Army faces a major officer shortage (Sen. Hagel: "Ruining the Army")

[Barrett808]

Army faces a major officer shortage
Sig Christenson
Express-News Military Writer

Army Capt. Jeanne Hull put in her walking papers after 10 months in Bosnia and logging back-to-back stints in Mosul and Baghdad that ran two years.

Tired of war and ready for something new, the West Point graduate set her sights on graduate school. She wasn't alone.

"A lot a lot of my classmates, if they are not out already, a lot of them want to get out," said Hull, 27, of Colorado Springs, Colo.

The Army expects to be short 2,500 captains and majors this year, with the number rising to 3,300 in 2007. These officers are the Army's seed corn, the people who 10 years from now should be leading battalions and brigades.

"We're ruining an Army that took us 30 years to build," Republican maverick Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., told a group of reporters at a recent conference.

(more)

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA040806.17A.retention_bump.12f4345e.html

[RedEarth]

1. Ruining the army...... thank you george

[WhiteTara]

22. really, we can thank Rummy for that

he purged the officers who didn't like his ideas long ago.

[JackintheGreen]

2. We don't need an army to turn Iran into a sheet of glass

</sarcasm>

[Deja Q]

6. If that happens, nobody will have to worry about window panes...

1. Most of us would die in the global nuclear holocaust.

2. The survivors can't live underground forever. And those who do would eventually feel better off dead.

Hence

3. It will not happen. Those in power are more inclined to put up a big sham, and secretly move out.

Assuming that

4. These other countries truly don't loathe us these days.

[JackintheGreen]

8. Don't you watch Star Trek?

Regarding #2:

Those women (the ones with the pain-inducing collars) lived undergound for centuries and only lured Kirk down to the planet for snoo snoo.

Or am I mixing up shows again?

[Barrett808]

9. Actually, they only wanted Spock's lovely brain

To run their spiffy underground bunker complex. Presumably, the poor, barbaric males on the surface were occasionally abducted for reproductive purposes in addition to "pain and delight."

As usual Kirk & Co. arrive on scene to effect a little regime change.

[Buns_of_Fire]

27. ...AND get a little "snoo snoo" for ol' J.T., of course!

'Twas his "Prim(al) Directive," so to speak. :evilgrin:

[reprobate]

19. Look on the bright side. No more waiting for global warming. It'll be here

[IndianaGreen]

3. Time to turn our swords into plowshares

If anything good comes out of the Bush's reign of terror, it will be that Americans will lose their appetite for empire and warmongering for generations to come.

[Demeter]

7. Time to Turn Our Criminals Into Jailbirds

It's a matter of the horse before the cart.

[tabasco]

17. My God let's hope so.

We spend as much on "defense" as the rest of the world combined.

Half a trillion $$$$ every year.

Just think what we could do for the American People with money being stolen by the war profiteers.

[reprobate]

20. IG, if I were a religious man that would be my prayer.

[Deja Q]

4. Well, give Americans something to fight FOR and they will.

We've seen what's going on and I don't blame anybody for not signing up.

Even vets who voted for * are increasingly livid over his sheer disrespect for soldiers and veterans. And a noteworthy quantity of them happen to be Republican.

[WhiteTara]

21. how about planetary survival

if we turned our attention to the real problems which all come from global warming, we could end massive numbers of problems that stem from greed.

[JohnyCanuck]

5. Blackwater can provide officers.

I am sure they will provide volume discounts on large orders as well.

[TomInTib]

10. Or they can promote semi-literate enlisteds up to the ranks of

commissoned officers.

Mustangs, we used to call them.

I was one of those, several times.

[YDogg]

34. Why would Blackwater employees take such a huge pay cut?

Don't they make lots of dough?

[A Simple Game]

11. The shortfall of 3300 captains equals one captain for each

155 people in an army of 512,000. That is just the shortfall, how many captains do they need?

Can anyone argue that the army is not top heavy?

[tabasco]

18. Captains do all the work.

Captains are the staff guys working 18-hour days every day in battalion and brigade staffs.

Captains are the company commanders.

Captains are the guys doing all the work in the Army (among officers), the lower-mid grade officers who the Army can crap on and abuse.

A Captain is an O-3, not a real high ranking officer, just above a First Lieutenant.

So the number of Captains doesn't really make the military top-heavy. Most of them actually work their asses off.

The number of Colonels and Generals would make the Army top-heavy, not the Captains.


on edit: among officers

[A Simple Game]

39. Thanks for the information.

Sounds like the captains are getting shafted.

[Wapsie B]

12. But.....but Clinton feminized the military......*

It's all Clinton's fault!

*obligatory Clinton bashing

[Zorra]

13. Another example of how Bu*h/republicans are weakening national

security.

The insane decision to invade Iraq will weaken recruitment in the armed forces for many years to come, and will cause many soldiers to forego re-enlistment.

We must leave Iraq immediately or we will no longer have enough people in the armed forces to protect our own borders.

[tabasco]

14. My last job on active duty was as an Army ROTC instructor.

At a major university in a conservative area, about the time of the first selection.

Several young republican cadets who were so happy that Bush won and Sore Loserman lost
(there were liberal and don't give a damn cadets too).

I imagine a lot of them have changed their minds, since they have been exposed to the real world.

I'm glad I got out.

[MrPrax]

15. This problem begs for a ready-made

solution...lemme think...the 'draft'!!! Too many damn young people living at home and taking for granted that 'freedom' stuff.

The young folks just don't understand that the 'tree of liberty' isn't some maryjane grow-op, it needs to be watered with the 'blood of patriots', once in awhile, damn it!! If too many bones pile up around the 'orchards of freedom', then you crush them for the phosphrus and fertilize the 'soil of civilization'.

Gardening would solve this officer shortage!!


This solution brought to you by
the Young Republicans of Champaign County Gardening Club

[sutz12]

24. There is a problem there, though....

generally speaking, they don't draft officers, except in specialties like medicine and law. Officers are supposed to join out of their loyalty to country and class. One needs a degree to be considered as an officer.

A drain in company grade officers is very serious. It degrades performance now, and erodes the command structure of the future. This is really bad news if we hope to maintain our status as a 'superpower.' Of course, one could argue that we have already lost much of that, given the state of international opinion.

[MrPrax]

25. Yeah real bad news...

But isn't more likely that the officers are leaving for the same reason a lot are leaving and that is to go and make the big bucks with the various merc outfits--lot less work and way more money.

The officer corp/professionals is generally chock a blockful of ambitious greedy people who see their service as little more than an opportunity to network and land a lucartive civillian job in the MIC anyway.

I really don't buy the 'crisis' that is being suggested by this RePuke anyway.

AND YES a draft would include, one presumes, a pool of competent folks who could be tapped for officer school, no? In fact, you would be nuts if you got drafted and didn't tell them you had an engineering degree or an MBA--they would scoop you after basic training in a city minute. All militaries keep an eye for guys that are good at stuff like counting.

[tabasco]

26. LMAO!

I'd like to see the old republicans in Champaign County!

What museum are they in?

[MrPrax]

30. Good one...!!

Feel Free To Share with the
Circle

:yourock:

[llmart]

16. Oh, but I always thought it was the librul Dems........

who ruined the military? Isn't that the meme?

It's Republicans who ruined the military by abusing them.

[IndyOp]

23. Yeah! Dismantle the standing army!

The military and CIA have undertaken over 250 operations since World War II that have done NOTHING but put our lives in danger. I want the 'standing army' taken apart. We have over 700 military bases in over 130 nations around the world. Our nation is well on the way to collapsing just as the USSR did - as a result of internal corruption and outrageous over-investment in the military.

IMPORTANT: My cheering for the demise in the US military is not without consideration for military families - we must immediately find decent-wage, secure jobs for all personnel. Education, health, construction, business -- we can make room.

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/1567510523.01._BO2,204,203,200_PIlitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,32,-59_AA240_SH20_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II
by William Blum

Well-informed readers may already be familiar with the basic idea. In brief, the U.S. Government during the latter half of the twentieth century waged numerous secret little wars, of one kind or another, against foreign governments and groups of which it did not approve. The avowed purpose was usually to contain a perceived communist menace. In actuality, what might be called communist means were employed to achieve this end. These means involved spying, wiretapping, propaganda at home and abroad; the rigging of or interfering with elections; the granting of monetary and military aid to dictatorships and violent opposition groups; the training of same in methods of subversion, torture and terror. All this and more was done without Congressional approval or oversight. The American people were lied to by government officials to keep it that way. A complaisant media helped it happen.

The above is fairly common knowledge. However, though it breaks little new ground, Mr. Blum's book's sheer comprehensiveness makes it an invaluable resource, which is my first reason for recommending it. In 383 packed pages of narrative appended with 56 pages of source citations, Mr. Blum presents the essential facts--and horrors--of more than 55 U.S. military/CIA foreign interventions since WWII. For readers ignorant of these goings-on, the total impact will be mind-blowing. For those, such as myself, already somewhat acquainted with them, the effect is still staggering. Noam Chomsky, quoted on the back cover, calls it "Far and away the best book on the topic." I see no reason to dispute him.

Real Shock & Awe: After 15 Years War, Sanctions 1,000,000 Iraqis Dead
<http://journals.democraticunderground.com/IndyOp/4>

[cliss]

32. Well, if it's any consolation -

Bush has done his best to dismantle the CIA, as well. There have been articles about how Bush has gutted that organization; eliminated dissenters, bypassed them and created his own "CIA"; Cheney's special ops people. There has been tremendous anger from intelligence experts, analysts. And look at what they did to Valerie Plame; it was meant as a warning to all CIA agents: watch out.

Bush's extreme incompetence has trashed that organzation, also.

Re: the bases: you're so right about the bases and our military spending. I've seen some pie charts, and they are astonishing. The US spends more on military spending than all other countries combined. A lot more.

And yet, for all their bravado, I always get these vibes of desperation, like they're sailing into uncharted waters, and they're not sure how it's going to turn out. They've always struck me as riveboat gamblers, go-for-broke attitude. We are truly bankrupt now.

[Dover]

28. First steps to privatization... >

A hostile corporate takeover:

They 'ruin' the Armed Services
They 'ruin' Pensions
They 'ruin' Health services
They 'ruin' Unions
They 'ruin' States' Rights
They 'ruin' FEMA
They 'ruin' the CIA
They 'ruin' the FBI
They 'ruin' the Law
They 'ruin' the Treasury'
They 'ruin' the Constitution
They 'ruin' the Bill of Rights
They 'ruin' Government
They 'ruin' the Planet


And then it's theirs....all theirs. Corporate Governance, of the planet, by the corporation, for the corporation.

[Rex]

29. Keep an eye on Hagel

2008 will be his if we don't fix the voting fraud and fast!

[kansasblue]

35. Hagel. He a tough one to figure out. Could he save the country?

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm

In 1996, Hagel became the first elected Republican Nebraska senator in 24 years when he did surprisingly well in an election where the votes were verified by the company he served as chairman and maintained a financial investment. In both the 1996 and 2002 elections, Hagel’s ES&S counted an estimated 80% of his winning votes. Due to the contracting out of services, confidentiality agreements between the State of Nebraska and the company kept this matter out of the public eye. Hagel’s first election victory was described as a “stunning upset” by one Nebraska newspaper.

[cassiepriam]

31. What hasn't Bush ruined? Everything he touches turns to *&*!/ nt

[Barrett808]

36. He does seem to be the anti-Midas -- the "merde" touch. n/t

[cassiepriam]

38. Yep, everyone has a gift :( nt

[Massachusetts]

33. Chimp continues tp REPEAT history....

running our country into the ground, just like he did with his previous business ventures.

[lovuian]

37. Yep the Republicans are...

These very bright people have figured out who they are working for and he sucks!!!

[Joey Liberal]

40. Wait till Bush changes the military retirement plan

If they can't keep officers now, it'll only get worse when they implement the new military retirement plan.