"The Enlightenment" wrote in
:

The Squadron was particularly effective at a time when being judged by
merit was apparently not common and for this its men deserve great
honor.

However the reason the Trugegee Airmen worked, indeed the reason
integration has not degraded the effectiveness of the US military is
this: Selection on the basis of merit and IQ tests. They were an
elite. Methods both made illegal under affirmative action in the
civilian world in a Landmark case involving the Duke Power Company who
wanted to eliminate the possibility of racial discrimination by using
written tests and IQ tests devoid of bias as much as possible.

That's the sub text of what I think when I here someone lauding the
Tusgegee Airmen. They are lauding and proving the effectveness of IQ
and 100% merit based tests.

I guess you are lucky if you are judged on merit.

And how much personal experience do YOU have with the military? I've been
an active or full-time Reserve airman for 8 years now. I can tell you
that affirmative action has nothing at all to do with what positions
blacks hold in the military (or at least the Air Force). Those who have
advanced through the ranks have almost certainly earned the privilege to
have been promoted to whatever their rank may be.

Since you mention written tests, however, active duty airmen (E-4 and up)
have to take 2 written tests each cycle, if eligible for promotion (based
on Time In Grade requirements), to attempt to get themselves promoted to
the next rank - one the Skills Knowledge Test (SKT) and the Performance
Fitness Exam??? (PFE). Both factor heavily into scores used in
determining who gets a "line number" for the next rank and who doesn't.
Many who DO get line numbers are black or otherwise non-white.

So take your ignorant, racist BS somewhere else. Or better yet, grow up
and learn to accept the fact there really are many decent, respectable,
and even smart minorities out there.