United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) Superintendent Richard Clark's recent congressional testimony epitomized a senior military officer defending blatant sexual and racial discrimination. Under the superintendent's leadership the academy encouraged cadets to apply for the Brooke Owens Fellowship Program that prohibited white male applicants. All other racial and sexual groups, including straight women, were eligible for the 9 weeks paid fellowship at a leading aerospace company.
When pressed to justify the abrogation of fundamental human rights, the general contended that the decision enhanced the development of "warfighters," as if the word stands alone as a talisman to silence critics. The failure to condemn the program's abject bigotry in the public forum exposed an officer who is inured to hypocrisy and blinded by ideology.
The use of the term "warfighter" is ubiquitous in military parlance and is described in the Urban Dictionaryas, "...someone in the US special operations community, who have had multiple combat deployments and engagements. They live, breathe, eat, and workout for the sole purpose of the next deployment. They are immensely skilled and bad ass. Fighting wars is their career." Most service members do not meet these standards, as only 10% of the military is engaged in combat or possesses the requisite of attitude and competence...
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By Scott Sturman
