Originally Posted by
Low average
So, it sounds like you believe that our warfighter's performance could be improved by them reflecting the societal mix? Sorry, I don't buy that! If it does work out that way, then great...but the objective should be to strive for the most capable forces, with diversity being an irrelevance.
I'd put it the other way round. According to recent stats, 87% of the UK population are white, the remaining 13% belonging to other ethnic groups. If we assume that skin colour and ethnic heritage have no bearing on someone's ability to do the job, if you recruit the best candidates from across the population, it follows that around 13% of them will end up being non-white. So, if significantly fewer that 13% of your recruits are from those other ethnic groups, you're missing out on some great candidates and it's in your own interest to fix that.
It might be that the recruitment process favours white candidates, but hopefully that's no longer the case; however it's highly plausible that people from some backgrounds could be put off applying in the first place because they perceive that they'll be made less welcome than a white person. If you want to get the best people for the job, it's important that this doesn't happen. You mustn't bias the selection process, but I have no problem with targetted advertising and publicity, to encourage more of those 13% to apply. If cultural changes are needed to make those 13% feel as welcome as the other 87%, that should also be done; otherwise they'll leave, and you've lost some great people.
Same principle applies to LGBTQIA+ candidates, and so on. Diversity is in everyone's interest.