Posted on Apr 18, 2014
CPT Christopher F.
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<div><font color="#4d4d4d"><span style="font-size: 14px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The American Conservative published a scathing article titled "An Officer Corps That Can't Score", about our performances in the last four conflicts, careerism, and the Military Officer Corps. It accuses us of ignoring changes that should be made following these last operational shortfalls, especially in comparison to the sweeping changes made after the Vietnam War.&nbsp;</span></font></div><div><font color="#4d4d4d"><span style="font-size: 14px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></font></div><div><font color="#4d4d4d"><span style="font-size: 14px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I'd like to get your opinions. Are we ignoring the changes that need to be made and allowing careerism to blind us from future success?</span></font></div><div><font color="#4d4d4d"><span style="font-size: 14px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></font></div><div><font color="#4d4d4d"><span style="font-size: 14px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Or have we already begun to make the changes and are doing so in different ways than before?</span></font></div><div><font color="#4d4d4d"><span style="font-size: 14px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></font></div><div><font color="#4d4d4d"><span style="font-size: 14px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">You can read the article here:</span></font></div><a href="http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/an-officer-corps-that-cant-score/" style="font-size: 14px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#4d4d4d">http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/an-officer-corps-that-cant-score/</font></a><div><br></div><div class="pta-link-card"><div class="pta-link-card-picture"><img src="http://theamericanconservative.com/images/facebook-logo.jpg"></div><div class="pta-link-card-content"><div class="pta-link-card-title"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/an-officer-corps-that-cant-score/">An Officer Corps That Can’t Score</a></div><div class="pta-link-card-description">How military careerism breeds habits of defeat</div></div><div style="clear:both"></div><div class="pta-box-hide"><i class="icon-remove"></i></div></div>
Posted in these groups: Tax reform change 0 0 Reform
Edited 10 y ago
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SFC Retention Operations Nco
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Let me counter with this little gem:


Junior officers have been the ones pushing the edges with reform, just as our greatest leaders did when they were Junior Officers, as well. The platform they are using today is social media, and they are leveraging it far more effectively than our current Generals and Congress.  
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SPC Christopher Smith
SPC Christopher Smith
10 y
As much as seniors bash the younger SMs Enlisted and Officer, you can see that there is understanding and reason for their fearlessness. Although the military loves to hold on traditions good and bad, it looks as if younger/newer SMs are finding ways around the typical route to be heard and affect change. For that I am happy.
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SPC Charles Brown
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Edited 10 y ago


No offense to any of
my officer friends or contacts, but I heard this from an officer I once served
with and thought that it would fit in really well with this discussion thread.



 



The Army Officers Corps



 



2nd
Lieutenants: After spending 4 years at Hudson High (West Point) learning
from books they come charging into their new units thinking they know it all
and don’t need to listen to any of their senior NCO’s. In essence they are
dumber than an E-1.



1st
Lieutenants: After 1 year in the service of their country they have come to
the realization that for all their book learning there is still a lot to learn,
and have begun listening to their senior NCO’s. They have developed good
listening skills and begin to apply the knowledge they have gained. They are at
least as smart as an E-3.



Captains: After 3
years serving their country they listen to their NCO’s apply what they have
learned and are not capable of standing on their own two feet. While
occasionally they need reassurance that what they are doing is of benefit to
their subordinates they are overall capable of accomplishing most missions with
little confusion. Equal in intelligence to an E-6



Majors: Have
finally gotten their stuff together and can remember where they have put it.
They are capable of accomplishing missions as they have been set before them.
They pride themselves on being able to set a good example for those officers
below them, however, they are often ignored as being a know it all.
Intelligence rating E-8



Lieutenant Colonels:
Still have their stuff together, and remember where it is. They can create
missions that would otherwise cause headaches for lesser mortals. Some would
say they can even spell difficult words without the use of a dictionary and
even use these words correctly. They are smarter than the average E-9.



Colonels: Have
their stuff together but occasionally need help in finding it. They can create
missions for the soldiers under their command; however, this usually ends up
with a radio call of Lima Lima Mike Foxtrot, from some lost patrol in the
woodline who is at best 25 yards from the company CP. This is where the
intelligence level begins to suffer. They are almost as smart as an E-5.



Brigadier Generals:
Memory is beginning to slip, hence the need for an aide-de-camp. Their biggest
problem seems to be that they are unable to remember where their car keys are;
again they need a driver to make sure they get to the meetings they have
forgotten they scheduled; now they need a secretary. Intelligence is about the
average of a Corporal.



Major Generals: No
longer able to keep their stuff together, forget about remembering where they
put it. They need even more help in keeping track of their keys, schedules, and
problems they need to handle. Surrounded by people who tell them everything is
going to be all right and there is nothing wrong with them. Average
intelligence Specialist



Lieutenant Generals:
Usually works in Division or Pentagon office, they are kept in these offices to
avoid creating more havoc than their lower ranking counterparts. Memory is
totally gone by now and feel abandoned by the people whom they considered to be
friends because their friends don’t want to see what will happen to them.
Intelligence = to Private E-2



Generals: Lost
souls wandering the halls of power, cannot find either his office or the
latrine. Intelligence of a slick sleeved private,

Please remember that this is all meant in fun. Life is what it is and most officers do a fairly good job with their skills. However, there are those who will through no fault of their own fall into one or more of these categories as they progress up the food chain. Gentlemen, please remember where you came from and how you got to where you are.



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SPC Charles Brown
SPC Charles Brown
10 y
Come on Major Richard T. Give me a good reason for voting me down. This was something that an officer once told me, and it was all in fun, besides, you were right in the zone of the officers who were of benefit to the military. Where is your sense of humor?
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MAJ FAO - Europe
MAJ (Join to see)
10 y
This is great stuff, funny; thanks for sharing.
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CPT Graduate Student
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Edited 10 y ago

I read this article and my first beef is always that it's easy to call the game from the sidelines.  I believe President Theodore Roosevelt said it best: 



"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."



I think that Lind is a guy who "read a lot of books about war" and talked to some buddies, but never put any skin in the game.  Now that does not mean that he does not have a point, maybe some of us are too focused on careerism and not enough on war fighting, but how would he truly know?  How did he conduct his research?  Is there consensus amongst academics and military personnel that we are lagging?  Have we lost 4 wars?  So I challenge him on his assertions first and foremost.



Second, having been in the army for half a second, at no point would I classify the men and women that I've worked with as sycophantic.  Most senior NCOs are ready to tell me and other junior officers when we are wrong and most junior officers will do the same with field grade officers.  are there "Massengales" out there? Yup!  Most of us though fall in the spectrum between a "Damon" and a "Massengale"  what Lind describes is the worst case scenario officer corps, not the real officer corps.   Could it happen?  again, yup!  Is it here, no and i won't contend to be a "disruptive" thinker, but there are plenty of officers instituting relevant change and still being successful in their careers.



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SPC Christopher Smith
SPC Christopher Smith
10 y

Sir,

 

I agree that is it always easy to critize from the sideline, but at the same time, is it wise not to listen to someone who got to see a picture outside of what you are seeing on the field at game time? No one likes when a finger is pointed at them, but you have stated your self that there is some truth to his arguments. Even if he never put on a uniform but studied American Military history he has a valid reason to make a crtism. It looks like you are a historian and someone who likes quotes, so I will end with this.

 

"Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." -George Santayana

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CPT All Source Intelligence
CPT (Join to see)
10 y
Like times 1,000, CPT Wiehagen.  And realize too, SPC Smith, that you are commenting from a position of not being a member of the group.
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