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Diversity is critical for the National Guard to compete in today's global environment, the chief
of the National Guard Bureau said today.
"Our nation needs the most diverse workforce it can have to be the most efficient and effective ...
that it can be," Gen. Craig McKinley told the Military Leadership Diversity Commission that met
here in Crystal City.
"It's incumbent upon our [National Guard Bureau] team to create the atmosphere, to create the
resources, to create the vision to work with the adjutants general ... to make sure that our
diversity programs are in line with the Department of Defense instructions and regulations,"
McKinley said.
Under the provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009, Congress
established the Department of Defense Military Leadership Diversity Commission, according to the
commission's Web site at http://mldc.whs.mil.
The commission will review issues regarding diversity in the military services and evaluate
policies that provide opportunities for the promotion and advancement of minority members of
the armed forces, including minority members who are senior officers.
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Click To View High-Resolution Photo
Diversity is critical to the success of the National Guard, Gen. Craig McKinley,
the chief of the National Guard Bureau, told the Military Leadership Diversity
Commission meeting in Arlington, Va., on Oct. 21, 2009. (U.S. Army photo by
Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill)
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"This is a subject that never can be declared victory upon," McKinley said. "It is a journey
that must be continually applied to leadership across the services."
The Military Leadership Diversity Commission must submit a report to Congress and the president.
The report will include the findings and conclusions of the commission; the recommendations of the
commission for improving diversity within the armed forces; and other information and recommendations
considered appropriate by the commission.
The commission meets at a time when McKinley said some of the focus on diversity may have faded
because of the operations tempo since the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
Diversity has become a more subtle and sophisticated issue than merely counting numbers by gender
and race. "It's about the art - ot the science - of dealing with individuals," McKinley said.
For example, operations in Afghanistan and Iraq highlight a need for troops to have a high level
of cultural awareness.
"This whole subject of diversity takes on whole new meaning," McKinley said. "How we train, organize
and equip our forces requires new thinking, bold approaches, bold looks so that we can be
competitive in today's marketplace."
The National Guard faces a unique challenge when it comes to measuring diversity and setting
standards.
"The National Guard is a decentralized organization," McKinley said. "Each state, each territory
and the District [of Columbia] have different goals, aspirations and vision for how diversity is
applied in each state."
He also said he is concerned that trends in the way the National Guard is geographically structured
may have caused unwonted demographic changes.
"As I look around the country and I see the pockets that we recruit from, I'm a little nervous
that in many of our major cities, that many of our United States Army National Guard armories have
been displaced from the inner city, not allowing us therefore to recruit that demographic that we
did in the 40s, the 50s, the 60s and the 70s," McKinley said. "We've moved out into the more rural
areas of our states, thereby creating less of an advantage for inner city youth to take advantage
of the military experience."
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