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| US Army faces shortage of junior officers |
| 2007-05-16 |
| The US Army, stretched thin by wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, has only half of the senior captains it needs and will offer money and other incentives to keep those officers, according to a memo obtained by Reuters on Monday. The number of senior captains, or captains closest to promotion, stands at just 51 percent of the Army’s requirements, according to a memo from Col George Lockwood, director of officer personnel management at the Army’s Human Resources Command. Lockwood said the strains of the US-declared “Global War on Terror” had contributed to the shortage of officers at the rank of captain. Previous decisions to promote officers more quickly to meet targets for Army majors — the rank above captain - also had hurt the number of junior officers available, he said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #18 Captain is the first rank when serious up-or-out comes into play. A Lt is usually promoted to Captain just before his first 4-year tour is up. When he re-ups, then he either goes to his officer advanced course, which means he is on the promotion track; or he doesn't, which means that he will stay a Captain. In either case, he stays a Captain for another four years. But on the promotions track it means that he will be going to school after school; maybe even go for a Master's degree; the non-promotable Captain is going to get more unit experience. In time of war, the non-promotable Captains are the ones you want at the front, because they will stay with their units and not get pulled away for TDY. Ironically, the promotable Captains *have* to do all that TDY, instead of staying on the front, because otherwise you will start getting under-qualified Majors. And because Majors are essential to staff functions, that can get very bad in a hurry, screwing up higher headquarters. Interestingly, in the Canadian army, the RSM is able to take over command of a Battalion and act as Commander or Executive Officer if needed in time of war, with what amounts to a field promotion to LTC. In the US military, gaps in Major and above can be filled with Chief Warrant Officers, And W-1's and W-2's could be pulled out of maintenance technical jobs to act as Company Commanders. (Though the language involved in that transfer could probably burn off a car's paint down to the primer.) |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-05-16 20:40 |
| #17 Figuring that after 2008 elections there isn't much future in it? |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-05-16 20:35 |
| #16 Hell, sure fire-way to the Presidency is to propose a Strategic-Major-Supply, the Nation would take upon it-self to stockpile thousands and thousands of Majors and release them as needed during times of crisis. This will also kick-start the moribund National Cosmolene Committee and stir the Kapok Reserve. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-05-16 18:49 |
| #15 I mean it was laka Majors that like ended the assault on 'em Richmond, Paris, Warsaw, Moscow, Berlin and Fallujah, cant we lern from History? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-05-16 18:44 |
| #14 You can have to many Majors? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-05-16 18:40 |
| #13 LOL the used to have TOO MANY O-4s in the service, the more things change..... |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2007-05-16 18:32 |
| #12 how about making the seargeants who know what they are doing the jrs' |
| Posted by: sinse 2007-05-16 18:19 |
| #11 how is our supply of e6s and E7s? In the same boat as O-3s. This is why expansion of the military is so hard. It is relatively easy to get new O-1s and O-2s, but good O-3s only come with experience. The same thing happened in WWII. We expanded 26 fold in 4 years. We were pretty good from division on up and from company on down. But we had a shortage of good-mid ranking officers. Al |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2007-05-16 14:44 |
| #10 how is our supply of e6s and E7s? |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2007-05-16 12:31 |
| #9 And put LDOs and warrants as CO commanders for support jobs. No need to put and officer into an electronics job, nor a trained blanket folder into an O4 staff billet. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2007-05-16 11:57 |
| #8 Grunt the Company commander course at Benning is 6 months, teaches you the basics of writing op-ords, manuever a company in the field, etc. Nothing there any E7 worth a damn couldn't handle. Take his 7 stripes as indicating he knows his filed, especially combat arms. Straight to O-3, and push the cap to the right on the payscale O-3E. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2007-05-16 11:56 |
| #7 Good comments. I'm a senior enlisted type with 14 years. I have a MBA degree, but I'm not going to 1 year of "boot" training (OCS, TBS and MOS schools) to become a O-1 at the bottom of the food chain. Plus once you pass the paygrade of O-3E (A captain with prior enlisted service), you are maxed out with your years of service pay increases due to an antiquated payscale. You could always do more LDO (Limited Duty Officers) promtions for warrant officers into 0-3/0-4 billets. I like the direct commission idea Old Spook has. |
| Posted by: 0369_Grunt 2007-05-16 10:34 |
| #6 Take solid E6s, put them through OCS and company commander school in building 4 at Benning. Instant 1st Lt, promotable after 1 year in grade. Take your best E7's and brevet them to O3 after they do the command course. That gives you all the captains you need in a year's time. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2007-05-16 10:15 |
| #5 "More like everybody's been promoted and there aren't enough kids with hard skills coming out of college willing to join up." reread your post. There isnt a shortage of 2nd lts. Its always possible to get more 2nd lts, no? The shortage is senior captains, captains ready to become majors. Problem, I guess, is all the first lts and less senior captains whove done their third tour in Iraq, got sick of it, and found a career outside the army. Thats why A. The surge is basically our last chance - if theirs no rock solid case for progress by, oh, September, we're back to the Casey plan of gradual withdrawl, at the minimum. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2007-05-16 09:45 |
| #4 Compared to the qualifications for senior NCOs, 20 or 30 years ago, most today would have clearly been commissioned officers. What the service doesn't do, is relook fundamentals. If you expect your E6+ to have an associates degree for promotion [done often on his own time], is it any different than many 01s you had just a couple of decades back. So what the heck, you assign a shave tail O1 to run an outfit with a 15 or 16 year E7 who has a bachelors degree and practical experience. Huh? Is O1 nothing more than a probation period to socialize into the program? Point being is that the services are locked into a pre-20th century rank and organization structure which imbues a mind set that create its own sets of problems. Personnel management hasn't been a strong suit for the military - Previous decisions to promote officers more quickly to meet targets for Army majors — the rank above captain - also had hurt the number of junior officers available, he said. Like no one did a projection of requirements and needs this act would propagate? Duh. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-05-16 09:03 |
| #3 Recruitment and retention drop when the economy is strong -- better pay in the private sector. But FC has a good point. It was a factor for me, and it comes up when Mr. exJAG and I discuss whether he should git while the gittin's good. |
| Posted by: exJAG 2007-05-16 03:50 |
| #2 More like everybody's been promoted and there aren't enough kids with hard skills coming out of college willing to join up. |
| Posted by: Fred 2007-05-16 02:32 |
| #1 Maybe they don't like having George "ROP" Bush as their CIC. |
| Posted by: FeralCat 2007-05-16 00:58 |