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Saturday, June 11, 2005

The 15-month enlistment a good idea 
The Washington Post has this to say:

Now, the Army's latest desperate attempt to gain recruits is a shortened, 15-month enlistment policy. A 15-month enlistment means that soldiers will receive only basic and advanced individual training, but none of the team and unit training our premier soldiers traditionally receive. These recruits will be shipped off to war after only five months of training, deployed to units in combat where they know no one. These inexperienced soldiers will be at an enormous disadvantage and the casualties among them will be bound to reflect that disadvantage.

The 15-month enlistment is exactly the replacement policy the Army has proudly rejected since the Vietnam War. This flawed approach was instituted then because of the urgent need to replace casualties. We ended up with units of inadequately trained soldiers who didn't know each other and weren't fully cohesive teams. The result was high casualties among the newly arrived, inexperienced soldiers -- and it will likely be the result again. It would probably be better to maintain high standards and not reduce training time, even if this leads to temporary shortages.


The Post's concerns, I think, are overblown. First of all, outside of the infantry, I don't think such troops will be at any particular disadvantage. Urban combat battle drills are the exception - there's no substitute for rehearsing clearing a room or stairwell with your squad. But good squad leaders will bring the new kids up to speed shortly.

The Army isn't looking at these kids as 15-month, disposable soldiers. Rather, consider it the "puppydog close." Take the puppy home with you and you're going to want to keep it.

The Army knows it is better right now at keeping existing soldiers than at enlisting new ones. The 15 month enlistment gets them in the door. It gets the puppydog home. A good number of these 15-monthers will sign 4 or 6 year enlistments, IN THEATER, where they can get the full reenlistment bonus, tax free.

The Viet Nam problem wasn't the kids. Those kids were good soldiers. America was served well by our draftees. The big personnel problem in Viet Nam was the bleeding of the NCO corps, which forced the Army to appoint NCOs (and officers) who were too young or otherwise had no business being NCOs and officers. (Think Lieutenant Calley).

With retention rates still strong among NCOs, we're not likely to face that problem, soon. Our Iraq veteran NCOs are magnificent soldiers, and by and large, they are staying in to pursue more leadership positions. Our 15 month enlistees are in capable hands.

Officers are more difficult to come by, chiefly because of the education requirement. Recently the Army has lifted the old age limit on reserve component soldiers in OCS from 35 to over 40.

I think that's a good thing.

In my Guard unit, the average age of the lieutenants and XOs in the unit was around 33. This is much older than the average LT in the active component, and I think it's an advantage in every way.

Brand new butterbars are often too young for their jobs. They always have been. Fortunately, their idealism and bravery has made up for a multitude of sins, and we've gotten good service out of our lieutenants over the years, too. But in reality, too many active duty LTs are just captains in training.

The older LTs are worth their weight in gold. They've been NCOs before. They've been around the block. They know their troops better and they know their problems better, and they know themselves better.

I think 40 year old platoon leaders are a great idea. We should bring back the direct commissioning program and give our very best NCOs - the ones who have already proven themselves in combat - the chance to become officers directly. If it doesn't work out, he can always go back to being an NCO.

I'm not worried about the educational requirement. I think if the Army can establish a good, solid ROTC program that INCLUDES THE IVY-LEAGUE SCHOOLS, we will continue to get our share of badly-needed warrior intellectuals. But insisting on an arbitrary number of college credits doesn't attract intellectuals so much as it weeds out successful civilians who run businesses and have other things to do with their lives in adulthood than sit in a classroom.

And many of these intellects are powerful intellects, indeed, too. They just don't have the piece of paper that says so.

Splash, out

Jason

Comments:
We have the same problem in our little corner of industry. I work for an "artisan" type company, a small chemical manufacturer (metal halides for lamps). Our management insists on hiring college grads for technician positions, while paying them entry-level manufacturing wages. Needless to say, you get the bottom of the barrel grads who can't get better jobs in their fields of study.

I for one would much rather have a blue-collar worker (read NCO) with native intelligence that I could teach the basics of chemical safety. Our wages are much more in line with these types of people, who will bring a stronger work ethic to a job they appreciate. Needless to say, management doesn't listen to me.
 
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