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To: ansel12

I thought it was 105 and 110, with SF the higher. That changed in the nineties. The Clinton DOD did a big study, by a panel headed by recently retired GEN Colin Powell, about "minority underrepresentation" in special operations forces. I have a pile of documents on that study (mostly .pdfs) somewhere.

The study concluded that the two biggest obstacles were the GT score requirement (which is essentially an IQ test) and the swim test. For both physical and cultural reasons, some minorities are less likely to be strong swimmers than whites or east-asians.

The Clintonistas wanted to eliminate the standards and require a quota... you know, if 20% of the military is black, 20% of each graduating SF and BUDS (etc) class must be black. All the way down to eskimo and Samoan quotas. Saner heads prevailed and the final result for SF was, GT score lowered to 100, and swim test still taken, but no consequences for failure.

The results? Nil. Under the lower standards more minorities were accepted, but GT score is strongly correlated with SFQC completion, to a point. (Apparently you can get so smart that you say, "**** this!" -- and apparently I'm not that smart). As a result, almost all the candidates who scored between 100 and 110 did not complete SFAS or SFQC. I believe we netted two more grads over the first year, and they weren't blacks who had been excluded, they were dumb (but very stubborn) whites.

At one time there were many more black NCOs and officers in SF, back in the 1960s. But there were very few decent opportunities for a bright young black man in 1962; none that could compare to the fair shake he'd get from the military. Paradoxically, increased opportunities for, and fairness to, minority Americans in general, has resulted in fewer of them in some military elites than there were when society discriminated cruelly against them.


108 posted on 11/12/2006 1:06:39 AM PST by Criminal Number 18F (Build more lampposts... we've got plenty of traitors.)
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To: Criminal Number 18F

I'm pretty sure my memory is accurate on this, they pulled me into the OCS thing, until I realized I was only in the army for fun, not a career.

The SF 115, I believe that is accurate as well.

The San Diego Union did a three part , front page series on special operations, in the last 4 years.

Blacks are about 1.5% to 2.0% of Special Operations, from the Air Force to the Army, Navy Seals etc.

Map reading is also an obstacle.

And yes the article revealed, or admitted, that the army (including Special Ops) does affirmative action based on race.







110 posted on 11/12/2006 2:21:40 AM PST by ansel12 (America, love it ,or at least give up your home citizenship before accepting ours too.)
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