“Thank you for your service. Now get lost.”
I was a 1st Lt in Vietnam in 1972 & watched combat qualified captains get sent home in the middle of the Easter Offensive when the NVA came at us full bore with tanks galore.
A year later there was another captain RIF that targeted those lacking a year of college or so, otherwise superbly qualified officers. Time in grade for 1LT had been extended so I dodged another bullet.
Then my four year tour ran out in 1974 with no vol indefs being issued. Joined the National Guard, they asked “are you a captain?” No, I said, still a 1LT. Then we’ll take you, they said. Dodged still another bullet.
During Vietnam company grade officers were being killed so fast that you went from zero to captain in two years after commissioning.
Ten months to prepare for civilian life? Those VN-era captains had sixty days from notification to out.
Every war it’s the same, drawdowns trump tactical needs. War waged by beancounters.
The Officer Separation Board is not employing such ridiculous methods of selection. From what I understand, after Desert Storm the Army offered separation bonuses to anyone who’d take them, so they had a tremendous brain drain. The Army is desperately trying to avoid that mistake again. Problem children are the first on the chopping block. I’ve know a few people who’ve been cut, and let’s just say it was very well deserved.
There are two others I know who didn’t make promotion to O-4, and they will be cut which I find interesting. I don’t know them very well, but they appear to be good officers.
I know my observations are speed bumps on the “They’re kicking out Christians who aren’t loyal to Obama and won’t fire on US citizens!” FReeper road, but I’ve seen nothing so insidious. The main reason I can attest to that is that most of the folks I’ve grown up with in the Army are still here and getting promoted, and they haven’t canned me yet.