Hearing was expected to start at 2 p.m. but is delayed.
- Lt. Gen. Thomas Seamands, deputy chief of staff, G-1 for Army
- Vice Adm. John Nowell Jr., chief of Naval personnel
1/2
- Lt. Gen. Michael Rocco, deputy commandant for manpower and reserve affairs, Marine Corps. 2/2
- 1.3M active duty troops
- 83.5% men, 16.5% women
- 17.1% black, 16.1% Hispanic/Latino, 4.1% Asian, 70% white
- 30k non-citizens
None of the witnesses today are women.
Touts first woman to graduate Ranger School.
77 percent of black men and women in the US could be eligible for AF, but AF is 15 percent black. 6 percent of officers are black.
Says 650 women are serving in previously-restricted unit and more than 200 are in previously-closed MOS, including the first woman F-35 pilot and the first woman reconnaissance Marine.
Says women in some areas of the Corps are promoted at a higher rate than other Marines.
She says by 2040, most Americans will be minorities.
Seamands says Army is tracking those same demographic predictors and working on it.
Branches say they're making sure diverse leaders in the branches are involved in recruiting and recruiting materials (promotional videos, etc.)
"They're there in our service and yet in every report there are countless barriers that are recorded."
@RepSpeier asks about women's uniforms being more expensive than male uniforms.
Lots of head shakes from branch leaders on the panel. She asks them to take the question for the record.
She's got a laundry list of indignities and overt discrimination women and minorities face.
"Death by a thousand cuts," as she describes them.
She's a survivor of multiple sexual assaults, including by a fellow airman who resented her rejections.
Says that bleeds over into the veteran community "because we're not rooting this out."
Says military must find a way to combat that.
1/2