Quote Originally Posted by Ken White View Post
If the Army cannot be expanded rapidly enough to provide those additional people in the required skills, substitutes must be found. It could not but we found some. It works...

Possibly the Army in the 1989-2001 period misspent money and effort. It did not properly structure and train for the jobs it was likely to have to do.
There is another issue that I've not seen anything written about... the Army and DoD over the past 10-15 years have made a number of decisions to make structural changes in a variety of areas: A-76 contracting to replace civil service; military to civilian conversions; and the elimination of the dual compensation rules for retired military. The net effect has been that we see many qualified soldiers retire or leave the service and take essentially the same positions as either a civil servant or as a contractor.

It is incredible to watch someone retire one day and then assume the same job the next day -- with the difference being that the individual changes out of uniform and shows up in civilian clothes at the same desk. In a similar fashion, we see many leave the service and then become contractors, doing the same work for more pay -- but less control and accountability.

With uniformed military, you buy the service; with civil service, you are leasing; with contractors, you are are renting the service.

Even though we are in a war, we are still having mandatory retirements and some of the up-or-out policies. These type of policies make sense if you are in a "surge" that is short-term, but they don't make sense if we are trying to fight a long war. In the long run, "renting" costs you more money.

The current grade structure is, however, a limiting factor... the law restricts the senior grade population based on overall end strength. With the push towards more interagency coordination, greater civil affairs requirements, and an emphasis on advisors, it may well be time to relook the grade structure in the military.