When I was in the Navy, a 20 year career that ended 22 years ago, affirmative action, both race and sex based, would run you over, smash you like a bug, and never look back. It would take too long to cite examples. I doubt that that has changed.
I ran into that wall in the Army in 1957, so it hasn't changed at all. Then again in the Navy in 65 everything was about race. At least in the Army the kid they advanced was ok but the Navy was a different matter, you could have a career destroyed in a hurry.