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Are you saying it's not an issue or are you claiming it is not a national security concern?

dx87 6y ago
It's neither an issue, nor a national security concern. All branches of the military actively try to increase the amount of minorities they recruit, and it's just rediculous of the author to claim that a group of people that is primarily one race or gender can't effectively run the military. The military is one of the best ways for someone to escape a bad situation at home, while receiving a paycheck and training that can get them a job once they get out.
- take_a_breath 6y ago
  If it’s not an issue, why do they “actively try to increase the amount of minorities they recruit?” It seems that their active efforts imply there is an issue.
  - dx87 6y ago
    It's not an issue because of that. The author was implying that the military isn't diverse enough, even though the branches of the military work to ensure they have at least a certain percentage of their forces as minorities.
    - Jtsummers 6y ago
      > The author was implying that the military isn't diverse enough They didn’t imply it. They were pretty explicit. Their concern is that despite the diversity of the military overall it is not reflected at the top.
      - dx87 6y ago
        "The top" of the military is very small, and considering the majority of the military is white anyway, it's expected that it'd be mostly white. Anecdotally, I saw much more diverse leadership in the military than I've ever seen in the civilian sector, probably because no matter your background, everyone starts at the bottom in the military.
      - recursivecaveat 6y ago
        Is that unexpected? To be secretary of the navy or commander of the marine corps one has to be ~60 with a commission date in the early 80s. In 2060 the 2020 level of diversity in lieutenants should be reflected at the top.
        take_a_breath 6y ago
        ==In 2060 the 2020 level of diversity in lieutenants should be reflected at the top.== Your embedded assumption is that today’s lieutenant diversity reflects the overall military’s diversity of 1980. Is this true?
        recursivecaveat 6y ago
        I am sure the top will not be as diverse as the bottom for centuries due to systemic biases in the promotion process and correlation with other symptoms of inequality. My point is just that you should temper your expectations about responsive change in the end of such a long assembly line.
- maxerickson 6y ago
  can't effectively run the military is a cheap summary of the arguments in the article: If you believe diversity of experience and perspective improves decisionmaking, this should worry you. The secretary of defense needs to revolutionize recruiting, mentoring, and promotion Those are about improving effectiveness (which is optimization, not a binary effective/not effective argument) and management practices.
  - dx87 6y ago
    If the author had stuck to the sentences you quoted, I'd agree. The problem is, they had to throw in the comment about it being a bunch of old white men, as though the color of someone's skin tells you everything you need to know about their background. I'm white, and I frequently got in disagreements with military leadership who were also white because we came from different backgrounds, and had a different perspective, especially regarding the use of technology to enhance effectiveness.

dx87 6y ago

It's neither an issue, nor a national security concern. All branches of the military actively try to increase the amount of minorities they recruit, and it's just rediculous of the author to claim that a group of people that is primarily one race or gender can't effectively run the military. The military is one of the best ways for someone to escape a bad situation at home, while receiving a paycheck and training that can get them a job once they get out.

take_a_breath 6y ago
If it’s not an issue, why do they “actively try to increase the amount of minorities they recruit?” It seems that their active efforts imply there is an issue.
- dx87 6y ago
  It's not an issue because of that. The author was implying that the military isn't diverse enough, even though the branches of the military work to ensure they have at least a certain percentage of their forces as minorities.
  - Jtsummers 6y ago
    > The author was implying that the military isn't diverse enough They didn’t imply it. They were pretty explicit. Their concern is that despite the diversity of the military overall it is not reflected at the top.
    - dx87 6y ago
      "The top" of the military is very small, and considering the majority of the military is white anyway, it's expected that it'd be mostly white. Anecdotally, I saw much more diverse leadership in the military than I've ever seen in the civilian sector, probably because no matter your background, everyone starts at the bottom in the military.
    - recursivecaveat 6y ago
      Is that unexpected? To be secretary of the navy or commander of the marine corps one has to be ~60 with a commission date in the early 80s. In 2060 the 2020 level of diversity in lieutenants should be reflected at the top.
      - take_a_breath 6y ago
        ==In 2060 the 2020 level of diversity in lieutenants should be reflected at the top.== Your embedded assumption is that today’s lieutenant diversity reflects the overall military’s diversity of 1980. Is this true?
        recursivecaveat 6y ago
        I am sure the top will not be as diverse as the bottom for centuries due to systemic biases in the promotion process and correlation with other symptoms of inequality. My point is just that you should temper your expectations about responsive change in the end of such a long assembly line.
maxerickson 6y ago
can't effectively run the military is a cheap summary of the arguments in the article: If you believe diversity of experience and perspective improves decisionmaking, this should worry you. The secretary of defense needs to revolutionize recruiting, mentoring, and promotion Those are about improving effectiveness (which is optimization, not a binary effective/not effective argument) and management practices.
- dx87 6y ago
  If the author had stuck to the sentences you quoted, I'd agree. The problem is, they had to throw in the comment about it being a bunch of old white men, as though the color of someone's skin tells you everything you need to know about their background. I'm white, and I frequently got in disagreements with military leadership who were also white because we came from different backgrounds, and had a different perspective, especially regarding the use of technology to enhance effectiveness.