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Subject: Where Have All The Good Officers Gone
SYSOP    5/5/2016 5:17:09 AM
 
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Coast Guard Guy       5/6/2016 9:23:06 AM
"-there were fears that recruit quality would decline. It did for a few years but by the 1980s it was higher than ever. The military had competitive (to civilian jobs) pay and there were still young men and women attracted to a few years of “adventure” in the military. It was also possible to learn valuable job skills and there were also GI Bill educational benefits." Not completely accurate- I joined the Army in 1980 and it was in really bad shape. Really bad. What actually changed everything from what I saw was the mandatory drug testing program and a more gradual change toward no longer tolerating alcoholism. So if you want to attribute this to two events, they would be the failed Iran hostage rescue mission (the broke helo mechs were almost all doing drugs) and Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. I truly believe the 3 biggest problems with the military are: 1. Way too many officers and senior NCO's. Percentages are one officer telling two older NCO's telling the younger soldier and a recruit to take that hill. 2. Not providing exits into civilian occupations which makes many hang on when there are better people waiting to take their place. 3. A lack of discipline, training, and compensation for field/sea/deployed situations. Infantry guys living like animals out in the field for weeks at a time need some kind of extra pay- there are many situations that merit more pay and that does not mean big chunks of change for senior NCO's and Officers doing it- more money for the 20 something junior infantry, tankers, artillery, and engineers who are out there. All of them need to shoot more and more often.
 
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