Posted on 10/28/2015 9:13:16 PM PDT by TheTimeOfMan
I’ve written before here1 about some of the problems in the United States armed forces that make the idea of reform – and we badly need reform! – problematic; indeed it is problematic to the point of preposterous. I’m going to talk now about one of the phenomena that goes into that: the excess of officers. Mostly, I will center on the Army, but the problem cuts across the services and cross-fertilizes from one to the other.
Note: I am pretty dispassionate and objective about this sort of thing. If it offends anyone, tough. Most of you knew that, right?
Excess? The German Army of WW II somehow managed to fight off for six years – that, or beat the ever loving crap out of – nearly the whole world with under three percent commissioned officers.2 Roman legions, perhaps the most formidable fighting machines of human history, got by with six to eight. Six to eight percent? Not on your life; six to eight, period, six military tribunes, a legate, and – arguably – the praefectus castrorum, who was more in the line of a late entry officer, as per the British system.3 Think about that one, one officer per every eight hundred men. And it was plenty.
What have we got? As of 2013 we had over eleven percent commissioned in the Marine Corps, seventeen percent in the Navy, almost nineteen percent in the Army, and nearly twenty percent of strength being commissioned officers in the Air Force.4
The problems with having this many officers are multifold. I can only cover some of the more important ones......
Naturally we have a system in many support units that are officer heavy. In a medical unit, a new RN nurse is likely a 1st lieutenant, a new MD is likely a captain, a new vascular surgeon is likely a major, and experienced surgeons with time in uniform are likely lieutenant colonels or colonels.
In a combat arms branch like armor, a tank platoon of only 16 men and four tanks is led by a lieutenant but...there is about 12 million dollars worth of equipment on hand in that platoon.
This article is silly..
I can only speak of the Air Force, but many, if not most career fields are technical and require officers to perform them..for example pilots..a college degree and a commission are required to enter pilot training. The AF has a lot of airplanes, and they require pilots. The problem with the AF is not the entry or mid-level officers, but the PC generals..AF is bloated with useless senior officers.
“...six military tribunes, a legate, and – arguably – the praefectus castrorum, who was more in the line of a late entry officer, as per the British system.3 Think about that one, one officer per every eight hundred men. And it was plenty...”
Yes, they had a great system but how many chicks did they have?...How many Ethiopians integrated into the rank and file? Now we have to have lots of referees to fight all the EO battles. The JAG is officer heavy.
Like a navy with more admirals than ships
The Marine rifle platoon consists of 42 enlisted Marines and 1 lieutenant, which is a little over 2 percent. A rifle company has 6 officers and 176 enlisted Marines, about 3.4 percent.
The Marine Corps has 21,000 officers — 2,300 are infantry officers and 5,200 are pilot/NFOs.
“The JAG is officer heavy.”
You prefer enlisted attorneys?
LOL
World War Two had enlisted pilots. You do not need a technical degree to fly. Lots of Line officers have non-technical degrees.
World War Two had enlisted pilots. You do not need a technical degree to fly. Lots of Line officers have non-technical degrees.
World War II pilots only required a high school diploma too. I did not say that now you needed a tech degree..only a college degree...( I majored in Poli Sci).
Back in the 1950s I was a AF Lieutenant assigned to Wright Field in Dayton as an electronics engineer. We had to prepare an annual document to be submitted to Command Headquarters in Baltimore in order to get approval for each project. Once the document had been approved by the chain of command at Wright Field, which meant it was on its way to Command Headquarters, we got a copy back. One time I counted all the general officer signatures on my return copy, signatures that had been affixed before the original left Wright Field. Thirty-two general officer signatures. I doubt very much they knew what they were signing. It was just the required procedure.
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