[Vision2020] Many Pigments, One Purpose

[Tom Hansen]

>From the October 23, 2006 edition of the Army Times -

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Many pigments, one purpose
Soldiers come in an array of packages

By Maj. Jay R. Adams

CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait - I had an epiphany recently in the dining facility.

On the question of diversity, we really still are an "Army of one."

I was in the process of combining PT and breakfast. Trying to carry the
three days of supply that they stack on one plate while deployed is kind of
like entering ESPN's World's Strongest Man Competition. Just prior to muscle
failure, I sat down and had my epiphany. 

The DFAC [dining facility] looked like America. In fact, the DFAC looked
like the U.N. General Assembly - except all of the delegates sported U.S.
Army over their hearts. 

I saw men and women around me who, in the words of that great philosopher
Bill Murray, must have been "kicked out of every decent country in the
world." Black and white. Hispanic. Pacific Islander. Asian. In that dining
facility that morning, they were all green - well, all shades of pixelated
gray. Soldiers. American soldiers. 

I don't know how they ended up in the same place at the same time in the
same uniform with the same mission and the same values. I don't know their
stories. But I know mine.

I suppose I came into the Army as a prisoner of my own experiences - my own
prejudices - just like everyone else.

I grew up in a very homogenous small town. The alleged "great American
melting pot" seemed pretty abstract to me. I found that in the Army, it's
not only a way of life, it's essential for mission success.

The small snapshot of diversity I observed in the DFAC had me reflecting on
my own experiences. 

"I want to win everything," barked my black drill sergeant as he welcomed me
into the Army. "If they give out an award in Alpha Battery for taking out
the trash, we are going to win it. For an American soldier, victory is the
standard, and you will meet my standards."

I vaguely recall a few expletives mixed in for emphasis. Somewhere between
pushing Oklahoma dirt and the final parade field, I bought into his program.
I would have followed that man to the end of the earth. 

In my first company command, my first sergeant was an outstanding black
noncommissioned officer from Mississippi. My standardization instructor
pilot - essentially the instructor pilot's instructor pilot - was a woman
and, as you would expect the SIP to be, the best pilot in the troop. 

This was, of course, prelude to the epiphany.

I grew up as an officer in an aeroscout platoon, an all-male bastion at the
time. About the time I left my flight platoon to be a support platoon
leader, the military opened the scout and attack helicopter world to women. 

When the first sergeant at my first command retired, his replacement was one
of the best NCOs I have worked with, a woman. But to me, she was just first
sergeant. To the soldiers of Outlaw Troop, she was the best first sergeant
in the squadron.

My first sergeant during my second command also was a woman. I thought I had
won the lottery in my first command, but sometimes lightning strikes twice.
She now is the command sergeant major of an aviation battalion in combat. 

My boss from the previous year is a female colonel of Filipino descent who
"might have the strongest file of any transportation officer in the Army."
Those are not my words. Those are the words of a fellow transportation
officer in casual conversation.

My battalion commander is Puerto Rican. My headquarters replaced Brig. Gen.
Rebecca Halstead and 3rd Corps Support Command in Iraq. She has spent the
last year commanding one of the largest organizations in Iraq.

Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, a black infantryman, was so intelligent and
eloquent he was plucked to be the military's spokesperson during the initial
stages of Operation Iraqi Freedom. In the "no good deed goes unpunished"
department, the Army was so impressed that his next assignment was as the
Army's chief of public affairs. I subscribe to his public affairs vision
daily.

I supported hurricane relief operations in Louisiana under Lt. Gen. Russel
Honore, the bureaucracy-busting, cigar-chomping, black hero of hurricanes
Katrina and Rita.

Gen. John Abizaid, the senior military commander in the most turbulent
region of the world, is an Arab-American.

The Army, and a lot of talent, opened a few doors for Colin Powell. 

These are just a few examples of outstanding soldiers I have turned to for
leadership. I was too caught up in their abilities to really notice gender
or race or heritage.

Whatever ignorance, whatever prejudices I carted into the Army have faded
like a distant puff of smoke. I consider myself a pretty good soldier, but
countless times in my career I have been bested by females, blacks - pick a
group and I have known soldiers that were better than me. 

The Army is certainly not perfect. It is an imperfect organization manned by
imperfect people. The "Army of one" campaign may have had its critics, but
on this morning, in this dining facility, it seemed spot-on.

As our Army struggles to help Iraq's transition to democracy and overcome
its own ethnic strife, perhaps the Iraqi people can take a closer look at
the men and women wearing those pixelated gray uniforms. There is an awful
lot of diversity beneath that Velcro; they are diverse in heritage but
united in purpose.

Does the Army still have a ways to go? Sure.

But one soldier's story - my story - suggests we are not far off. 

Army of one? It is at least an interesting thought.

The author is an Army aviator who recently traded in his flight suit for
duty as a public affairs officer for the 13th Sustainment Command at Fort
Hood, Texas. He is now deployed to Iraq.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Vandalville, Idaho

"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil
and steady dedication of a lifetime." 

--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.