Congress is giving the officer promotion system a massive overhaul

When I was a recruting commander we routinely brough Docs, nurses, and dentists in that had years of practice and were specialists at a minimum O-4 usually an O-5 and rarely an O-6. We had one of the leading vascular surgeons from the Cleveland Clininc walk into our medical recruiting office and said he wanted to join and go down range where he could save lives. Seas parted and angels sang because that just doesn't happen. His skillset and leaving his practice would require him to be a Colonel. When his package went forward to the pentagon with all the endorsements, the Surgeon Generals Assistant wouldn't approve an O-6 because he would outrank him...now once again this was on of the top three vascular surgeons in the nation with skill sets that no one could compare to and because of pride we lost him. Before we could regroup he went to the Army and they put him in the next week with the rank of Colonel...no questions.

Jealousies persist!!

Lt Col Scott Shuttleworth - when I was the MAO my docs were all leaders in their field. Those I recruited at younger ages wanted loans paid off and rank. Hard to recruit in Smallville Iowa. We lose to the Army all the time- or bigger city units. I get it and have no issues- bigger sacrifice for them and their families in terms of time and money. Not only their families but their patients as well. Problem is when you make O-6 in 6 years and have little understanding of customs and courtesies it makes it touch. When we go TDY or they are deployed it is a crash course in learning.

Maj Marty Hogan - Absolutely.

2 Colonels and 4 Lieutenant Colonels have retired in the last year. Some hit their 28th or 30th year of commissioning or didn't get selected to Colonel. The upper or out system is working. I'm becoming a Lieutenant Colonel in August and my mandatory retirement is in 2022. I don't know about the active-duty or the National Guard, but it sure shows a lot of normal attrition in the United States Army Reserve.

Me too! I remember this Navy Commander yelling at me because I dared say that the Civil military operations center is the whole reason for the provincial reconstruction team base! She totally lost it and ripped me a new butthole. She got promoted to one star rear Admiral down the line. She tried to get a civil Affairs major kicked out of the army for daring to tell or ask the Italians why don't they fight ?at a counterinsurgency conference almost 10 years ago in Afghanistan. A General officer letter of reprimand of was about to be given to him but a retired Colonel wrote a letter to the Commanding General and got the General officer letter of reprimand resend it after talking to the General's aide-de-camp. She was the one behind it. Later, she got her self in deep trouble because she was throwing a counterinsurgency conference and someone remembered her one of the USMC Patrol members for asking for help from that provincial reconstruction team and she refused to send a quick reaction force. So she was embarrassed at our own counterinsurgency conference. She still made rear Admiral. So I know what you mean!

LTC Stephen Conway - disgusting, but we both know why she got promoted!!!

SCPO (Join to see)
Her replacement was a destroyer captain at the rank of Commander. I got along very well with Navy personnel. Don't get me wrong, I even went to a bell ceremony where I got to see a petty officer become a chief petty officer. It was often where Army and Navy personnel were calling each other ship mate. So once that Commander left the fob, things became much nicer.
https://youtu.be/1iMtxXdT26A

Cynthia Croft ... Thank you, Mate. We're doing fine for living in a two story, five bedroom, four bathroom closet!!! Social distancing has sure shrunken everything!!!