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| StrategyPage: Old Soldiers Stick Around |
| 2006-03-03 |
| The U.S. Department of Defense now believes that older is better, at least when it comes to NCOs and officers. The Pentagon wants to encourage more military personnel to stay in uniform for up to 40 years. To that end, the Department of Defense is asking Congress to approve extending pay rate tables from 30 to 40 years. Currently, once you pass 30 years of service, you no longer get raises based on length of service. There is another proposal in play, that would change the current "half pay at 20 years and 75 percent pay at 30 years" retirement plan to add " 25 percent at ten years" and " 100 percent at 40 years". This would encourage younger troops to stay for ten (and then maybe go for 20 or 30), and make it more attractive for the most experienced troops to go for 40 years. Ever since World War II, the U.S. military has encouraged a "youthful force." In addition to "up or out" (get promoted after so many years in a rank, or be laid off), officers and NCOs were encouraged to retire at 20 years or, at most 30. But things have changed in the last sixty years. People not only live longer, they stay fit as they grow older. It's not unusual to see NCOs in their 50s keeping up with troops in their 20s during runs and other demanding physical tasks. The 40 year career would not be open to any old soldier that wanted it. You can stay in for 40 or more years now, but need approval from the Pentagon. The new pay scale would make more older troops willing to stick around if asked. In fact, the number of older NCOs and officers worth keeping around is small. But these are men and women with extraordinary capabilities. These are people you don't want to lose, even to age. The talents they have are usually people skills, which tend to improve with age. Putting together, and managing, teams is what the military often has to do in a hurry. In cases like this, one or two people, who are really good at it, can make an enormous difference. Military history is also full of soldiers in their 60s and 70s who ran circles, at least mentally, around everyone else. Since the military has been all-volunteer since the 1970s, the overall quality of the force has improved, and that, along with healthier old age, has produced a lot more old soldiers worth keeping around. |
| Posted by:ed |
| #15 There's one other problem with the military, especially with retaining people longer: too often once you reach a certain rank, you're shoved into "administration", rather than retained in your primary skill area. I declined one promotion and refused to be considered for another because it would have meant I'd end up an administrative desk jockey, instead of working with people in a real job. If you keep people longer, you're going to have to do some major modification to the skill ladder and the entire TO&E. Lots of other problems to be addressed, too - like how do you keep older guys in if you treat them like crap. BTW, #14 is right on the mark! Today, there are between 25m and 35m active/reserve/retired/former military people in the United States. That would be a rather large number to select from to put people on the border for national security. There are lots of other areas where the US could use these people to good advantage, if they'd just get over a bunch of silly prejudices, mostly maintained by middle-management (senior NCOS, Field Grade officers). Inertia will be extremely difficult to overcome, however. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2006-03-03 13:23 |
| #14 There are a few facts of life that the military only grudgingly accepts during wartime. The first of these is that appearance doesn't matter, performance matters. The second is that you only really need combat soldiers for combat. The third is that the young and strong non-combat soldiers are only needed in forward deployment, not back in the home front to train replacements. The fourth is that you *never* have enough lead time in training replacements before you need them to be shipped forward. This means that those already forward deployed stay there longer than they should be, and those in the rear get shipped forward sooner than they should be. Older personnel help ease things at every level of this process. First of all, they are skilled and experienced performers. Second, though they are not optimal for combat, they can fill in every role behind the combat lines. Third, though they are also less than optimal for forward CS and CSS, they free up young and strong CS and CSS personnel to become combat soldiers, both near the front and back in training facilities. Finally, they improve replacement training because they can discriminate in training between militarism (or "looking" military) and militancy (or "performing" militarily); and emphasize the latter. This gets competent replacements forward faster, and gets forward combat soldiers rotated to the rear faster. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-03-03 10:54 |
| #13 You mean you didn't grind it up to make some pica seconds? Chopping it would have been more appropriate. She used to pass out pieces of wire about a foot long, i.e. the length of wire that electrical signals can travel in a nanosecond. Her point was that hardware constraints would loom sooner or later and would affect how we wrote software. That was before really integrated circuitry was possible, so the looming is happening a little less slowly than some might have predicted. But it's a real issue for serious machines that model e.g. nuclear blast effects, airplane performance or weather. |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-03-03 09:47 |
| #12 np - thx ed |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-03-03 09:39 |
| #11 Hell if they'd had this I'd probably still be in the reserves at a minimum. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2006-03-03 09:37 |
| #10 Link was given in comment #1 bug report. http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htatrit/articles/20060303.aspx |
| Posted by: ed 2006-03-03 09:31 |
| #9 no link? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-03-03 09:21 |
| #8 Somewhere I still have the 'nanosecond' she passed out in a talk she gave to my software team. You mean you didn't grind it up to make some pica seconds? :) |
| Posted by: Snaiper Jeretch8186 2006-03-03 09:20 |
| #7 Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper has an Arleigh Burke-class DDG named after her. It's the only combatant ship in the Navy named after a woman. |
| Posted by: Mike 2006-03-03 09:11 |
| #6 Ah, Grace Hopper. When I was a fledgling programmer working for the JCS, Adm. Hopper was still active in an office down the hall of the E-ring, 2nd basement. I got to meet her a couple of times. Only flag officer in all of DOD who got away with wearing a charm bracelet while in uniform. Sharp, sharp, sharp as a whip. Somewhere I still have the 'nanosecond' she passed out in a talk she gave to my software team. |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-03-03 09:11 |
| #5 Subject: The poodle and the leopard A Story with a Moral A wealthy old lady decides to go on a photo safari in Africa, taking her faithful aged poodle named Cuddles, along for the company. One day the poodle starts chasing butterflies and before long, Cuddles discovers that she's lost. Wandering about, she notices a leopard heading rapidly in her direction with the intention of having lunch. The old poodle thinks, "Oh, oh! I'm in deep doo-doo now!" Noticing some bones on the ground close by, she immediately settles down to chew on the bones with her back to the approaching cat. Just as the leopard is about to leap, the old poodle exclaims loudly, "Boy, that was one delicious leopard! I wonder if there are any more around here." Hearing this, the young leopard halts his attack in mid-strike, a look of terror comes over him and he slinks a way into the trees. "Whew!", says the leopard, "That was close! That old poodle nearly had me" Meanwhile, a monkey who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree, figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the leopard. So off he goes, but the old poodle sees him heading after the leopard with great speed, and figures that something must be up. The monkey soon catches up with the leopard, spills the beans and strikes a deal for himself with the leopard. The young leopard is furious at being made a fool of and says, "Here, monkey, hop on my back and see what's going to happen to that conniving canine!" Now, the old poodle sees the leopard coming with the monkey on his back and thinks , "What am I going to do now?", but instead of running, the dog sits down with her back to her attackers, pretending she hasn't seen them yet, and just when they get close enough to hear, the old poodle says: "Where's that damn monkey? I sent him off an hour ago to bring me another leopard!" Moral of this story.....Don't mess with old guys... age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill! Bulls--t and brilliance only come with age and experience! |
| Posted by: Visitor 2006-03-03 09:03 |
| #4 In fact, the number of older NCOs and officers worth keeping around is small. But these are men and women with extraordinary capabilities The name Grace Hooper comes to mind. Hopper was never one to hold a single job at any one time. She was involved both with the academic world and with the Navy during the time that she held her positions in the Remington Rand Corporation, then from 1955 in the Sperry Corporation which had merged in that year with Remington Rand. Her connections with the academic world were many, sometimes visiting positions as in 1959 when she was a Visiting Lecturer at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering of the University of Pennsylvania. She was a consultant and lecturer for the United States Naval Reserve up to her retirement in December 1966, by which time she had reached the rank of Commander. The Navy and Hopper were not apart for very long for, in August 1967, she was recalled to active duty in the Navy. At this time she took military leave from the Sperry Corporation and did not return to that job, retiring from it in 1971 when she reached 65 years of age. Her return to the Navy was intended to be for only a six months period [5]:- ... at the request of Norman Ream, then Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy for Automatic Data Processing. After the six months were up, her orders were changed to say her services would be needed indefinitely. She was promoted to Captain in 1973 by Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, Jr., Chief of Naval Operations. And in 1977, she was appointed special advisor to Commander, Naval Data Automation Command, where she stayed until she retired. Active service in the Navy did not prevent Hopper holding academic appointments, and she was a Lecturer in Management Sciences at George Washington University between 1971 and 1978. When Hopper retired from the Navy in August 1986, at 80 years of age, she was the oldest active duty officer in the United States. She had reached the rank of Rear Admiral, being promoted to the rank of Commodore in a White House ceremony in December 1983, then becoming Rear Admiral Hopper in 1985. At a celebration held in Boston on the USS Constitution* to celebrate her retirement, Hopper was awarded the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the highest award possible by the Department of Defense. * retiring the oldest active servicemember on the oldest active ship in the fleet. |
| Posted by: Snaiper Jeretch8186 2006-03-03 08:38 |
| #3 Looks like you and phil_b are already on it in the "Bush's trip to Pakistan" thread. |
| Posted by: ed 2006-03-03 08:16 |
| #2 Ah, 2 singles - looked like the double-quote. Good eye, ed! |
| Posted by: .com 2006-03-03 07:46 |
#1
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| Posted by: ed 2006-03-03 07:38 |