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2019 census figures are 76% (including Hispanic and Latino). U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: United StatesWell if we just want to talk African Americans 100% white - 13% AA = 87% so the number is slightly off. And yes we haven't included other minorities.
I know for a fact that at the USAFA and at ROTC programs, if you have a PPL you can get into the IFT program easier
But that is what they want to change, to fix the "86% problem.".
Your original statement:Well if we just want to talk African Americans 100% white - 13% AA = 87% so the number is slightly off. And yes we haven't included other minorities.
This says 86% of USAF pilots are white, you seem to conclude that the remaining 14% must be African American. I'm not saying they are not, but that means that there are only African American and white USAF pilots. I take this statement to mean 86% of USAF pilots are white, therefore 14% must be non-white.Maybe this disparity exists because so-called minorities don't have an interest in becoming USAF pilots? If you really want to break this down, 13% of the US population is African American. 86% of USAF pilot are white. Do the math!
Bottom line - if we did everything to level the playing field we're never going to see much change from that 86%.
If you look a few lines down from the 76% line you will find this:2019 census figures are 76% (including Hispanic and Latino). U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: United States
If you look a few lines down from the 76% line you will find this:
White alone, not Hispanic or Latino - 60%
So does the USAF 86% number of white pilots include Hispanics and Latinos? If not, then the disparity with the general population is even greater.
More important, whether we are able to affect that 86% number or not, what are we going to do to the quality of the aircrew when we deliberately exclude at least some of the best people?
In the late 80's and the 1990's Air Force Space Command took over USAF space launch activity and asserted that sicne they were an Operational Command they should do things like an Operational Command and discouraged the traditional engineering approach. They reason was simple; they had lost of pilots who no longer had cockpits and missile crewmen who no longer had silos. In 1998-99 three out of four Titan IV missions at Cape Canaveral failed; every single failure was found to be preventable. A former CSAF was brought in to study the situation and summed things up simply, "We used to be able to do this mission but now we no longer can. You put the wrong people in charge. Fire the ones you have in there and go rehire the ones you fired."
If they think that percentages of races are a problem, over and above quality of the force, we once again have the wrong people in charge.
There is plenty of research on how more diversity relates to better performing teams - Diversity in the Age of Terror: How Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the U.S. Intelligence Community Enhances National Security (famu.edu)Agree 100%, but sometimes (as you know) these directives are instituted by politicians or civilian civil servants who are clueless.
There is plenty of research on how more diversity relates to better performing teams - Diversity in the Age of Terror: How Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the U.S. Intelligence Community Enhances National Security (famu.edu)
But, I fail to see how a degree makes you a better pilot. If the Air Force require you to have a degree for a post, then as the employer, they need to pay for it.
I know a number of people who hold degrees and can't set the clock on their car's radio.
In the US Navy when you have an enlistee become an officer, they are called "a Maverick." (Ironically!)
My PPL-SEL was only for my self-aggrandizement and knowledge I could in fact Do It!