More Asian-Americans Signing Up For The Army

Here's an interesting podcast from NPR on the rise of Asian Americans in the military: "More Asian-Americans Signing Up For The Army" by Lonny Shavelson


In the U.S. Army, Asian-Americans have typically volunteered at the lowest rate of any ethnic group. They make up 4 percent of the population, and only 1 percent of military recruits.

But that seems to be changing. Something is suddenly drawing Asian-Americans in California into the Army at a remarkable rate. And there have been similar increases in other Asian-American population centers, like Seattle and New York.

In Los Angeles County last year, 22 percent of Army recruits were Asian-Americans — almost twice their proportion in the population. In the San Francisco Bay Area, the sign-up rate is also spiking. The proportion of newly enlisted soldiers who are Asian-Americans this year is nearly double that of last year.


Army Pays For College

Army officers at the Bay Area's Richmond Hilltop Mall recruiting station teach incoming soldiers to march. The recruits, still in high school, will start basic training after they graduate.

Of 15 incoming soldiers at the recruitment station, seven are Asian Pacific Islanders, including Albert and Barry Huang. They're 18-year-old twins who speak Cantonese at home and English outside of home. They tend to finish each other's sentences.

"It affected me. When I decided to join the military, I was like, 'I'm not going to kill anybody; I do not want to kill anybody. I do not want to have a person's death on my conscience.'" - Barry Huang

"My parents always pushed the idea of, 'Go to college, go to college,' " Albert says. "And so this is a start of how we're going to ..."

"Do what our parents want us to do," says Barry. "Which is go to college, get an education."


Barry calls the marching orders for the recruits. This is his route to college.

"Now that the economy has gone down and the tuition's gone up — the Army, they can pay for my college, so I was like, might as well do it," Barry says.

The military's education benefits have become particularly appealing in this stumbling economy with skyrocketing college costs. That's one reason Asian-Americans, with their traditional emphasis on education, are increasingly joining the Army.

But Ken Mochizuki, who co-authored a book about Asians in the military, says new Asian-American recruits are motivated by more than education.

"In the present war, they're not fighting against Asians like in WWII or Vietnam," he says.

Mochizuki says today's young soldiers were born after World War II, Korea and Vietnam — all wars in which the U.S. fought Asians. So this generation of Asian-Americans "want to prove their loyalty to this country and [that] they're as American as anybody else," he says.


Asians In Noncombat Jobs

Yet increased recruitment of Asian-Americans doesn't mean that more are on the front lines.

The majority are in combat service support, technical support or computer support, according to Betty Maxfield, the chief of personnel data for the Army.

She says Asian-Americans more commonly go into noncombat jobs rather than become front-line fighters. Soldiers who focus on the military's education benefits, she says, train in jobs that can translate to civilian life — like technology or medicine rather than rifles or sharpshooting.

The Huang twins say that for them, finding noncombat roles is also cultural and religious. Their mother is Buddhist.

"It affected me. When I decided to join the military, I was like, 'I'm not going to kill anybody; I do not want to kill anybody. I do not want to have a person's death on my conscience,' " Barry Huang says.

Asian-Americans — like four-star Gen. Eric Shinseki, the secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs; and Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, who led the investigation into abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq — have also become more visible in the Army. The most potent reason that young Asian-Americans are increasingly joining the Army may just be because they now see prominent soldiers who look like them.

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Life Lessons - Conclusion

By Mojo Rider


The last installment of Lt. Col. Guy LoFaro's speech:


LEADERSHIP

And then it's months later and you're still recovering. Most of the tubes are gone but it's time for another round of major surgeries. And you go into one of the last, this one about 9 hours long. And they put you back together. And you wake up in the ICU one more time. Only one IV this time. And when you open your eyes, there's a huge figure standing over your bed. BDUs. Green beret in his hand. Bigger than God. And he's smiling. "It's about damn time you woke up you lazy bastard" he says. And you know it's your friend and former commander and you've got to come back with something quick - something good. He's the deputy Delta Force commander, soon to be the commander. And you say "Don't you have someplace else to be? Don't you have something more important to do?" And without skipping a beat, without losing that smile he says "Right now, I am doing what I consider the most important thing in the world." And you learn about leadership.

So there you have them. Some stories. I've tried to let you see the world as I've seen it a various points in time these 18 years. I hope you've learned something. I certainly have. "Rangers, lead the way!"

I posted this speech as food for thought. There's a saying that goes, "Life is tough, but it's tougher if you're stupid." If you're smart, have a sense of awareness, I hope the dear reader gets something out of this and can maybe apply some of this to his or her life or workplace. At the very least, I hope it gives pause, that the reader stops to reflect and ask, "what kind of life am I leading? what kind of person do I want to be?"

All these things talked about by LoFaro, they all blend together: leadership, friendship and camaraderie, loyalty, compassion. You can't provide leadership if there is no camaraderie; there is no camaraderie if there is no friendship; there is no friendship if there is no loyalty or compassion.

You can't change people a lot of the times; you have to change your response to them, how you deal with them. You might not even change the workplace environment you're in if you're a middle manager, but if you lead by example and exhibit the qualities of friendship and teamwork to your co-workers, it might make the culture a little bit better. Not everyone will be on your side or reciprocate the loyalty; but those you do get on your side, if you know how to motivate them and keep morale up, they'll run thru a brick wall for you.

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Life Lessons Part 2 - Courage, Friendship, Camraderie

By Mojo Rider


What follows is part two of life lessons and the shared experiences of Lt. Col. Guy Lofaro who gave this speech at the US Military Academy.

THE BURDEN OF COMMAND, COURAGE, FRIENDSHIP, CAMRADERIE

It's a few months later, and you are one of two soldiers left on a hot PZ (pick up zone) on some Caribbean island. There's been another foul up - not yours this time, but you're going to pay for it. It's you and your RTO (radio telephone operator), a nineteen-year-old surfer from Florida who can quote Shakespeare, because his Mom was a high school literature teacher, and who joined the Army because his Dad was a World War II Ranger. The last UH-60 has taken off on an air assault and someone is supposed to come back and get you guys.

But the fire is getting heavy, and you're not sure anything can get down there without getting shot up. You're taking fire from some heavily forested hills. At least two machineguns, maybe three, maybe more, and quite a few AKs, but you can't make out anything else. You and your RTO are in a hole, hunkered down as the bad guys are peppering your hole with small arms fire. Your RTO is trying to get some help - another bird to come get you, some artillery, some attack helicopters - anything. But there are other firefights happening elsewhere on this island involving much larger numbers. So as the cosmos unfold at that particular moment, in that particular place, you and that RTO are well down the order of merit list.

You feel a tug at your pants leg. Ketch, that's what you call him, Ketch tells you he got a "wait, out" when he asked for help. The radio is jammed with calls for fire and requests for support from other parts of the island.

"What we gonna do, sir?" he asks. And all of a sudden, you're learning another lesson. You're learning about the weightiness of command, because it's not just you in that hole, it's this kid you've spent every day with for the last five months. This kid you've come to love like a kid brother.

There is only one way out and that's through the bad guys. You see, you are on a peninsula that rises about 100 feet from the sea. The inland side is where the bad guys are. You figure you are safe in this hole, so long as they don't bring in any indirect fire stuff, but if they come down off those hills, onto the peninsula, then you're going to have to fight it out. And that's what you tell your RTO: We either get help or, if the bad guys come for us, we fight. He looks at you. You don't know how long. And he says only four words. Two sentences.

"Roger, sir. Let's rock." Appropriate coming from a surfer. Then he slithers back down to the bottom of the hole. Staying on the radio, your lifeline, trying to get some help. You are peering over the edge of the hole, careful not to make too big a target.

You're thinking about your wife and that little month-old baby you left a few days ago. It was two o'clock in the morning when you got the call: "Pack your gear and get in here." You kissed them both and told them to watch the news. Hell, you didn't know where you were going or why, but you were told to go, and you went.

Then all of a sudden it gets real loud, and things are flying all around and then there's a shadow that passes over you. You look up and find yourself staring at the bottom of a Blackhawk, about 15 feet over the deck, flying fast and low, and as it passes over your hole you see the door gunner dealing death and destruction on the bad guys in those hills. It sets down about 25 meters from your hole, as close as it can get.

You look up and see the crew chief kneeling inside, waving frantically to you, the door gunner still dealing with it, trying to keep the bad guys' heads down, who have now switched their fire to the bird, a much bigger, and better, target. You look at Ketch and then you're off - and you run 25 meters faster than 25 meters have ever been run since humans began to walk upright. And you dive through the open doors onto the floor of the Blackhawk. There are no seats in the bird since this is combat and we don't use them in the real deal.

And you are hugging your RTO, face-to-face, like a lover, and shouting at him "You OKAY? You OKAY? You OKAY?" But he doesn't tell you he's OKAY since he's yelling the same thing at you - "You OKAY? You OKAY? You OKAY?" And then the pilot pulls pitch and executes a violent and steep ascent out of there and had you not been holding on to the d-rings in the floor and the crew chief not been holding your legs, you might have fallen out. Then you're over the water, you're safe, and the bird levels out, and you roll over to your back and close your eyes - and you think you fall asleep.

But then you feel a hand on your blouse, and you open your eyes and see the crew chief kneeling over you with a headset in his hand. He wants you to put it on so you do. And the first thing you hear is, "I-Beamer, buddy boy. I Beamer."' You were in I-4 while a cadet, and that was your rallying cry. And you look up to where the pilots sit and you see a head sticking out from behind one of the seats. He's looking at you and it's his voice you hear, but you can't make out who it is because his visor is down. Then he lifts it, and you see the face of a man who was two years ahead of you in your company. He tells you that he knew you were there and he wasn't going to leave an I-Beamer like that. And you learn about courage, and camaraderie. And friendship that never dies!

As managers or people going into management positions, I think it's important to remember that sometimes you'll be faced with making decisions that impact people's lives. Don't make decisions without thinking things through. Most people aren't in those positions where it's a life-and-death decision that has to be made, but you might be faced with making the decision that affects someone's livelihood.

And perhaps in the private sector, team work dynamics are a lot different from that of the military and law enforcement. But it's the good people you meet along the way in your career or in life that becomes important---people don't go out of their way to help you if they see you as a selfish individual. You might not like every one you meet or work with, but I'd hope that if it gets down to crunch time and you have to go thru that door, they have your back as much as you have theirs when the shit hits the fan.

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Life Lessons Part 1 - Loyalty

By Mojo Rider


I received an email from someone that included a transcript from a speech given by Lt. Colonel Guy Lofaro who has taught at West Point. I liked it a lot and thought I should share it for those in management positions or for those who might benefit from it in an overall life lesson. The text of this speech is taken from an address he gave to a dining-in at the U.S. Military Academy. There are some interesting lessons learned from a life spent in a military career that I think can be applied by everyone. The qualities that the military can cultivate in their forces can also be a guide for everyone in determining what really matters in life, what one should aspire to be in terms of leadership and doing the right things in your own workplace.

Here is part one of his speech:


LOYALTY

What can I say that will stay with you? And as I reflected on this I turned it on myself - what stays with me? What makes a mark on me? What do I remember, and why? How have I learned the higher lessons I so desperately want to impart to you? Well - I've learned those higher lessons through experience. And as I thought further, I realized that there's only one way to relate experience - that is to tell some stories.

Imagine you are a brand new second lieutenant on a peacekeeping mission in the Sinai Peninsula. You are less than a year out of West Point, and only a few weeks out of the basic course. You are standing at a strict position of attention in front of your battalion commander, a man you will come to realize was one of the finest soldiers with whom you've ever served, and you are being questioned about a mistake -a big mistake - that you've made.

You see, your platoon lost some live ammo. Oh sure, it was eventually found, but for a few hours you had the entire battalion scrambling. Your battalion commander is not yelling at you though, he's not demeaning you; he's simply taking this opportunity to ensure you learn from the experience. And you do - you learn that people make mistakes, that those mistakes do not usually result in the end of the world, and that such occasions are valuable opportunities to impart some higher lessons.

Then, out of the corner of your eye, you see your platoon sergeant emerge from behind a building. He's an old soldier - a fine soldier though - whose knees have seen a few too many airborne operations. He sees you and the colonel - and he takes off at a run. You see him approaching from behind the colonel and the next thing you see is the back of your platoon sergeant's head. He is now standing between you and your battalion commander - the two are eyeball to eyeball.

Your platoon sergeant says, with a touch of indignance in his voice, "Leave my lieutenant alone, sir. He didn't lose the ammo, I did. I was the one who miscounted. You want someone's ass, you take mine." And you learn another lesson - you learn about loyalty.

The best supervisors I’ve ever worked for, and they are far and few between, have always protected the staff from crap. How can you not respect a supervisor that goes to bat for you and your fellow co-workers? And it flows both ways too. The rank and file can stand up for their supervisor as well. The worst supervisors are the ones who are too afraid to stand up for their staff. Far too often you have people in management that are only worried about how they look to the front office. I’ve found that smart supervisors recognize that it’s the staff that makes them look good. You are only as good as the people working for you.

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