For Essays Guru M5D2 Responses

Brandon,

In the very recent past, the military was not very welcoming to gay male Soldiers or lesbian women Soldiers. There were several instances that happened on Fort Hood, Texas and Fort Campbell, Kentucky in where gay male Soldiers were "outed" by their peers and they were ridiculed and bullied to the point that they committed suicide to escape the constant badgering. When I joined the military some 20 years ago, they was a policy in place called "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" that gay Soldiers and Lesbians had to basically hide and mask their sexual preference at work and in front of their superiors and co workers. This was extremely unfair to the LGBT community. But since then the military has righted their wrongs and did away with that policy and discrimination toward them. All discrimination is not erased but they are moving in the right direction.

One of the beautiful things about the military is that anyone, male or female, white, black, hispanic, pacific islander, native american, oriental,  or other can go through the same training and become supervisors and be in leadership positions.

Lundquist's research suggests that the military has a higher satisfaction in the work place with minorities because there is fair and equal treatment. Which is true with the plethora of EO classes and monthly and quarterly training the military workplace is void of any sexual harrassment or discrimination of race or gender as compared to a civilian workplace. The military model should be used as a staple for all work agencies should employ.

Jeff,

The US Military was not always a positive role model to follow when it came to gender and race equality.  The Military was known for segregating blacks and females all of the way up through the Vietnam War.  Blacks were not even allowed to serve in white organizations up until that time.  They were said to be inferior, weak minded, and physically not as capable as white Soldiers.  It was also said that the Military did not want black people to serve because they would be a menace to society if they were to return home from combat (Brown, 1983).

Women were not treated as badly as blacks but they still did not get the justice they deserved, nor receive the respect due to them.  Women were put into discriminatory jobs, such as nursing or administration; females were actually separated by what was known as the Women’s Army Corp (WAC).  The Military didn’t start seeing significant equality changes until near the end of the Vietnam War, when the US got rid of the draft and went to an all-volunteer service. This change saw the black and white integration of combat units, as well as the dissolving of the WAC.  This is when the Military truly began to show a positive contribution in bridging the race and gender equality gap.  Keep in mind, this did not remotely fix all of our problems but it was a step in the right direction.

Fast forward four decades and you will see that significant progress has been made to treat all Service members with the same fairness.  Leaps and bounds have been made through programs such as equal opportunity, sexual harassment, and sexual assault, and ensuring that we all enforce them(Gelb, 2003).  History shows that early attrition rates, from the Military, were high with females, and other minorities.  Lunquist explains that it is necessary for EEO programs to be present in the work place, to ensure that everyone, regardless of race or gender, receive the same personal and professional opportunities.  These programs have greatly contributed to race and gender equality (Lunquist, 2008).

The last ten years have definitely shown the most progression towards bringing equality to women and minorities in the Military; The Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy was repealed, combat arms jobs were open to females, Ranger school was open to females, and minorities serve with equal distinction.  Most recently, Special Operations jobs are now opened to all personnel who can meet the tough standards.  We still have a ways to go but good progress is being made, and in a more rapid fashion than decades before.