Academy: Lessons learned from color guard flap - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Academy: Lessons learned from color guard flap

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The superintendent of the Naval Academy said Monday that last month’s flap over the racial makeup of a color guard that marched at the World Series had provided “some good lessons learned” for the Brigade of Midshipmen, and explained that the whole thing had been caused by a “misunderstanding.”

The academy’s color guard made arrangements to march at game two of the World Series in New York on Oct. 29 without vetting them with the administration, Vice Adm. Jeffrey Fowler told Navy Times. He said the administration often changes the makeup of groups that represent the academy — bands, glee clubs and color guards — to make sure midshipmen get equal chances to represent the school.

“We do it for a variety of reasons, whether their grades are good enough, whether it’s their physical fitness; ... if one certain group of people, even though they’re very good at something, ends up missing a lot of class — and even if they’re the best — we may say, ‘I don’t wanna send you anymore, you’ve already missed 10 days,’ ” Fowler said. “We want to spread the wealth and give everybody an opportunity.”

Academy officials removed two white, male members of a color guard that was to march at the World Series and replaced them with a white female and a Pakistani male, so the academy presented a diverse profile in the national spotlight.

But the male replacement, Midshipman 2nd Class Zishan Hameed, forgot his cover and shoes in Annapolis and couldn’t present the colors before the game, so one of the original members of the color guard, Midshipman 1st Class Aaron Stroud, re-took his place. The five men and one woman who finally marched all were white. Hameed and the other white male who’d been replaced watched from the sidelines.

The change-out upset the brigade of midshipmen and academy alumni, according to academy sources, as did the administration’s public explanation about what happened. Naval Academy Commandant Capt. Matt Klunder said in a message to alumni that the administration had wanted a diverse, eight-person color guard, but that Hameed’s forgetfulness meant only six mids could march, because the presentations require an even number of people.

However, a Naval Academy source with close knowledge of the situation said that was not the plan — the color guard has never trained with eight people — and administrators came up with that idea only after they had pulled the two white men and all the mids were on their way to New York the day of the baseball game. The source asked not to be identified because the academy had not given authorization for anyone to discuss the story with reporters.

‘Misunderstanding’

Klunder later told the Brigade of Midshipmen in an all-hands call in November that the whole thing was caused by a “misunderstanding,” which Fowler repeated Monday.

“They signed themselves up for something that was not yet approved,” Fowler said. “That was really the misunderstanding. A couple of mids had a great idea — hey, I’m a Yankee fan, I’d love to have gone to the game myself, I’d have marched out there with that darn thing — but they kind of made a decision before they really knew what the chain of command had authorized.”

Still, the Naval Academy’s public affairs office issued an official press release on the day of the game, identifying the six midshipmen slated to present the colors, which included the names of the two replacements, Hameed and Midshipman 2nd Class Hannah Allaire. Academy spokesman Cmdr. Joe Carpenter later told Navy Times that announcement omitted the other two names, for the “eight-person” color guard, because the public affairs office didn't then know who else would be joining it.

The story was the latest example of what critics have said is a preoccupation with diversity in Annapolis at the expense of merit. In November, the Navy blogger “CDR Salamander” — who first reported the story — and an array of online commentators, including Michelle Malkin and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, castigated the academy.

“Look at the [politically correct] pretzel that the Naval Academy twisted itself into in order to try and engineer picture-perfect diversity among its color guard,” Malkin wrote.

Fowler told Navy Times on Monday that he considered the matter closed but that it had taught the brigade some important lessons. Not only did midshipmen learn it’s important for them to follow proper protocol, he said, “but if you make a mistake, personally, like a midshipman forgot some uniform items, not only does it affect you, it affects your shipmates. That’s a good life lesson that hopefully the brigade got out of it, and certainly two individuals. That’s unfortunate, but that’s the way it is.”

“Nobody would have read about it or no one would have cared about it if one person didn’t make a mistake,” he said. “And that mistake had impact. Good lesson learned. Good lessons learned for a future sailor or Marine.”