A few days ago there was an article of FR that said the Army was having a hard time getting new officers.
The Army has a hard time keeping officers when the economy is booming. I left after Reagan's election, not because I disagreed with Reagan, but rather because I was used up, and knew that help was on the way. The men who came after me are much more competent officers than I was. How could they not be, since I spend most of my time playing administrative games to get what few repair parts and training for my guys that were available.
I was appointed by Ford, and served through the Carter Administration. We couldn't get spare parts for our tanks, so we ginned up sprocket re-manufacture shops. Training ammunition was nil. Two units went to the range, and didn't have enough ammunition for everyone to take a single shot. There was a "mix up" and they ended up using each other's basic load for training. To punish the units, they didn't get a replacement for the basic load for 6 months. Yes, it was bucked all the way to the whitehouse and back down.
Clever. To punish who ever made the mistake by having two tank battalions be ready to defend their position in the line with empty ammuntion bunkers in their tanks.
That was how the Carter Administration worked, or didn't work. That was the precursor to the debacle in Iran when they tried to get the hostages out.
That's an incorrect characterization, just as was the headline, of the article. Officer recruiting is fine as is enlisted recruiting. As a percentage more company grade officers are leaving after their initial obligation is up, ~8%, but that means 92% are staying. That's a lower percentage than at the end of the Slick Willie experiment, ~10%. Don't get conned by the MSM.
Young Officers Leaving Army at a High Rate
