How do you feel about the military draw down?

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 02 Nov 2013 07:01:12 -0400

I understand that the military is drawing down but do you think that we are going too far to get rid of too many Soldiers?  I know that we have to weed Soldiers out that do not meet standards, but being retention NCO, I'm seeing Soldiers that are above and beyond and we're saying "No, you can't reenlist due to shortages in slots to reenlistment."  What are your feelings on this?

Response by SGM Matthew Quick made Nov 16 at 2013 8:50 AM

SGM Matthew Quick — Sat, 16 Nov 2013 08:50:11 -0500

As a Retention NCO, you should know that Soldiers are not currently being denied reenlistment due to 'maxes'. Get with your Career Counselor for specifics.

The Army will be keeping good leaders and those leaders need to make the tough decisions about quality Soldiers...the Army cannot afford to keep all our Soldiers.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 16 at 2013 5:05 PM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 16 Nov 2013 17:05:49 -0500

The Army has 520K on active duty, and is required to get down to 480K. The problem is that while the Army talks a big game about culling the top talent, it seems to revert to some sort of mediocrity. This is what happens when we expect the same career path for everyone within a specific community. (Read a BN CO or CSM bio; they look like every other BN CO or CSM bio within the same community.) Because of this, it's difficult to find who truly are the best of the best; instead, we go for the type of person whom we've known were the best in the past. This means that everyone wants to look the same if they want to be successful, thus a regression to the mean. This isn't unique to the Army, however. This is what happens in most bureaucracy's which promote from within.

Response by SGM Matthew Quick made Nov 16 at 2013 8:47 PM

SGM Matthew Quick — Sat, 16 Nov 2013 20:47:12 -0500

"How do I feel about the military drawdown?"<div><br></div><div>It's needed!</div>

Response by SSG Laureano Pabon made Nov 16 at 2013 10:24 PM

SSG Laureano Pabon — Sat, 16 Nov 2013 22:24:13 -0500

<p>This sounds like the Grand Rudman Law in my time. Something that started out as an early out program then it became involuntarily.</p><p>Here's a little about it: </p><p>http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_did_the_Grand_Rudman_Act_of_1985_call_for</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><div class="pta-link-card"><div class="pta-link-card-picture"><img src="//rxs.answcdn.com/includes/images/icons/a-icon.png"></div><div class="pta-link-card-content"><div class="pta-link-card-title"><a href="http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_did_the_Grand_Rudman_Act_of_1985_call_for" target="_blank">What did the Grand Rudman Act of 1985 call for?</a></div><div class="pta-link-card-description">Answers - The Most Trusted Place for Answering Life's Questions</div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="pta-box-hide"><i class="icon-remove"></i></div></div>

Response by SGT Dañiel Luna-Fuller made Apr 25 at 2014 10:27 AM

SGT Dañiel Luna-Fuller — Fri, 25 Apr 2014 10:27:47 -0400

Draw-Down, Budget Cuts, all in all it's all the same thing, we are no longer considering ourselves in a nation at war. There are some that need to be weeded out because they were when they went through initial training, but now we are seeing ourselves sacrificing good soldiers who want to stay in and fulfill their careers only to be replaced by new soldiers who haven't even learned the art of respecting the rank.
We have green soldiers and units and no mentorship of leaders available to them as a result.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 13 at 2015 2:19 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 14:19:54 -0400

I lived through the Clinton peace "dividend" in the 1990's. 9-11 happened. Big wake up call, big. Then GWB sent us into Iraq, right, wrong or indifferent, it happened. I think we would have been ok with just trying to manage in Afghanistan. Big personnel drain and people were deployed and deployed and deployed, a fourth brigade was stood up in our infantry divisions. My young privates were thrown tens of thousands to join. Now they are going the other way, again, even with the big threats looming over the horizon, and they are real threats......Russia, China, North Korea, ISIS, Syria, North Africa, Africa, c'mon! Not again.

Response by PFC Jason Jackson made Jul 7 at 2016 8:38 AM

PFC Jason Jackson — Thu, 07 Jul 2016 08:38:53 -0400

The part that bugs me about weeding out soldiers that don't meet the standards is that a lot of the people doing the weeding aren't meeting the standards themselves. I also don't get why there is a draw down with the ISIS threat so imminent.

Response by MSgt John McGowan made Jul 7 at 2016 11:39 AM

MSgt John McGowan — Thu, 07 Jul 2016 11:39:07 -0400

SSG. They are going to fast and to often. It weakens us in the eyes of the world and soon we will be equal to the weaker militaries in the world. Then someone is going to kick our ass.

Response by SFC J Fullerton made Jul 7 at 2016 12:18 PM

SFC J Fullerton — Thu, 07 Jul 2016 12:18:39 -0400

Its coming full circle again. The Military is just a vicious cycle of extensive draw downs and budget cuts followed by panic mode over recruiting and retention shortfalls. We had a big draw down after the end of the Cold War and Desert Storm in the early/mid 90's. By the late 90's, the Army was failing to meet its recruiting and retention goals by wide margins because of the budget cuts. When it comes to the point that they are missing the reduced end-strength numbers, they start investing in recruiting and retention with increased incentives and lower enlistment/retention standards. Takes years to recover from over draw-downs.

Response by SGT(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 20 at 2021 9:38 PM

SGT(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 20 Jan 2021 21:38:05 -0500

I feel that if there are leaders who believe in “weeding out bad soldiers” better be within the standard as well. Leaders like to say lead by example but pull up to PT formation with triple chins, pregnant bellies and uniforms all jacked up, and then proceed to say things such as “Check down, not up.” or “Do as I say, not as I do.” With that being said, leaders have to get to know their soldiers better on a more personal level and then determine who is trying to stay in the military just for a paycheck, and who is trying to make the organization better as a whole. There’s a lot to consider in my opinion.