Secretary of Defense on promotions

1LT Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 06:03:28 -0400

What's you thoughts?

http://m.military.com/daily-news/2015/03/30/carter-suggests-changes-to-promotions-and-enlistments-for-tech-s.html?comp= [login to see] 70&rank=1

Response by LT John Stevens made Apr 1 at 2015 12:11 PM

LT John Stevens — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 12:11:53 -0400

There is no good reason for this not to be done. A similar program already is offered for doctors and lawyers where their education and experience is considered in the rank to which they are commissioned.

I cannot say whether we are falling behind, holding our own, or are in the forefront of cyber warfare and other emerging tactics of asymmetrical warfare. Much of this is happening at the highest levels of classification and most restrictive levels of access. However, we are clearly being challenged on many fronts and desperately need to ensure our technical supremacy across the board. This is a step in the right direction.

I also believe that a more capability/performance based promotion system could have a positive impact across the entire DOD, as long as the focus is placed on warfighting capability and performance and not administrative or @sskissing performance. I apologize if that is rather blunt, but there is a tendency in the US military, especially between wars, of promoting based on the latter capabilities and not the former.