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A minority report from the British armed services
What is it like to be one of the approximately 12,000 recruits from ethnic minorities currently serving in the British military? That was the question photographer Kit Oates wanted to address when, earlier this year, he embarked on a project to take portraits of members of the British army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force from minority backgrounds. “I was interested in recruits who might not have been born here, or whose parents weren’t, but who have decided to serve in the armed forces in this country. I thought it was an interesting area in a year when so much has been happening in Great Britain; I wanted to highlight another facet of our multicultural society.”
The Ministry of Defence was initially slow to provide access, but Oates believes his request was strengthened by recent reports that ethnic minorities are poorly represented in the British military – making up about 7% of the armed forces, with particularly low numbers in the navy and the RAF. “The British army needs to reflect British society,” defence secretary, Philip Hammond, said in June. “This is clearly a challenge now; to recruit from the ethnic minorities within British society in proportions that reflect that society.” (via The Observer)
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Om in the army: the US military gets yoga
Is yoga just for suburban baby-boomers and urban stress junkies seeking a hipper way to stay youthful and fit? Not if a growing number of yoga fanatics inside the US military get their way.
That’s right, everyone from grunts in basic training to elite warrior units like the US Navy Seals have caught the yoga bug, and now some top commanders are planning to incorporate the ancient mind-body practice into the military’s official training. The US Training and Doctrine Command (Tradoc), which oversees instruction of soldiers in everything from how to salute to the right way to hold a rifle, is proposing the largest overhaul of military fitness training in more than 30 years – and for the first time, yoga, as well as Pilates and martial arts, are being highlighted.
But is it ethical for peace-loving yogis to help the Pentagon fight its nasty wars? Many yoga business owners, anxious to spread the yoga “gospel” far and wide, don’t much care who gets the message – or why – as long as the market expands. Stay out of “secular” controversies, they say.
others yogis have questioned whether yoga’s traditional “do no harm” principle really means “don’t go to war” – or rather, “war if you must, but do it with restraint.” They point out that prior to Gandhi, who largely blessed yoga as a spiritual practice of “non-violence”, Indian leaders in ancient times used it much as the Pentagon wants to today – as a way of preparing mentally for battle. (via guardian.co.uk)
