Woke Navy Could Soon Consider Candidates' Service Photos in Promotion Packages for More Diversity: 'We're Only Going to Pick the Best of the Best, But...'
The U.S. Navy might reinstate the use of photographs on promotion applications after leaders noted that not enough “diversity” candidates have been rising through the ranks, according to a report.
The gist of the policy change is that with photos, those who decide which applicants make it in the Navy will have the option to promote officers while taking into account how they look, and not solely what they might offer if awarded a leadership position.
“Diversity among leadership dropped after photos were removed last year from Navy promotion packages, Vice Adm. John Nowell said during a panel discussion on diversity and inclusion at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space conference,” Stars and Stripes reported Tuesday.
Why the Navy is even holding panels on diversity is mind-boggling, but our leaders on the seas are apparently as unfit to serve this country as its commander in chief is.
“I think we should consider reinstating photos in selection boards,” said Nowell said, according to Stars and Stripes. “We look at, for instance, the one-star board over the last five years, and we can show you where, as you look at diversity, it went down with photos removed.”
And then there was this telling quote:
“It’s a meritocracy, we’re only going to pick the best of the best, but we’re very clear with our language to boards that we want them to consider diversity across all areas,” Nowell said, according to the report. “Therefore … I think having a clear picture just makes it easier.”
According to the report, the Marine Corps is also “looking at reinstating the photos,” Brig. Gen. A.T. Williamson said at the same diversity conference.
“There are elements of the photo that are … very helpful for us. I think that we may find that we may have disadvantaged individuals by removing those photos from the boards,” Williamson said.
Photos of candidates on promotion packages were ordered removed in July 2020 by then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper. But that was when then-President Donald Trump was focusing on military readiness.
The new, “woke” military under the leadership of President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin continues to undermine the effectiveness of the country’s fighting forces. How else can one explain why an essential system of meritocracy could be replaced with one where an officer’s skin color, presumably, will be considered by superiors when deciding who commands people in combat situations?
“Diversity” is an inclusive-sounding word that allows liberals and leftists such as Austin pretend they’re doing their part to fight racism, and not engaging in practices that could threaten the existence of our republic.
Diversity for the sake of diversity in some sectors of life and the economy risks seeing bottom lines suffer.
Diversity for the sake of diversity in the U.S. military is dangerous, and hopefully it doesn’t get a lot of the wrong people killed the next time the armed forces encounter an adversary on the water, in the air, or on the ground. “Inclusion” at that point is a potential national security threat.
Judging by the way Biden’s other top-level picks are handling their jobs, it certainly doesn’t generate a great deal of confidence that Austin and the branches of the military he commands will be capable of keeping Americans safe for long.
Look at what the Biden administration has already done to the country’s southern border, under Vice President Kamala Harris’ alleged leadership.
How can a combat unit be truly effective when the first concern of its superiors is to ensure that the unit is made of personnel of all the right ethnicities? What if that unit has a commander who was chosen by a photo, and not by merit?
Those who handle heavy weapons, munitions, nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons need to be the absolute best candidates for their jobs. If that means that every nuclear reactor mechanic on the USS Gerald R. Ford is black because those individuals proved themselves to be the most qualified, then that’s great.
If that same ship’s reactor is being maintained by personnel chosen based on how they look, then America has proved to itself and the world that despite being the pioneers of harnessing nuclear energy, we no longer deserve to use it.
Perhaps it’s time to fire up the diesel engines and go roll the dice out on the South China Sea.
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