Thursday, March 25, 2010

Diversity Thursday

If this stuff didn't exist - I would have to make it up.

You have heard me talk about Diversity as an intellectual cancer. As the way it is practiced and implemented, it requires double-speak, euphemisms, and living in an alternative universe where people are described like pure breeds at a dog show. Where skill does not matter. Racial self-identification fraud does not matter. Multi-racial Americans do not matter. Social demographics (such as different high school and college graduation rates per ethnic/racial groups) do not matter.

No, all that matters are the metrics. Feed the PPT. Feed the division. Feed the sectarianism. Feed the hate. Most of all though - feed the Diversity Industry - their paycheck depends on halting the evolution towards a color blind society.


BEHOLD ALL THAT IS UNCLEAN

----Original Message-----
From: [REDACTED]
Sent: Thursday, March 11, [REDACTED]
To: [REDACTED]
Cc: [REDACTED]
Subject: RE: Minutes from [REDACTED]

CAPT [REDACTED]-
I attended the DiversityInc event yesterday where VADM Ferguson was the keynote speaker. Event was attended by ~200 ppl (my estimate) including 14 uniformed personnel (11 USN, 2 USA, 1USAF).
I believe most of the USN attendees were all out of CAPT Barrett's N134 Diversity Directorate. CAPT Barrett followed VADM Ferguson on the speaker agenda and provided the next level of detail to USN's highly proactive diversity vision. The founder and CEO of DiversityInc, Luke Visconti, is a former naval aviator (helo's) and is very involved in the Navy's diversity efforts, hence the Navy's reciprocal involvement in their event.

DiversityInc annually rates the top 50 diverse companies based on voluntarily supplied data. This year they had 489 companies participate (side note: none of "our" contractors, [REDACTED], appeared in the top 50). They are also trying to increase interest in the top 50 diverse federal agencies. Last year they had 39 agencies participate and the top agencies were:
1) IRS (guess the only color they discriminate against is green)
2) VA
3) USN!!!

The event was very informative and made me personally aware of many aspects of diversity of which I must embarrassedly admit I was unaware. I've collected some of the common themes from all of the speakers as well as some of the things I found particularly enlightening:

-Lead from the top - have a diversity vision. Companies that show success in diversity all have formal, robust programs with significant CEO involvement. CNO involvement cited as a perfect example.

-Lead from where you are -
diversity management is a business operation, not a strategic goal. Make it part of day to day operations and it becomes collaborative change instead of forced change. Best practice: make reviewing diversity metrics part of the regular business metrics review, not a separate review. This reinforces that it's part of daily ops as opposed to a secondary objective.

-
What gets measured, gets done. Diversity metrics are essential - they make many uncomfortable, but that is part of the process of getting change implemented. Move the needles - it doesn't have to be solved overnight, but it does have to show movement.

-Life/work balance. Shift from culture of attendance to culture of performance. Technology enables getting tasks done independent of physical location.
This is a critical aspect of quality of work/life in recruiting/retaining women. Removing this barrier allows tapping into a huge talent pool (majority of top 100 grads from USNA are women - another reason to open sub service to women; 57% of bachelor degrees awarded last year went to women).

-Diversity is not about quotas. It's about setting goals and having leadership ensure that there is equity in outcome. The only way to do that is to measure it and talk to the numbers. To quote Congresswoman Sanchez: "Over 50% of children under 5 are hispanic. We deserve a place at the table. But that means we have the responsibility to do what is required when we take our seat at the table." To me this was the single most important aspect of the entire conference: diversity is not about trying to manipulate selections/promotions/hirings; it's about manipulating applications/opportunities to get a broader diversity in the selection pool. Time and time again, the theory is proven out that if you widen the aperture, the available talent pool gets deeper.

-Despite the above theme being pretty consistent, many of the speakers also pointed out that humans are highly visual. If we don't see others like ourselves we don't come in or, if we do come in, we don't stay. This was mainly pointed toward the leadership, where the highest diversity gaps exist. The point being a lot of highly talented people will join a company (or the Navy), but you won't be able to keep them if they don't see equitable outcomes in promotions. There's no longer any excuse for lack of diversity in leadership and talented people won't tolerate it. They'll move on to somewhere their talent is valued. Navy: 40K new personnel every year with 48% diversity compared to only 20% diversity in leadership; female retention is half the rate of males in the surface force; low diversity in TACAIR, clustered within particular sqdrns;
sub force has lowest diversity with large yr group gaps with no flag eligibles (up to 7 yrs without a diverse accession).

-Navy's technology challenge: highly skewed towards STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) backgrounds -- 85% of officers. STEM divsersity in society is historically 14% - a benchmark the Navy meets. Due to the LLT to grow an Admiral (30 yrs from recruitment) our diversity benchmark for current accessions should not be the historical percentage today, it should be the expected percentage in 2040.
Shift focus to 2040 demographics and grade officer accessions to that benchmark and we will remain on track.

-Many tools in the Diversity toolbox for leaders to tap into:
--Employee Resource Groups - "employee-owned, leadership supported"; groups chartered to create an inclusive culture and drive organizational objectives.
--Affinity Groups - this is something we EDO's are already doing: reaching out to affininity groups to drive changes in applicant pools (e.g. sending reps to Nat'l Assoc. of Black Physicist mtg).
--Diversity Training - anchor/embed training in your company's learning continuum.
--Communication - tailor comms to your audience and control the message: building diversity in your organization develops character in your "brand." Celebrate the successes.
--Supplier diversity - don't just focus on your organization, bring your suppliers in as well. (Marriott Int'l practices "positive discrimination" -
all things being equal, pick the diverse supplier over all others).

Last observation: The conference had a steady drum beat on under-representation and its debilitating effects and the great business case for equity in outcome.
Despite this, I noted that based on the audience in attendance, there appears to be a disconnect in the current diversity stakeholders and the future demographic. I estimated the audience to be 85% female and 80% African American (i.e. the groups we most commonly associate with under-representation). However, I only saw a handful of latinos despite all future demographic forecasts expecting the population to be 30% latino by 2043. My takeaway is that diversity management is way behind in addressing the coming explosion in this demographic (read: even diversity management has a diversity issue). Bottom Line -- Diversity will continue to be a lagging indicator unless addressed the way the CNO proposes: benchmark against future demographics as opposed to historical.

Please let me know if you have any questions.
V/R,
[REDACTED]

60 comments:

  1. bullnav06:28

    I could not even read the whole thing.  Once I got to "work/life balance" I had to stop.  I think we have too many folks in the Navy who don't (have never gone) to sea and I don't think most of them understand the concept of a "Navy."  I had a MM1 (SS) way back when when I was a young non-qual LTJG who said (when one of his guys bitched about getting out of the shipyard), "Sailors go on ships, and ships go to sea."  Seems like we have forgotten that...

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  2. Grumpy Old Ham07:30

    <span><span>read: even diversity management has a diversity issue</span></span>

    Translation:  "We need *more* funding".

    Like an old boss used to say, "It doesn't matter what they're talkin' about, evetually, they're always talking about money."

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  3. Grumpy Old Ham07:38

    <span>Please let me know if you have any questions.</span>

    Yes, I have one question:  How the hell does the money wasted on your crap help kill or neutralize the enemies of the United States of America better, faster, or cheaper?

    <span><span>Diversity metrics are essential</span></span>
    (snip)
    <span><span>Diversity is not about quotas.</span></span>

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypocrisy

    Have a fantastic DoD day.

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  4. Huh??? Sounds like Quotas to Me!07:45

    <span><span>"-Diversity is not about <span>quotas</span>. It's about setting <span>goals</span> and having leadership ensure that there is equity in <span>outcome</span>. The only way to do that is to measure it and <span>talk to the numbers</span>."</span></span>

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  5. UltimaRatioRegis08:00

    Stand by, fellas.  Diversity Industry will be a big driver toward government-mandated "economic justice".  Skippy's beloved forced equality regardless of talent, effort, result, or circumstance.  Behold the American "self-made man" becoming the Euro-socialist "government-made dependent". 

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  6. MR T's Haircut08:02

    Sucka Hurting my head with all the Jibber Jabber!  PAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    PUKE!!!!!!!!!!!

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  7. Byron08:40

    I can see the Diversity Warfare pin now...a rainbow sunburst over a sinking ship.

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  8. Skippy-san09:17

    Clearly you have not heard a word I have said. Its not my beloved anything.

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  9. Skippy-san09:18

    Clearly-you have not heard anything I have said. I'm no fan of diversity.

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  10. DeltaBravo09:40

    My favorite paragraph!

    -Life/work balance. Shift from culture of attendance to culture of performance. Technology enables getting tasks done independent of physical location.<span><span> This is a critical aspect of quality of work/life in recruiting/retaining women.</span></span><span> Removing this barrier allows tapping into a huge talent pool (majority of top 100 grads from USNA are women - another reason to open sub service to women; 57% of bachelor degrees awarded last year went to women.)</span>
    <span></span> 
    <span>Ummm... have they perfected the technology to enable all those culture of performance women to transcend the culture of attendance and cross that barrier and serve on subs "independent of physical location?"  Cool!  I think I saw that on Star Trek once.</span>
    <span></span> 
    <span>Otherwise that was a wonderful example of a self contradicting paragraph.</span>
    <span></span> 
    <span>I also loved that 30 years to grow an admiral program.  Is that like growing a chia pet or something?  </span>
    <span></span> 
    <span>And I have a new phrase of the day:  "Positive discrimination."  :) </span>
    <span>Awesome!  Better than "equity in outcomes" but not as good as "advance in retrograde."</span>

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  11. SJBill09:52

    What away to start the day - feelin' kinda sick now, but still have to look for work. How come I can't find a job?

    We're all doomed.

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  12. Lou Stoolz10:08

    You know, if you'd all be happier seeing only white people in the Navy, wouldn't it just be easier to come out and say that, rather than dancing around the issue?

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  13. Byron10:21

    Lou, when you see anyone here saying that all they want is white people in the Navy you make sure you let me know so I can kiss your butt. Otherwise, keep your RACIST remarks to yourself. The ONLY color anyone here gives a damn about is HAZE GREY, you race baiter. We want standards to be standards, the same for everyone. We want the best that America has to offer, no matter the race, creed or nationality. Keep firmly in mind that the military was the first to fully intergrate over a half century ago. Keep firmly in your mind that the military was the force that kept the peace in places like Little Rock. And last but not least, since you have no freakin' idea what color anyone here is, you just made yourself the clueless tool you really are.

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  14. SCOTTtheBADGER10:21

    On a blood red field

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  15. SNAnonymous10:32

    <span><span>1. Technology enables getting tasks done independent of physical location.</span><span><span> This is a critical aspect of quality of work/life in recruiting/retaining women.</span></span></span>

    Oh, so (certain) people will become a NAVAL flag officer without ever having set foot on a ship.  Can't wait to see what happens when the diversity police grow (chia pet style) a CNO that way.

    2.  <span>low diversity in TACAIR, clustered within particular sqdrns</span>

    Don't even get me started on this one.  We've had a few people show up at advanced who were definitely "chosen" to make TACAIR more diverse.  I.e. they show up with some amazing grades (which rumor has it were pretty much handed to them), guaranteed to get Strike because of some anthro issues, and then they simply flounder in the syllabus.

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  16. Observer10:38

    And yet you stand shoulder-to-shoulder with those who do.

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  17. G-man10:38

    SN - had a "diversity element" call sign Frog, in one squadron  and on his fitrep brag sheet put "Number one LTJG because he is the only (insert color) LTJG".  That was IT!  No "qualified as flight lead/responsbile for 100% participation in savings bond campaign/makes the best coffee/can play liar's dice/etc".  When I asked him about he told me "my brother was killed in Cleveland by a cop so YOU owe me".  I jumped all in his ___ about nobody in the USN of the guvmint owed him squat and to take it outta my office.  He took care of himself because he couldn't land at night - even in the sims. 

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  18. AW1 Tim11:38

     1984 Orwell-speak.

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  19. AW1 Tim11:48

    Lou,

       Do you even read anything posted here? Ever? You ought to invest in a football helmet to keep that jerked knee of yours from smacking into your face.

       No one here gives a rat's patoot about what color someone's skin is. This whole diversity issue a sham work. It's Orwellian in it's language, and it has NOTHING to do with having a trained and efficient Navy, but everything to do with a "rainbow warrior" culture that results in a faux Navy.

      The ONLY race that exists is HUMAN, and the ONLY requirements we should task our recruiters with is obtaining the BEST and BRIGHTEST that our nation has to offer.

       The diversity bullies represent the meddling by sanctimonious, ignorant self-appointed aristocrats who are attempting to use the Navy (and other areas) as a petri dish for social-engineering experiments. They have failed in EVERY area, and cover up their failures by changing the goal posts.

        Open your eyes, and let the true vision of post-racial society enlighten you to the moral bigotry of the diversity industry.

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  20. AW1 Tim11:52

    And that's the REAL danger of promoting on "diversity" vice merit and competancy. When folks in our profession eff up, people usually die.

    A rainbow is pretty to look like, but it is an illusion, a trick of nature. It protects nothing, and will itself disappear when the winds shift.

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  21. DeltaBravo12:21

    Tim, that is the best anti-diversity poetry I'll ever read!

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  22. cdrsalamander12:21

    OBS,
    You could also say that about me and my stand on DADT.  Skippy is perfectly allowed to judge each individual issue on the merits as he sees it.

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  23. DeltaBravo12:23

    Gentlemen, Loose Stools there is a troll.  We shouldn't feed it.  ;)

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  24. cdrsalamander12:24

    Lou,
    You should really hang around here a bit more.  You just embarrassed yourself.

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  25. Kristen12:53

    Perfect.

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  26. cdrsalamander13:01

    Here is the funny thing. You know where Lou commented from?

    Center for Naval Analyses.

    That 'thar is funny.

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  27. MR T's Haircut14:22

    <span>I am reading between the lines here and what I see is a politically correct, asskissing, brown noser, butt pirate, trying to make points with a Captain who is in a position of influence.  This was probably written by an HR officer who is afraid to serve afloat and obviously has no </span>
    <span>f(*@* ing clue that we are a MILITARY unit and not a community organized labor union. 
     
    F()@ the guy who wrote this crap and the horse he rode in on....</span>

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  28. C-dore 1414:22

    I don't know what bothers me more...the thoughts conveyed by this memo or that we have a staff officer who is incapable of drafting a concise memo without regurgitating the entire briefing and loading it with jargon and catch phrases.  Am really curious about the writer's rank and position within the organization.

    Maybe it's time to reissue the Navy Correspondence Manual from the mid-80s.

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  29. C-dore 1415:34

    MTH, Maybe...but also possible that the writer is either afraid to take a position or is unable to honestly evaluate what's going on.  Both are common short-comings of junior staff officers.

    Could also be that the writer thinks that a long memo will justify the per diem that was expended to send him/her to this meeting.  :)

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  30. MR T's Haircut19:21

    Commodore,

    I wish I was your Air Ops ....

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  31. You should be ashamed of your short-sightedness.  I certainly hope you're not in a position of any real authority.

    The whole point is that in the military, it shouldn't matter what color you are.  You should be promoted based upon your skillset and abilities within that skillset.  When the military begins promoting people based upon ANY other metric, people die.  When I was still on active duty, I witnessed "diversity" promotions, individuals that had no business being promoted.  Not because they were black or latino or female, but because they couldn't do the job if their lives, and the lives of their personnel depended on it.

    The lack of qualified minorities in the military is a result of two problems: 1) a lack of minorites succeeding in high school and college, and 2) a lack of proper education and training being provided by individuals in a supervisory position.  As the military can only control one of those two issues, then option two is the only real worry.  But diversity commissions don't give a rats a$$ about tracking useful metrics such as the developmental rates between ethnicities based upon a specific type of training, and taking steps to make training more effective across the board.  They care more about getting the numbers so they can go before Congress and say "look at us, we're diverse"... even if it costs he military in terms of operative success.

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  32. cdrsalamander19:54

    He's a LCDR.

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  33. Quartermaster20:04

    If you think this is good, just wait until DADT is repealed. Things are gonna get real interesting.

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  34. <span>You know, if you'd all be happier seeing only white people in the Navy, wouldn't it just be easier to come out and say that, rather than dancing around the issue?

    Hey Lou...please analyze this pic (taken shortly after being adopted) and let me know what box I should check for ethnicity please...</span>

    As I'm just one of those clueless racists that hangout here.

    Second generation navy too.

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  35. Byron20:18

    I gotta tell you, he ain't nearly as good lookin' today ;)

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  36. Byron20:19

    Heh...I wish I'd been his R div chief...

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  37. Byron20:20

    Figures...he's had his field grade lobotomy.

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  38. Byron20:22

    M'lady, anyone who calls me a racist is going to get at least one serious blast of gas. I probably won't bash on his moronic ass again, unless I'm in the mood for a bit of sport.

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  39. Won't deny that!

    But hopelessly confused, as I sport more melanin content than many who peg themselves downtrodden by the vagaries of "color."

    What crap.

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  40. C-dore,

    It bothers me more that this person is actually getting paid to write the memo.

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  41. You ain't seen nuthin' yet.  Just wait...if the DADT policy changes, we'll yearn for the good 'ol Diversity Thursdays. 

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  42. DeltaBravo20:47

    Was that your grandma?  She looks like you're the apple of her eye!

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  43. DeltaBravo20:49

    Troll huntin' is good sport.  Gotta admit.  I hear they're always in season. 

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  44. Wharf Rat20:52

    :-D :) :-P :) :) :) :) :) :)

    DB - best laugh of the day

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  45. Wharf Rat21:00

    Badger man - don't know if you saw my response to you on the so-called 'health' care bill - but I saw your beloved battleship in Norfolk just over a year ago. Nice - very nice. Too bad they can't bring it to Wisconsin.

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  46. Sure was...And her hubby -grandad- was a bus driver in Birmingham Alabama...

    The Southern racial picture was not nearly as "black and white" as the Oliver Stone style historians would have us believe.

    I know.  'cause I lived it.

    Saw a great quote today:

    "No matter what people are sayin, they are really talkin' about money."

    Fits this Diversity Biz like a glove.

    Its alllll about Money and Power.

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  47. DeltaBravo21:05

    I hear you, Sid. 

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  48. Grumpy Old Ham21:22

    sid,

    See my comment at 0730 below :)

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  49. Grumpy Old Ham21:33

    <span>Oh, so (certain) people will become a NAVAL flag officer without ever having set foot on a ship.  Can't wait to see what happens when the diversity police grow (chia pet style) a CNO that way.</span>


    The Air National Guard is already halfway there.  A flag officer with only admin support, XO, and personnel assignments in charge of an entire state's ANG organization, including two flying groups.

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  50. Old NFO21:48

    When the diversity Nazi's start complaining about the NBA and the NFL they may have some credibility.  Until then they are just low life scum race hustlers.  

    A pilot I flew with in the fleet was a hired by United years ago.  Good guy, competent pilot, lots of hours and highly qualified for United.  Unfortunately, since he was black, he was assumed to be one of the affirmative action hires with the barest minimum qualifications, and he was treated that way by many of his fellow pilots until they knew his background.  

    Affirmative action, diversity Nazi's, and separate standards are demeaning to those they are supposedly helping and actually promote racism.  To some that's just fine, it means they have a diversity job forever.

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  51. Oh!

    Knew I read it somewhere!! :-[

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  52. cdrsalamander22:17

    Sid,
    But Lou is from the Center for Naval Analysis --- he studied this very hard.

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  53. CNA...

    Are they the ones who analysed the LCS and determined it needed to go 45 knots...And the USN needs 55 of them ASAP?

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  54. DeltaBravo23:52

    After giving it some thought I have two questions here about this particular memo.  The most dangerous word in it doesn't seem to be "diversity."  I think the most dangerous word here is [Redacted].  Who is doing the redacting?  Is that you, Sir?  Or did you get it that way?  Maybe if someone's REAL name was put there, in the TO space or the FROM space and in the signature line, some people would dial back on the silliness.   Especially if their name ended up in DT posts here.  Or maybe that's not playing fair and there's some unwritten rules to this game.  I should wouldn't use phrases like "talk to the numbers" if I knew MY name was going to go down in posterity for it. 

    Secondly, this one caught my eye.  Maybe one of y'all can explain it to me...

    <span><span>sub force has lowest diversity with large yr group gaps with no flag eligibles (up to 7 yrs without a diverse accession).</span></span><span>
    </span>
    <span></span>
    <span>There is not ONE flag eligible out there?  Is it because they didn't promote the right color up the chain?  And for 7 years have they been holding back all the melanin-challenged because only a certain color gets the star?  Let's do the math on that chia-pet admiral... 30 years ago was... 1980.  Hmmm.  The beginning of the Reagan buildup to the 600-ship Navy.  Okay, say a few grads of boat school in '80 took their 20 and got out in... 2000.  Some topped out during that time or switched careers for family reasons after getting their initial commitment in.  Maybe a few others left during the Clinton era.  Since 2003, where are all those chia-pet admirals in the making?  Did only the wrong color stay in?  Or are good men being held back because of "diversity?"  That's an odd little statistic and the way it's worded in the memo makes me wonder...  </span>
    <span></span>
    <span>   </span>

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  55. Skippy-san00:25

    It is changing. SECDEF released new guidance today that takes the ability to seperate under the article away from CO's and puts in the hands of flag officers.

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  56. borhbemo01:30

    Well, physics knows no color, nor does the sea.

    Having served with and learned from the USMC as a blue suiter, I take heart in the fact that they seem to have resisted the Diversity Diktat more effectively that the USN...because they have a real ethos and culture, not one imposed by a staff.  One that is passed on from generation to generation.

    I'm going to have the privilege of speaking to a local Navy League chapter soon about my wife's grandfather, USNA class of '26, classmate and running mate of Arleigh Burke, finished as CNP...unique in having been credited with sinking a German sub, a Japanese sub, and the USS Wasp (he wrote about it in Proceedings in the early 50's--article entitled "Sink the Wasp" I believe.)

    As head of the USNA in the 50's, and CNP in the 60s, he was in a position to see this coming.  The striking thing to me, researching the presentation, is how much more like the USMC the odler generation of naval officers seemed to be. 

    They knew who they were, were proud of it, and did not apologize or step back from accountability for failures to measure up to that standard.

    Tho it hurts to say, we need to be more like the Marines...

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  57. SCOTTtheBADGER06:04

    Since you are a Vikings fan, are you up in the cities?   Alas, WISCONSIN won't fit through the Canadian Locks on lake Ontario, she's 100 feet too long.

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  58. LT B07:50

    Aaaaah Ol' Whiskey.  She is one of my favorites.  ;)

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  59. C-dore 1415:04

    MTH and Byron, I don't know guys, at times I wasn't the most pleasant guy to work for, ;)

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  60. Anthony Mirvish00:14

    <span>Diversity is not about quotas. It's about setting goals and having leadership ensure that there is equity in outcome. The only way to do that is to measure it and talk to the numbers.</span><span> </span>
    <span></span>
    <span>That anyone could actually write this sort of doublespeak suggests a lack of intellectual honesty that won't do any better when facing questions like whether Islam is inherently immoderate, whether LCS works or any other controversial professional subject.  Honesty about all aspects of national security policy is essential because sooner or later its absence will cost lives.  That's why all this PC stuff is so destructive:  the mindset that accompanies it will not stay limited to personnel issues.</span>
    <span></span>
    <span></span>
    <span>"...many of the speakers also pointed out that humans are highly visual. If we don't see others like ourselves we don't come in or, if we do come in, we don't stay."</span>
    <span></span>
    <span>The flip side of this is that no one who's any good won't remain in an organization that subordinates standards to ideology, least of all if it means an unnecessarily greater risk to their own life.  They will also eventually reject a system seen as rigged against excellence.  Any leadership tainted by separate, lower or double standards will become illegitimate in the eyes of anyone who has had to meet a higher standard.  This is why affirmative action has such a bad name in the civilian world, where amongst other things, it unjustly tars capable members of targetted minorities.</span>
    <span></span>
    <span>The military started down this road 30+ years ago with gender, when it chose to change its standards rather than accepting the demographic numbers that would have resulted if it held them.  Ironically, it had chosen the exact oppposite approach years earlier when it de-segregated.  </span>

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