The U.S. military is about to send much of its combat experience out the gate. Many of the Captains and Majors facing a SERB board cut their teeth as platoon leaders and company commanders in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. They’re the ones that made the surge a success and had the Taliban on the defensive until Comrade Obama entered office and implemented policies that reversed those gains.
And these junior-to-mid-level officers aren’t alone. Due to budget cuts, even more E-5s and E-6s are getting the boot. Many of them have 7-12 years of experience and they also learned the ropes in places like western Iraq, the neighborhoods of Baghdad and Helmand Province. They are the soldiers who were squad leaders in those places and now platoon sergeants or staff NCOs. Many planned to make the Army a career, now they are being forced out with no concern for the experience we are losing.
We are setting ourselves up for an Army that will lose critical combat and leadership experience in the years to come. True, not all junior officers and mid-level NCOs will be mustered out, but we will lose enough so that many units won’t have enough experienced personnel to ensure continuity of operations and prevent us from having to learn some of the hard lessons over again.
It’s a familiar refrain in American military history. It was only 24 years from Pershing’s Army to Kasserine Pass and only five years between the defeat of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan to the debacle of Task Force Smith. I wonder how many soldiers will die in some future conflict because the experienced battalion or brigade commander or command sergeant major was forced out the Army a decade earlier.
thank you for your incredible insightful and informative response .
I hope the right people read it !
Many planned to make the Army a career, now they are being forced out with no concern for the experience we are losing.
Eh, it’s ok. More will be free to join our side when the time comes.