On Annapolis: the love of hard truth

Attached are selections from two emails that captures what many feel about what is going on at Annapolis.

The author is still on active duty and is quite a few year groups senior to me. He recently held a rather senior position at Annapolis and knows of what he speaks. He is also a regular lurker at cdrsalamander; so a nod of the nogg'n to you sir.

Just so you know that this isn't just 'ole Phib yelling at the storm from the wheelhouse - here are the pull quotes.

... a vast majority of officers do not agree with the forced diversity programs in the navy.

In the Fleet where Pentagon bureaucratic policies are felt, we don't care what color, gender, or race our wingman is, all we care about is that he is competent. The real tragedy of this forced diversity program is that it fosters an atmosphere where we start to immediately question the qualifications of black, hispanic, asian, and other 'diverse' officers because we assume they are only there because a quota needed filling.

If I were a minority, I would be insulted and infuriated by this program because it refuses to allow advancement, promotion, and acceptance based on qualification alone and for those minorities that excel on their own merit (which there are many), this taints that acheivement. Our sailors, soldiers and Marines don't give a damn what color their officers are. What they care about is that the officer is competent and won't get them killed. They can also immediately see if an officer is qualified or just merely checking some diversity block. Are we willing to put our enlisted, our assets and our country at risk so that this social experiment can progress?

Unfortunately, the answer to that appears to be a resounding YES.
...
... the reason that I get so upset is because I still love the institution and hate where it is going. As a taxpayer, if it continues on the course it is presently on, I would have to vote for shutting the place down since ROTC and OCS can provide the same quality officers at a much cheaper rate. I am pessimistic that it will change since congress and the board of visitors fully support diversity ...

Here is a sad thing. If you wonder if Senior Leadership has a command climate that allows such conversations to take place in public, on the record without professional blowback - the answer is no. When it comes to the agenda of the Diversity Industry and our branch of it - the command climate makes working for Sestak look like a Disney cruise.

That is a shame. The CNO will not hear this from 99% of his senior CDR and CAPT in any type of open forum. Why? Because they know the minute the word came down about it to those who own paper on the individual that put the CNO on the spot, they would be destroyed professionally. That is why, as they are the truth and destroy the credibility of the CNO stated #1 priority.

Then again, I would bet you a bar tab at Pete's that the CNO knows this very well. I just think he, and those who came before him, made the call that the cost-benefit for Big Navy isn't there to fight this with the Diversity Industry and those in Congress who support them. Fairness will be thrown under the bus in order to get the funding needed for .... well .... whatever shipbuilding plan we have right now. This makes perfect sense in the Potomac Flotilla's AOR - but in the rest of the Fleet breeds nothing but mistrust of leadership.

It just adds to the cynicism and divisiveness. Cynicism in the officer ranks that is learned the minute they come to Annapolis. They learn that cynicism from the Sup and the CNO and all who fall under them. It really is that clear - it is also clear that they have traded short term gain in exchange for long-term damage.

Kind of like painting over an improperly prepared surface. Looks great inside your PCS cycle, but over time - the corrosion will undermine the entire structure.

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UPDATE: Jamie McIntyre of CNN fame is on the hunt as well over at his blog.

...just this past week he had two midshipmen in his office griping about unequal treatment. One, who is white, complained the system has been “perverted” to retain erring non-whites. The other student was African-American, and complained about being sent as part of a gospel choir to proselytize inner city school children (while the Glee Club went to Rome), and was given a list of black high school students to “cold call” to encourage to join the Navy. What made the midshipman so angry, says Fleming, could be summed up as, “This place wants to decide what race I am and put me in a box.”

Fleming has been feeling the heat, but he’s not backing off. The USNI blog never ran a follow-up piece he wrote, in which he responds to his critics. ....

...and then, yes, I know, he puts of a PDF of the post from last week with NO LINK TO cdrsalamander. Very uncool, but this is an important enough subject to allow a breaching of manners .. just this once!

See, I am nice enough to link to him even after he BlobSnubbs me.