Quote Originally Posted by Skullbiscuit View Post
Yes the division between the organizational and institutional armies has only deepened with the war and the 49/51 profile distribution. One thing I did not note in the piece I sent you was this data point. Within my functional area and year group, the three officers who were selected to O6 had this in common:

1. Not one had been deployed since the war began on 9/11
2. Not one had been in an MTOE unit since 9/11
3. All had stayed deeply embedded in academic or institutional support roles
That's scary...
All this time (and I can show you the slides but I cringe every time I look at them) the proponent office for my functional area continued to produce "About Us" briefings with hero pictures of muddy boots soldiers while crowing on the title slide "We're about warfighting" Oh and the proponent officer responsible for these briefs had not left the beltway since 9/11 either
Don't show me the slides, I don't want to ruin a pretty sunday. The inside the beltway types, uniformed and civilian and their 'warfighting' and 'warrior' jazz and Power Points are really starting to be more than annoying.
You may be aware that back in 2005 I think it was Schoomaker produced a statistic which said that 70% of the Army's field grade officers had not deployed. I think this statistic lead Casey to a recent edict declaring that those who have not deployed will ---- ok ---- we'll see.
I recall and remember thinking at the time "I'll bet the senior NCO figure is pretty similar" and "shades of Veet Nam; deja vu all over again..." In '69 as a SGM, I volunteered to go back the SEA for a third tour and was asked, since there were 44 people in my grade and MOS who had not been to the land of opportunity, to go somewhere else in the world so they could assist those guys with their careers. I did. Three years later when I returned form the ME I discovered they had gotten 19 of the 44 -- that meant a field of a little over 100 had 20% who didn't make it to the war. As you say, we'll see...
What is this third Army you see?
Better trained and equipped across the board than ever. Line Infantry doing some stuff that ten years ago were deemed SOF stuff (but weren't really, all stuff any good grunt should be able to do -- and did before the post VN social experiments and infusion of Civilian Educators dumbed down training). Great troops,better educated than ever. Reserve Component soldiers and officers in large numbers with some combat experience. Really sharp MAJ, CPT and LT who are getting beaucoup combat experience (of a sort) compared to some of their seniors who are not (a potential disconnect???). Lot of other little things. All in all a lot of improvements over my day. Whether the Army is smart enough to capitalize on that remains to be seen...