I’ve seen some of the Generals and Admirals on CSPAN being grilled by Congress on this or that. They don’t look like super soldiers. They look like regular middle aged men in uniforms. Granted that most of them are in reasonable shape (ie not fat) but physically they’re not “super soldiers” by any stretch.
So what does it take to be a General or an Admiral? Let’s say a service academy is where you start, how do you get to the top of the dog pile from there? What’s the usual path to being a General or Admiral? Do you have to be the best of the best at everything?
Don’t screw up, be smart, be good at politics, and be lucky. The officer corps is a pyramid with many people at the bottom and very few at the top. If you look at the numbers, it’s tough to get from Captain (O-3) to Major (O-4). It’s also tough to get from Colonel (O-6) to Brigadier General (O-7).
Unless they are in the SEALs or some other special unit, there is no need for an officer to be an exceptional specimen of physical fitness. Officers are paid to be leaders and managers, not experts in the martial arts.
Step 1: get a commission. It is assumed by many that Academy grads have the inside track on promotion, but that’s not necessarily true. However, a commission is still required (obviously). In the Air Force, it’s assumed that pilots have the best chance for advancement. I think there is a bit of truth to that, but I cannot substantiate it.
Step 2: keep your nose clean. Easier said than done.
Step 3: survive. Again, easier said than done.
Promotion is all but automatic until Major, when you face your first real obstacle. If you fail to get promoted after a number of reviews you are forcibly retired. Same with Lieutenant Colonel. Once you get to Colonel, though, you seem to be relatively safe.
Getting your flag (making Brigadier General) is almost purely a political thing. You are now (at minimum) a Wing Commander, and that means dealing with the service leadership (and the national leadership) on a regular basis. If you prove to be good at that you can continue through commands, going through an Air Force (8th Air Force, for example) to a MAJCOM (AFSOC, for example), and then, if you’re extremely lucky, you can become a General (O-10). In spite of the plethora of Generals you see on TV, there really aren’t as many as you might think there are.
Also, some jobs can kill your advancement. The commander of the Air National Guard tops out at Lieutenant General (O-9). So does the JAG Commander. These jobs have no opportunity for you to top out, your ceiling is lower than the top rank.
I’d say it’s much harder to make 0-10 than it is to make E-9, and E-9s compose at maximum by law only 1% of the total enlisted force.
I’ve seen the same rundown on the process in previous threads on this topic, and note that tactics never seems to come into it. Keeping clean and being a good politician might be all and well, but how do they verify that the person is capable to winning?
You’ll notice that there are only 900 officers of General/Admiral rank on active duty in the military out of about 225,000 officers and about 1.4 million total personnel.
More significantly, look at the break between Colonel/Navy Captain and Brigadier General/Rear Admiral (lower half). There are 11,542 at the Colonel/Captain level but only 444 one stars. In other words, there are are more than 20 times the number of Colonels and Captains as there are first level flag spots. It’s a tough transition.
Note also that there are more than three times as many Lt. Colonels and Commanders as there are Colonels and Captains, and not quite double the number of Lt. Colonels and Commanders as there are Majors and Lt. Commanders.
It is a tough pyramid at the top of the officer ranks.
I seem to recall that promotion to flag rank must also be approved by Congress via an act of some sort. The administration can nominate someone for flag rank but without Congress saying ‘Fine by us’ you don’t get it.
The Presidential appointment power, and its requirement for Senate consent, for “all other Officers of the United States”, includes appointment of military officers to a higher rank (i.e. promotion). I believe that Congress has by law provided that promotions to the lowest few officer ranks may be done by the President/Defense Department without Senatorial approval, but that Senate approval of promotion lists for mid-level and higher officers (according to these, Majors and Lt. Commanders and above) is required (and usually routinely granted).
I do recall that there was at least one instance where the Senate held up some promotion list (Majors, I think) in protest of some Presidential actions.
I know that in the Israeli military, an officer has to have filled certain positions in order to be promoted to higher positions (and to receive the rank the position requires). For instance, in order to command a division, you have to have commanded a brigade; in order to command a brigade, you have to have commanded a battalion; and so forth - and not just a “rubber-stamp” command, either, but actual command experience. In addition, you also have to have a certain amount of staff experience (such as spending a year as a division’s chief of operations) as well as a certain amount of instruction experience (such as a teaching post in Officer’s School). It’s pretty complicated, and it also involves graduation from a variety of courses and seminars (I don’t think you can command a division without graduating from Armor School, for instance), not to mention post-grad degrees.
In other words, you need a well-rounded resume. If another colonel is better educated and has more combat experience than you, he’ll have a better chance of making general.
Most General and Flag officers today have advanced academic degrees, many of them PhD’s. I’m convinced that the selection process starts immediately upon entering officer’s training. After graduation the promising graduates are steered into important post, such as a general’s aide where they get to see how high command operates, the best service schools such as the Naval Post Graduate schools, the Army War College, Command and General Staff school and the like.
Along the way many are weeded out of necessity because, as has been pointed out, the pyramid gets awfully thin at the very top.
One case is Cdr. Kirk Lippold, who was captain of the USS Cole during that little incident in Yemen.
The Navy recommended he be promoted to Captain but the Senate quietly ignored his nomination. It looks like he’ll be retiring as a commander.
It’s also a tough pyramid at the top of the warrant officer ranks: just 583 W-5’s across the services, compared with 444 brigadier generals or rear admirals. You must be very gifted to reach W-5 rank!
Off topic, but it reminds me, that IIRC, Chouinard Fan told me that he used his commission to good political use in Iraq. He emphasized to a local community power broker that he had been personally commissioned by the president of the U.S. to do this certain job (as a 2 LT at the time), and this seemed to elevate his stature and grease the wheels locally.
You will find that very few foreign militaries have the kind of two tier rank structure that the ABCA militaries have. For example, Soviet style militaries are much heavier in officers and there are very few career prospects for non-commisioned personel. The kind of professional NCO corps that makes the Western/British style army so effective is very rare, especially in poorer countries.