How bad is discrimination in the military?

[kawika109]

Wildflyin69, this might calm your worries a little.

http://www.studentpilot.net/cf/msgboard/messagedetailp.cfm?ds=studentpilot&messageid=96909&orderby=DTD&msgforumid=10&formstartdate=07/23/2003&formenddate=08/22/2003&msguserid=0&msgkey=

Out of curiosity, what happens if the interviews during an investigation are misinforming as well due to bias(which I think would be more common during gender issues, not racial)? What other evidence is there besides the interviews? What if the supervisor did NOT make any racist or sexist remarks toward the subordinate, yet you (and all your comrades) believe you were unfairly given a bad report?

 

[AviatorMR239]

in my world, discrimination is less what is said to you and more how you react to it.

i'm as white and as american as johnny come marching home eating apple pie... but i've had my share of experiences

when i went out for the football team in highschool i was one of only a few white dudes, and i wasn't huge so naturally i got messed with at first. "white bread" "snowflake" ...every day for weeks they did anything they could do to try to get a rise out of me.

i played wide receiver and during a scrimmage play i caught a short pass and broke a few tackles and out ran the secondary and "scored"... they tackled me anyway and the last guy to come off me says "when is your cracka a** gonna quit?" i smiled and said "as soon as one of you N***** can catch me"

we both laughed and after that i never got picked on again.

words get thrown around all the time... yeah some people are just ignorant... but others are just careful who they let in their group and want to see if something minor will get you flustered.

P.S. i don't recommend calling any group of large men by a racial slur....can be hazardous to your health

 

[Q-ball]

Especially SAMOANS!

 

[wildflyin69]

Kawika, thanks for the post, it did put me a little more at ease.

 

[Mustangable]

Never saw any race issues while I was in. Most of the stuff tossed back and forth was mutual and in good fun. Anything serious was taken care of in-house and that was that. The biggest ragging I can recall was all the way back to boot camp, but it wasn't race, it was DIs putting pressure on the little end to keep up! (God bless that motivated little end...)

P.S. Am I the only one, or does it tick you off just as bad as it does me when you are asked to write down your race on a form? AMERICAN, knucklehead!! Let me spell it for you...

 

[vegita1220]

You know...I couldn't agree more.

 

[phrogdriver]

Lets be honest. Being a minority is only going to help you. There are some bigots out there, but not enough to really affect anyone. Most individuals in supervisory positions are smart enough not to be bigoted, and if they are, they're smart enough not to show it.

In training situations, most will make absolutely sure all the Ts are crossed and Is dotted before taking negative action against a minority, e.g. attrition. One doesn't want the race/gender card pulled to dispute a well-justified action.

 

[kawika109]

Thanks to everybody who gave opinions and experiences and such, but this article seems to contradict what all of you are saying.

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/pentagon_racism991123.html

Can anybody give thoughts or opinions?

 

[perchul]

yeah, your article is vague at best and points out that this survey taken still has the surveyors saying that
the military further ahead then the private sector in stamping out discriminatory tensions. From the academic
articles I read while in school on the topic of racial tensions crossed with the militay, it has been generally
accepted (meaning no scholarly articles to the contrary) that one of the few changes that the US military
can and has done well is creating equal opportunity amongst its denizens. My concern for you Kawika is that your
already looking to find it. What you'll hopefully learn in college is that good research leads to the answer
and that when you have an answer in mind its easy to find research to support your point but that completely taints
your work.

 

[quickandsure]

Kawa: Not all of us. Review my post of Aug 21.

Sure, those that never were in the military, never been on the mess decks of the USS Kitty Hawk after taps, and sole experience is seeing a movie or two, can talk all day about the lack of discrimination in the military.

It is there and it is PC to vent towards orientals. Would agree less that society in general and that not official. But that does not make it invisible.

Do you remember TailHook? Let me tell you, everyone was up in arms, saying that it did not happen that the "girls" were just too sensitive for their own good. Admiral Edy found out differently and got rid of a bunch of missfit fighter jocks.

Good luck. Read "Men of Honor".

 

[phrogdriver]

Actually, that article says that the military does a better job than the civilian sector. Typical media, holding the military to a higher standard than themselves. The story could have read, "Military does better in race relations than civilian sector," but that wouldn't have been a PC headline.

 

[kawika109]

Pardon my ignorance, but what does PC stand for?

 

[quickandsure]

PC = politically correct. Concept allowed then Vice President Gore to say of the Japanese Finance Minister; "That fat Jap" while he was on his way to address a NAACP Convention on diversity.

 

[kawika109]

Err, may I ask how discriminating against Asians is politically correct?

 

[perchul]

Grist you can defend your point about asians, but how you could confuse sexism and racism is beyond me. Sexism is a totally different topic, when you make a mistake like that it appear as though you need someone to blame for problems.
Its funny that you should point out that people say jap without knowing its a slant (kinda like the difference between murder and involuntary manslaughter) but then keep on referring to East Asians as "orientals" which is a term that lumps all asians into a certain area of china and furthermore the people you refer to as "orientals" care not for the term and view it in the same light as jap. Now I'm not getting on you for saying it because that would cloud the intentions of your post but I hope you see that there is no real harm in calling someone a "jap" if a person has no ill will behind the term.