Young Army Officers leaving service in large numbers

[BOSSHOG]

Not only are retired Generals bitching about the lack of leadership and competence from the White House but Junior Officers are baling at the first opportunity.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/10/washington/10army.html?th&emc=th

Would some flag waving conservative please jump in here and explain this to me. Maybe the NY Times is just making it up. Or maybe its Clinton's fault. Surely it couldn't be bush's fault, he's perfect in every way. Gas pushing 3 bucks a gallon and the future leaders of our Army are going away. Thanks "conservatives."

[The White Tree]

1. So who's quitting and who'd staying.

I just got done reading this artocle on Yahoo's web page. It sounds a little slanted:

Army surpassing year's retention goal by 15%
<http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20060410/ts_usatoday/armysurpassingyearsretentiongoalby15>

Two of every three eligible soldiers continue to re-enlist, putting the Army, which has endured most of the fighting in Iraq, ahead of its annual goal.

The Army was 15% ahead of its re-enlistment goal of 34,668 for the first six months of fiscal year 2006, which ended March 31. More than 39,900 soldiers had re-enlisted, according to figures scheduled to be released today by the Army.

The Army has met or exceeded its goals for retention for the past five years, records show. It was 8% over its goal for 2005, and 7% ahead of its targets for 2004. The number of re-enlistments has exceeded the Army's goal by a larger margin each year since 2001.

The last paragraph is kind of interesting in relation to your post:

The Army accounts for age when it accepts soldiers for re-enlistment, Hilferty says. While the Army has fewer privates and more specialists than in the past, he says, the age structure is balanced. "We're aware of it, and we're considering it."

It is all very confusing.

[BOSSHOG]

2. Enlisted Personnel in the Army

are reenlisting but Junior Officers are not maintaining the retention rate needed to ensure senior leadership in the future (per NYT article.) More than the Army would like are leaving after their initial commitment. Continuous combat duty could do that to a young Captain.

[sarge43]

4. I'm really curious about the junior noncom retention rate.

If those folks start to bail, the Army's in the hurt locker.

[BOSSHOG]

5. Hey Sarge

Back to back to back combat tours can really be a great motivator to get out and it can definitely be tracked back to leadership or lack thereof on the civilian side of the ledger. A Master Sergeant with 18 years can rationalize hanging around to hit that 20 year mark but a 20 year old Corporal with two purple hearts and orders back to Iraq has other thoughts in his head. Such a shame the PNACers of the world didn't take into consideration worse case scenarios.

Welcome aboard teammate!

[sarge43]

7. GMTA, Boss

Yeah, an E-7 with a good shot at E-8 on the fourth hitch will probably hang in, but that Corporal looks around and sees E-6s at 19 years and holding, plus the spousal unit is getting difficult about the life, the motivation is, mmmmm, thin.

I'd also like to see a breakdown of the MOSs what are staying or splitting.

Boss, the PNACers are so far up Denial they've just past the Third Cataract. Anyway we all know that grunts are just kleenex, plenty more where they came from.

Good to be here; so, when does the Club open?

[atreides1]

3. Retention=Reup or get Stop Lossed

The enlisted personnel are probably where most of the re-enlistments are coming from, most are staying in because of the great employment opportunities offered by the Bush economics program.

But, retention only means that the numbers stay the same, besides, how many were given the option of re-enlisting or being Stop Lossed?

[JPZenger]

6. Leaving to Run for Congress as Dems

Yes, they are leaving to run for Congress at Democrats.

www.murphy06.com

[Muddy Waters Guitar]

8. Yeah, and Bush and GOP in Congress cutting vet benefits

Bushco people are happy to wave the flag when they think it will get them extra "cannon fodder" for the war in Iraq. But when it comes time to actually support the people who've given so much for our country, Bush and his colleagues are at the forefront of cutting indispensible veterans' benefits. No wonder so many of our best and brightest prospects are leaving the military-- they sense, rightly, that they'll be shafted in spite of their service.

[Neil Lisst]

9. Bush has beaten the ground pounders to death.

I can't imagine what it's like for these guys who have gotten deployed 3 and 4 times, often with less than a year in between. The havoc on their wives, their children must be horrific.

And for what?

I'm not surprised younger officers are bailing out.

[sarge43]

10. The havoc ....

I was a teacher's aide at our local elementary. The father of one of the boys in our class was deployed for a second time. The kid had a near nervous breakdown from stress and fear.

For what?

Greed and power.

[Neil Lisst]

11. and for a pissant like Bush, who hid out in the Guard, and bailed on that

That guy told the Reserves "FU" and took off. He knew he wasn't going to get called up, and if so, he would not be flying, by his refusal to undergo the physical.

Anyone else would have found his ass in Vietnam or Greenland or maybe Guam, serving out his years on active duty.

[sarge43]

13. Wake Island is where I would have dropped his ass

Three miles long, half mile wide, the Club is a shack with a curtain door and the only females for a thousand miles are the Gooney birds.

[Neil Lisst]

14. Guam. The snakes. He's afraid of everything.

I'm sure they'd drive him crazy.

He could get drunk on Wake, but on Guam, if he gets too drunk, THE SNAKES WILL COME GET HIM!!

[sarge43]

15. Nah, Wake

"I was a butter bar, sent to Wake Island, made morale officer and then the bastards lost both my pay and personnel records."

We have vays of dealing with you.

But I do like the snakes.

[Stinky The Clown]

12. I'm with ya on this one, BOSSHOG

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2561318

There's real toruble right here in River City (or is it Baghdad on the Potomac?)

[Jeffersons Ghost]

16. Who can blame them

While Zumwalt got weird and trashed the uniform at least we knew there some semblance of leadership at the top. How would you guys have liked it if a presidential draft dodger was ignoring top brass and making all the decisions?

[DinahMoeHum]

17. Those young officers are at the end of their 5-year obligation, correct?

The 5-year service obligation after OCS, ROTC, or the service academy?

:smoke:

[sarge43]

18. Would assume so

The Army wouldn't let go of them otherwise.