In the Washington Monthly Andrew Tilghman outlines the problem we have in retaining the best and brightest of our junior Army officers. Fundamentally, we're losing so many of the really good junior people that the dross is left to run the services. For example, 91% of captains are promoted to major. Does that make you think of the Lake Woebegone effect? The Army itself said back in 2005 that there was a"disproportionate loss of high-potential, high-performance junior leaders".
One of the reasons why the bright people are leaving is their perception of their bosses as not being very aware of the new face of war. In general, these bosses were in the lower half of the officer pool when the pool shrunk after Vietnam.
We've lowered our standards in recruiting privates. We're losing officers. We're paying billions to private companies for logistics support. How can one say the volunteer army is working?
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