Quote Originally Posted by Steve Blair View Post
Such structure changes, however, often prompt the "old" officers to retire. It also creates openings for the "new" officers to move up. Frankly, I think an overhaul of the personnel system (as Vandegriff and others have proposed) should accompany any major roles and missions overhaul.

I agree with that statement. And not only the personnel system, but the education and training tracks too. The military of the future can't afford to continue the parochialism inherent in MOS specific training for officers and the coupling of that with assignments outside their MOS or to joint operations commands. We can't expect, for instance, an officer who came up the 11B track to suddenly know enough about fleet operations, SpecOps or the employment of air power to efficiently manage, and lead, a joint operations command.

Yes, a smart officer surrounds himself with competent, qualified staff officers who are strong where he is weak, but how much cross-service experience does any one officer have? Is it enough for him to meet and evaluate enough people from the other services to fill those jobs when the time comes? I think the answer is probably not. That means he'll be dependent upon the personnel systems of the other services, and the "good ol' boy" network, to fill those staff slots. That seems rather hit or miss to me.

Actually, I'm a fan of the old German staff officer career track system and think it's something which should be examined here.