Allie,

Not sure what exactly you're looking for. But it sounds like you are curious about how the Army's personnel management system operates. Welcome to the club.

I personally do not think any problems with personnel management has to do with being a "watime Army". Quite the opposite....the Army has been at war utilizing a peacetime personnel management system. Example....things that make you go "..hhhmmm......": personnel are allowed to leave a combat zone at the 6-month mark to go to school; personnel on a 12-month tour that are sent home (by HRC) after 9 months despite volunteering to remain in a combat zone to fill positions that the Army and the in-country command says are critical; sending a captain to command a recruiting company after he receives a masters in Arabic studies, learns a bit of Arabic, and volunteers for a Military Transition Team in Iraq. Makes one say "WTF?".

Not sure why the personnel managers (commonly refered to as bean-counters) do what they do....I'm not privy to the guidance they receive. But many of us hae concluded that Human Resource Command - HRC - has been operating under peacetime rules and not a wartime focus.