It Begins With Recruiting

 

his solution to the dilemma is flawed. In his conclusion, he suggests that the services are not doing enough to recruit minority officers, as evidenced by one of the services experiencing a decline in black officer accessions during the 1980s. Mr. Dorn fails to realize that all the services have yearly minority officer accession goals for black and Hispanic officers, ranging from 7%-9% and 4%-6%, respectively. We are investing hundreds of thousands of dollars and many, many man hours on this effort, but the Problem is deeper than he realizes.

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^ Academic Qualifications: In April 1990, the Commandant convened an Equal Opportunity Task Force to formulate a five-year affirmative action plan for the Marine Corps.¹ The resulting plan detailed an affirmative action goal to attain minority officer representation in the Marine Corps based on their representation in the eligible Population and historical data. The accession goals outlined in the plan for black and Hispanic officer accessions Were to reach 7.8% and 4.8%, respectively, by 1995. The most recent census data used for this plan, however, indicate that the eligible black population (those who have

successfully completed their degree requirements) is 4.6%, well below the 7.8% representational goal. At the same time, the goal for the accession of Hispanic officers is far below the eligible population, which according to the same census figures is 9.9%.

As these figures suggest, the socioeconomic problems that plague America’s educational system also present a major obstacle to minority officer recruiting. Let’s examine the two criteria that are critical to the officer application process: Baccalaureate degrees and academic qualification scores.

bvceedings / April 1994

51

II

An officer candidate must (with some exceptions) have a Baccalaureate degree. In 1990, approximately 33,000 black males received either a B.S. or a B.A, compared with more than 444,000 white males. So, from the start, we are attempting to recruit from a significantly smaller pool of qualified applicants. But our educational standards don’t stop with successful degree completion. To be accepted for one of our commissioning programs, a candidate must have either a combined score of 1,000 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test, a combined math/Eng-

lish score of 45 on the Achievement Test, or a 120 electrical composite score on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery.

In 1993, the SAT (the most popular test) was taken by just more than 100,000 African-Americans, of which 35,746 were college-bound male seniors.² The average math and verbal scores for these males were 400 and 353, respectively. The number of black males who scored higher than 500 verbal or 500 math was 5,874. In as much as these numbers have remained relatively constant since 1985, we can deduce that of the 33,000 black males who graduated in 1990, probably no more than 5%-6% had SAT scores high enough to qualify for our officer programs. Unfortunately, this is a problem that the Marine Corps cannot solve, but it is one that our officer selection officers must contend with every day.

►    The Influence of Black Leadership: To much of the black leadership, the military is an organization that lures economically and sociologically disadvantaged minorities into its ranks, sucking the lifeblood out of the minority community. Others think that minorities are motivated to join the armed forces only by the prospect of a steady pay- check and military benefits. This negative attitude toward the military held by many black leaders (including Jesse Jackson, Benjamin Hooks, Sharon Pratt Kelly, Ronald Dellums, and Dick Gregory) spills over onto the college campuses, where peer pressure against joining the military—and the Marine Corps in particular—is high. Officer selection officers (OSOs) have been told by black college students that it is social suicide to be seen talking to Marine officer recruiters. When mentioning General Colin Powell as an example of the opportunity for achievement in the military, OSOs often are told that General Powell “acted white” or that “he’s Jamaican, he’s not really black.” These attitudes are confirmed and encouraged by many black leaders.

During the Gulf War, the minority leadership in general had a profound, negative effect on minority officer procurement. The question of minority overrepresentation, and therefore casualties, was raised. The questions quickly were answered (there is not, in fact, a disproportionate number of minorities serving in the combat arms, it is the inverse), but, unfortunately, the perception that we use minorities as “cannon fodder” remained. Some minority applicants withdrew their applications. One OSO was even told to get off campus by a faculty member at an all-black college.

►    The Influence of the Media: Since the Gulf War, the Marine Corps has come under increased scrutiny by the media. The mishandling of the Yamashita case;³ the exposure of our recruiting and retention record on “60 Minutes;” and even the Tailhook scandal have damaged our reputation and credibility within the minority communities, especially on campus.

►    The Officer Selection Officer: Each Officer Selection Team (OST) throughout the nation is responsible for recruiting a certain number of blacks and Hispanics into our undergraduate and graduate commissioning programs. To be successful, the OST must establish some sort of public relations program with the minority community, to gain some measure of trust and confidence. Toward this goal, officer selection officers have brought in minority offi

cers to speak at faculty luncheons and receptions, fraternity meetings, career fairs, and other professional groups and clubs on campus. The OSO must use imaginative marketing techniques to attract and contact qualified minori- ties. All of this takes money, at a time when advertising dollars are short, the team’s vehicles are on mileage caps, and temporary active duty funds are limited, if not nonexistent. (One OSO was reduced to sleeping in his car at rest stops in between campus visits because he didn’t have the funds to stay in a hotel.) It also takes detailed planning, an understanding of public relations, and long hours.

Another difficulty can be brought on by the selection officer himself. There is a “discomfort zone” that most white OSOs will admit to having when they must make a presentation to a group of minority students or faculty. It takes discipline and a little bit of courage to speak before any group; it takes even more determination when presenting yourself before an audience with which you are unfamiliar or likely to feel like an outsider. Because of this “discomfort zone,” some OSOs are hesitant to engage in the types of activities that are key to successful recruiting.

Officer selection officers must be encouraged to develop ties with the minority communities. This helps establish an element of mutual trust and breaks through at- titudinal barriers. It also increases the chances that parents will be open to the possibility of military service for their college-age children. This concept has met with considerable success through the National Naval Officers Association (NNOA) and the Association of Naval Service Officers (ANSO). These are professional organizations ot minority officers who are members of the sea services (NNOA is predominately African-American, the ANSO is mostly Hispanic). NNOA and ANSO’s highest priority is attracting qualified minorities to the sea services for commission. They involve themselves in church functions, high school events, and other community activities. The same sort of outreach activity could be very beneficial to OSOs’ recruiting efforts.

►    The Competition: Another factor that affects minority officer recruiting is the competition. Civilian corporations are looking for the same people we are: proven acade- mic performers with leadership potential. And civilian businesses can offer scholarships, summer co-ops, good salaries, a quality lifestyle, and peace. The prospect ot killing or getting killed never enters a college student's mind when he interviews with IBM or Exxon. The Ma^- fine OSO also faces stiff competition from the Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard, both of which have minority oriented officer scholarship programs. Prior to 1984, the Navy’s Baccalaureate Degree Completion Program wu^s used to recruit top qualified nuclear engineering undergraduates before the civilian corporations could capture the market. The program is now used to do the same thin? for minority undergraduates. The Coast Guard has a similar program called the Minority Officer Recruitment Effort. Both programs provide financial incentive for top qualified minority students to complete their degree requirements and earn a commission. Both programs have met with great success, and because of the structure of the programs, the attrition rate is negligible.

52

Proceedings / April

►    The Advertising Effort: With a limited budget, the

Marine Corps has made great strides in focusing advertising dollars on the minority officer procurement effort. We have officer advertisements using minority models in the print media, including Black Collegian, Black Enterprises, Ebony Man, and Hispanic magazines. A brochure has been crafted that presents biographies of minority officers who have had successful careers both in the Marine Corps and in the civilian sector after leaving active duty. We now have a minority officer model for the famous “Sword” commercial and for the new “Chess” spot.

As superb as these initiatives are, we still tend to shoot ourselves in the foot. The Chess commercial, both the minority and majority version, was completed in time for the 1991 NCAA basketball tournament. Without question, a large percentage of the viewing audience was black college students, yet the spot with the white officer was used for 75% of the commercial’s air time.

►    Marine Corps Public Affairs: Another area of support for minority officer procurement in which the Marine Corps lags behind other services is public affairs. In April 1990, Colonel Charles Bolden, Jr., the Marine Corps’ only black astronaut, was the mission commander for the Columbia shuttle flight. Yet his story never appeared in Marine Corps Gazette, Marine magazine. Leatherneck, or any national print organization, with the exception of Ebony Man, which ran a feature on Colonel Bolden on its own volition.

Several officer selection officers throughout the nation have had Colonel Bolden come to their areas to give presentations to college students. He has been received most enthusiastically by both minority and majority college students throughout the nation. Colonel Bolden is an excellent role model who transcends the barriers of race. Yet the Marine Corps squandered the opportunity for national exposure by ignoring the positive media attention an officer of Colonel Bolden’s character undoubtedly would have received.

►    The Minority Community’s Perceptions: Is the Marine Corps’ poor reputation within the minority community justified? In several respects, yes, it is. The Marine Corps was the last service to desegregate, and since then it has done the least to attract minorities to its officer ranks. During the early part of the Vietnam War, blacks suffered a disproportionate casualty rate. Only later, after the Selective Service changed its rules and made it more difficult for college students to obtain a deferment, did the proportion of casualties even out and white males bear their share of the fighting. Of course, once white college students started to die, the antiwar movement kicked in on campus.

We must also realize that the parents of today’s black college youth bore the brunt of the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. These parents, who couldn’t buy even a tuna sandwich at a lunch counter in much of the United States because of segregation, now are sending their sons and daughters to college. For many of these families, their children are first-generation college students. Is it any wonder that these parents are hesitant to encourage their children to join the military and risk getting them killed? The Marine Corps bears the brunt of this stigma, as we are seen as the “killer elite” of the United States, every

54

Marine is seen as a trigger puller, and we generally are regarded as “cannon fodder.”

The Army, on the other hand, has nowhere near the same negative reputation, because it was recruiting the General Powells and General Wallers more than 20 years ago. In fact, the Army was producing black officers on a large scale during World War II and even recruited a black squadron of fighter pilots (segregation notwithstanding) who were entrusted with flying the leading edge of American technology (the P-51 Mustang) into combat. The Marine Corps didn’t have a black pilot until 1951.

Call to Duty

I

In spite of all this, thousands of minorities have looked to the Marine Corps to become officers. Do they join the military just for a job? If that is the case, is their loyalty and patriotism suspect? Let’s put these questions to rest once and for all. Since 1983, the Marine Corps has accessed more than 14,000 minority officers who had to meet the exacting mental and physical requirements of our commissioning programs. Undoubtedly, a number of these officers could have pursued easier and more lucrative positions with civilian firms. Yet they volunteered to be officers of Marines. Why?

In 1989, a letter was sent by the Officer Procurement Branch of the Marine Corps to every active-duty black and Hispanic Marine officer, asking them to assist in minority officer recruiting. The response was overwhelming- Included in the letter was a questionnaire that, among other queries, asked what the overriding reason was for joining the Marine Corps. More than 87% of these officers said patriotism or love of country. The rest responded either that they wanted to be part of the world’s elite fighting force or (interestingly enough) that they felt there were not enough minority officers in the Corps and that they wanted to become role models for the enlisted men.

Conclusion

The Marine Corps enters into battle as the elite fighting force of a country that it swears to defend to the death- An ethnically diverse United States must be defended by a Marine Corps that is manned and led by a representative officer corps.

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Toward this end, the Marine Corps must manage the Hispanic officer accession goals on a yearly basis, so that by the year 2015, a representative Hispanic officer pop' ulation will be in place. Next, we must recognize that the rate at which the Marine Corps has been accessing black officers since 1983 is satisfactory within the limits of the commissioning programs available. Therefore, ws need to revise the black officer accession goal down to * rate that reflects the eligible college population.

We need to tap into the pool of minority talent at th® Naval Academy. The Marine leadership at the Academ)' should actively seek out these midshipmen and educate them about the Marine Corps. Presenting a series of leC' tures or forums featuring distinguished minority Naval Academy graduates is a good place to start. We have bee¹¹ losing too many qualified officers to the Navy.

We need to attract the highest quality candidates poS'

Proceedings / April

sible. Toward this goal, we must develop a two-year, civilian-source officer accession scholarship program similar to the Navy’s. The program should be flexible, to allow all races and ethnicities to apply, thereby giving the Commandant of the Marine Corps an option to change the focus of the program to meet the changing needs of the Corps. This program also would provide our officer selection officers with a competitive tool to match the other services.

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We should locate Officer Selection Stations according to market requirements and the propensity of a particular region to enlist. Specifically, establish a station in the Southeastern United States (Miami), and additional stations in the Southwest and California. We can afford to close stations in other geographical areas that cannot meet the demands of current priorities, e.g., the Northeast and the northern Midwest. In addition, Hispanic Marines should be assigned to some of these stations.

Officer selection officers must take the initiative and develop relationships with minority community groups, churches, counselors, and other centers of influence.

The Corps should immediately assign one Hispanic and two black company-grade officers to Officer Candidate School, to occupy leadership billets—and continue to do so as a matter of policy.

Instead of concentrating our advertising efforts toward the majority market, we should focus our strategy toward the minority market, using universal ideals that at

tract all Americans. Our public affairs division should become more active in feeding the successes and accomplishments of our minority officers to the media.

Finally, we must not lower our minimum academic requirements or any other standard. Our enlisted Marines demand the best; we cannot afford to “race-norm” the application process for our officers.

The means to attract high-quality minority candidates to the Marine Corps for commissioned service are not complicated. What is required is fresh thinking and the willingness to take action.

'MCO 5354.2C Marine Corps FY91 Through FY 95 Affirmative Action Plan. ²A11 SAT figures are from The College Board.

³ A Japanese-American received racist treatment from the staff, intentional or not, while a candidate at Officer Candidate School. After being dismissed at the end of the ninth week, Mr. Yamashita returned home to Hawaii and brought suit against the Marine Corps, charging discrimination and demanding an immediate commission and back pay. The Marine Corps has admitted that he received “insensitive treatment” from the staff, has apologized, and is addressing Yamashita’s demands.

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Major Seiwell, an infantry officer, is a student at the College Interar- mee de Defense, France’s Joint War College, at the Ecole Militaire, Paris. He has served with the 8th Marine Regiment as platoon commander, company executive officer, S-3 A, and company commander. Major Seiwell has conducted two tours in officer procurement: as an Officer Selection Officer, Recruiting Station Indianapolis, and as Head, Minority Officer Procurement, and Head, Officer Recruiter Training, at Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps.