If by “extend the scope” you mean “sprinkle nukes all along the Chinese border”, then yes.
Last year only about half of Logistics branch Captains in the Army got selected for promotion to Major on their first look at promotion. It’s very unlikely to get selected on a second and last look (before up or out gets you shown to the door.) The promotion system targets 80% to make Major. During the war, when the Army was growing end strength, it was not uncommon for rates of selection to Major to be in the high 90’s. About two years ago the Army was implementing a policy to make re-enlistement for junior soldiers competitive and more limited. It’s hard to judge those aspects as a purge. The Army implemented a new evaulation system to reduce inflation in rankings to make it easier to tell which of the fully qualified for promotion people get removed instead of promoted. The pendulum is swinging the other way. Early in war strength was growing. The Army is on course to be smaller than it was pre 9-11. It’s likely on course to be smaller than at anytime since pre-WWII. The pendulum swung up a little for a decade and is now swinging back hard and fast.
General officer numbers had grown at a faster rate with the two campaigns underway post 9-11. A good chunk of that was driven by the creation of “temporary” postings in headquarters created to fight the war. When those postings started to go away (like after the end of Operation New Dawn) the senior slots associated started to go away. As cuts start finding their way to permanent structure that’s accelerating. The ones with issues, whether small or just seeming small to civilians, are among the first to go.
Right – and it may be that in our blog age some of the younger officers need more remedial counseling about how their duty is to carry out the mission, not to debate it where someone else can read/hear/share what they opined. Whatever you may think in the privacy of your home and off-duty circle of friends, the only thing that should be quotable from you is “Sir-Yes-Sir” and “policymaking’s-above-my-paygrade”, ***until ***you make it to a paygrade where they DO want your opinion… and it will be your opinion about the strategy, not about the CinC.
That’s always a known risk that comes with the stars and the fancy hatband.
I’m a military officer working in the pentagon for a number of years now. No purge, nothing nefarious. Up or out will cause a fair amount of Officers out of the military. Always has.