Affirmative Action for the Navy SEALS?

Now this strikes me as troubling. The Navy SEALS are embarking on a targeted campaign to recruit more minority candidates, reports the Navy Times. Apparently some are concerned because “minority representation” is below the national average. The Naval Special Warfare Command has hired three diversity consultants to help them attract more minorities. Why do I find this troubling? There is no evidence that they are changing the standards to be a Navy SEAL. And I’m all for trying to bring in as many people with unique skills and backgrounds as possible. But the military is the one institution that has avoided the most overt forms of racial politics that plague the rest of our society. Why seek to hire more African-American or minority SEALS? Why not just recruit SEALS, pure and simple?

This is really a numbers game. Because the percentage of minorities in the SEALS is slightly below their representation in the population as a whole, some are troubled, reports the Navy Times. But this simply means people are making individual choices. Its not about racism. Numerical disparities alone mean nothing.

Nor can there be any sort of military purpose behind all this. How does “racial diversity” by itself mean a more effective force? I thought we were beyond the racial politics, at least in the military. There should be no black, white, Asian, or Chicano in the armed services. We should think of them as all green, or blue, or whatever their service color happens to be.