Military Psychology: What The Effect On Mission Readiness (Research Paper Sample)

Ethnic Integration in the Military
Name
Institution
Abstract
The purpose of the paper is to analyze the military integration of the United States’ Armed Forces. The paper will look at the ethnic integration of the military. Specifically, the research examines how the Unite States succeeded in including the members from different ethnic groups into its military system. Moreover, the paper explores the effect of integration on the readiness of the military. The paper is divided into three sections. Section one is the introduction. Section two is the integration of the racial groups in the military. The part contains an elaborate explanation on the order and factors of integration. The final part is the conclusion. The paper has a separate page that lists the references used here in.
Ethnic Integration in the Military
Introduction
While the aspects of racial prejudice and discrimination was a common perception of the lives of the non-native civilians, throughout the 20th century, the United States’ military incorporated the different racial groups within the system. Before the end of military segregation in the United States’ military system in 1948, non-Americans serving in the military worked in isolated groups or under what was referred to as “quota system.” The groups limited the number of individuals from the extreme ethnic groups including the African-Americans, Filipino, Hispanics, and the Asian-Americans. During wars such as World War I and II, the military had to recruit several blacks and members of other racial groups in the United States. However, when peace regained, the number of the blacks in the military reduced. During the war on the American Revolution, few black soldiers participated in the state and Continental armies and navies. Under the discourse of the segregated military period, ethnic prejudice was not a criminal offense according to most of the senior government and military officials. However, the presence of non-native Americans in the military came as long legacy after the war of revolution in the U.S. Different factors including the need of human power and the military’s junior rank in the U.S government accelerated the pressures of including the blacks in the military. The different racial and ethnic groups played a vital role in the U.S military throughout the Revolutionary War. Therefore, integration of the racial groups in the military is both a strategic imperative and strength to the U.S army. The integration of the ethnic groups in the military today is thus a product of the Revolutionary War.
The Military Integration (MI) Since 1945 to 1954
Military integration is the activity of including or incorporating members from different ethnic groups, gender, age, and color into the military system. The hiring of the ethnic minorities into the military during the 18th and 19th centuries was not out of the desire for diversity. Instead, the need for practical human power and other pressures facilitated the move (Evans, 2003). On August 15 1945, the Second World War ended after the United States emerged victorious over Japan (MacGregor, 2001). During this war, the U.S military incorporated more than nine hundred thousand African-Americans who contributed greatly to the success of the U.S. Following this, Alvan Gillen was appointed to examine the racial policies of the military and establish a guideline for post-war black recruits (MacGregor, 2001). The Board, headed by Mr. Gillen, proposed eighteen recommendations as an attempt to adjust and advance the recruitment and handling of the black warriors.
In 1946, the military, including the navy and the army adopted the integration policies and equal rights for the non-native servicemen (MacGregor, 2001). As an attempt of to reduce the increasing racial war and conflicts the U.S, the government established a Presidential Committee on the Civil Rights under the executive order from President Harry Truman. Although the committee failed to make some recommendations for the army services (Evans, 2003). The main obligation of the committee was to examine the citizens’ civil rights. The commission concluded that there were several limits to equal opportunities and treatment of the minority and ethnic groups within the military. Therefore, the committee proposed a ban on the racially based discrimination and a full inclusion of the blacks in the military. Moreover, the Commission suggested that the proportions and rewarding of the commissions should be by merit but not racial considerations. The president’s decision of establishing the committee catalyzed the process of ethnic integration in the military.
By 1947, the practices and policies within the military services caused a great decrease in the retention and enlistment of the blacks (MacGregor, 2001). Under the leadership of Lt. Gen. Clarence Huebner, a program was developed to train several blacks as soldiers to fight in the Europe. While the Air Force ended the training programs for the segregated soldiers in ALA, a Tuskegee Airfield and commenced the integration programs, Philip Randolph, the Civil Right leader, created a Committee Against Jim Crow within the system (The Integration Timeline, n.d). In October, the Civil Rights’ Committee of the President suggested immense reformations. Among the reforms was the utilization of the military as a tool for social transformation.
When President Harry Truman was campaigning for a re-election in 1948, he issued another order known as the Executive Order 9981. The order was to develop a meaningful desegregation attempts (The Integration Timeline, n.d). The president referred the committee’s recommendations to the Congress. During this time, Forrestal James, the Defense Secretary, assured the blacks of a purposeful but a gradual method of integration. John Rudder obtained a consistent commission as a Marine Corp in 1st of May making him the first African-American to receive such commission (Shaw and Donnelly, 2002). The Selective Service Act was passed by the Congress in October 1948 after the Congress made it a law. However, the Congress did not agree to handle the segregation issue. The president assent the Congress’ bill. However, the President also assent the Executive Order 9981 following the pro-ethnic integration Democratic National Convention (DNC) that nominated the President for another term (MacGregor, 2001). The order was to ensure that the military system treated the black soldiers properly without ethnic discrimination. For the government to conceptualize the effects of military integration, the order directed the establishment of the President’s Committee on Equality Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Forces with Charles Fahy as the chairman. However, the military services ignored the order for sometimes (Glass, 2013). The inquiry of the Fahy’s commission suggested the retention of the status quo claiming that there might be inefficiency issues resulting from unkempt morale within the integrated units. However, the committee’s final report in 1950 concluded that there was minimal negative influence of military integration on the determination and effectivity of the soldiers (The Integration Timeline, n.d).
From 1949 through 1950, the military departments transformed the policies of service concerning the ethnic and minority groups within the system (The Integration Timeline, n.d). The decision was to portray the suggestions by Fahy’s committee and to foreground the rules in the Executive Order by the president of ensuring equal treatment and opportunity for everyone. During this period, there were no Asian-Americans working in segregation. However, the units of the African-Americans were still operating under segregation (Canaday, 2001)
During the Korean War of 1950-1953, the need for workforce increased the process of military integration (Evans, 2003). While there were a lot of pressures for deploying and building up strong forces, the military did not have adequate resources and time to maintain the training in the isolated groups. In the field, the commanders were using the black soldiers as replacements in the positions of the fallen white soldiers (Evans, 2003). Despite these adjustments, the senior commanders were not ready to modify the service policies.
Similarly, the military had to respond the pressures from the political sector to transform the military. There were two intensive investigations on the performance and effectiveness of the mixed units. The Army General conducted the first research while a contracted research agency conducted the other study. The two studies concluded that the military integration did not have negative impacts on the performance of the unit. This was contracting the popular perceptions about the integration process. Also, the studies observed that segregation of the military units was interfering with the performance and effectivity of the soldiers.
Towards the end of 1950, the military had abolished 10% of its ceiling on the hiring of the non-native Americans (Kamarck, 2016). At the start of 1953, there was no segregation in the delegation of the units and the training programs. 1951 marked the announcement of racial integration policies by the Marine Corps (Shaw and Donnelly, 2002). Charles Erwin, the acting secretary of the defense at that time declared the official abolishment of the all-black functional operation units in 1954. Some National and Reserve Guards, however, continued to operate under isolated units until 1960 (Kamarck, 2016).
The Role of Anti-Racial Prejudice Policies and Civil Rights Movement
Although the military had adopted the integrated system by 1954, there was still segregation of the Reserve military units and National Guards (Kamarck, 2016). Also, discrimination was still looming in the system. This made Presi...