In every war, the Army has done that.
Direct commissions to good SFC through CSM; generally to 1LT or CPT and for CWOs to 1LT through MAJ, age and experience dependent. Most will not be promoted above the appointment grade (except 1LT to CPT), will serve three years and then revert to their former enlisted or warrant rank, maybe 5-10% will serve longer. After Viet Nam, some of those directly commissioned were not allowed to go back to their former rank but were given severance pay and tossed.
My pet was those Aviator Warrants who were given direct Commissions as CPT, served three years and then were not allowed to go back to WO but were discharged COG...
Took the best and brightest, commissioned 'em, let 'em serve three years and then threw 'em out. Brilliant.
Some NCOS and CWOs will turn it down because they don't want to be Officers for many reasons, others because they realize it's three years and out for most unless they're smiled upon by the fates.
Some answers and some guesses...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
patmc
Ken...Is this currently in effect? I have not yet met anyone that has gone this route. All the older guys in my class are NG, Reserve, or coming back to Active Duty. Aside from the obligatory old-man jokes during class, they are great guys and great resource for youngin' like me.
Ski knows more than I do, I was just saying there's a lot historical precedent for it. If they're taking SGM/CSMWO4 straight to MAJ now, that's an improvement over earlier practice where CPT was essentially as high as the initial commissioning went. It worked well during Korea and Viet Nam. In the VN era, I know two former NCOs who went all the way to LTC, two to MAJ and got to 10 or more years commissioned service but most left as CPT after three or four years.
Quote:
Every commander wants as much manpower as he/she can get, and a lot of battalions are running pretty thin as it is now.
True for the first part -- but they'll take what they're given and make it work...
As for thin now, if Inf Bns have a Cmd section and a Staff section that numbers over 22 aggregate / Nine Officers, they've probably got more than they need. Don't know what a Bde has now but back in the Viet Nam period, a Bde three shop had six officers including the ChemicalO and the SigO plus eight EM -- that was enough to cover everything and if you decided to go to three TOC shifts instead of two, you drafted a LT and a couple of NCOs from somewhere else. Though I suppose nowadays a 2LT running a Bde TOC shift would cause apoplexy... :D
Quote:
...Thankfully, my only experiences at DIV level were a promotion party and clearing post, so someone wiser than me can hopefully figure out efficiency there.
I'll guarantee you they're fat. :mad:
Quote:
Are these officers going to BOLC (aka OBC) and CCC as well?
The previous solution was no to the first and yes when scheduled on the second. There was a brief (4 weeks IIRC) charm school at Benning and at Sill, possibly also at Eustis for the newly annointed.
Quote:
...The same debate is used with Captains and CCC. A lot of my buddies are commanding before the course, and I would have, had I stayed FA. If people really don't need these courses, then make them voluntary or eliminate them. If they are important, then send officers immediately. Having just finished IPB block at MI school, I definately needed this training before going to a maneuver unit.
Can't speak for now but back in my Armor School days, over half the CCC had commanded Co/Trp before coming to the course, almost 75% had served on Bn or Bde staffs, a number on Div staffs (as an aside, over 75% of the ANCOC students had already been Platoon Sergeants). When Shy Meyer was Chief of Staff, he wanted to convert the CCC to a two to eight week pre-job course; you'd got to school (2-6 wks) before you went to a staff job or (6-8 wks) cmd slot. TRADOC hated that because it cut into instructor contact hours and would've decreased the size, particularly the number of Officer instructors, of all the service schools. Obviously, none of the Branches liked that idea either. So they rebelled and just waited him out. Business as usual.
PME is sort of dysfunctional...