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Navy Seeking More Minority SEALs
Time Magazine ^ | February 24, 2012 | Mark Thompson

Posted on 02/24/2012 9:15:25 AM PST by lex33

In nature, most seals are black, with relatively few white ones. The Navy's SEALs have exactly the opposite problem -- they're overwhelmingly white, with hardly any blacks. So they're trying to do something about it. It's a fundamental challenge in a democracy with an all-volunteer force: recruits may be drawn from all segments of society, but elite military units -- and none is more elite these days than the SEALs, following their dispatch of Osama bin Laden last May -- tend to draw from small pools of talent. For the SEALs, that includes athletic young men who are smart and good in the water. For whatever reason, that has led to an overwhelmingly white SEAL force. (PHOTOS: Navy SEALs in Action) Say the SEALs: Gaps exist in minority representation in both officer and enlisted ranks for Special Warfare operators. Diverse officers represent only ten percent of the officer pool (for example, African Americans represent less than 2% of SEAL officers). Diverse enlisted SEALs account for less than twenty percent of the total SEAL enlisted population. Naval Special Warfare is committed to fielding a force that represents the demographics of the nation it serves. This contract initiative seeks effective strategies to introduce high potential candidates from diverse backgrounds to the opportunities available in Naval Special Warfare. (PHOTOS: A History of Special Ops) The SEALs are considering hiring help to attract thousands of "minority males in the 16–24 year-old target age range" to become SEALs. "This contract will create a mechanism to enhance Naval Special Warfare's ability to conduct outreach, raise awareness, mentor, and increase self-selection to a career as a SEAL within minority communities," a recently-posted draft contract solicitation says. The Navy isn't seeking only black SEALs: "Challenges for minority recruitment also exist in the Hispanic, Asian Pacific Islander (API), Native

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
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To: HonkyTonkMan

Stop clubbing seals.

They smell like fish and never buy drinks.


41 posted on 02/24/2012 9:33:51 AM PST by treetopsandroofs (Had FDR been GOP, there would have been no World Wars, just "The Great War" and "Roosevelt's Wars".)
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To: lex33

I’m going to puke up my lunch.

If there were anything less biased or prejudice that SEAL training, it’s the weather.

In that world, either you are human or you are not. The humans get rotated back into the military from which they came. The rest resume training as SEALs.


42 posted on 02/24/2012 9:33:51 AM PST by Tenacious 1 (With regards to the GOP: I am prodisestablishmentarianistic!)
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To: lex33
For the SEALs, that includes athletic young men who are smart and good in the water. For whatever reason, that has led to an overwhelmingly white SEAL force

Have you ever just come out and said 1+1=2 and then in the very next breath pondered why and/or how adding one thing unto another renders two things?

Any young athletic black man who is smart enough to be a SEAL (I think its 110 ASVAB) can win a full scholarship to practically any university in the country.

43 posted on 02/24/2012 9:34:03 AM PST by douginthearmy (Obamagebra: 1 job + 1 hope + 1 change = 0 jobs + 0 hope)
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To: oncebitten

“Blacks as a group sink like rocks. ... “

Not sure why they sink, but they do. In my boot camp company, we had about 15 black guys to begin. After the swim test, we had 2. The rest were held back and taught to swim.


44 posted on 02/24/2012 9:34:20 AM PST by brownsfan (Aldous Huxley and Mike Judge were right.)
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To: lex33

And the Harlem Globe trotters need more whites.


45 posted on 02/24/2012 9:34:33 AM PST by Wildbill22
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To: lex33

I’m surprised nobody has put together some affirmative action study and grievance about the NBA. That group must be prejudice. Just look at the demographic to prove it.

(sarc)


46 posted on 02/24/2012 9:35:35 AM PST by Tenacious 1 (With regards to the GOP: I am prodisestablishmentarianistic!)
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To: lex33
Well, the handicapped need to be represented.
Not just those lame, but the blind, too.
And how about some illegal aliens. Prison inmates, and French citizens, too.
47 posted on 02/24/2012 9:35:44 AM PST by Psalm 73 ("Gentlemen, you can't fight in here - this is the War Room".)
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To: lex33

While they are at it, I found that quadriplegics and those with mental disabilities are not properly represented.


48 posted on 02/24/2012 9:36:12 AM PST by mnehring
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To: ßuddaßudd

yeah, but I think his facial disfigurement was due to childhood disease.


49 posted on 02/24/2012 9:36:54 AM PST by supremedoctrine
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To: lex33

Affirmative action Seals.


50 posted on 02/24/2012 9:37:30 AM PST by LibWhacker
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To: ken5050
Blacks, as a group, just aren’t into swimming...and to be a SEAL..ya gotta LOVE the ocean

There have only been three African Americans to ever qualify for the US Olympic swim team.

If the swimming qualification hinders "diversity", look for the SEALs to be pressured to drop the swimming qualification.

51 posted on 02/24/2012 9:38:11 AM PST by PapaBear3625 (In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. - George Orwell)
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To: lex33
Affirmative action for the Navy Seals.


52 posted on 02/24/2012 9:39:27 AM PST by USS Alaska (Nuke the terrorists savages.)
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To: Drill Thrawl

“Here’s an idea some crazy guy had in the ‘60s, just go with the best of the best and pay no attention to race, creed or religion. “

Works in the NHL.


53 posted on 02/24/2012 9:40:49 AM PST by EQAndyBuzz (Most Conservative in the Primary, the Republican Nominee in the General.)
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To: treetopsandroofs

To paraphrase Bart Simpson, “Nobody better lay a hand on my BLT.” After all, you don’t know where that hand has been. LOL! Man, that’s makin’ me hungry.


54 posted on 02/24/2012 9:41:15 AM PST by rktman
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To: lex33

No quotas, no dropping standards, no seals wearing fake breasts and bellies simulating pregnant “seals” so the others “understand” the drawbacks of being “with child!”


55 posted on 02/24/2012 9:42:16 AM PST by zerosix (native sunflower)
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To: CodeToad

You’re right, about the ratios, and I was in the Army during the early phases of Vietnam (1966)
I’d always thought it was disproportionate, but on reflection,
later realized that through basic training, I just had not been around so many blacks, and it seemed out of whack. Years later I read the actual statistics, and they supported what you just said about proportion.


56 posted on 02/24/2012 9:42:24 AM PST by supremedoctrine
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To: EQAndyBuzz

“Works in the NHL.”

And the NBA,NFL,and MLB.


57 posted on 02/24/2012 9:42:31 AM PST by Mears (Alcohol. Tobacco. Firearms. What's not to like?)
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To: lex33
In nature, most seals are black, with relatively few white ones. The Navy's SEALs have exactly the opposite problem -- they're overwhelmingly white, with hardly any blacks.

WTF?

58 posted on 02/24/2012 9:42:45 AM PST by hattend (Jesus wants me to make churches pay for abortions. - Barack Obama)
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To: ken5050
Blacks, as a group, just aren’t into swimming...and to be a SEAL..ya gotta LOVE the ocean

That's an excuse, Whitey! Next you're gonna tell me they don't like snow skiing, hockey, golfing or racing too. Stop the stereo typing.

We need to start forcing minorities to ski, play hockey, golf and drive cars fast! That will make us all feel better about fairness. They'll thank us for it later! We know what's best for them!

(This is all sarcasm, attempted humor to poke fun at the absurdity. I am not racists, nor have I ever been racists. I have minority friends, etc., yadda, yadda...)

59 posted on 02/24/2012 9:43:34 AM PST by Tenacious 1 (With regards to the GOP: I am prodisestablishmentarianistic!)
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To: Da Coyote

PC nonsense — Its not about Public Relations of skin color—its about getting the job done. Time to dump this outdated theory into the trash can of history. Even MLK was against Affirmative action—he reluctantly approved of it for ten years only to help Blacks get a chance in society—Not forever. It should have been cancelled in 1973.


60 posted on 02/24/2012 9:43:42 AM PST by Forward the Light Brigade (Into the Jaws of H*ll)
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