Is that its best and most talented captains are leaving.
You don't get lateral transfers into the military from civilian life. The sharpest young junior officers are leaving and, as the Iraq War drags on, it is only going to get worse. The comment made in the article that all one has to do now to make lieutenant colonel is "have a pulse" should be shocking to anyone who has any experience with the military promotion system.
You cannot have a good Army and you certainly cannot have a larger one without good officers. If a lot of the good ones are leaving, that means the less-than-stellar ones, the guys who normally would have been separated out for failure to make it to major, are the ones who are staying and they are the ones who are going to be running the Army.
You don't have to know anything about the Army to know that pushing the cream out and promoting the scum is a long-term recipe for disaster.
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29 minutes ago
4 comments:
In the business world when you see your senior employees jumping ship it means you're doing something wrong. They likely see you taking the company into the wrong direction and see no future for success.
Or you're just paying them too little. I've seen both happen.
I know 3 West Point grads right now. Two of them have been to Iraq. The two that have been there have left the military and consider the whole Iraq matter a mess that isn't going to be fixed by the military. I pay attention to stuff like that.
I was pro-Bush, pro-Iraq back in 2004 when I voted for the Asshat In Charge. I was wrong. I admit that. That's one of the many reasons why I'm supporting the only Republican with an anti-war message.
What is surprising to me is that the Army is letting these officers separate. You may not know it if you were enlisted, but officers' resignations do not have to be accepted by their commanders. An officer can be retained on duty for as long as his or her commanders desire. That's part of the employment contract, and one of the disadvantages of being an officer vs. an enlisted -- an enlisted can be stop-lossed if in the field at the end of his 8-year commitment but once back from Iraq, separation is mandatory.
On the other hand, I suppose that a large officer corps of smart disgruntled men who no longer wish to be officers has its own implications for army discipline...
Well, Badtux, I really don't think the Army wants a whole lot of Capt. Dilligafs running around. For one thing, every one would complain to his/her congresscritter that "I did all of the service for which I am obligated and those fuckers won't let me go."
The Army does except lateral transfers from the Navy, now, but do you really want a guy who couldn't hack it as a shipdriver or pork chop leading people into combat?
Sorry, that is "accept", not "except."
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