Diversity Thursday

 As we have covered here through the years, the USCG used to be the most equal opportunity and race neutral of the uniformed services. Then a decade ago, Congress removed the requirement at the USCG Academy that it could not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, or national origin – and once that firewall was gone, we were off to the identity politics Olympics.

I would like to point your attention to two ALCOAST messages; 452/20 and 195/20. Both went out December 15th, 452/20 about five hours before 195/20. You can read the full messages at the hypertext links above.

Before you do that, let’s establish a few assumptions.

1. The diversity commissariat used to tell us that diversity was a “broad” definition, not just race and ethnicity metrics that can be put on a PPT slide – but a larger definition that included regional diversity, educational diversity, etc, etc. Well, they’ve backed off that in the last few years and, as we will see, are now proudly saying the quiet part out loud that they used to protest wasn’t there.

2. In theory – and you can see this manifested on appointments to the academy – our uniformed services should draw people from our vast nation, and should invest recruiting appropriately in the four corners of the USA as population density would lead you. 

3. We have all heard complaints – for decades – that the uniformed services are “too Southern.” Those people have never read Albion’s Seed or refuse to accept the actual cultural diversity of this nation, so they will never get it – but one would assume efforts would be made to help adjust this imbalance … but … behold!

From 452/20:

To better access the richness of American society to recruit a world-class workforce, the Coast Guard is establishing a dedicated Officer Recruiting Corps. This team will focus on the sustained outreach necessary to attract the best of America’s diverse population that reflects the people we serve.

…

The Corps will serve all non-Academy officer programs including Officer Candidate School and Direct Commission Officer Programs, with a special emphasis on supporting the College Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative (CSPI) at minority-serving institutions.

3. The Officer Recruiting Corps will initially have five members in two-year billets; one Commander and four Lieutenants. The O5 position will serve at Coast Guard Recruiting Command in Washington, DC. The four O3 positions will be assigned to various priority recruiting markets. 

As usual though, they can't  bring themselves to be completely honest. They call this, "...a dedicated Officer Recruiting Corps" but it is no such thing. That is not its primary focus ... oh no. This is, of course, focused on one thing – race. 

This is just another injection of the cancer of sectarianism in to our nation’s government. Defining people by something as meaningless as their self-identified race or ethnicity – a factor that in any other setting, or mix of variables, would be called out for exactly what it is – racial preference.

I know there are well meaning people who support this, and not everyone who is pushing this understands that this adds to a corrosive stew that is identity politics. We have to make every effort to bring people together, not focus more an more on differences that – to our great credit – the larger culture is trying to get rid of.

So, how is this going to be operationalized? Let’s look at 195/20:

CGRC is in need of highly motivated officers to fulfill several key positions to advance this initiative and immediately begin officer recruiting in various geographic locations. 

…

The LT officer recruiters are co-located with select Recruiting Offices. Four LT positions are open at the following locations:

Atlanta, GA;

New Orleans, LA;

Hampton Roads, VA; and

Miami, FL.

There you go. All in the South, that land so fertile and rich. That is fine for me, a Southerner of long standing. I have a lot more in common culturally from food to religion to family to music to manners with Southerners of all races than I do with that obnoxious people from Boston or LA – much less those Chicago types … so this is fine, I guess.

Here is what I don’t want to hear.

1. Don’t tell me the USCG does not discriminate on the basis of race. They are. In these two messages they are specifically targeting one racial group to make someone’s PPT slide look better. People and money are a zero sum game. They are taking this away from efforts elsewhere. 

2. Don’t complain that the military is too Southern. We have a more martial culture, always have. Your leftist politicians in bed with greedy developers gave up in the 1990s BRAC much more non-Southern military acreage. You are pooling your recruiting efforts down here too. Sit down.

In case you need a picture, here’s is a map of the USCG’s view of diversity supporting our nation.