Military trying to integrate mostly white special forces

By Ron Kampeas

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Special forces have always prided themselves on how hard it is to become a member. For some black SEALs, Rangers and Green Berets, staying is even tougher than getting in.

With special forces having become the face of the U.S. military in the Afghan war, leaders are sensitive to the fact that those faces are overwhelmingly white, and they are recruiting in minority neighborhoods.

The problem, some say, is the attitudes black recruits face once inside.

"It was like being the only black in a Harley Davidson gang, as out of place as you can be," said retired Lt. Jake Zweig of his short, tumultuous stay in the Navy SEALs. "It was horrendous."

The SEALs have acknowledged "pockets of racial insensitivity" and have appointed a minority recruitment chief with authority to veto bigoted candidates.

The crux, all agree, is the elitism that defines the "special" in special forces.

"SEALs are very sensitive about lowering standards and letting in people who are not up to the standards of what a special forces warrior should be," said Lt. Cmdr. Darryn James, a spokesman for Navy Special Warfare.

Such talk riles Army Brig. Gen. Remo Butler, a Ranger who is now the highest-ranking black soldier in special forces.

"That’s code for ‘You’re not quite as smart, you’re here because you’re getting a break somewhere,’ " said Butler, who heads Special Operations Command-South in Puerto Rico.

The armed services are often held out as standard-bearers for integration. Blacks — 13 percent of the U.S. population — make up 20 percent of the military. But they are less than 4 percent of special forces.

Army and Navy special forces recruiters are working in minority neighborhoods with an eye toward racial integration.

The Tampa, Fla.-based command for all military special operations is publishing recruiting pamphlets that for the first time prominently feature minorities. It also is sending "motivator" teams that include black and Hispanic special forces success stories into minority neighborhoods.

Navy special warfare, the whitest of special ops branches — just 2.5 percent of SEALs are black — has appointed a black civilian known for diversifying medical schools to head minority recruitment.

Special forces don’t sign up civilians themselves. Instead, they are encouraging minorities to join the military with the goal of working their way into the elite ranks.

Special forces are on display more than ever in the Afghan war, and so is their nearly all-white makeup. Integration comes slowly. One recent tack has been to accept a candidate conditionally even if he fails one requirement, as long as he is thought capable of meeting the standard with more training.

That applies especially to swimming, where some blacks fare poorly. SEALs candidates must swim 500 yards in 12 1/2minutes.

"I wouldn’t want to be next to a guy who’s ‘not sure’ he knows how to swim across a flowing jungle river," said retired Army Maj. Andy Messing, who is white.

Messing says any difference — being black, Hispanic, Jewish or even overtly religious — exacerbates existing tensions in the grinding training regimen for special forces.

The latest recruitment efforts have been guided by a 1999 Rand Institute study, commissioned by Congress, that found that most black troops worry they will come across racism in the special forces. The report did not address whether those concerns are justified.

The problem, according to retired SEALs Capt. Everett Greene, is keeping blacks once they are in. "The deck is somewhat stacked against them."

Greene retired in 2000 after a long public battle to get a rear admiral promotion, which he says was thwarted by racism. The Navy says Greene was denied his promotion because of a sexual harassment charge, even though he was exonerated in a court martial.

Greene became the first commissioned black SEAL officer in 1970. Thirty years later, when he retired, there were just nine others, and only one other captain.

Jake Zweig initially rebuffed admonishments from friends that he would face racism.

"I knew you take a lot of extra punishment, but that was just normal for SEALs, I thought," he said.

But soon there were nudges of harassment, some subtle, others less so, Zweig said. His portable radio mysteriously switched stations from hip-hop to country whenever he looked away. He endured "gangstah" gibes from instructors. An officer shouted "Stop thief!" at a black sailor jogging.

When he suggested more aggressive recruitment among minority sailors, Zweig said an officer retorted sharply: "What do you want us to do, lower the standards, so more of y’all can make it in?"

Zweig filed a complaint.

A Navy investigator confirmed Zweig’s account of the meeting but concluded the remark was a misunderstanding and "not racial in nature."

Rear Adm. Eric Olson, the top SEAL, has hired Warren Lockette, a black geneticist who led integration efforts at two Midwestern medical schools, to help bring more blacks into SEALs.

Lockette, who has authority to reject candidates who might be prejudiced, says focusing on recruiting blacks alone will not do the job — SEALs recruiters need to consider the attitudes of white applicants as well.