WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US military’s lack of cultural, linguistic and ideological diversity has led to avoidable tragedies during American combat missions across the globe, former US Marine captain and State Department official Matthew Hoh told Sputnik.
“A lack of diversity, particularly for the [US] military, as they conduct operations in so many countries and cultures around the world leads to mistakes, misunderstandings and tragedies that could have been avoided with greater diversity of thought, culture, background, language,” Hoh told Sputnik on Monday.
Pentagon officials have recently expressed concerns about the lack of diversity in the military, especially within elite fighting units, where leadership positions are currently dominated by white officers.
“Whites are recruited with an emphasis on patriotism, fighting and following in ancestors’ footsteps,” Hoh claimed.
Hoh said he doubts the current strategy is in the US military manual, but from his own experience it reflects the de facto process.
“The breakdown of races in military specialties, plus my own anecdotal knowledge, leads me to believe that this is the strategy that is utilized in recruitment, whether or not it is a conscious one,” Hoh added.
US troops will always be seen as occupiers in the eyes of the indigenous population in countries the US military operates, he conceded, but cultural awareness will still help improve the odds of success.
Only about 2 percent of African-Americans are part of the 2,242 member elite Navy SEAL force. Meanwhile, of 1,494 Army Green Berets 85 percent are white, while 4.5 percent are African-American.
US military officials have said the Army and the Navy have increased outreach efforts to minority communities to address the disparity.
