UPDATE: Sad news today (1/16/08). John Nagl is retiring. His doctoral thesis became one of the textbooks of COIN warfare. He has been on Petraeus’ staff in Iraq but why is he still a LT colonel ? The Army was reluctant to adopt COIN tactics. Now he is leaving. Remember that Aaron Bank retired as a colonel. He founded Special Forces but that was not what the Army rewarded in those days. Nothing has changed.
The lefties, once again, are crowing about how the Army is having problems retaining junior officers. There is a similar problem with senior noncoms. The left would have you think it is all about Iraq. Some of it is. Some of it is much older than the present war. Prior to 9/11, I read a critique of the US Army that pointed out reasons why we were losing high quality junior officers. Nothing, or little, has changed. Iraq has, in fact, improved morale and retention as war fighters are reluctant to leave comrades behind when they seek out high paying jobs and better career opportunities. Another interesting book is The $ 5 Billion Misunderstanding about the Navy’s A 12 program and, indirectly, about the problems of the procurement system that gives more power to appropriators like Murtha, who slanders US Marines, than the troops who fight the wars. Now, a new report points out some of the real issues. To anyone who has read WEB Griffin novels about the military, they will sound familiar. Not all senior officers are wise and not all junior officers are willing to put up with illogical promotion systems and personnel practices. Military bases have tended to be in the boondocks (read Griffin’s novels about Fort Rucker in the early days of Army aviation) and military families, especially of highly intelligent and educated young officers, may chafe at the lack of cultural amenities. In addition, the booming economy offers alternatives, not just to officers with college degrees, but to well trained and educated noncoms with language skills and other technical training in great demand. A high tech Army must be aware of the competition for its highly qualified personnel. It’s probably no more of a crisis than it was ten years ago but we need the Army more right now, especially the cadres to build a larger Army. The Air Force has another problem. The manned aircraft is going away even faster than I previously believed.