Posted on 04/21/2014 6:01:42 PM PDT by Timber Rattler
After the 9/11 attacks, tens of thousands of young men and women joined the military, heading for the rugged mountains of Afghanistan and dusty deserts of Iraq.
Many of them now are officers in the Army with multiple combat deployments under their belts. But as the wars wind down and Pentagon budgets shrink, a lot of them are being told they have to leave.
It's painful and frustrating. In quiet conversations at Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Eustis in Virginia, captains talk about their new worries after 15-month deployments in which they battled insurgents and saw roadside bombs kill and maim their comrades. They nervously wait as their fates rest in the hands of evaluation boards that may spend only a few minutes reading through service records before making decisions that could end careers.
(Excerpt) Read more at stripes.com ...
Just like in the civilian world. The old are feeding on the young. It’s sick.
You should try to move good people into various reserve positions (I’m not talking about Guard units, although that might be a good option for some). Could be IRR (individual ready reserve), if we’re talking NCOs and officers. Shrink the active duty and expand the reserves.
If you don’t have enough marginal people to meet the down-sizing quota, you should then call for volunteers (meaning, those who’d accept a modest buy-out offer). Let those who can have a soft-landing identify themselves. We’re talking of good people. People you’d like to keep in the military. So, let the ones who have good private-sector opportunities identify themselves.
The difference being that in the Army at least they had an early out option and also offered early retirements. I wonder how many NCO’s & Officers with 15 or more years will be told to leave?
Just another RIF after a period of war the goobermint sheds itself of all the heroes and we are left with the nonachievers.
Why do we put up with it and why do we continue? Why not hang up our seat-worn uniforms and join the civilian sector? Because in the end we know our jobs are important and that that our Army would not be successful without us. But more importantly, we know that prior to leaving the Army and entering the retirement rolls, we will be in the most powerful positions in the Army. No… we won’t be generals or commanders, or even high powered staffers. We will likely still be Majors, passed over twice, sitting in dimly-lit offices in the basement of the pentagon, with longer than regulation haircuts, rumpled uniforms, unkempt mustaches and a bottle of scotch in the bottom right-hand drawer of our desks. We will be the most powerful men in the Army because we will be Majors getting ready to retire with nothing to lose by telling you exactly what we think, consequences be damned…We will be the most dangerous men in the Army.
Quoted from the manifesto of the League of Disgruntled Majors..
yep - 25% of my peers bit it one week in 1992.
Good reminder. I remember it too. It’s almost as if they wanted to remove anyone exhibiting moral authority independent of the chain of command. BTW, another reminder the Bush clan are not our friends.
The reason to purge good people from the ranks is to make sure the left overs follow orders to pull down on Americans. Based on the people I know that are active duty, the big plan these politicians have been trying to shove down won’t work.
My thought exactly.
I had a friend who was a major in the air force, with 18 years in. He didn’t make the cut to LTC. So they offered him a master sergeant’s rank and position. He took it, and got to 20 years and a pension.
Does such an option exist today?
~As the Social Welfare State grows out of control, as the Government Debt service eats up more and more of the budget something has to give way, something has to shrink.~
Guess who are (a welfate queen or a military patriot) more valuable for a democrat government and why?
Well, in 1992, the military had an excess of officers and needed to cull the ranks. The Soviet Union had disintegrated, and the threat was considerably lower.
My old man was regular Air Force from WW2 on. He said the military and naval reductions from 1945 to 1950 were staggering.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.