A fairly accepted example of institutional discrimination is when an organization has something of value, or a benefit or special consideration, that is distributed on an unequal basis intentionally on the basis of race, creed, color or national origin.
It divides its people in to groups based on DNA and a bigot's view of the role of ethnicity.
Another thing that I think we can all agree on, I think, is that mentoring (vice seedaddyism) is a good. OPNAVISNT 1500.78 says so.
Mentoring is widely recognized as a beneficial career development tool that not only affects career health and longevity, but also positively impacts mission accomplishment. As the documents in enclosure (1) demonstrate, mentoring is a difficult term to define as it manifests itself in many forms. One useful definition of mentoring is as a mutually beneficial relationship between a mentor and protégé in which resources, time, experiences, and expertise are exchanged to help with personal and professional growth. Regardless of the formal definition, the positive influence quality mentoring has on the success of an individual’s career cannot be overstated.... and who should you use to help you find your mentors?
c. Professional Associations/Affinity Groups. These associations connect mentors and protégés of similar interests, backgrounds, cultures, or fields to support each other personally and professionally. Professional associations meet periodically to share best practices and to afford junior personnel access to senior members who have succeeded in their careers. These meetings provide exceptional forums for career development guidance on both an individual and group level. Commanders should make every effort to support their Sailors’ or employees’ participation with these groups.Yes, of course - "Affinity" Groups; the fetid clusters of division, hate, and ethnic strife. The ones with their little "select" lists they pimp around to potential board members.
Don't know who I am talking about? Here you go. Behold the bitter harvest of sectarianism, hypocrisy, and patronizing. I'll let you break it out.
Where does the Navy get an idea that it is good to encourage leaders to pick the people they want to mentor based simply on ethnicity? They are just following orders - don't 'cha know.
In case you don't get it. Let the OPNAV be clear.
b. Fleet readiness and enabler enterprises and communities will develop and implement a formal mentoring program suited to their unique leadership, career development, retention, and diversity challenges. Enterprise leaders will:Race/ethnicity trumps all. Is that the 21st Century Navy you want?
...
(3) Include a diversity component that fosters the mentoring of minorities and women. Ensure collecting data on milestone attainment is part of this component. Enterprises with few minority and or women mentors should coordinate with other enterprises, ideally within the same geographic area, to develop mentor networks within these Navy populations regardless of community affiliation.
While you are at it - check the references at the end of the document - it tells you more of where this program is coming from.
Oh - and supporting this "Affinity" is just happy talk, right? There isn't actually a cost is there?
R 091905Z JUN 11
FM CNO WASHINGTON DC//N1//
TO NAVADMIN
INFO CNO WASHINGTON DC//N1//
BT
UNCLAS //N05354//
NAVADMIN 179/11
MSGID/GENADMIN/CNO WASHINGTON DC/N1/JUN//
SUBJ/2011 NATIONAL NAVAL OFFICERS ASSOCIATION PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING CONFERENCE//
REF/A/DOC/DOD/06AUG1998//
REF/B/DOC/DOD/14APR2009//
REF/C/DOC/BUPERS/17SEP2007//
NARR/REF A IS DOD PUBLICATION 5500.7-R - JOINT ETHICS REGULATION REGARDING OFFICIAL PARTICIPATION IN NON-FEDERAL ENTITIES. REF B IS DOD DIRECTIVE 4500.56 - POLICY ON THE USE OF GOVERNMENT AIRCRAFT AND AIR TRAVEL. REF C IS BUPERSINST 1001.39F, AIR TRAVEL.//
RMKS/1. THIS NAVADMIN ANNOUNCES THE NATIONAL NAVAL OFFICERS ASSOCIATION (NNOA) PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING CONFERENCE BEING HELD 1-5 AUGUST 2011 AT THE SHERATON HOTEL AND MARINA IN SAN DIEGO, CA.
2. NNOA IS THE LARGEST AFRICAN-AMERICAN OFFICER AFFINITY GROUP THAT FOSTERS THE ADVANCEMENT AND RECOGNITION OF MINORITY OFFICERS IN THE UNIFORMED NAVAL SERVICES. THE 2011 CONFERENCE THEME IS "NNOA: ENHANCING MISSION READINESS FOR THE SEA SERVICES THROUGH LEADERSHIP, MENTORSHIP AND DIVERSITY."
3. THE UNIFORM WILL BE SUMMER WHITE FOR NAVY PERSONNEL AND BUSINESS ATTIRE FOR CIVILIANS. NAVY UNIFORM FOR THE FORMAL AWARDS BANQUET WILL BE DINNER DRESS WHITE JACKET (OR OPTIONAL SERVICE DRESS WHITE FOR O3 AND BELOW) AND BLACK TIE (OR EQUIVALENT) FOR CIVILIANS AND GUESTS.
4. COMMANDING OFFICERS ARE AUTHORIZED TO SUPPORT ATTENDANCE. COMMANDING OFFICERS MAY AUTHORIZE AND ISSUE TAD ORDERS, TO INCLUDE REGISTRATION. (editorial comment: @ $600 a pop !!!)
5. REGISTRATION, TRANSPORTATION, AND LODGING INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND ON THE NNOA WEBSITE AT WWW.NNOA.ORG. CONFERENCE FEES ARE $450 FOR LIFE MEMBERS, $475 FOR MEMBERS, AND $600 FOR NON-MEMBERS. AN ADDITIONAL FEE WILL BE APPLIED FOR ATTENDEES WHO REGISTER AFTER 16 JULY 2011. NNOA IS WAIVING REGISTRATION FEES FOR THE FIRST 100 JUNIOR OFFICERS, THE RANKS OF LIEUTENANT COMMANDER OR BELOW. OFFICERS WHO ARE PLANNING TO ATTEND SHOULD REGISTER EARLY FOR THE CONFERENCE AND THE HOTEL TO ENSURE RESERVATIONS ARE AVAILABLE.
6. POINTS OF CONTACT:
A. CAPT WILL TRIPLETT AT (571) 256-[redacted] OR VIA E-MAIL AT NAVY-REP(AT)NNOA.ORG OR WILL.[redacted](AT)NAVY.MIL.
B. LCDR BEULAH [redacted] (RET), AT (703) 231-[redacted] OR VIA E-MAIL AT [redacted](AT)NNOA.ORG.
7. RELEASED BY VADM MARK FERGUSON, N1.//
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The dude had diversity training (sent to the camp) so it will all be ok.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/06/23/southwest-suspended-pilot-after-radio-rant/
Diversity = Racism
ReplyDeleteSign for the showers should go back up on ships.. it is what the Diversity bullies are pointing out and desire...
So skipper, you have a choice. Send a student to a school to learn how to fix a plane or an O4 to a confererence to prove you are supporting the CNO's goals & pad your fitrep.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to:
- New solgan: "Global force for diversity"
- Diversity Warfare Pin
Sigh. Just another self licking ice cream cone.
AFFINITY GROUP? WHO got a medal for THAT one?
ReplyDeleteI want an affinity group! Waah! To mentor clueless little viking dolls about milnonsense. Mentors! I need mentors! Anyone wanna sign up? $1 to sign up, $2 to quit!
(This is especially disgusting after reading about the vacant training faciliities and empty classrooms for useful training in the other thread.)
This is all just another way of saying "the whites are kicking butt on promotions and evaluations, so we gotta bring the rest of the pack up to their speed". Which does nothing but dump a huge disservice onto the minority that long ago figured out that some extra melanin didn't make them better - or worse - than anybody else, and that their success was because they studied, found their own mentor, out-performed their contemporaries and kicked butt - ON THEIR OWN.
ReplyDeleteAffinity group is mis-spelled - should be ASSINITY GROUP.
And whoa be unto the CO who denies funding an Affinity-ite's attendance (because of some practical reason like it would kill the command budget)?
ReplyDeleteThe part that pisses me off to no end is that this bull shit is being supported by my year group classmates. I am old enough that the 0-6's supporting this nonsense are some of my year group peers...WTF, over???
ReplyDeleteThis is NOT, I repeat NOT, the Navy I joined. Hell, it is not even the Navy I left as JO.
Talk about an organization getting lost in the wilderness...
Don't worry about it. the former President of the NOAA is now relegated to back bench note taking duty at most meetings I've seen him at. His opinion is neither desired nor required. I'm sure he still gets paid well though.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first met him (back when I worked in the same company as him) and inquired about his bio which stated "president of NOAA" I said "Naval Officers Association of America, I think that sounds like an organization I'd like to join, Sir!" He just sniffled at me. Now I know why.
G Man I see things a little differently. The whites are not kicking butt on promotions. Sailors get promoted in roughly the same number and rate as all years. Their race, as self reported, may lend itself to some meaningless demographic analyses. But in the end, this is not about "bringing the rest of the pack up to their speed," neigh. It is about making things "fair" by eliminating the merit from the selection criteria to ensure that politically acceptable numbers of certain self reported demographics are "represented" on the next promotions list. This is not about increasing talent. If it were, there would be no "Diversity Thursday." "Mentorship" is about assigning Racial Sea Daddies who will plow the roads. Officers are being selected at very junior ranks to ascend to flag so long as they do not have a major disciplinary malfunction. Their "Mentors" will plow the road for them.
ReplyDelete<span><span>Include a diversity component that fosters the mentoring of minorities and women.</span> F that, from one more angry white male. </span>
ReplyDelete<span></span>
<span>Neither my ancestors, nor I, did anything to deserve being excluded. All you decision making toadies in positions of influence that sneak onto the porch from your non DOD PC's...This is WRONG! Resist. Protest. Ignore. Marginalize the diversity nazis at the highest levels. And get back to training and war fighting. </span>
But...but.... I'm a woman! I wanna be mentored! Mentor MEEEEEE! (preferably over a steak dinner and a glass of Latroun)
ReplyDeletePersonally I think it's a trap to get people to misbehave so they can be removed from command. Like huntin' in a baited field. Don't fall fer it, silly geese!
Have they specified the boundaries of "mentoring?" What is good mentoring and what is bad mentoring? Does it have to be in the open or can it be done in the stateroom?
/sarc
If you can't tell.. I think this has "bad idea for obvious reasons" written all over it....
Wow, someone read my comment. Sorry to drop the bomb and run, but I"m on the far coast from most of you all and I'm not in a position to say my name or why I was at the school. As a former engineering guy, un-liscenced in the Merchant Marine and experienced in allied but shore side engineering fields, I have a formed a pratical idea of what it takes to teach the basics of the engine and associated parts at the most basic level. The Navy may have another school that I didn't see, but someone please tell me if there is a school of basic skills as in; this is a flywheel, this is an impellor, etc before dumping these young men and women on the fleet. I respect and value to my heart, the United States Navy and all that it does, but somehow, the basics of the one side that I can intelligently evaluate seems to have been dumped by the wayside in search of a false god, that ellusive business model of perfection and efficiency. How efficient can it be; to teach a young person how to strip a pump, or trouble shoot smoke in the exhaust? It is not and cannot be efficiently done, but teaching those skills is not without value, actually the skill set is priceless. How have we come so far as a nation of workers from this realization.
ReplyDeleteGuest... thanks for the input. Comments here are read carefully, I can assure you.
ReplyDeleteStick around. Big Navy will need the likes of you someday!
They'll come begging for you to teach something useful.
Mark my word.
DB, I wish. One that I could teach them something useful. They need to talk to my bosses, some very skilled and imaginative people out there. too bad they don't work for Austral. Secondly, I wish; my job had been to evaluate how the Navy teaches, but my bad, I started too late and in the wrong field. I have a very young son however, and perhaps, he will be interested in engineering and the science thereof. Experiments with dissimilar metals and electrical currents should be a fun visual lesson. Once he is seven years of age and has mastered that process, we can go on to hull design. Jimmy's down in Point Loma has some beutiful half hulls and perhaps we can visit the yard and see an LCS hauled out for maitenance. Snark off.
ReplyDeleteyou can take him to Top Side/Sea Side SSC PAC on top of Point Loma. He might be fascinated by the bronze scale models along the fence at Sea Side. They are about 5 feet in from the fence. He might wonder about those gigantic structures where things were hung for EM testing back in the day.
ReplyDeleteWill do, they seem to have the shortest line for a CAC card these days, so two birds with one stone. Plus, they seem to be having some trouble with supposedly dedicated frequencies and garage door openers along the coast for a modern example of common wave travel. I would like to take him to the Potomac for a demonstration of how the concept of radar was first realized on this side of the water. The Navy may be down in some ways, but it only takes a look over to the docks at North Island to see what they do exceptionally well.
ReplyDeleteDiversity as a byproduct (and nothing more than that) of focusing on putting the best Sailors onto the best ships/squadrons/subs = smart
ReplyDeleteDiversity as a policy = poison
In this NAVADMIN and as well as on the NNOA website there is a lot of coded language that seems like Jim Crow and much like many whites in the US didn't support the policy of segregation and helped to stop it I applaud the minority members of the USN who bust their pick like all of us do and have no time for this nonsense and vocally decry this whole pot of BS (and yes, these people exist and I have had the pleasure of serving with a few).
I think many people here have had the hot mic treatment (hopefully only on an internal net) before but nothing like that..... 8-)
ReplyDeleteWow, that didn't take very long. I wonder exactly what damages the "offended parties" are going to claim.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure, as always, it's all about the money...
It is pretty funny. I am certain this conversation is OH SO RARE in the cockpit. /sarc off
ReplyDeleteI am certain there was a lawyer IMMEDIATELY on the scene to hook the "aggrieved" up. Who knew the Bill of Rights had an 11th amendment? The right to not have your feelings hurt.
Life initates an old joke from VT-10 about a pilot on his first solo, but in spades. Oopss. Can I say that?
ReplyDeleteDAMMIT!
ReplyDeleteYou know where and how you find a mentor? You talk to people, and you see how they perform. Find someone you like, and develop a relationship. If they are senior to you, the mentor/mentee relationship will follow.
It's not hard, and you don't need an 'affinity' group for it. Groups like that were created for the socially awkward who are too afraid to approach someone and become aquainted colleagues and even friends. FAIL! FAIL! FAIL!
You're surrounded by possible mentors, and if you're really smart, you will utilize EVERYONE around you in either an implicit or explicit way to learn from them.
Additionally. Race should be the last consideration for a professional mentor. As should Gender.
ReplyDeleteMore than one mentor of mine has been a female, some have even been black females.
SURFOR just sent out a message mentioning this symposium as "A GREAT MENTORSHIP AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY FOR THE MEN AND WOMEN OF OUR COMMUNITY WITH A FOCUS ON
ReplyDeleteTHE RECRUITMENT, RETENTION AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF MINORITY OFFICERS. I ENCOURAGE COMMUNITY ATTENDANCE FOR THE MENTORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES PROVIDED AND I SEE THIS AS A GREAT CHANCE TO INTERACT AND NETWORK WITH SUCCESSFUL NAVAL LEADERSHIP"
For 'our community' are they talking about the Surface Navy or something else......
Also they are funding 20 Officers to go....hmmm, think we could find a better use for that money for the ships and Sailors?
Next time they don't have the funds to send Sailors to the schools their sea going command they need to do their job (end of the FY is right around the corner) - some CMDCM needs to shove this in their face.
ReplyDeleteDisgrace. Wait until tomorrow's DivThu. Take your meds.