Steve Townsend
Washington, DC
In the 1990s, the US Army was under pressure to normalize promotion rates, especially in “under-represented” branches. I was in the Infantry, which had significantly fewer minorities, especially in leadership positions. When a prime position opened, I was the most senior and best qualified for the position. However, the commander approached me and state that he was going to put a junior officer, who was a minority (and who had no previous experience) in the position because he had to show that there was upward mobility for minorities and encourage other qualified minority candidates to choose Infantry when they entered the Army. I understood this (it was true, we had too few minority leaders), but it was still difficult to swallow.
