Informative Essay on Diversity and Its Importance for Leader in the United States Army

The purpose of this informative essay is to discuss what diversity is and why it is so critical for a leader in the United States Army. Imagine serving in an organization where every person thought, and behaved the exact same way. This would be the exact opposite of a diverse environment leading to a weak and ineffective force. As Sundar Pchai said, “A diverse mix of voices leads to better discussions, decisions, and outcomes for everyone”. This essay will cover what diversity is, why diversity is important in the United States Army, and how the United States Army has continuously worked towards implementing a more diverse working environment. 

In order for you to understand what diversity is, we must first examine the definition. The Army defines diversity as: “the different attributes, experiences, and backgrounds of our Soldiers, Civilians and Family Members that further enhance our global capabilities and contribute to an adaptive, culturally astute Army” (https://armydiversity.army.mil). One of the takeaways from this definition is what attributes are. Attributes are how a Soldier learns and behaves. Attributes can vary from Soldier to Soldier, just as experiences and backgrounds vary among Soldiers as well. Understanding this, now we can understand that a diverse group will bring many different attributes. As with attributes, Soldiers also have had many different experiences throughout their lives, before, and after joining the United States Army. When trying to understand how different experiences can be valuable in the United States Army, this quote from Julius Caesar may be helpful, on experience, Julius Caesar said, “Experience is the teacher of all things”. Having Soldiers with different experiences can be crucial in gaining a better grasp on a mission or task presented. The United States Army is full of Soldiers with various backgrounds. Soldiers come from many different families, educational, racial origins, and social backgrounds. Each Soldier’s background comes with a different perspective. Allowing Soldiers to draw from those different experiences and backgrounds will undoubtedly provide positive substance throughout the United States Army. Now it is clear that, although there may be many similarities between Soldiers, there are also a broad range of variation as well. These variances can be a valuable asset, because the Army is operating all over the world and need to be able to adjust to the local environment. 

Secondly, let us try to gain an understanding of why diversity is important to the United States Army. Military OneSource says, “When service members of different races, ethnicities, religions, sexual orientations and other identities unite for a common mission, the result is a stronger and more effective force”. The general goal of a mission is overreaching success; a mission would never need to take place if the goal was not to succeed. Success does not simply come from just one Soldier’s action; it comes from the actions of many. The ability to draw on different attributes, experiences, and backgrounds of our Soldiers, our work environment becomes more inclusive which results in a stronger and more effective force. This tells us that diversity plays a direct role in the ability and success rate of our military. A stronger and more effective force will lead to more success in the overall goal of the mission. 

The United States Army has been continuously working to improve upon building a more diverse organization. There have been many new and drastic implementations over the past few years. One of the largest, more recent implementations is Soldier 2020, which “is about a standards-based Army. The mission is to match the right Soldiers - regardless of whether they are men or women - to jobs that best correspond to their abilities” (army.mil). One significant change that came from Soldier 2020 was opening combat arms military occupational specialties (MOS) to all women joining, or already serving in the Army. This huge change had an immediate effect on the overall diversity within our force. Not only did this play a role in assisting with retention of a diverse force, but also played into recruiting new members to join and add to the diversity. Another change that recently came from Soldier 2020 was removing the gender specific Army Physical Fitness Test, and implementing the non-gender specific Army Combat Fitness Test. The Army Combat Fitness Test replaced the Army Physical Fitness Test, which the Army evaluates based not only on the gender of the service member but also the Soldiers age. The old fitness test was not conducive to a diverse environment   and created a separation. Both of these changes fall in line with the “standards-based Army” approach of Soldier 2020. 

In conclusion, the United States Army has been dialing its focus in on creating a more diverse environment, not only to benefit its Soldiers, but also to benefit the organization as a whole. Diversity in the Army is the many attributes, experiences and backgrounds of its Soldiers. Diversity has become very important in the Army, because without a united Army, they will not be successful in accomplishing their mission. There have been many implementations over the last few years to work towards improving diversity in the Army. The implementation of Soldier 2020 was a huge step in working towards a more “standards-based Army”. The fight to improve diversity in the Army will continue to move forward, just as the Army always has.