Paw-paw is spot on when he describes the military as a meritocracy.

While not completely color blind, the military does an admirable job taking college aged men and women from diverse backgrounds and getting them to work together as a team. I've heard of colleges assigning dorm rooms, or even entire dormitories, based on race. In the military, there's no black barracks or white barracks. You live together, eat together, work together, and learn to tolerate different tastes in sports and music together.

One Airman [whose finger is usually on the pulse of the flight at work] reasoned that Basic Training is the catalyst. People fly in to Lackland AFB [or other bases for the other services] with diverse backgrounds, cultures, economic conditions, and personal experiences. From day one they are treated equally [equally like crap] and learn to work together, to respect each other. "We're all in it together," is how he put it.

In fact, on the flight or platoon level [I'm in the Air Force, but I worked for an Army unit for 2+ years] it can often be described as a family. Working in a 24-hour watch center, it's a much different environment from a typical office in the civilian sector. Teamwork is essential; from the most critical aspects of the mission to things as simple as coordinating time away from the desk to study or eat. Everything requires teamwork; everyone gets with the program.

Is it perfect? Of course not. There is no utopia inside or outside of the military. People will always have prejudices, phobias, fears, and misconceptions about others. I'd say personalities have more to do with problems that arise. Even subtle signs of racism or prejudice are dealt with. Not to foster the multicultural environment, but to integrate everyone into the team.

As an NCO, I am charged with seeing that a task gets accomplished. Who will I assign the task to? The best man or woman Airman for the job. I don't care if he is hispanic, or she is black, or Mormon, or Jew, or whatever. When it comes time to nominate someone for a quarterly award I look at the best performers. I've never come across an example of an Airman [or soldier] being mistreated because of the color of their skin.

One area of concern that I have is the perception of sexism. Two female Airmen have expressed to me concern about deploying over the past six months. One was nervous about how she'd be treated in the field; the other had heard rumors that the unit chooses men over women for the deployments. I had a chance to speak to the Group Commander about the first Airman's concerns, and I passed on his advice. I will speak to some of the squadron leadership about the second Airman's concerns. Even though I seriously doubt the unit chooses men over women for deployments, the mere presence of such a rumor can undermine the teamwork mentality. Our job is more technical than physical, and this particular Airman would be an asset to any unit overseas. You know, the best man or woman Airman for the job.