Quote Originally Posted by Ken White View Post
... That and skewed priorities that put big ticket items ahead of must have items of little glamor. ...

... However, I also believe they've all been guilty of not really thinking ahead and getting a really good handle on their own roles and missions. ...

... A better process would be to more carefully select what is bought and buy stuff that is low maintenance; LRUs, swapouts, reliability requirements and so forth. Add to that better and more comprehensive training of new entrants, Officer and Enlisted to include maintenance at above the 'call a mechanic' level and life could be better.
When the Army moves to all the wonderful "net-centric" capabilities that are going to completely change the nature of war ...

[/Sarcasm] Sorry.

Whatever I think of it, and I personally believe it has been dramatically over sold, the Army is becoming increasingly information centric. The technical specialists necessary to keep those systems up and running, and especially to keep the bad guys from knocking them down, won't be in uniform. The sad truth is that once they're trained, they make way more as civilians. Which means they get out, go to the contractor, who puts them back in the same duty station as a civilian at 4 or 5 or more times as much pay. I really don't think that could be solved by making them officers, either.

And that's just one area. That sad truth is that the technical sophistication of our systems are (and have been) at a level where the Army can't compete with the private sector for the expertise required to keep them going. CLS is here to stay.