By STARRS Vice Chairman Maj Gen Joe Arbuckle, USA ret
The Department of Defense (DoD) leadership claims that “diversity is our strength” as applied to identity groups based on race, birth sex, ethnicity, gender identity, etc.
Diversity of “thought” is not included in this DEI based slogan.
STARRS has been challenging this DoD slogan by saying Diversity is not our Strength, “Unity is our Strength”, as unity is essential to produce the teamwork critical for warfighting.
In the article, “Which Makes Better Soldiers, DEI or Assimilation” a fundamental point was made that we have not been emphasizing assimilation in our counters to the false DoD narrative of DEI.
That point is “Assimilation” is the key ingredient necessary to achieve “Unity”.
STARRS has been championing the time and battle-tested tenants of “equal opportunity” and “meritocracy” as the underpinnings to achieving a unified and cohesive fighting force.
What is missing from this position that was understood by implication, but not stated, is that equal opportunity and meritocracy alone are not enough.
A third ingredient in this equation needed to glue equal opportunity and meritocracy together is assimilation.
Example: consider a sports coach who announces next week there will be tryouts for the team. Everyone is welcome to try out during the drills and the best players will be selected for the team.
In this example, the coach has provided equal opportunity for all to demonstrate their skills and has used meritocracy to pick the best players.
But these two important ingredients do not make a team.
The players coming from diverse backgrounds of race, ethnicity, socio-economic class, etc., must be assimilated into a team focused on a common mission which is to win games.
Assimilation does not happen by accident, it requires leadership to motivate the players around a common purpose and set of values that put the team first, and individuals second, with everyone committed to the mission—to win.
Point: Leadership and assimilation are joined at the hip. Assimilation cannot happen without effective leadership.
The sports example is even more relevant to our military where the “One Team, One Fight” battle motto demands total dedication to the mission; loyalty to the team not self; and total trust and confidence in each other for their very lives.
The “Warrior Ethos” further amplifies this battle motto as it says: “I will always place the mission first; I will never quit; I will never accept defeat; I will never leave a fallen comrade.”
Applying equal opportunity and meritocracy to select the best qualified service members in various personnel actions to include being in leadership positions is essential.
Equally essential is applying effective leadership to mold all service members into an effective and cohesive fighting force with the common mission to win our Nation’s wars.
We must emphasize the critical importance of having the best qualified leaders in our military who are fully capable of assimilating our diverse service members into effective fighting teams at all levels in order to accomplish the mission while concurrently taking care of our people.
The skin color of our leaders, nor any other identity characteristic does not matter, what matters is their professional competence and ability to effectively lead and motivate our troops.
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