Friday, November 14, 2003
The Army is Broken
The US Army’s personnel system is an utter, complete, miserable failure.
Here’s why:
A regimental sized active duty unit, such as our former parent unit the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, can expect a planeload or so of individual replacements every month.
A guard or reserve unit in Iraq, on the other hand, can expect no replacements. My own battalion has engaged the enemy continuously since May without receiving one single individual replacement except a surgeon.
While thousands of active duty soldiers are returning to civilian life at the end of their enlistments, the army’s stop-loss policy—lifted in March for most active duty soldiers, will force more than 100 soldiers in my battalion to serve involuntarily beyond their terms of enlistments. Some of them by more than a year.
While active duty troops may transfer to accept promotions, our troops are not even considered. My battalion commander, LTC Hector Mirabile, lost a promised bird-colonel’s job, and guaranteed promotion, all because he went to war. Because his allowable time to accept a promotion will have expired while we’re deployed, he will fall off the selection list for promotion to colonel, and will have to reapply. Some pogue who stayed at home will get the job instead, and we’ll probably lose a veteran commander.
The unit and mission are suffering, as a result.
Meanwhile, our unit has been deployed for eight months, and engaged in combat for six, without replacing a single grunt. The ramifications are frightening. What if we weren't fighting a simmering counterinsurgency, but a mid- or high-intensity war somewhere?
How long could we hold the line in Korea?
Here’s why:
A regimental sized active duty unit, such as our former parent unit the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, can expect a planeload or so of individual replacements every month.
A guard or reserve unit in Iraq, on the other hand, can expect no replacements. My own battalion has engaged the enemy continuously since May without receiving one single individual replacement except a surgeon.
While thousands of active duty soldiers are returning to civilian life at the end of their enlistments, the army’s stop-loss policy—lifted in March for most active duty soldiers, will force more than 100 soldiers in my battalion to serve involuntarily beyond their terms of enlistments. Some of them by more than a year.
While active duty troops may transfer to accept promotions, our troops are not even considered. My battalion commander, LTC Hector Mirabile, lost a promised bird-colonel’s job, and guaranteed promotion, all because he went to war. Because his allowable time to accept a promotion will have expired while we’re deployed, he will fall off the selection list for promotion to colonel, and will have to reapply. Some pogue who stayed at home will get the job instead, and we’ll probably lose a veteran commander.
The unit and mission are suffering, as a result.
Meanwhile, our unit has been deployed for eight months, and engaged in combat for six, without replacing a single grunt. The ramifications are frightening. What if we weren't fighting a simmering counterinsurgency, but a mid- or high-intensity war somewhere?
How long could we hold the line in Korea?
Comments:
Post a Comment
