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Westmoreland, General William C. "Army Policy: Army Chief of Staff." Commander's Digest. Vol. 12, no. 2. Washington, D.C. GPO, May 18, 1972. P. 7.

SuDoc No.: D2.15/2


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FULL TEXT


Army Policy: Army Chief of Staff

General William C. Westmoreland


  • Good race relations are extremely important to the welfare of the Army and I accord them the very highest priority.

  • Our objective is to provide equal opportunity for all concerned, where an individual can rise or fall on his own efforts and ability. We feel that we have gone a long way in achieving this result. We are not satisfied, but we are continuing to march, I think, along the proper road.

  • I hold the commanders in the Army responsible for ensuring that there is equal opportunity within their units, that they constantly monitor this matter, and, if there are complaints or grievances, they be investigated in depth and corrective action taken.

  • The Army's policies apply not only to black soldiers but to all members: majority and minority groups, including women.

  • One of our problems, which I think is well recognized, is the lack of communication, the breakdown in communications.

  • We have put a great deal of emphasis in recent years on race relations education for both races. It is important that the races understand one another, and that the problems be laid on the table and discussed.

  • In the matter of full and equal opportunity for enlisted personnel, especially in the lower grades, I am sure there are still cases of discrimination, cases where equal opportunity has not been manifest, despite the fact that this is strictly contrary to policy. This is a matter of education. It is a matter of supervision throughout our ranks to ensure that the policies of the Department of the Army, characterized by no discrimination and equal opportunity, are carried out in fact.

  • We have also raised our sights, increased our objectives, as an incentive for people in the field to recruit more black personnel... We hope these programs are successful, because I think it is extremely important that the composition of the United States Army throughout its ranks be generally representative of the racial composition of the American population.
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