Although I do not have the maturity of John F., either chronologically or psychologically, I did live through the era he described. Ironically, some of the folks leaving the Army in the early 70s left because prospects of rapid advancement had died with the end of the war. We're probably better off without them.

Back then, there were multiple OCS courses and 3 Infantry-only classes in progress at any given time at Benning. Then came the bloodletting of the 70s RIFs. As a 2LT, I had several former captains working for me! Then by the time I got to the advanced course, ten percent of my class were active duty recalls.

In short, the stability and continuity of the 80s and 90s was probably an anomoly.