Source: http://www.ohio.com/news/break_news/117541673.html
The Army’s business is national defense and winning wars; they are not the “feel-good” party.
The Army should be concerned with putting the best people at the top, not meeting some racial or gender quota. The Army has much more important issues to tackle (reducing government waste, improving military conduct home and abroad, enhancing the quality of recruits).
If a white guy and black guy are equally qualified, than give the black guy the job. Otherwise, it’s harmful, immoral even, to sacrifice performance in the name of some seemingly noble pursuit.
It’s easy to champion diversity as a cure-all when you don’t consider all of the consequences, especially the ones that are not immediately apparent.
If the Army (or any organization, for that matter) starts prioritizing diversity over performance, than they are doing all of its stakeholders a great disservice. Reducing the quality of a workforce in the name of diversity cost an organization jobs and money; that money is used by real people to pay for college, homes, retirement plans and other purchases. In the Army, the stakes are even higher.
The Army’s problems are institutional and wouldn’t be changed by promoting more minorities. The incentives for performance need to be examined in order to alter behavior within the ranks.