 | Mark Thompson

Posted on 02/24/2012 9:15:25 AM PST by lex33

In nature, most seals are black, with relatively few white ones. The Navy's SEALs have exactly the opposite problem -- they're overwhelmingly white, with hardly any blacks. So they're trying to do something about it. It's a fundamental challenge in a democracy with an all-volunteer force: recruits may be drawn from all segments of society, but elite military units -- and none is more elite these days than the SEALs, following their dispatch of Osama bin Laden last May -- tend to draw from small pools of talent. For the SEALs, that includes athletic young men who are smart and good in the water. For whatever reason, that has led to an overwhelmingly white SEAL force. (PHOTOS: Navy SEALs in Action) Say the SEALs: Gaps exist in minority representation in both officer and enlisted ranks for Special Warfare operators. Diverse officers represent only ten percent of the officer pool (for example, African Americans represent less than 2% of SEAL officers). Diverse enlisted SEALs account for less than twenty percent of the total SEAL enlisted population. Naval Special Warfare is committed to fielding a force that represents the demographics of the nation it serves. This contract initiative seeks effective strategies to introduce high potential candidates from diverse backgrounds to the opportunities available in Naval Special Warfare. (PHOTOS: A History of Special Ops) The SEALs are considering hiring help to attract thousands of "minority males in the 16–24 year-old target age range" to become SEALs. "This contract will create a mechanism to enhance Naval Special Warfare's ability to conduct outreach, raise awareness, mentor, and increase self-selection to a career as a SEAL within minority communities," a recently-posted draft contract solicitation says. The Navy isn't seeking only black SEALs: "Challenges for minority recruitment also exist in the Hispanic, Asian Pacific Islander (API), Native

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
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To: lex33

Step one downhill toward mediocrity. Not because minorities are part of the program, but because the effort is to find minorities, not find the best.

It will be a miracle if America can just hold enough in reserve to stave off the coming attack while we cull the dead wood and rebuilt.

That is dead wood, politically, militarily, within the “business community,” academically, and more.


121 posted on 02/24/2012 10:58:29 AM PST by RobinOfKingston (The instinct toward liberalism is located in the part of the brain called the rectal lobe.)
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To: lex33

I can see it now: a minority candidate wants to quit and walks over to ring the bell, but before they can do that, they have to have a sensitivity meeting with an eeoc lawyer, who tries to persuade them to stick out out with promises of reduced goal and increased hand holding. The obstacle course is racist obviously.


122 posted on 02/24/2012 10:58:58 AM PST by steel_resolve (Ships With Holes Will Sink And I Will Swim)
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To: Tenacious 1
All the history I read suggests it was a very accomplished escort unit that lost no charges to enemy fire. Is it all lies?

The legend that the Red-Tails never lost a bomber to enemy aircraft was born of an article in a black newspaper in Chicago (Chicago Defender, I think). It was a statement that was just made. No statistics to back it up. It's been repeated so many times it's taken as historical fact.

There was an analysis done some years ago stating that on the very day the article appeared the Red-Tails lost a bomber they were escorting. They also lost a half-dozen others, at least.

This is not taking any shots at the Tuskegee Airmen. They were magnificent fighter pilots. But if you're a bomber pilot, getting shot down by an 88-battery makes you just as dead or just as much of a POW.

So not only was it 'untrue', it was really irrelevant.

123 posted on 02/24/2012 10:59:41 AM PST by Tallguy (It's all 'Fun and Games' until somebody loses an eye!)
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To: lex33

Time Magazine, no wonder. Pravda couldn’t be more biased.


124 posted on 02/24/2012 11:02:06 AM PST by vetvetdoug
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To: hosepipe

Not SEALS, but good for front-lines work!


125 posted on 02/24/2012 11:03:41 AM PST by SgtHooper (The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on the list.)
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To: Eldon Tyrell
Be careful that the government’s racism doesn’t lead us into bigotry

This too is part of their insidious plan. Institutionalized reverse racism and the destruction of the inner city family is a self fullfilling prophecy which generates racism from whence it had previously been stamped out. Just one more reason to hate statists not individuals of any race!

126 posted on 02/24/2012 11:05:16 AM PST by douginthearmy (Obamagebra: 1 job + 1 hope + 1 change = 0 jobs + 0 hope)
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To: jwalsh07

Dead. On. Accurate.


127 posted on 02/24/2012 11:06:20 AM PST by Wyatt's Torch (I can explain it to you. I can't understand it for you.)
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To: CodeToad
This is exactly why the SEALs needed to remain out of the limelight

No such problem in the D.... F.... where everybody is invisible because they don't exist.


128 posted on 02/24/2012 11:06:29 AM PST by Theophilus (Not merely prolife, but prolific)
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To: Old Teufel Hunden
Imagine if we applied this same logic to the NFL or NBA. It would be called racist....

Texas A&M students petition for affirmative action for athletic teams

129 posted on 02/24/2012 11:06:45 AM PST by TankerKC (Welcome to the age of "I Meant to Do That" Diplomacy)
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To: oncebitten

“Blacks as a group sink like rocks.”

No problem. The diversity fanatics will just repeal the ‘law of buoyancy’ because it’s just too UNFAIR.


130 posted on 02/24/2012 11:08:35 AM PST by Let's Roll (Save the world's best healthcare - REPEAL, DEFUND Obamacare!)
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To: lex33
Whenever I read gibberish like this I always substitute Winter Olympics for the object of the article.

Try reading this by subbing Winter Olympics for Navy SEALs and enjoy the stupidity.

Coming soon: Minority recruitment for speed skating, the luge, downhill skiing.

131 posted on 02/24/2012 11:08:35 AM PST by N. Theknow (Kennedys=Can't drive, can't ski, can't fly, can't skipper a boat, but they know what's best for you.)
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To: Tallguy
These guys can swim or run all day long... until they break down. That requires the kind of mental toughness required of a tri-athlete.

"Mental toughness is not jumping on a live grenade to save your family, friends or colleagues. Mental toughness is throwing your daughter on the grenade because she is of the least use for the survival of the larger group."

Physically fit goes with out saying. The human body can be shaped and trained and all that. But the mental toughness goes way beyond triathlete or anything most will ever be exposed to or comprehend.

I don't speak from direct experience per say. And those in the elite programs need no ego stroke. But there is a level of mental toughness, determination, passion and dedication to self and team that cannot be taught. There is a place in some individuals where a very simple thing becomes worth your life without question or hesitation; Where the measure of your own self worth is loyal and expendable component of a team. You worry more about what the team will think of you if you die (fail) than whether or not you survive. Failure truly becomes "not an option".

Think of driver ants or bees defending their nest with regards to commitment. Then remove all ideas about what defenses there are to deter those nuisances. Now you are approaching the mental toughness that will compel a human to perform better than is anatomically possible.

Mental toughness is not to be compared to that "hero moment" that most of us are capable of. Mental toughness is the 96th day in a row of pushing past the physical limits of your body into virtual torture mode on shear will power, all while having the option to quit with honor. It is also failing 87 times before succeeding while having no belief in failure.

132 posted on 02/24/2012 11:13:32 AM PST by Tenacious 1 (With regards to the GOP: I am prodisestablishmentarianistic!)
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Comment #133 Removed by Moderator

To: lex33

> “...Naval Special Warfare is committed to fielding a force that represents the demographics of the nation it serves....”

That’s BS. The entering candidates represent the demographics of the nation, then there’s the actual training. Anyone who wants to can quit anytime and anywhere in the process. If you’ve gone through the public education system and been taught self esteem is better than winning, then you will probably drop out long before you graduate. If you want to go through any of the Naval Special Warfare schools, then you have to have the attitude of NEVER QUIT and you’ll do just fine.


134 posted on 02/24/2012 11:17:32 AM PST by BuffaloJack (Defeat Obama. End Obama's War On Freedom.)
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To: Da Coyote
“...Naval Special Warfare is committed to fielding a force that represents the demographics of the nation it serves....” What, exactly does that mean?

It means accomplishing the mission without massive loss of life is NOT as important as having the organization be PC - so many blacks, so many gays, so many cross dressers, so many trans-sexuals, so many women, so many lesbian women, so many Hispanics, so many Muslims - so many seniors ( can't discriminate against the elderly)...

In short, war is not about winning - it's about 'lookin' good'. PC style.

135 posted on 02/24/2012 11:19:42 AM PST by GOPJ (GAS WAS $1.85 per gallon on the day Obama was Inaugurated! - - freeper Gaffer)
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To: Da Coyote

Typical MSM exaggeration of an official statement. US Special Operations Forces (SOF) operate allover the world. Therefore, they need operators from as many backgrounds as possible. For example, TF Horn-of-Africa operates in many black areas. Rand Corporation did a study in the 1990’s of why there are few black SEALs. Their conclusions were that the causes are many and complex. While on active duty, I worked with a black SEAL officer. We had a very candid conversation about why blacks don’t make it to or through BUDS. He was vehement that standards should not be lowered.

There are many black operators in SF, Rangers, SO Marines, and AF SOF. However, the SEALs have to operate in the sea. There are many non-blacks who can’t meet the basic requirements.

Dick Couch has written of an Olympic-class swimmer who couldn’t hack the sea, and a great trainee who had an ear condition that only became a problem below a specific depth.


136 posted on 02/24/2012 11:20:08 AM PST by SOLTC
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To: ken5050
It's that bouyancy thing.

I hadn't really given such much thought as a kid, until in Marine Corps Boot Camp we all had to jump in the pool in full gear.

This was the 60's, and the atmosphere wasn't so politically correct, so the pool instructor got away with what he said as we prepared to go in:

"Watch the n*ggers! They're all going to the bottom! They're 'Sinkers'"............damned if he wasn't 100 percent correct.

137 posted on 02/24/2012 11:23:10 AM PST by ErnBatavia (Carterize Obama in November)
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To: oncebitten

See my 137...


138 posted on 02/24/2012 11:25:41 AM PST by ErnBatavia (Carterize Obama in November)
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To: Da Coyote; Liz; Travis McGee; sickoflibs; SandRat
“...Naval Special Warfare is committed to fielding a force that represents the demographics of the nation it serves....” What, exactly does that mean?

It means accomplishing the mission without massive loss of life is NOT as important as having the organization being PC.

The NEW SEALS must have blacks, gays, cross dressers, transsexuals, 50% women, lesbian women, Hispanics, Muslims - seniors ( can't discriminate against the elderly)... and of course, white men need to be drummed out of officer positions to make way for the discriminated against.

Also, new fancy uniforms, Hollywood backers, and a commitment to never get their hands dirty or actually deal with 'war stuff'.

In short, war is not about winning - it's about 'lookin' good'. PC style.

139 posted on 02/24/2012 11:25:53 AM PST by GOPJ (GAS WAS $1.85 per gallon on the day Obama was Inaugurated! - - freeper Gaffer)
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To: Tallguy

Concerning the Tuskegee Airmen

I only know the history I’ve read and that which has been glamorized. I’m not well versed in the details. A lot in WWII has been sensationalized. But there were some sensational stories to tell. The Tuskegee Airmen undoubtedly overcame some cultural hurdles and, with a chip on their shoulder no doubt, set out to prove themselves against the odds. That they did admirably prove to be at least worthy if not exceptionional is a story of American pride, not just black pride.

A WWII bombedier used to tell us war stories as a kid. He was a neighbor. He had some cool artifacts too. But I’ll never forget his heroic confession. He tried to re-assure his shipmates they were never in real danger. But because their plane exploded upon take-off on its first mission with the next crew, Bob Pedigo’s heoric act never died.

According to Bob, on their last mission, his bomb rack hung up and would not drop all the bombs. Something jambed and a bomb dangled precariously from the rack along with a few others in the rack. They had to shut the doors to keep up with the formation. Bob rigged the rack in transite and they circled over water to drop the munitions before landing. They exploded of course. Bob’s secret was that he always installed extra long fuses that ensured the bombs would never arm until they were clear of the plane. He says they were never in any real danger except for having to hang out over the open doors to kick a bomb loose.


140 posted on 02/24/2012 11:28:41 AM PST by Tenacious 1 (With regards to the GOP: I am prodisestablishmentarianistic!)
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