Cav Guy
For guys who have three/four/five tours, it's hard to understand.
Was during WW II, Korea and Viet Nam as well. Didn't say it was right; just that it happens -- and that lack of a patch is one way to judge people if one wishes, I suppose but there may be more to it than one realizes...
RE: Leavenworth, agree with Steve (mostly) but I have come to learn many (not all) of the no-patch wearers are mobilized reservists replacing active folks who deployed. Some of the senior MP NCO's (detention ops) have multiple tours to Gitmo but get no patch.
Big army doing lots of things lots of places...

Courtney Massengale
Funny you should mention it because it kind of proves the point…
Glad to be of assistance.
Believe me, I was one of the last options for my second command. They had offered it to three people who turned it down, then did a post-wide search for someone in branch to come and take it...Then they swallowed hard and went looking for folks out of branch willing to do it. I said yes because I love being with Soldiers and know that if I stay in, I’ll drift further away from them. It wasn’t my branch, it wasn’t my MOS, but it was my opportunity because nobody else was willing.
While I thank you for making mine. I would ask if there wasn't a branch Lieutenant in that company who could've taken command, even a 2LT but I suppose that is not done nowadays. I also wonder how many that turned it down were not planning on staying in the Army...

Anyway, not your branch or MOS but you took it because you wanted to command. Everyone doesn't (penalty of having recruiting programs, O and E, that promise technical skills as opposed to fighting wars...); sometimes it's not wanting the responsibility, mostly it's not wanting the hassles. Some of those hassles are Joe's fault but most of 'em are the Army's fault, that leads to this:
So while intellectually I can understand and rationalize the whole “oh its so hard to get a command” argument, I firmly believe there’s a “well I can get promoted without it so why bother” attitude.
True. Sometimes. For those times, I'm not defending that attitude as it leads to the problem you cite in this very valid statement:
What concerns me the most is that these individuals will never have to address some of the most difficult leadership issues that we confront our Captains with. Eventually, they will be put in a place to make decisions about issues they have no experience with.
Too true but my point all along has been that:

The Army causes that discrepancy.

The personnel system and Congressional dictates are part of the problem, the huge number of strange and arcane jobs the Army has created to build an oversized Officer Corps is a significant part of the problem. Essentially, there are more Officer spaces than there are Officer jobs and this thread is one example of the problems that causes. Only one...

While some avoid command responsibility and hassles and some avoid deployments for all sorts of valid and not so valid reasons, certainly some, probably many if not most field grade officers who do not have a patch on their right arm are quite likely to be bare sleeved through no fault of their own.

We can sniff and sneer at those who have not been to combat; very human reaction by those who have. We all fall prey to that. Old as I am, I still do it to an extent...

However, it also behooves us to recall what we all really know -- that lack of such a bauble isn't total proof of incompetence or cowardice.