Wow, I guess just us uninformed cadets are color blind these days.
Read this paper
LINK
(To summarize; test scores are barriers to those who do not do well on the test. Change the currently color blind system to produce the desired results.)
Official US Government / Congressional Panel Recommendation
(emphasis added)
Structural and Perceptual Barriers Can Affect Choices of Career Fields
Scores on standardized tests, such as the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), can affect the demographic diversity of certain career fields, as there are average differences across demographic groups in meeting certain qualifications for entry into certain career fields.
For example, the well-documented difference in average black and white scores on standardized aptitude tests means that, on average, fewer black service members than white service members can enter career fields requiring high scores on standardized aptitude tests.
Standardized testing, considered a structural barrier because it is rooted in basic expectations for military service, is one kind of obstacle affecting demographic diversity across career fields. Structural barriers have been described as ―prerequisites or requirements that exclude minorities [and women] to a relatively greater extent than non-Hispanic whites [and men]‖ and are ―inherent in the policies and procedures of the institution‖ (Kirby, Harrell, & Sloan, 2000, p. 525). An example of a structural barrier is the Department of Defense (DoD) policy that restricts women from entering certain career fields that involve direct ground combat (Harrell & Miller, 1997; Segal & Segal, 2004).
Another example is the average differences between race/ethnicity groups in scores on standardized tests that are used to assign officers to career fields or initial tours.
Yet, service members, particularly officers, also have some ability to choose which career fields they enter. These choices can be affected by perceptual barriers, which are ―perceptions, attitudes, or beliefs that lead minorities [and women] to think they cannot or should not pursue… a job or career option‖ (Kirby et al., 2000, p. 525). For example, a perception of barriers may arise if Hispanic recruits fail to identify with non-Hispanic white members of those tactical career fields that are traditionally aligned with the core mission of the Services and provide the most opportunities for high-potential leaders. A Hispanic recruit may also feel a lack of community support both inside and outside the military for such a choice, or they may perceive a lack of role models and mentorship to help them develop their careers in this direction. Perceptual barriers, while perhaps less immediately recognizable through data and analysis than structural barriers, can effectually bar servicemembers from imagining themselves entering those career fields or specialties that can enhance their leadership opportunities.
While it is important to note that perceptual and structural barriers are not defined as being ―inherently positive or negative,‖ they do ―reflect factors that disproportionately affect minority [and female] groups‖ (IP #15, Military occupations and implications for racial/ethnic and
gender diversity: Enlisted force, Military Leadership Diversity Commission, 2010b, p. 3).
Career field preferences have been found to break along race and ethnicity lines, with more white men choosing to enter ―tactical career fields (e.g., infantry in Army) and specialties (e.g., SEALs in the Navy) than minority men (Kirby et al., 2000; Lim, Marquis, Hall, Schulker, & Zhuo, 2009).
It is thus IMPERATIVE to identify both types of barriers and to reevaluate the policy supporting them when necessary.