<p>I just found it...(gotta love Google) ;)</p>
<p>Seniors</a> recall time at academy - Naval Academy - (HometownAnnapolis.com)</p>
<p>237 out of 1044 picked USMC - that's almost 23%.</p>
<p>D&G</p>
<p>No hard feelings at all. At the same time - Infantry is one of the most "popular" if not the most popular branch for cadets to pick for service selection.
The three top are Infantry, Aviation and Armor - all combat branches. Back during peacetime, it was hard to fill infantry.</p>
<p>This coupled with the increase in Mids picking Marines says to me that these "kids", cadets and mids are not shying away from combat at all.
These are pretty amazing kids.</p>
<p>USNA2012DAD: This is an old document but does give an historical perspective:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Based on decades of experience, amici have concluded that
a highly qualified, racially diverse officer corps educated and
trained to command our nation’s racially diverse enlisted
ranks is essential to the military’s ability to fulfill its principal
mission to provide national security.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Ann, outstanding link. Thanks for posting. Any candidate, midshipman, or parent who thinks that the SAs should not do everything possible to gain racial diversity commensurate with the enlisted ranks should read and heed this document. Those wishing to serve their country and unable to see the benefits of such a policy should probably seek another career.</p>
<p>Admiral Blair, the smartest person I have ever met, was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford when President Clinton was there.</p>
<p>That link is the most concise readable rationale from the Supreme Court for racial quotas for the service Academies. But it is hurtful that Martin Luther King's dream:</p>
<p>"that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character"</p>
<p>is still a dream and far from being realized in our country. It's obvious that our country hasn't been able to address the underlying issues. Having 'constitutional race conscious admission policies' (supreme Court wording) seems to address the symptoms not the roots of our social problems.</p>