As Long As It Fits Under A Helmet…
By Mitch Berg
Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:
The traditional High and Tight would solve this problem, if we weren’t trying so hard to be stylish and ethnic that we can’t figure out how to be a soldier.
I recommend every non-minority officer above Captain be fired and we pay millions of dollars in reparations to the women whose feelings were hurt.
Joe Doakes
Perhaps a better answer: since the military’s most elite troops – “Delta” and “Seal Team Six” (neither unit has actually gone by either name in decades) wear their hair long and even wear beards, clearly the answer is to turn the entire Army and Navy into Deltas and Seals.
Then everyone will be happy.
April 7th, 2014 at 7:08 am
They already went halfway towards this idea with berets for the entire Army. Previously, berets (tan or airborne, black for Rangers and green for Special Forces) were only for those who had earned them. Now every trainee at basic training gets one.
April 7th, 2014 at 7:42 am
I thought about that – but I figured someone would fill that one in for me.
April 7th, 2014 at 11:11 am
Same principle seems to be working for AP (advanced placement) classes in high school.
Why is everything that has a different effect on one group or another often called discriminatory or biased? At least to me, both words require a conscious effort and choice to inhibit something. The game of basketball doesn’t discriminate against those of short stature. By it’s nature, those who are tall just have a natural advantage.
I know little about Black people’s hair, but I’m sure there are some hair styles that can and cannot work with it given its physical nature. Perhaps buzz-cuts for all would be the great equalizer.
April 7th, 2014 at 12:02 pm
I agree with the suggestion of making all soldiers like the Green Berets. Make all combat soldiers wear a beard. Problem solved.
Seriously, the idea that the military, of all places, can ignore the unique nature of combat just boggles the mind. One would figure that one ought to simply have a MMA-style match pitting women’s champions against ordinary men to make the point.
April 7th, 2014 at 12:16 pm
“Why is everything that has a different effect on one group or another often called discriminatory or biased? At least to me, both words require a conscious effort and choice to inhibit something.”
Disparate impact theory. It’s poison. The supremes may finally take this up: http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielfisher/2013/06/17/supreme-court-takes-up-challenge-to-disparate-impact-discrimination-theory/
It is so nasty that its proponents — liberals — have tried very hard to keep it a policy within state and federal agencies and away from judicial review. The problem with “disparate impact” policies is that you have to find someone guilty of racism to get something from them or to punish them, but the accusation cannot be proved disproved. Suppose, for example, you owned a house and had rented it to twelve people at different times, and none of them were minorities. You could be accused of disparate impact racism, and there is no way you could show that you were innocent.
April 7th, 2014 at 4:41 pm
Disparate impact is also one of those things where if you look at 20 sets of data and a p value of .05, you WILL find some disparate impact, even if you’re looking at the same data with no fingers on the scale.
Like Disraeli said, “Lies, damned lies, and statistics.” And I do ’em for a living. :^) Seriously, it’s one of those things where it takes extremely honest people to ferret out the BS, and unfortunately, you won’t find too many of them in politics or the media.
April 7th, 2014 at 4:42 pm
Admittedly, my short stint in the Army ROTC doesn’t give much experience here but the Master Sargent in our unit explained that the reason each of us had to have a ‘scrotum head’ was to remind us that we were all the same – equally worthless individuals. Cohesion around a haircut seemed silly at the time but it was about something much larger. Gunnery Sargent Hartman has the best take…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2M4ilVaAmI