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.
It’s obvious you are an active component officer (what used to be called the Regular Army) & your insights are appreciated.
Those two who were nonselect for O-4 must not have gotten their required schools if performance was not an issue. I’ve known some fine officers who neglected that simple detail & were passed over.
The captains I saw RIFd in 1973 were all company commanders in a BCT battalion; in fact nearly all the O-2s & O-3s in the brigade were VN qualified & most of us were aviators.
As I had noted, during the worst combat attrition years, year group 1967 through 1969, degree requirements were lowered. When RIF time came with most of those officers having fine combat performance records, some criterion had to be found.
In the current climate, officers thought to be less than subservient to the Obama agenda & are being separated are mostly O-7 & above, or so the suspicion goes.
But the cycle of cutting too deep w/o planning for future conflicts hasn’t changed. Real question: does the Army still have ten maneuver divisions?