Among the 1.3 million active servicemen in the US Army, about 43% are people of color. But those who make key decisions, such as how to deal with the epidemic crisis, and how much troops to send to Afghanistan or Syria, are almost all white and male decision makers. Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper once posted a photo of President Trump and his senior four-star general on Twitter, showing that the President was surrounded by a large white general in full uniform. Great controversy arose on the Internet.
Among the 41 highest-ranking commanders in the US Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, only two are black: Army Command Commander General Michael X. Garrett and Pacific Air Force Commander General Charles Q. Brown Jr. General Paul M. Nakasone, commander of the US Cyber Command, is considered the third generation of Japanese Americans. There is only one woman in this group: General Marianne Miller, commander of the Air Force Air Mobility Command, who is also white.
The reason why there are so few high-level colored people is deeply rooted in the history and culture of the US military. A 1925 U.S. Army Officer’s Guide pointed out: Blacks are a very low-quality source of troops, and it is impossible to expect a leadership class from this race. It was not until after World War II that American black talents gradually began to emerge in the US military. This result makes black Americans lack the historical accumulation of other whites who have enlisted in the military for generations.
Although the number of minority cadets enrolled at West Point Military Academy, Annapolis Naval Academy in Maryland, and Colorado Springs Air Force Academy has increased in recent years, most of them are still white. Even black Americans who become military officers are often transferred to positions specializing in logistics and transportation, rather than being promoted to more promising combat command positions. Minority and colored officers in the U.S. military all admit that senior officers have always been entrenched white clubs, and that it is not the glass ceiling but the indestructible cement that presses on the minority groups.
Racism within the army seems to be on the rise. A survey last fall found that 36% of respondents and 53% of minority service personnel said they had seen examples of white supremacy or ideology-driven racism among their comrades. This number has risen sharply compared to the same poll conducted in 2018, when only 22% of respondents had witnessed white supremacy and racial discrimination.
In recent years, the Pentagon has faced increasing criticism due to a series of racist incidents. In February of this year, a naval fighter pilot filed a lawsuit in federal court, accusing the Virginia Naval Air Station Ocean Station of trying to cover up institutional racism against black American pilots, which he said led to them being wrongly removed from the pilot training program. The pilot’s lawyer said in an interview that the black pilots at the base were also given racially derogatory nicknames such as "8-ball" in group chats on social media.
In December 2019, West Point Military Academy announced that it had removed a slogan from the Texas Aryan Brotherhood from the flag of its football team. The gang is a white supremacist prison gang . In addition, the snipers of the US Marine Corps often use the Nazi SS Lightning badge as their logo. The Marine Corps stated that although photos of troops and SS flags surfaced in Afghanistan in 2012, the leadership of the Marine Corps took swift action to put an end to the logo, but it still exists within the military.
The U.S. military officials insisted that the army, navy, and air force generals were selected according to the strict criteria of the selection committee. But in fact, almost all US military officers admit that finding key superiors is crucial. Current senior U.S. Army officers, including Army Chief of Staff General James C. McConville, future Army Command Commander General John M. Murray, and Army Training and Doctrine Command Commander Paul E. Fink II The generals, all white, were promoted by the former Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army, General Peter Charelli.
Former Assistant Secretary of Defense Derek Cholet admitted: “Especially the Army, it’s quite a closedsystem. This is a question about who will take care of you. If you do not have senior leadership to solve this problem, then promotion is basically impossible. If more minorities are to become senior officers, they must be deployed early. Because the army is different from an enterprise, no one in an enterprise can go outside to look for it, and when the army chooses a general, it is all about the boss choosing his former colonel and entourage. The army cannot hire generals from the street! "
A retired Marine Corps member Michael Williams has specially studied this topic. He revealed: "The cruel reality is that the generals who are discussing issues with the Secretary of Defense in the same room are basically 35 It was confirmed years ago. "In addition to being overshadowed by someone, what is also important is your business focus. Graduates from West Point, Annapolis University, and Colorado Springs University are usually destined for military leadership positions. Black graduates are generally not like this.
Some of the most legendary combat units in the military--the soldiers who landed on Omaha Beach or the Marines who assaulted Iwo Jima, the whites dominate. The black Americans feel that they are in such a unit Unpopular. As for the more elite special operations forces, including the SEALs, the Army Green Berets, and the Delta Force Commando, they are even more white in the world, and often there is no one among the six or seven hundred young people. People of color. Some people believe that black Americans must enter combat positions if they want to go to higher positions in the military.
But some black Americans are often discouraged from joining the military by their families. Black Americans in the Marine Corps Tes Solomon Kiefer said that his mother didn’t want him to join the army at first, let alone the war. His mother was so angry when he joined the army. Other black men in the army also provided similar descriptions. It tells about the persecution of terrified mothers who have tried to protect their sons from social discrimination in the United States for many years. Compared with the army with deadly weapons everywhere, it is obviously more dangerous.
In addition, many black Americans also believe that Military service is not a profession, but a way of helping to pay for education or helping to compete in the civilian job market in the future. In contrast, many white soldiers with a long history of service sign up to join the army because they have the so-called " "Martial arts tradition". Joining the army is their ideal and what their fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers have always done. In addition to the lack of upper-level care and the lack of tradition in joining the army, the reason why black Americans and people of color in the U.S. military can hardly develop Discriminatory atmosphere.
For example, in the Marine Corps, the term for the black Marines is “people who don’t swim.” This name refers to the old metaphor that blacks can’t swim. In “Army Rangers”, Blacks are nicknamed "Night Rangers." Obviously this is ironic that black skin can have better concealment effects at night. African, Asian, and Hispanic officers all reflect a feeling of unacceptance in the US military. They are I feel that I am constantly being challenged in front of white officers and soldiers, let alone leading them.
In the military promotion system, a mediocre evaluation is enough to kill your promotion opportunities. American black Smiley joined the U.S. Army after graduating from university in 1993 and was lucky enough to get a job as a professional artillery officer. He has been stationed in South Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan many times, especially during his evaluation in Afghanistan in 2009 and 2010. However, after returning to China in 2011, his assessment was "Mediocre". This was tantamount to stifling his chance of being promoted to colonel. Nearly 10 years later, Smiley Still retired as a lieutenant colonel.
Black American officers generally believe that they have no room for error, and incidents that have little effect on white officers may end their careers. The cases of Colonel Gus Benton and Colonel Bradley D. Moses are very typical. They are the commanders of the third special forces of the elite army green berets in different periods. Colonel Benton is black and Colonel Moses is white.
On February 21, 2010, when Colonel Benton was the commander of the force, he was involved in an incident in Afghanistan. At that time, US warplanes attacked three vehicles full of Afghan civilians in Uruzgan Province, killing 21 people, including many children. Participate in the approval of the strikeColonel Benton received a letter of reprimand to end his career. He is also regarded as an outsider in the green beret world where the US military is predominantly white. He retired from the military in 2014.
When the Niger ambush occurred in October 2017, Colonel Moses was the commander of the force and 4 American soldiers were killed. Colonel Moses approved the Niger mission, including changes to the plan, making the mission more dangerous and leading to an ambush. However, the U.S. Army still nominated Colonel Moses for promotion to the Senate Armed Services Committee, even though the nomination was rejected in March. A retired black U.S. military officer said that Colonel Moses is a protected member, and that's how the U.S. military does.
