Wait a minute now, hold up!
I am an advocate for the troops when it comes to fairness, as I was in for 22 years and retired a Senior Master Sergeant. Good senior NCOs look out for the younger troops and NCOs.
There was a problem here. They shut down all the leadership academies due to Covid so these people couldn’t go. I won’t argue the Covid restrictions weren’t stupid, they were. But what is a soldier supposed to do? Another stripe gives them more pay and responsibility, but through no fault of their own they can’t go the leadership academies and therefore can’t get promoted??? I’ll bet they still get saddled with the extra responsibility, because it’s always there despite who’s in charge.
That’s adding insult to injury.
So the Army is going to wave the academy requirement for a couple of grades temporarily and everyone is angry about it?
I think this is a good thing until they can alleviate the backlog and get the academies flowing again. It’s not the fault of the enlisted men that the system screwed up so badly.
My dad joined the Army Air Corps in 1940 and retired as a Senior Master Sergeant in 1964. He loved serving his country and was very proud of what he accomplished in the USAF. That being said, I’d hesitate to encourage my grandchildren to sign up now, which is very sad.