1
Navy 4.7 5.0 5.6
Marine Corps 5.0 5.3 10.4
Air Force 5.3 5.6 6.6

O-4 (Major or Lieutenant Commander)

Army 3.6 4.5 5.2
Navy 0.3 0.3 0.3
Marine Corps 0.3 0.3 0.2
Air Force 0.8 0.9 1.6

_Source_: Office, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Civil
Rights).

The department's civil rights office forwarded to the services
complaints from black servicemen who, despite the highest efficiency
ratings and special commendations from commanders, failed to win
promotions. "Almost uniformly," the office reported in 1965, "the
reply comes back from the service that there had been no bias, no
partiality, no prejudice operating in detriment on the complainant's
consideration for promotion. They reply the best qualified was
promoted, but this was not to say that the complainant did not have a
very good record."[22-47] While black officers might well have (p. 572)
been subtly discriminated against in matters of promotion, they also,
it should be pointed out, shared in the general inflation in
efficiency ratings, common in all the services, that resulted in
average officers being given "highest efficiency ratings."

[Footnote 22-47: Paul Memo.]

In addition to complaining of direct denial of promotion opportunity,
so-called "vertical mobility," some black officers alleged that their
chances of promotion had been systematically reduced by the services
when they failed to provide Negroes with "horizontal mobility," that
is, with a wide variety of assignments and all-important command
experience which would justify their future advancement. Supporting
these claims, the civil rights office reported that only 5 Negroes
were enrolled at the senior service schools in 1965, 4 black naval
officers with command experience were on active duty, and 26 black Air
Force officers had been given tactical command experience since 1950.
The severely limited assignment of black Army officers at the major
command headquarters, moreover, illustrated the "narrow gauge"
assignment of Negroes.[22-48] This picture seemed somewhat at variance
with Deputy Assistant Secretary Shulman's assurances to the Kansas
Conference on Civil Rights in May 1965 that "we have paid particular
attention to the assignment of Negro officers to the senior Service
schools, and to those positions of command that are so vital