How soldiers deal with the job of killing

[JMA]

And to most of the rest; different strokes...

Interesting discussion over the last week or so (which properly belongs in the Initial Officer Selection thread).

There seems to be competitive demands on time between what we seem to have come to some agreement on and that which is happening on the ground.

We agree basically that the best entry route for an officer is first as an enlisted man for between 18 months to three years, then officers course for a year.

The US military demands that an officer is in possession of a degree before reaching the rank of captain which effectively takes another (minimum) three year bite out of time before reaching the rank of captain (being training time plus four years).

Looking at it then from the age of 18 we would have, three years enlisted service, one year officer training, a three year degree, and four years from commissioning to captain = 11 years or the age of 29 - during which of these 11 years only four have been productive as an officer.

To this we then add the five years from captain to major and we have officers attaining the rank of major at 34. Then another seven years to half colonel = 41, then another six years to full colonel = 47. Too old for two reasons.

This projects even older ages onto general staff who will be physically older and less able to function in a wartime setting and will be found deeper into the 'cognitive decline' range which has an onset commencement from the age of 45.

Something has to give.