Posted on 08/03/2011 5:39:15 PM PDT by Altura Ct.
The commandant of the Marine Corps vowed Tuesday to increase the number of black officers, improve minority recruiting and memorialize the service's first black troops.
Gen. James Amos told about 500 members of the National Naval Officers Association meeting in San Diego that he was "heartbroken" when he examined the status of blacks in the Marine Corps shortly after becoming commandant last fall.
"We're just not there," the 64-year-old four-star general said. "We're not the face of society."
Amos, who became the 35th commandant on Oct. 22, said black officers numbered 5.6 percent of the total number of officers in 2010.
The general said that although blacks make up about 13 percent of the U.S. population, they comprise 10 percent of the 202,000-troop Marine Corps.
"It's not a quota I'm after, but I've got to pay attention to the numbers," Amos told the naval officers association, a group made up mostly of U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard officers. "I just know I'm not happy with where we are."
The Marine Corps promoted just 60 blacks among 1,073 promotions to the rank of lieutenant in 2010, he said. Amos said he wants to raise that 3.5 percent figure to at least 5 percent by the end of this year.
"We're changing our entire approach," he said, striding across the floor of a hotel ballroom as he made his remarks. "We're going to improve this year, next year and the year after that."
The Marine Corps is increasing its outreach to colleges and universities and establishing ties with athletic groups and other organizations to recruit more blacks, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nctimes.com ...
Don’t forget the flute players too.
There goes the bar lowered for the few good men!
“Damn the qualifications. Full speed ahead.” [I know, that’s Navy, not USMC.]
Just make sure that they are Marines, neither Blacks nor Whites nor Hispanics nor....
He has four stars and just now figured this out or did he just realize who the President is and he is praying for a fifth.
The talented black students probably go to colleges and universities that frown upon ROTC. I would think that the military academies are pretty well integrated. They are going to be cutting the military big time here pretty soon.
Dammit you will promote people based entirely on their black skin.
And it ain’t racist.
/sarc
Maybe they can get the new Spiderman to join, and then he can spurt his sticky web out of his....er...privates?
Funny, he didn’t mention the over representation of hipanics in the corps.
It’s a question of military culture. For the most part blacks are happier in the (relatively) more laid-back Army than the hard core Corps.
So the white guy says “I’m a pro football player.”
The black guy says “QB or lineman?”
“It’s not a quota I’m after, but I’ve got to pay attention to the numbers,”
Isn’t that in itself a “quota”?
We do not want, nor do we need our military to be ‘the face of society’. We want the best men for the job, no matter what their color.
With this line of thinking I can only guess that within 5 years every black homo will get his stars.
It wasn't good when it was used against blacks, but now it's good because it is used against Whitey.
What would a good name be?
Yeah we need more General Powell’s in the Army as well!\s
1.% of blacks..officers and enlisted, who are Navy SEALS.
2. % of members of NCAA varsity swim teams that are black...
“We looking for a few good Affirmative Actions hires; blacks, faggots, poodle plookers, you know, anyone but straight white men.”
For the love of GOD< does Affirmative Action have to infect the Marine Corps too? (rhetorical) DAMN!!!!!!!!
If the Marines do it by aggressive recruiting of minorities and then taking candidates who are as good as the rest of their officers, I have no problem with boosting minority numbers. If the general is simply saying something politically correct before going back to running a fine military service as it should be run, I also have no problem with his comments. If he's going to double the number of black officers by lowering standards for those who qualify as diverse, then I have a huge problem with this. The Commandant has a duty to be faithful to his men - all his men - and you can't do that by bringing in substandard officers to satisfy a substandard CommunityOrganizer-in-Chief.
I also strongly suspect that the black Marines who belong in uniform want officers who match their ability and professionalism far more than they want officers who match their melanin. It's only civilians who want to play a diversity numbers game with the lives of our service members.
That’s the way to go, General, because EVERYONE knows the color of a man’s skin is more important the the content of his character.
Young Marines don’t give a rat’s backside what color their leaders are, we’re all a shade of green anyway. What they are made of, and how they got there, is a complete;y different story.
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