That was about the same time they were surveying members with non-Anglo surnames about whether the army culture made them feel socially included if I remember correctly. Strange times of attempted political correctness by some passed over baby boomer officers was the impression I got.
Was this from Russell or local? Sounds like someone was trying to do research for a post-grad thesis. I worked on a Sociology Survey in 1986 at ADFA which was about attitudes amongst Officer Cadets. Some interesting insights but I wish they'd kept the longtitudinal aspect of it up. It would be interesting to see how much their attitudes had been "moulded" by service.
The 1980s were more inclusive IMO than the 1990s and beyond. There was quite seriously a much wider range of ethnicities and cultural groups then than later. I remember training Vietnamese, Turkish, Greek, Italian, Yugoslav, you name it. I served with Chinese, Vietnamese, etc. Once the Xenophobia started to set in, they quickly sensed they weren't welcome and all decamped, which was a shame, now it's pretty much all Anglo, with a sprinkling of a few southern Europeans. Like Moshe Dayan, I believe a defence force should represent all the society it's protecting.
I remember one ARes recruit course I instructed on where I was coaching this Vietnamese bloke on the range using the F1 SMG. He was a superb shot and I asked him if he'd fire automatic weapons before. His reply was "During the war" (meaning the Vietnam War) and I asked "ARVN?" And he said, "No, VC!" I suggested he should keep that quiet, as there were still quite a few Vietnam veterans still serving then. He agreed.
