Quote Originally Posted by Bill Moore View Post
Ski, this is not a failure of joint operations by any stretch, but it may be a failure of task organizing incorrectly. I really don't think Jet jocks, submarine skippers and surface fleet officer/NCOs need to be an expert on Army Infantry operations to be a valued joint partner. I sure as heck am not an expert on subsurface warfare, fleet operations, strartegic bombing operations, etc., but I can still function effectively in a joint HQs. Your example sounds like another example of trying to make something joint that doesn't need to be under the excuse of giving these officers "joint" experience, which is increasingly important for promotion.
That's just the thing, though. In most cases it's just a ticket punch, so often any Joint billet will do, and an officer needing a Joint assignment gets slotted sometimes into whatever becomes available. But other times, the span of the billet could mean that the incumbent will encounter situations where he will shine (where the situation plays to his professional experience), and others where he may be completely adrift. For example, the O6 in charge of my group until recently at JFCOM J7 was a submariner, but yet was tasked with technical training development for Irregular Warfare. Of course, he has staff that has experience in IW (however you define it), plenty of Army and Marine infantry types, but it's tough to be the talking head when your experience is so different from the subject matter at hand.

A propos of Ski's comment on levels of preparedness for taking a Joint billet varying with service, we have quite a few simulation planners - officers who plan out simulations/ synthetic training environments for various Joint exercises. Well, the Army has a functional area devoted precisely to that subject matter: FA 57. Every officer from the Army we got that was put in as a sim planner was well prepared, and all were FA 57 course graduates at least, with most having already an FA 57 tour under their belts. The other services don't have anything like that, and quite a few officers from the Nvy and Air Force we received had zero experience in the field, or even really knew that this kind of job existed prior to be assigned there. That's not to say that we haven't had some really good guys quickly climb the learning curve and do well - one of the best I've known was a Navy S-3 pilot - but most take 18 months to learn their job, then they're gone in another 6. It's not like this is a "Joint is spelled A-R-M-Y" thing; all the services use simulations heavily now in training, it's just that only one really prepares officers professionally for it (though I think the Marines must have some level of participation, as all their guys coming into those jobs seem to know their business fairly well).

Not sure if there is some deeper point to be made there, but there it is.