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After integration, the military was slow to accept minority officers. Even 100 years later, commanders such as Milford Beagle are few and far between.Ī system that didn't afford opportunity to Black and minority officers in combat units explains part of the problem. It was 30 years before the armed services integrated. "They weren't thought to be smart enough to be in combat arms," Beagle said. Walter Beagles served in a segregated Army. Being a combat pilot and leading them are near-prerequisites to senior command. In the Air Force, the other service that provided USA TODAY with demographic data for leadership of its combat units, three of 85 who command wings of warplanes are Black 76, or 89%, are white. The other services also struggle to diversify their senior ranks. "We can't bring them in when they're 30 years old and pin major or lieutenant colonel promotions on them. What we're seeing today is a product of what happened 20 years ago." "There's no lateral entry for an infantry or armored battalion or brigade commander," said Lyle Hogue, a top Army official involved in planning and strategy for its inclusion efforts. Along the way, these officers typically have led smaller units at the platoon and company level, acquiring specialized leadership and tactical skills for leading forces into battle. There are no quick fixes. It can take 20 years or more to train a colonel to lead a brigade, about 15 years to groom a lieutenant colonel for battalion command. Congress has a duty to ensure military leadership understand and heed that fact.” “The strength and future of our armed forces is its diversity. “Failure to cultivate leadership that is truly representative of America threatens troop morale and cohesion,” Speier said. She called the finding a “glaring example of structural racism.” “It’s 2020, and the Army combat arms only have two Black incoming commanders out of 96, showing that the path to attaining senior rank remains effectively closed to Black soldiers,” Speier said Monday. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., who chairs the military personnel panel on the Armed Services Committee, sponsored a provision to the National Defense Authorization Act that would establish diversity goals, plans to meet them and a special inspector general for racial and ethnic disparities. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says he wants to ensure the military is "a place where all Americans see themselves represented."