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EXCLUSIVE: Amid Recruiting Woes, Officers Allege The Army Is Preventing Their Scheduled Discharge
Daily Caller ^ | April 24, 2023 8:00 PM ET | MICHAEL GINSBERG - CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT

Posted on 04/25/2023 7:09:13 AM PDT by Red Badger

The U.S. Army is changing its terms of service guidelines and denying soldiers scheduled discharges, a letter signed by 61 aviation officers alleges.

Recruitment and retention failures have beset all five branches of the U.S. military in recent years, with a 2022 Pentagon study finding that 77% of Americans aged 17 – 24 are unfit to serve due to obesity, drug use, or other health issues. The Army missed its 2022 recruiting target by 25%, and Secretary of the Air Force Gen. Frank Kendall said in March that his branch is likely to miss its 2023 target by 10%.

The recruitment and retention failures impact all parts of the military, including its most elite units, multiple news outlets have reported. In an effort to compensate for personnel limitations, the Army is changing its service requirement guidelines for some officers, according to a letter 61 aviation officers submitted to members of Congress. The officers assert that by reinterpreting contract language, the Army is preparing to tack on three years of service to the seven or eight years the airmen were initially promised.

“Army Aviators have been misled by HRC [Human Resources Command], the USMA [U.S. Military Academy] and ROTC [Reserve Officers’ Training Course] Aviation Branch Representatives, and our Career Managers on the exact length of our service contract,” the officers wrote to at least 11 members of Congress. They are “request[ing] an inquiry into the U.S. Army’s Human Resources Command (HRC) due to significant mismanagement relating to the enforcement of Active-Duty Service Obligations (ADSOs) for Army Aviation Officers.”

Read the letter here:

SCRBD VERSION AT LINK...........

BRADSO Congressional Letter w Encl Compressed Redacted -2 by Michael Ginsberg on Scribd

The Daily Caller gave three letter signers anonymity to speak candidly about their experiences attempting to navigate the discharge process.

All three signers emphasized the service contract’s confusing language, with two noting that military lawyers had trouble understanding its terms.

“It was a contract we signed as cadets in ROTC or at West Point,” one aviation officer told the Daily Caller. “Those contracts are kind of sketchy because they technically don’t exist. It’s a made-up document. It’s not a Department of the Army form.”

It’s “definitely a vague document,” a second officer agreed, noting that a Judge Advocate General attorney he consulted gave him an interpretation different from the Army’s and the officer’s. That officer said that all contract signatories were not in a position to question the language of the document when they signed.

“We’re 20-year-old cadets and they’re briefing me that [the three-year Branch of Choice Active Duty Service Obligation (BRADSO)] will be served consecutively to my commissioning course,” he said.

The heart of the issue is when the soldiers must serve their three-year BRADSO. Until recently, the Army allowed aviation officers to serve their BRADSO concurrently with their flight school Active-Duty Service Obligation. The Army recently changed the rules to require the officers to serve the BRADSO consecutively, adding three years to the officers’ service times.

The Daily Caller obtained a video filmed in 2020 of an HRC officer saying that the BRADSO would be served concurrently to the flight school ADSO.

“You’re ADSO upon graduation … you’re not going to have to do three [years] after,” he said, in reference to the BRADSO. The officers note several instances like this one of them being told that the BRADSO would “run concurrently with the flight school ADSO.”

All three officers told the Daily Caller that they were alerted to the changed interpretation in February 2023.

Army HRC did not provide a response to the Daily Caller’s request for comment by publish time.

The Army’s recruitment and retention struggles have particularly impacted the aviation officer corps, the three signatories told the Daily Caller. Aviation officers do not fly as much as their subordinates, and stop flying almost entirely once they get promoted to the rank of major. The lack of flying opportunities is a key reason for retention issues, the officers emphasized.

“Every company commander I’ve had in five-seven years has left. None of them have made a career of it,” the first aviation officer said. Company commanders are typically captains. Some officers want to exit the service before they get promoted to major, which, for most, is effectively a grounded desk position. “I don’t want to do that.”

FORT CARSON, CO – MARCH 31: Cavalry scouts with the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team land in a Blackhawk helicopter as they participate in Operation Steel Eagle on March 31, 2022 in Fort Carson, Colorado. (Photo by Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images)

“If flying was a guaranteed position for us we would stay,” the third officer added. He said that so many captains are leaving at the end of their service obligation that the Army has begun promoting captains as early as six months ahead of schedule. The Daily Caller was not able to independently verify that assertion.

Members of Congress have repeatedly sounded the alarm on the military’s personnel crisis, with Republicans like Indiana Rep. Jim Banks and Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw suggesting that extensive diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are causing recruitment to drop. Some reports have highlighted extensive drug use and lack of physical fitness among the military age population. A 2018 Heritage Foundation report argued that increased rates of obesity in children and teens could drive a national security crisis.

The offices of North Carolina Sen. Ted Budd, Texas Rep. John Carter, North Carolina Rep. Chuck Edwards, and Pennsylvania Rep. John Joyce confirmed receipt of the letter.

All three officers emphasized that their post-service plans will be significantly disrupted if the Army goes through with the guidelines interpretation.

The first officer explained that moving bases has been difficult for his wife, who works remotely and is planning to stay long-term in the area where he is currently stationed. He plans to fly for commercial airlines after leaving the Army, but worries that three extra years in the military will harm his civilian career.

“It’s telling when there are 130 people that all have the same complaint,” he said. “We know our names are going to be on that [letter]. I know in my heart I’m doing the right thing. This is what is best.”

The second officer explained that he has several family commitments that he will struggle to fulfill if ordered to serve another three years.

“I’ve been planning this for eight years,” he said. “My foot is out the door and they’re changing it up on me.”

The third officer likewise emphasized the strain on his marriage. His wife is unable to work remotely, so they spend significant time apart. He blames the Army for not being more forthright with soldiers about its requirements.

“We are told to uphold all things moral, ethical, and legal. This is not ethical and it’s not done in good faith,” he said.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; History; Military/Veterans; Society
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1 posted on 04/25/2023 7:09:13 AM PDT by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger

Who the hell would join a woke military?
Who the hell can salute that talking turd in the White House?
How about little willy Milley?
Any officer or enlisted that insists on pronouns should not only be kicked out, but subjected to ridicule before and after doing so. “My pronouns are” = “I’m an ignorant dumbass.”


2 posted on 04/25/2023 7:15:49 AM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: Red Badger

Bring back the draft.


3 posted on 04/25/2023 7:18:23 AM PDT by bunkerhill7 (`)
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To: Da Coyote

That would be an interesting SCOTUS case with the country not being at war.

While in the military a good joke: Wanna hear a good ph—c story? Read your contract with the government.


4 posted on 04/25/2023 7:20:03 AM PDT by DIRTYSECRET
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To: Red Badger

Nothing motivates pilots to stay on top of the game better than perceived bad faith betrayal by their govt, and 3 years of involuntary servitude


5 posted on 04/25/2023 7:22:54 AM PDT by silverleaf (It’s not propaganda just because you disagree with it. )
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To: Red Badger

Very soon the American economy will weaken considerably. Then the military will have no trouble filling their ranks or retaining skilled officers.


6 posted on 04/25/2023 7:23:45 AM PDT by allendale
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To: silverleaf

This will cause a shortage of airline pilots and less flights and less travel by the public.............


7 posted on 04/25/2023 7:23:57 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Red Badger

Being an old soldier, this really breaks my heart but I saw this coming once the Dung Beetle Party took control of the military. They did the same thing to public education, the “media”, elections and country music. Everything they touch turns to sh*t.


8 posted on 04/25/2023 7:27:52 AM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (It's time to indict the Dung Beetle Party's token affirmative action chubby cheeked shyster lawyer.)
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To: Red Badger
Recruitment and retention failures have beset all five branches of the U.S. military in recent years, with a 2022 Pentagon study finding that 77% of Americans aged 17 – 24 are unfit to serve due to obesity, drug use, or other health issues.

Don't buy this CYA DOD cover story. Go woke, go broke. Get rid of the woke and you get NORMAL kids to join.

9 posted on 04/25/2023 7:30:41 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: allendale

fu


10 posted on 04/25/2023 7:31:42 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: bunkerhill7
Bring back the draft.

It'll never happen. Senior enlisted leadership does not have the skill set to train and discipline draftees, many of whom would be openly defiant and incorrigible. Instilling in senior leadership this skill set after serving for many years in a volunteer force would be very difficult. The military would have to bring in outside entities, which would cause chaos in the ranks.

As senior enlisted, we're used to training volunteers, most of whom want to be there and do a good job. This is what we know how to do and have been doing successfully now for decades. Occasionally a few slip through the cracks who realize that for themselves, enlistment was a mistake. They'll do as little as possible, receive adverse evaluations, and eventually wash themselves out of the military, sometimes rather quickly.

But imagine draftees who show up at boot camp with the attitude, "F*** YOU! I DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR THIS S**T!" What to do with them? Beat them? Toss them into prison? The public relations fallout of that would be catastrophic.

This isn't the WWII or Vietnam generation where draftees might've grumbled, but most still reported for duty and served honorably. These kids today. Do you think some Antifa tranny is going to follow orders? Or some feral criminal gangbanger with an <80 IQ? They'd put everyone at risk and erode morale, discipline, and combat effectiveness.

11 posted on 04/25/2023 7:36:09 AM PDT by Drew68 (Ron DeSantis for President 2024. A real conservative.)
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To: central_va
Get rid of the woke and you get NORMAL kids to join.

For kids today, woke is normal.

12 posted on 04/25/2023 7:38:09 AM PDT by Drew68 (Ron DeSantis for President 2024. A real conservative.)
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To: Drew68
For kids today, woke is normal.

Maybe for your retarded spawn.

13 posted on 04/25/2023 7:40:07 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: bunkerhill7

Why? it’s slavery and nation that needs a draft to survive should be looking inwardly at why


14 posted on 04/25/2023 7:43:15 AM PDT by Manuel OKelley
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To: Red Badger
"“We are told to uphold all things moral, ethical, and legal. This is not ethical and it’s not done in good faith,” he said."

That is how you kill recruitment further, wind up with cinscription, and a peacetime draft.

Watch for proposals of mandatory military service if it continues from the Left/Deep State. All cloaked in "patriotism" and "saving democracy" of course.

15 posted on 04/25/2023 7:43:24 AM PDT by Tench_Coxe
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To: silverleaf

Exactly what I was thinking.


16 posted on 04/25/2023 7:45:06 AM PDT by Manuel OKelley
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To: Red Badger

Just when the airline industry is expecting 50% of its pilots to retire, over the next few years.


17 posted on 04/25/2023 7:45:53 AM PDT by silverleaf (It’s not propaganda just because you disagree with it. )
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To: Red Badger

Undocumented latinos will end up filling the ranks, just like the Bush administration did: a pathway to legalized citizenship.


18 posted on 04/25/2023 7:49:25 AM PDT by Salvavida
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To: Red Badger

I is unfortunatly sad to report that officer’s serve at the pleasure of the President of the United States.

If I’m not mistaken it even states that very fact on their certificates of promotion.


19 posted on 04/25/2023 7:49:46 AM PDT by Clutch Martin ("The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right." )
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To: Clutch Martin
I is unfortunatly sad to report that officer’s serve at the pleasure of the President of the United States.

That's for going out the door, not for dragging them in or making them stay. That's also for regular commissions, not reserve commissions, and very few have a regular commission anymore.

An officers oath is distinct from the enlisted oath in that the officers do not pledge allegiance to the president but to Congress.

Officers' Oath:
I, [STATE YOUR NAME], having been appointed a [RANK] in the United States [BRANCH OF SERVICE], do solemnly swear [OR AFFIRM] that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the office upon which I am about to enter. So help me God.

Oath of Enlistment
I, (state your name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God. (optional)

20 posted on 04/25/2023 7:57:18 AM PDT by T.B. Yoits
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