The 82nd was first committed to Sicily in 1943 and then Normandy in 1944. Most US airborne units remained in strategic reserve until they were committed to major operations (Market-Garden being one). The 3rd ID started in North Africa in late 1942. Ken's talking about their WW2 service in both cases, I believe.Originally Posted by JMA
The original idea for rotations, if I recall correctly, started in Korea (except it was point-based). The Vietnam policy grew in part based on the original TDY nature of the conflict (advisors were considered on temporary duty and too many military cultures are creatures of habit). There were a number of rationalizations for the officer rotation policy, but I think at the end of the day it can really be attributed to the "need" for officers to have their combat command ticket punched. The draft played a role on the EM side, as the linked article points out, although I do think the article's "keep your head down for your year" mantra became much more common after 1968. And "90 day wonders" and "shake and bake" NCOs (not mentioned in that article) were also common in World War II.
But I think the basic answer was that no one in a policy position realized that the war could go on for 6+ years (I measure that in terms of major US ground unit commitments). They developed a system to deal with what was believed to be a short-term commitment and then couldn't adjust the system once it dawned on some of them that it might be harder than first thought.
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