Retention and Recruitment Crisis

Box said:
As politics has continued to spiral into an increasingly divided battle of ideology instead of something that actually serves to improve society and our quality of life - I have become disillusioned and cynical.

I agree - No one ever does anything - but I believe it has become so much worse.
"No one ever does anything." suggests a passive and inactive state. One could even argue that such a state SHOULD cause a slight degree of stasis instead of this constant whirlwind of chaos and conflict that we are watching.

The problem night just be the opposite - everybody is doing everything - AND THEY ARE ALL DOING IT wrong.
Social experimentation with our national security.
Entertaining mental illness
Sexualizing elementary school children
Refusing to address rising crime rates while simultaneously ATTACKING law abiding citizens.

There is a cross section of society ACTIVELY deconstructing our culture and liberties right before our eyes.
Do something about it - and you are put on a list - demonized - called a racist - called a sexist - called a homophobe...
...all the opposite of "doing nothing"

A literal laundry list of flag officers writing an open letter with the clear intent of using their position as former flag officers to undermine a seated president.
It's no longer "Mr Box from North Carolina" speaking out as a private citizen that's want to see some key issues addressed in the upcoming election...
It has become "Retired Senior Leader Box former Senior Leader of a Big Military Unit" intentionally undermining policy using opinionated versions of how bad and particular candidate might be.
I think that is a huge problem for America.

When senior military leaders cant be trusted to remain apolitical...
...senior military leaders cant be trusted to remain apolitical
What does that mean for recruiting and retention?
What does that mean for recruiting and retention when senior leaders are suggesting that part of the problem is that we have too many damn white guys in the force?

We the people, as a collective, united body of 330 million freedom loving souls are doing nothing while those that we have entrusted to steer the ship are actively and openly turning the nation upside down - possibly for their own entertainment - but certainly not to help us form a more perfect union.


At least that is the view I have from my foxhole.
Your mileage may vary.
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Retired officers have been undermining politics since George Washington's days. Sitting FO/GOs, that happens, too (revolt of the admirals), publicly coming out against politicians. Those admirals got their asses handed to them; some fired, some resigned. But it sure does seems that since Trump our senior officers have ratcheted their invective and rhetoric up a million percent, and instead of being shit-canned, they get promoted. And with today's ultra-woke political class, it's very much go along/get along.
 
Marauder06 said:
I had a conversation yesterday afternoon with my best friend, who was an Army nurse. I guess in the Nurse Corps there's a lot less distinction between the officer and NCO duties and responsibilities than there is say in the Infantry. He said that one of the things he liked most about the Army was PT, because it was pretty much the only time he didn't have to be completely in charge of everything. All he had to do is show up. I get it.
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The Nurse Corps is "interesting". I played Rugby with a guy at BAMC and he rotated into Platoon Leader and then Company XO positions...generally they have non med types rotate over to medical companies to run them because Doctors and Nurses are trash at admin. It's why so many Hospital Commanders get relieved, and so many hospital commanders who do nothing wrong (except hold their people accountable) also get relieved. So if you're a hard charger in the medical corps, you tend to have a target on your back. Well, homie had some good OERs, but he was a bit too hard a charger. He was trying to get to a nurse job in USASOC but the non hard chargers made that very difficult. So he got out instead of staying in because well, being a good officer and nurse apparently don't mix. Or at least that was what he said. Mind he would have made Major BZ.
 
ThunderHorse said:
The Nurse Corps is "interesting". I played Rugby with a guy at BAMC and he rotated into Platoon Leader and then Company XO positions...generally they have non med types rotate over to medical companies to run them because Doctors and Nurses are trash at admin. It's why so many Hospital Commanders get relieved, and so many hospital commanders who do nothing wrong (except hold their people accountable) also get relieved. So if you're a hard charger in the medical corps, you tend to have a target on your back. Well, homie had some good OERs, but he was a bit too hard a charger. He was trying to get to a nurse job in USASOC but the non hard chargers made that very difficult. So he got out instead of staying in because well, being a good officer and nurse apparently don't mix. Or at least that was what he said. Mind he would have made Major BZ.
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In the Navy you are selected to go on command track at 04. They have some pretty good command training. But a lot of them simply want to be clinical, so they choose medical tracks or other jobs. There are very very few nurse corps O5/O6 that are still clinical, usually only have just enough clinical time to maintain proficiency or license / certification.

A lot of nurses, physicians, and MSC (they would be PA's, physical therapists, dietitians, nutritionists, etc) are fine with doing just that. The ones who go into the command track though seem to do pretty well at it in my experience.
 
An Army installation in Texas has been struggling to put food on the table for its soldiers for months as the base faces a shortage of cooks to staff its dining facilities.

Fort Cavazos, Texas, previously known as Fort Hood, has struggled to provide its junior enlisted troops with meals for months, with the base only opening two of its 10 major dining facilities for much of the summer and with limited times, according to a report Tuesday from Military.com.
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Cook shortage at Army post shutters some mess halls, leaving hungry soldiers scrambling: report

A couple of thoughts:

1) first reports are almost always wrong, and things like this tend to get exaggerated in early reporting
2) the above notwithstanding, not being able to feed one's troops is a pretty big deal for leaders of all ranks
3) wait, you can use your meal card at the on-post Panera?? um... score!
 
Marauder06 said:
Cook shortage at Army post shutters some mess halls, leaving hungry soldiers scrambling: report

A couple of thoughts:

1) first reports are almost always wrong, and things like this tend to get exaggerated in early reporting
2) the above notwithstanding, not being able to feed one's troops is a pretty big deal for leaders of all ranks
3) wait, you can use your meal card at the on-post Panera?? um... score!
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There is a greater percentage of the active and reserve deployed today than there was during the Surge. Peace time Army that's deployed all the time gets just as burnt through as a War time Army that is deployed all the time. War's over idiots, time for sports and stuff, maybe.
 
Marauder06 said:
3) wait, you can use your meal card at the on-post Panera?? um... score!
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It was almost a thousand years ago when I was stationed in Yuma AZ - there was no chow hall there. We all had a meal card - which is silly when you dont have a DFAC - but you could pull that fucker out at the Bowling Alley or the All-Ranks Club and get a meal at the Mess-Hall rate.

Many a windy day would the instructors get an 'all meat breakfast burrito' from the Bowling Alley for D-Fac rates. Many a day would we hit 'The Cactus Club' for a steak, potato, and salad for about 13 bucks below menu price.
The down side was that being stationed at YPG sucked ass.

I'm sure in an age of budget cuts and a recruiting/retention program that is in the shitter, things are no different now. It's not like this is a new thing - its just another thing being piled onto the list of reasons why folks aren't lining up to swear an oath.
 
Marauder06 said:
Cook shortage at Army post shutters some mess halls, leaving hungry soldiers scrambling: report

A couple of thoughts:

1) first reports are almost always wrong, and things like this tend to get exaggerated in early reporting
2) the above notwithstanding, not being able to feed one's troops is a pretty big deal for leaders of all ranks
3) wait, you can use your meal card at the on-post Panera?? um... score!
Click to expand...

The Army just needs to put Fort Hood down like Old Yeller. How does the commander there still have a job? Ridiculous.
 
Teufel said:
The Army just needs to put Fort Hood down like Old Yeller. How does the commander there still have a job? Ridiculous.
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The cook shortage is due to the DoD over deploying a peace time Army. They can't run the DFAC if they're in Poland running an MKT. The III Corps CG might be able to sort it if there's funding to hire a catering company. But uh, this is a Pentagonal building problem which is run by LaLloyd and Milley.

Bring people home and stop running this force into the ground since we're not fighting anyone.
 
ThunderHorse said:
The cook shortage is due to the DoD over deploying a peace time Army. They can't run the DFAC if they're in Poland running an MKT. The III Corps CG might be able to sort it if there's funding to hire a catering company. But uh, this is a Pentagonal building problem which is run by LaLloyd and Milley.

Bring people home and stop running this force into the ground since we're not fighting anyone.
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100% agree, but this is also where Hood's commander should have pushed back. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't, but my money's on the latter.

I give the AF plenty of grief, but one thing it does right is the support side of expeditionary units is drawn from several bases. Homestation Air Force Bases aren't stripped of personnel like Hood right now.

Back to Hood: I'll bet some staffer brought this to leadership's attention BEFORE this started and was told to shut up and color.
 
AWP said:
100% agree, but this is also where Hood's commander should have pushed back. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't, but my money's on the latter.

I give the AF plenty of grief, but one thing it does right is the support side of expeditionary units is drawn from several bases. Homestation Air Force Bases aren't stripped of personnel like Hood right now.

Back to Hood: I'll bet some staffer brought this to leadership's attention BEFORE this started and was told to shut up and color.
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Yep. Pretty sure those deployments and training missions were planned months in advance. Plenty of time to make good arrangements to feed folks while the cooks were away.
 
Devildoc said:
We will offer you incentives to become a CO so we can fire you....

Naval Aviators Are Being Offered More Cash to Become Commanding Officers
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Apparently not that new, the news is that it's a 5k increase and the two year ad-so which is another 35k. So this makes it a 40k increase...does anyone know how many lieutenant colonel's would stay in the Army another two years if they got a 140k bonus to do a second command tour at battalion level? Well move would give their left nut (maybe left ovary?) to get a second command tour.
 
"Screened for aviation command."

I'm a nerd and read the bios of squadron commanders from time-to-time because I'm curious about their backgrounds and everything. IIRC, most "screen for command" during an O-5 tour and if successfully selected go on to a Prospective CO/ PXO (whichever) course. They report to their squadron as an XO and then pick up CO of that squadron 18-24 months later. I think I have that right.

Anyway, the article makes it sound like everyone who screens for command is eligible for the bonus, but let's not kid ourselves: there's no way the Navy lacks for aviators wanting to command squadrons. I'll bet the problem is retaining those who aren't selected because the Navy still needs staff officers or those who fail the board on their first attempt get out. I've seen a number of bios where they are going to squadrons short of the 20-year mark, so someone not selected then punches at 20 and you lose your Carrier Wing Ops officers and the like, the seagoing staff. "Screened for command" doesn't mean CO's, it means everyone going into that bucket.

So...4 Hornet squadrons per air wing, each squadron has...3? 4? LCDR Department Heads. Those are racked and stacked, and the highest will have the most realistic chance at command. So, how many Hornet squadrons x 3 or whatever, plus the NFO's from the -18F squadrons, all bottle-necking down to 1 XO slot per squadron.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but the title is disingenuous based on its own reporting later in the story.
 

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