Posted on Sep 1, 2020
Where are the Black officers? US Army shows diversity in its ranks but few promotions to the top
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Is this type of shit really what we're investing our time and intellectual powers to? The number of black general officers we have? Could there be more? Yes. But there could also be more black astronauts, engineers(civilian), politicians, authors, or any other leading profession, too. I know a black general on a personal level, and by his own account, a lot of black officers, by the time they reach high enough to even consider taking on a star, decide that they've been in long enough and decide to retire. This happens at a higher rate than their lighter-skinned counterparts.
The inherent insinuation is that there is a shady over-arching mentality that we cant bring black officers up to the highest levels. And that is simply not true. And insinuating this, let alone the DoD not openly demonizing and rebuffing these allegations, is a poor reflection on our profession and culture.
The inherent insinuation is that there is a shady over-arching mentality that we cant bring black officers up to the highest levels. And that is simply not true. And insinuating this, let alone the DoD not openly demonizing and rebuffing these allegations, is a poor reflection on our profession and culture.
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SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA
They also tend to self-select out of Infantry and SOF. Disparity of numbers does not mean there has been a disparity of treatment or opportunity.
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I probably have too much enlisted time to make it to the GO ranks. I’m ok with that.
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Of course I was not an officer, but maybe black officers just have less of a desire to hang out in the military until they get to that point, or maybe they tend to be in MOS that don't promote as quickly. For instance, I am sure an Army Special Forces officer has a much greater chance of making it to a very high senior leadesrhip position than say a Logistics officer (if I am wrong on that please correct me). My only point is that we need to take a deeper look into why this is going on, and not jump to conclusions that it is racism.
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SSG Brian G.
Contrary to what some might thing, it's not about race at all. As enlisted we go in, and choose our MOS that we want and generally get it. An Officer? Nope. They have a wishlist but they go into OCS without any actual assigned MOS. It is only later that they find out what they got and it is based on an OML or Order of Merit List. The ones who score higher on the list usually get to choose, but the lower down one scores they are assigned based on Army needs. So a candidate that wanted say Armor and scored low would get whatever while a candidate that scored high and wanted say Infantry would, strong chances, get that.
From there it is a matter of dealing with what all of us deal with and that is the hidden reality behind being in any service. It is often monotonous and can lead to burnout. And attrition sets in. Nothing nefarious, just look at how many people get out of the enlisted ranks each year after initial enlistment is up.
From there it is a matter of dealing with what all of us deal with and that is the hidden reality behind being in any service. It is often monotonous and can lead to burnout. And attrition sets in. Nothing nefarious, just look at how many people get out of the enlisted ranks each year after initial enlistment is up.
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