What Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is Doing to the Navy

What are Navy’s demographics? The Navy matches quite closely the national metrics. The Navy falls short only in female officers. The female officers’ deficit is not due to any barrier to entry. It is due to females largely being uninterested in military service. How does this comparison ensure “there are no unintended barriers to entry?” The standards for admission to the Navy are the same for everyone except that Blacks and Hispanics are offered preferences based on skin color. That unfair advantage is what the Supreme Court ruled against by a 6-3 majority in the Students for Fair Admissions versus Harvard and UNC cases. Is Navy ignoring the Supreme Court ruling that racial preferences are illegal?

Navy then says:
“• For Equity, Navy looks at key billets, along with detailing, advancement/promotion statistics to ensure every Sailor has the same opportunity for professional growth and development. This enhances organizational loyalty, encouraging Sailors towards a Navy career because they can see themselves in senior Navy leaders, both officer and enlisted.”

The Navy uses the word “equity” but actually says ‘every sailor has the same opportunity, i.e. equal opportunity. Equal opportunity is not equity. Equity is equal results. Using equal opportunity enhances organizational loyalty. Using equity would create dissension in the ranks. This an example of the Navy wanting to have it both ways. It appears they are using the word equity but practicing equal opportunity.

Navy then says:
“• For Inclusion, Navy uses a variety of surveys to assess whether not its workforce feels included and connected to mission and leaders at all levels. This reflects human psychology as it relates to teambuilding, where personnel who feel excluded and disconnected are more likely to both underperform and conduct destructive behaviors.”

Assessing workforce welfare? Why doesn’t the Navy report what DOD climate assessments reveal? Those assessments include Navy personnel. Those surveys show fewer than 2% of the workforce indicate that racism is a problem. With such a low percentage, one wonders, why all the emphasis on DEI? I can only speculate that it is a political calculation by Navy leadership.

You will find similar vague DEI statements at virtually every Navy site. It is a ubiquitous and cloying obeisance without substance to political masters that is sucking up millions of precious dollars and manpower, detracting from the core mission, and harming morale and focus on readiness. Both internal and external reports document actual problems that the Navy should be dealing with… horrific maintenance backlogs, overstressed crews due to longer and longer deployments, low readiness rates documented by internal Navy reports, the GAO, and Heritage Foundation, and the plague of suicide in the ranks.