Chapter Twelve
Conclusion
The Armed Forces have long been national leaders in securing advancement opportunities for men and women of different racial/ethnic backgrounds. This report describes how they can sustain that role in the future by institutionalizing a broad definition of diversity that includes both demographic representation and dimensions of diversity to develop military leaders who reflect the troops they lead and embody the qualifications the Services need to maintain readiness and perform their missions. The Commission first recommends that all members of the Armed Forces embrace an understanding of diversity that goes beyond the traditional focus on eliminating discrimination against members of certain demographic groups and moves toward valuing all kinds of human differences for their contributions to military capability and readiness. Such a concept needs to become a core value that informs the way servicemembers interact with one another and helps motivate the way the organization works. Effectively leading diverse groups—i.e., diversity leadership—requires recognizing the differences among members of a group as assets that have the potential to improve performance, neutralizing the tensions that can arise within a diverse working group, and leveraging diversity in support of the mission. Top leaders need to make a personal and visible commitment to diversity for these needed changes to take hold; to sustain change, the Commission recommends that Congress revise Title 10 to require the Secretary of Defense to report annually on the progress of DoD’s diversity efforts. In its second set of recommendations, the Commission urges the Services to recognize the barriers that may have prevented racial/ethnic minorities and women from advancing through the stages of their careers to positions of leadership. Beginning with the pool of eligible recruits, racial/ethnic minorities are at an increasing disadvantage in terms of meeting military eligibility requirements. The Commission recommends that all stakeholders work together to improve the educational and physical readiness of American youth. It provides recommendations for improving current recruiting practices toward underrepresented demographic groups. The Commission also recommends the removal of existing institutional barriers relating to assignments—both the initial career field assignment and subsequent assignments to key positions. An important step in this direction is to remove the restrictions that prevent women from engaging in direct ground combat. Other recommendations address the need to educate and mentor all servicemembers about the promotion process, especially early in their careers. Finally, the Commission offers recommendations to ensure continual progress toward inclusion by the Chief Diversity Officer, who works with the Services and OSD to achieve effective diversity management by developing policy goals for the Services to
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