Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., in the late 1980s, he didn’t think much about all that had occurred to allow cadets like him to attend.
W “When you fi rst get there,
you’re just trying to get in and get through,” says Howard, a retired lieutenant colonel who now serves as the president of Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh. “You’re just thinking, ‘I want to make it through lunch.’ ” Over time though, there were
small reminders that black cadets hadn’t always walked the academy halls, Howard says. “As an African-American in a
predominantly white institution … sometimes people do make a few presuppositions about you,” he says. “But when you’re 18-22 years old, you’re just kind of in it, you want to get through the soup — you don’t necessarily sit around and have deep conversations about it.” In 1963, Charles Bush was the fi rst
African-American to graduate from the Air Force Academy (see “African- American Service Academy Pioneers,” facing page). In the years that fol- lowed, it wasn’t always easy to recruit and retain black cadets like Howard, says Lt. Col. Ted Spencer, USAF (Ret). “When I got there, all the minorities that had ever come to the academies could fi t in a cigar box, there were so few,” says Spencer, who helped stand up an offi ce to recruit and retain minority students in the mid-1970s. “There was a major concern on the part of the Air Force Academy — and the Air Force, really — to do something about the [low] number of minorities.” A diverse offi cer corps remains a priority today — and for good reason, says Navy Lt. Bailey Hackbarth, assis- tant chief diversity offi cer at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.
64 MILITARY OFFICER FEBRUARY 2017 “When our leaders in the military
are representative of the country they serve, we are all that much more legitimate in the eyes of our nation,” he says. “A more diverse and inclu- sive workforce never has been more critical to the overall success of the Navy and Marine Corps team.” Similarly, the U.S. Coast Guard
Academy in New London, Conn., achieved the highest percentage of fe- male enrollment in its history just this past year, according to Superintendent Rear Adm. James E. Rendon, USCG. “We are pleased with the strides
we continue to make in diversifying the corps and the increase in under- represented minorities within our ranks in recent years,” he says. “But we remain committed to increasing diversity in all its forms — race, eth- nicity, gender, talent, and geography — by admitting outstanding students who contribute to a top-notch learn- ing environment and who go on to future service to the nation.”
Growing pains
More than 7,000 African-American cadets and midshipmen have gradu- ated from the military academies, but reaching that number hasn’t come without challenges. “Over the years, we’ve seen diver- sity in the Navy and Marine Corps make great strides,” Hackbarth says. “[But] we still have a good deal of work to do.”
When Spencer began working at the Air Force Academy in 1976, women were just starting to be ad- mitted. Academy leadership ran par- allel tracks to recruit more women and minorities and took a hard look
at what was causing high attrition rates among minorities. “We had no idea how to control it
at the very beginning,” he says. “You have to keep in mind that the academy just isn’t the perfect environment for everyone. It’s a 25-hour day, and a lot of kids coming in were prepared aca- demically, but they weren’t prepared for the military lifestyle.” Academy leaders began looking at the social traits of the black cadets who successfully made it through so they could fi nd more prospective cadets with those same qualities. The students needed to be physically fi t and have strong academic back- grounds, he says, but also needed to demonstrate good leadership skills. After about two years, Spencer
says academy leadership began to see things turn around. Attrition rates among minority students were on the decline, so they were doing a bet- ter job admitting the right cadets. It was a mission in which Spencer took pride. As an intelligence offi cer, he could recall a time when minority offi cers made up only about 1 percent of the Air Force’s leadership. Now, the academy was able to help send quali- fi ed young lieutenants into the force. Today, diversity in the ranks con- tinues to strengthen the Air Force, says Jackie Wilks, a diversity analyst and scholar at the Air Force Academy. “Every young airman, offi cer, or civilian needs role models they can look to and follow who possess simi- lar diverse attributes and character- istics,” Wilks says.
Each of the military academies has its share of notable black gradu- [CONTINUES ON PAGE 72]
PHOTOS: PREVIOUS SPREAD, FROM TOP, U.S. NAVAL ACADEMY; U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY; U.S. COAST GUARD ACADEMY; U.S. MILITARY ACADEMY
HEN CHRISTOPHER HOWARD headed off to the Air Force
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