Hi Schmedlap,

Quote Originally Posted by Schmedlap View Post
Correct numbers 1 and 3 from the list. That will render number 2 irrelevant. I think that most of us would trade a pay CUT for 1 and 3 being remedied.
Quote Originally Posted by Schmedlap View Post
1. The career of an Army officer is 1/4 command time and 3/4 staff time - and most staff work is mindless, meaningless work that could be done by people with far less training and physical prowess.

2. Most of us have social lives for one weekend, in every fourth month of even-numbered years - and/or recently divorced. The rest of the time, we're in the field, in Iraq, or pulling an all-nighter at work. If the two-month double rotation at NTC were really as worthwhile as the OC's claim it to be, then maybe this would be seen as more than just an unnecessary wet blanket on our non-existent social lives.

3. There is little to no merit involved in personnel moves. A Brigade's command queue is not based upon merit. It is based upon year group and date of arrival at the duty station (some BDE's might vary). There is tremendous frustration among Captains waiting for a command and seeing a known dud take a company simply because it's his turn when everybody, to include his rater and senior rater, openly admit that he is a dud... but it's his turn!
It sounds to me, being an academic with an absolute bias towards seeing meaning structures everywhere , that you are saying that sacrifice is worth it if it ain't frittered away in a) makework and b) is recognized and rewarded. Is that a pretty fair summation?

Marc