Army's War College, makes a practical argument for greater diversity among special operations forces: "U.S. The lack of diversity in special operations forces stems largely from the choices young recruits make when they join, not overt bias, the official said.Ĭopenhaver's paper, written for the U.S. "I would like to see a lot more, but it's something that I monitor very closely and that I feel very strongly about because the force of the future has to be reflective of the country of the future," Carter said.Ĭarter has asked the services to explain the disparities and find ways to address them, according to a senior Defense official with knowledge of the issue who was not authorized to speak publicly and insisted on anonymity. "So we need good people men, women, people of all colors."ĭefense Secretary Ashton Carter speaks regularly about the military's need for greater minority participation and said last month that diversifying the armed forces is a "continuing concern." "SOCOM needs diversity, we need people of color, we need men, we need women to help us solve the problems that we deal with today," Votel said. What he didn't say is that most of them are white. The average enlisted special operator is 29, married with two children and has deployed four to 10 times, Votel told the audience. Votel did address the issue last month at the Aspen Security Conference and stressed the need for diverse commando units, which operate in almost 90 countries. ![]() Joseph Votel, SOCOM's commander, declined to speak to USA TODAY for this story, said Col. SOCOM, based in Tampa, does not track that information on its nearly 70,000 civilian and military personnel, said Kenneth McGraw, a spokesman. The Marines did not produce the actual numbers of their special operations forces, only percentages. USA TODAY had to obtain that data from each service individually, a process that took months. Special Operations Command, which oversees all the services' commandos, declined to provide data on the racial makeup of its forces. ![]() The diversity of special operating forces is closely held information. As the military sheds conventional forces - the Army will pare 40,000 soldiers in the next few years - special operators' ranks continue to be filled as demand for their unique capabilities remains high. SEAL Team 6 famously raided Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan and killed him. Special operations forces, including SEALs and the Army's Green Berets, are often the face of the American military in foreign hot spots where they rescue hostages, raid terrorist camps and train local troops.
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