M14 Forum

anagram-sam · August 3rd, 2011, 06:30 AM

SAN DIEGO (AP) - The top leader of the Marine Corps wants the first black Marines to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor.

Commandant Gen. James Amos told hundreds of Marine Corps officers at the National Naval Officers Association meeting in San Diego on Tuesday that it is time for Congress to honor the group known as the Montford Point Marines.

About 20,000 black Marines trained at Montford Point in North Carolina in the 1940s after President Franklin D. Roosevelt integrated the Marine Corps.

Amos says his goal is to cement their role in the Marine Corps' 235-year history.

His efforts are part of a broader goal in diversifying the military's smallest branch. Amos says only 5 percent of officers are black and that needs to increase.

kmcintosh78 · August 3rd, 2011, 06:37 AM

SO, did they perform any action other then being the first black Marines?

GARRARD · August 3rd, 2011, 06:48 AM

Quote:

The top leader of the Marine Corps said Tuesday that he wants the first black members of the Marines to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal ...

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news...arines-080211/

TheTinMan · August 3rd, 2011, 07:18 AM

NOT "Medal of Honor". "Congressional Gold Medal".

I'm fine with honoring the first black Marines. However, officer selection needs to be gender and race blind. Period.

Navy Horn 16 · August 3rd, 2011, 07:31 AM

This is exactly the wrong headed political thinking that needs to be cut out of the military like cancer.

Have a reunion for the guys, throw a party, name a base after them. The Medal of Honor? Just because they were black and joined the Marines? Stupid.

I can tell you from personal experience that this "diversity" shit is going to destroy the military. It doesn't have anything to do with how anyone of any race performs when they are in the military, and race relations for people in uniform are the best of any workplace in the world. However, the way the civilian leadership and upper military brass (with their nose up the ass of those civilian leaders) is "managing diversity" is killing morale and driving some of our best officers from the ranks.

When you have a president who is talking about his desires to rule without congress, you have to be concerned. When that same president gets a large portion of his support from one racial demographic, and he is determined to pack the military officer corps with people from that demographic, the hair on the back of your neck needs to stand up.

A "diverse" officer corps sounds like something that we should all want. If the standards were the same for everyone coming in, and the most qualified cantidates get the slots in ROTC, the service academies, and OCS and we end up with a diverse group..WONDERFUL!!! That's not what we are doing. We are lowering the bar for officer applicants if they have dark skin, and they are being kept in officer programs and commissioned even after they have proven to lack the merit. Why? "Diversity"? What about "Warheads on foreheads."?

When you hear that the civilians want more "diverse" military, you need to ask them what the hell is wrong with the military we have now? How is lowering the standards for the leadership going to improve the performance of the operational units? You also need to consider the political motives of that policy.

adrbe · August 3rd, 2011, 07:43 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...dal_recipients

This award seems kind of hollow to me -- a tool for publicity. Frank Sinatra and Jackie Robinson both received the award -- before Martin Luther King, Jr. Sigh.

philip26p · August 3rd, 2011, 07:47 AM

I agree with what you say but will take it one step further, college applications should be race and gender neutral only selecting the best. Job applications should be as well with exceptions, such as models, if you need a female model you aren’t going to hire a male.

Our system has gotten so messed up from bad policies that the best don’t necessarily get the job/promotion or whatever for the purposes of “discrimination” but I say you are discriminating against the best and making a weaker whatever product you have and set a bad precedence. In America it use to be the best of the best was all that was wanted now too many places go with mediocre to promote PC.

2336USMC · August 3rd, 2011, 12:00 PM

......

TheTinMan · August 3rd, 2011, 12:38 PM

Don't forget that our "post racial" President has ordered NASA to make enhancing the self-esteem of Muslims a top priority. I'm so confused!

As the Wicked Witch of the West once said "What a world! What a world!"

CE1371 · August 3rd, 2011, 12:49 PM

Airwing Amos can kiss my ass. It's stuff like this ("Need more of -blank- race") that contributes to my decision to get out of the Corps and never come back.

willriskit · August 3rd, 2011, 02:12 PM

Observing the systematic destruction of the Marine Corps is nauseating in the extreme. In their quest to create their idea of a worker's Utopia, the political left has been undermining the effectiveness of our military for decades and there is apparently no shortage of dupes within our ranks who will sell out their own service in order to advance their careers. In my humble opinion, anyone seeking to destroy the greatest military organization in history should be charged with treason and tried like any other enemy of the United States. When will we ever wake up?

The old timers were still talking about it when I was stationed at MCAF on the other side of New River, but colored boot camp at Montford Point closed in 1952 and division recon eventually moved into the facility. Montford Point alumni generally went into supply MOS's. We all went through the same boot camps by 1961 and I believe it was a better system.

Semper Fi and may God save our Corps!

lefty o · August 3rd, 2011, 02:30 PM

im about fed up with all this racist crap from our gvmnt! you honor a man for his actions, not his skin color!

willriskit · August 3rd, 2011, 03:30 PM

Next, I expect to hear that Purple Hearts are being awarded to perverts with hemorrhoids which they claim were the result of "enemy action" in the barracks after taps.

davecampperry · August 3rd, 2011, 05:30 PM

Our Range NCO at Albany, GA in 1970 would say, "Sis Far." which was supposedly (at least we thought) "Cease Fire" in his (E7) pidgin English. The Range Officer (O3) would then instruct us to, "Insutt jawja guy intew ya chain buh." I almost got an article 15 for questioning this insult. It was explained to me, in a hateful manner, that he was 'plainly' saying, "Insert a charger guide into your chamber." and it still was gibberish. We always put a (charger) clip into the guide to keep the bolt from slamming shut. When I was RIFd, the (black) E6, retention NCO, added up four years of 4.0 pro/con marks, divided by some Ebonics integer, and came up with 1.8, and told me I was 'uneligible' to re-enlist. (I was in WOCS at the time). And a black MP once said to me, "Eyes gwine sigh taychew." Am I 'prejudiced'? Against people, No. Against PC, Yes!

jdr749 · August 3rd, 2011, 10:13 PM

The way it's going, one day when someone ask "where are the Carriers" the answer will be, "Carriers, what Carriers"? I'm begining to think that the best days of our Military are starting to pass us by. An openly gay military is the end of our military as we knew it!