Army Times’ Jim Tice retires after 46 years of military journalism

Army Times Senior Reporter Jim Tice, a man who guided soldiers through three separate drawdowns, retired May 27 after 46 years of military journalism.

Tice joined the staff in December 1970 after completing three years in the Army as a noncommissioned officer with a field unit of the 66th Military Intelligence Group in Munich, Germany.

During his reporting career, Jim was known in the newsroom and in the Army as the go-to authority for Army personnel policies and promotions.

Some highlights from an incredible career:

Tice provided detailed coverage of three major force reductions — the painful drawdown following the Vietnam War, the post-Cold War drawdown of the 1990s and the current drawdown that has reduced the size of the force by nearly 90,000 soldiers in seven years.

In the mid-1970s, Tice’s reporting confirmed the Army had convened several illegal officer promotion boards. The boards had failed to consider Active Reserve officers, a direct violation of federal law. Tice’s dogged reporting resulted in many boards being reconvened, and many officers were either recalled or awarded pensions. One federal judge estimated the Army’s mistakes had cost the federal government more than $1 billion.

The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the Pentagon destroyed many personnel files that documented the post-Cold war drawdown and other personnel programs of the 1990s. Tice donated his own working archives to the Army Center of Military History, which assisted officials in recompiling an official history of that era.

Tice was awarded the Army Commander’s Award for Public Service by the Army G1 for his reporting on enlisted personnel issues.

Tice lives in Alexandria, Va., with his wife Carolyn, a retired Army civilian. Together the Tices have nearly 80 years of Army service and Army-related employment.

Over the past several decades, if your name ever appeared on these pages in a promotion list .... if you picked up Army Times for the latest manpower news... or if you ever clicked on a web story outlining the latest force reductions, you can thank Jim Tice.

His parting advice to the crew here at Army Times was to continue to hold the service accountable during this drawdown — and to look out for you, our readers.