Initial Officer Selection

[JMA]

The current German officer candidates pay IMHO a very high price for their university education, as they do not get a proper platoon commander training. They start in special officer companies and have seen and led only a few months enlisted men before they are promoted to Oberleutnant. Are they really able to perform their role as deputy company commander?

Compare this with the Reichwehr when a OC had to serve as enlisted man with enlisted men for two years (a little bit excessive:-), then he got 1.5 years officer training (he was now Fähnrich). He was promoted to Leutnant after 3.5 years and served 4-5 years before attending staff officer courses (=university). Why don't we use this template?

As I mentioned before (in post#80) the bias is currently in favour of the academic in many (most?) cases. In the quote (I posted) it is 55% academic to 30% leadership performance with fitness and physical coming in at the remaining 15%. I believe that like the physical (which should be judged on a pass or fail basis - meaning you are either physically capable or you are not) the academic results should be based on whether the guy has absorbed enough of the theoretical part of the course to be able to draw on what he learned when operating in the field (again he is either able to do this or he is not). The initial precourse selection of aspirant officers must be that they are intellectually capable of passing a degree course within the military skills parameters.

Again I would state that the platoon commanding phase of an officers career is merely to provide the grounding and experience at that level to provide an understanding of how wars are fought on the front lines when he (at a higher command) sends soldiers into battle (from afar).

How much time and experience does an officer need at the platoon/company level? Perhaps another subject for discussion. Does an officer need to serve in the ranks before being commissioned? Perhaps another subject for discussion.

Regardless of whether the potential officer comes as direct entry or from the ranks my contention is that an accurate initial pre-course selection system will be beneficial and reduce the course attrition rates.

Well if the Reichwehr system was good then why does the current German not continue to use it? Surely the officer selection and training process can't be tainted by the past, can they?

If I understand you correctly it is the university education which conflicts with platoon commanding and training. Well if so that is why a speak of putting the horse before the cart. Which must be taken care of first? My view is that first you train and test for leadership and officer characteristics (at platoon level) then you select an education route most suited to his branch and career professional knowledge requirements. Remember the big picture. You are training future generals here.