(Except that if it’s a National Guard/Reserve unit, he MAY indeed be spending 10 years as a platoon leader)
But that’s just a reflection that in the US Military of the year 2004, if it took someone 12 years to go from 2LT to 1LT, or if someone with 10 years at sea and the technical-education equivalent of a college degree were only just then be considered for PO3, we’d get nobody to re-up once their initial term of service was over. The society changes, it’s reflected in the military.
WoodCM, dude, learn how to post here, we rather enjoy people to have actual facts on hand. Stop tossing off on your keyboard and give us facts to back yourself up.
Many of the posters on this board are current and retired military of several countries, or connected with the military in some way, many are teachers, many have degrees from uni in histry, politics, science [I myself read some law, and studied political science…]
Try not posting when drinking if you want to be taken seriously.
IIRC part of the reason for our post WWII top-heaviness also has to do with the intention of being able to rapidly expand the armed forces in the event of a war. Because officers and NCO’s require more experience and training it makes sense to bias the peacetime cadre towards the higher ranks somewhat.
Of course once you have all of these people in uniform you have to give them something to do to fill their days - activitites not precisely makework, but which might not be considered essential were we in the middle of a total war. The job slowly becomes the justification for the officer (rather than merely being excess platoon/company/brigade commander storage) and when conflict rolls around the position is maintained.
I bet I am not the only one who does this! Point taken though - there comes a time when one should stop posting when too intoxicated, which can be difficult to do sometimes when worked up into a frenzy!
Next day after my above posts, I felt somewhat paranoid as I realised they were somewhat incoherant. I shall try and clear up some of the confusion, if I may.
At the sharp-end, the US armed forces, and just about all other proper ones, do not suffer from too many officers. As far as I know, a US Army or Marine Platoon has just the one officer, which seems right to me. Same thing goes for Companies, and maybe Battalions too!
My rants were meant to be aimed at the mighty prevalence of Officers that exist at higher levels -especially those not attached to fighting formations. Armed Forces are after all institutions controlled by almighty states, which are well known for having on their payrolls countless beings who do no worth at all - in fact are a drain on resources - inefficiency and worse!
I have even noticed this in Private Companies. Generally speaking, the larger the company, the worse it is. I don’t like blood-sucking-parasites who draw great big wages and do nothing worthwhile. Do you? Of course you don’t (I presume you are not one of these).
Huh? Whats this got to do with anything I said…or with whether or not the US is overly officered??? What orifice are you pulling this out of??
Since you ask though, sure I’m proud of our armed forces, both in the first and the second gulf wars. They did their duty and they did it well. As far as the rest of your rant goes, exactly who do you expect WOULD be a fair match up for the US military? And what the fuck does that matter? War isn’t about being fair…its about winning and winning in such a way that your own losses are minimized, and it takes the shortest time possible.
-XT
A fair match for the US military? Why, just myself of course. I would confront them and confound them with my gibberish, and they would all laugh themselves to death. Just as Bin Laden and his ilk are doing right now. How’s that for double meaning? Lost on you of course. Replying to your post is foolish indeed, but I can’t help it!
Please, moderators, ban me!
:rolleyes:
With posts such as I’ve seen by you, I’m sure your wish will be granted sooner or later.
-XT
In the Air Force, by law Chief Master Sergeant is limited to 1% of the total enlisted force. Senior master Sergeant is limited to 2%. In my experience, they get just as dirty as the lower ranks do, they just have more authority.
I do think that we have too many people in certain areas, but that is currently being addressed with a program of crosstraining combined with non-retention. So your assertion that there is a “super-abundance” of higher enlisted men is incorrect, in the Air Force anyway.