They!

This is coolbert:

"They don't shoot as well - - they don't swim as well - - they don't follow a course on the ground from a map as well!!" - - General Mundy, Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps.

"They!!"

These famous words were part of a exchange between General Mundy and a reporter for the television program "Sixty Minutes". This occurring some years ago now.

General Mundy was specifically being asked why - - of the one hundred twenty five [125] general officers in the Marine Corps, ONLY ONE was a black American.

It seems that - - ever since General Mundy spoke those words he came to regret - - the number of black Americans that have reached the rank of flag officer [general or admiral] in the U.S. military HAS NOT appreciably increased.

AND, the preponderance of those men/women that achieve flag rank is primarily to be found in the ranks of the U.S. ARMY and not in the other services.

It has been sixty years now since the U.S. military was ordered to integrate. Military units prior to the order of President Truman were segregated by race, and those black Americans that did serve, were primarily to be found in combat support [CS] and combat service support [CSS] units, NOT combat arms. Opportunities for advancement to flag officer rank for a black American was negligible to totally non-existent.

And yet, even after sixty years of integration, we NOW find a situation where the trend is for FEWER black Americans, men and women both, to achieve high military rank.

"After 60 years, black military officers rare"

[What the author of the MSNBC really means to say is that black military officers OF FLAG RANK are rare!]

This is a surprise? And perhaps for some reasons NOT so easily discerned?

* Black Americans continue to serve in CS and CSS type units, and primarily out of choice. When enlisting, black Americans eschew the combat arms MOS's [military occupation specialities]?

* Black American Congressional representatives are NOT appointing young, capable, motivated young black Americans to the various service academies in the numbers that they should be??!! Vacancies for appointments are not being filled, for whatever reasons!

"The reasons for the lack of blacks in the higher ranks are many and complex . . . Most often mentioned is that black recruits are showing less interest in pursuing combat jobs, which are more likely to propel them through the officer ranks."

"A review of congressional nominations to the military academies shows that black and Hispanic lawmakers often recommend fewer students.

According to Pentagon data, the number of lawmakers who failed to nominate at least one candidate to each academy increased from 24 in 2005 to 38 this year. Of the 75 lawmakers overall who did not nominate someone to each academy in all four years, 40 were either black or Hispanic."

Normally, in the U.S. military the way to the top [flag rank] is achieved by:

* Serving in a combat arms position and seeing battlefield experience.

* Being a graduate of a military academy. [Army, Navy, Air Force, and yes, Coast Guard]

NO combat arms - - no military academy - - probably a lot less chance of making it to flag rank!!

I have a bad feeling about all this. Within certain circles of the American black community, the U.S. military is looked upon as pernicious force? Doing a lot of destruction and killing against people overseas solely at the biding of American economic interests [i.e., BIG OIL]!

Young, talented, very able American black men and women are being actively discouraged, subtly or otherwise, EVEN MALICIOUSLY SO, to seek employment and higher education other than through the military? If this is so, this counts as a situation to the detriment of everyone.

coolbert.