Originally Posted by
PeterX60
62 years ago I was attested at RAF Cardington, next day to RAF Bridgenorth for 10 weeks basic training. One of the 24 beds in the squad hut was occupied by a member of the 'ethnic minorities' (Afro Caribbean in current ethnospeak) so around 4% of the entry - not very different from the general population. Competition to join up was significant, so I can only assume he (WRAFs were separate of course) jumped through the same hoops as the rest of us. He was treated as just another of the blokes. Over the next 9 years any casual racisim was directed at the locals where we were serving, and locally employed staff were again accepted as the same as ones in UK would have been.
Casual homophobia in conversation/'humour' yes, but when two of the pilots on the station were court martialled and dismissed for being gay, there was more sympathy with their situation then anything else.
Was I exceptionally fortunate in my trade/squadron/stations?
If the situation now requires the actions described it is IMHO a massive failure of leadership, starting at the top.
When I joined I couldn't tell you how many "none whites" were on my courses, simply because it never came up / was an issue and we all treated each other just as the guy in the next bedspace.. There was a Portuguese / Brazillian on my trade course, but I remember him because he sadly got the chop nearly at the end of the course, he was a great bloke and we all rallied round and were really sad to see him go, plus he had an awesome sounding name that just rolled off the tongue, Zino Gonzales, I do sometimes wonder what happened to him.