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One does not exclude another. Quite the opposite. E.g. in the USSR conscripts formed "gangs" based on ethnicity to fight with other ethnicities (not unlike prison gangs in the US) and hated government mostly because they perceived their own ethnicity being oppressed in favor of others (and not just in the service).



And the Soviet Internal Security army was adept at using ethnically-homogenous units to suppress populations for whom they had disdain or antipathy. Siberian units would be used in Georgia for example.

But many things about the Soviet forces were utterly broken so I don't know if they serve as useful case studies.

Incidentally it'd be good if we could eliminate 'not unlike' as a phrase in favour of 'similar'.


I did not know of any ethnically homogeneous units (at least after the war, there were local units in the early USSR), got any sources for that? Sending recruits near their home generally was not allowed though was possible through connections but most people went far away from home and the unit's location had nothing to do with the unit's composition.

The US is much more diverse so I don't see how you are going to dodge the issue there. Even sending everyone near home will cause the same issues since the local population is already diverse.




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