Grateful to @FieldGradeLead for boosting the audience for my article.

Some additional thoughts that have not made it to print yet (maybe another article coming your way @notabattlechick) A thread...(/n) https://twitter.com/fieldgradelead/status/1277195041702907905

First, this is great news. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/06/25/its-official-army-getting-rid-of-officer-promotion-photos-help-eliminate-bias.html

But it may not be the end of the story... https://www.navytimes.com/2018/11/09/officer-record-photos-to-again-be-seen-by-boards-what-you-need-to-know/

But even if the requirement isn’t reinstated, removing the DA Photo isn’t a silver bullet that removes all bias from promotion and selection boards

As so many have pointed out, gender bias still fights its way in with pronouns declaring “He was #1 of 6 commanders I rate” or “she saved the Army $XX dollars this fiscal year”

This one is an easy fix going forward (gendered pronouns can be replaced with a simple SM for service member). But when a board is looking at 5 years or more of records, we are at least half a decade away from this success.

Another issue is ethnically-identifying names. This one is tricky. While a LT, I often got emails meant for our Squadron MEDO, another LT Kearney, but we were never once mistaken for each other in person (me=skinny, short white guy, him= 6’3” athletic black guy)

But there are names that invoke ethnic stereotypes. Masking the file and associating it with a DOD ID number can help, but going through the pre-EES records and the narrative comments i.e. “CPT Kearney shows little potential” is technically difficult

But most importantly, ratings are written by flawed humans. Even if the board can’t see gender/ethnicity, the rating itself is a subjective measure affected by the implicit biases of the raters themselves. Therefore there can be no real procedural change without cultural change

I say again. PROCEDURAL CHANGE IS MEANINGLESS WITHOUT CULTURAL CHANGE

The procedural change is a signal that the culture is changing, though.

And as structure and processes change to ensure that performance is valued and appearance is meaningless, the Army will continue to get better and MORE EFFECTIVE! Just ask @jaylyall_red5 https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2020-02-14/strongest-military-inclusive-one

There are great studies and evaluations being undertaken by the ASA (Manpower & Reserve Affairs) looking to root out the barriers to #compentantdiversity (shoutout to @MG_SmithT’s team)

And those joining our Army during the first ever #ArmyHiringDays are joining an Army stronger than yesterday’s but growing even stronger tomorrow.

Quick thank you to @MaggieCaroline1 @RvaUnicorn @stephachusetts @DruRho @RPG_volley @Thrawn589 and others who listened to these ideas and provided their insights

Including @StratAndy, and my classmates at team 30B of CGSC