4 Ways To Fix The Military: Do you agree?

2015-10-26T12:33:51-04:00

From ForeignPolicy.com:

In the other congressional hearing yesterday, my friend Eliot Cohen of Johns Hopkins offered four suggestions for improving our armed forces:

— Stop churning out vapid strategy documents like the QDR.

— Study re-mobilization

— Renew professional military education. “To do that, measures would have to be taken that would be anathema to personnel systems today: competitive application to attend a school, rather an assignment to do so as a kind of reward; extremely small class sizes; no foreign presence, or only that of our closest allies; work on projects that are directly relevant to existing war planning problems.”

— And my favorite: “remake our system for selecting and promoting general officers. Nothing, but nothing is more important than senior leadership – the creative leaders like Arleigh Burke or Bernard Schriever in the early Cold War. Our problem is that our promotion systems, in part because of the natural tendency of bureaucracies to replicate themselves, and in part because of the wickets (including joint service) all have to pass through, is making it hard to reach deep and promote exceptional talent to the very top.”

http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/10/23/4-suggestions-for-fixing-the-u-s-military/

Response by SSgt Alex Robinson made Oct 26 at 2015 12:38 PM

2015-10-26T12:38:31-04:00

Great post!

Response by SGT Kristin Wiley made Oct 26 at 2015 12:40 PM

2015-10-26T12:40:39-04:00

I'm sure those suggestions wouldn't hurt, but I wouldn't necessarily put them on the top of my list of suggestions. They also seem geared towards officer development, which doesn't always make a difference on the enlisted side.

Also, why is a friend from Johns Hopkins a relevant source on suggestions for changes in the armed forces? Does he have a military background, because that seems like relevant information for this article.

Response by COL Roxanne Arndt made Oct 26 at 2015 12:48 PM

2015-10-26T12:48:22-04:00

Wow only 4 things, impressive. No matter what system you have in place for Professional military education is it difficult to even get seats as a reservist because there is 'no money'. True there is nothing more important than senior leadership however it is the path you take to get there. There is not enough development of junior leaders and that includes noncommissioned as well as commissioned. Why not focus on the TOTAL promotion system rather than GO. My suggestion would be to start the troops on the ground....then move up. One of the issues I always felt was present was lack of role modeling and mentoring......but what do I know....I'm retired!!! Don't beat me up with a thumbs down!!

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Oct 26 at 2015 1:09 PM

2015-10-26T13:09:56-04:00

I nominate looking over our doctrine of fighting insurgencies.

Response by MCPO Roger Collins made Oct 26 at 2015 2:34 PM

2015-10-26T14:34:16-04:00

My first question would be, "What is wrong with the military that needs fixing?" Once clearly defined, we can fix the issues, IF there is a will to do so. We are the most powerful military on the planet, our limitations come from the C-in-C. IMV, it is not the military that needs fixing.

Response by SPC Robert Dembro made Oct 26 at 2015 5:30 PM

2015-10-26T17:30:51-04:00

I think they forgot. Merit, no matter what grade you are should stiplify your promtion on abilirty and performance.... Just because you a one star general that shouldn't mean you should get the next star because everyone else does the job for you.... Prove you are worthy of that next star by doing what is it to be a leader.... The star is yours if you can make everyone around you believe that they are better for what you taught them and what you have become....

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 26 at 2015 5:32 PM

2015-10-26T17:32:41-04:00

Let the NCO have the power back so we can fix what some one broke that wears a tie everyday. The military should be aggressive the leaders should be aggressive and enforce the standards. It has gone to far long enough. The officers are not the back bone of the military the NCO's are. So stop already. You can't do it. But guess what we can. Oh and give us a pay raise. And stop changing our uniform. The military especially the army is costing our service member alot if money. It is retarded. Shoukd have just kept the BDU but instead they waste more money on stupud stuff. What about more funding for military schools. Like airborne, Air Assult, Sapper, and Ranger. That is way more important then wasting money on uniforms again. Could go on forever. I think they need to take a poll on the actual soldiers, airmen, sailors, and marines and ask us what we think. If you really want it fixed. Ask the NCOs. You will get the truth

Response by SSG Warren Swan made Oct 26 at 2015 6:01 PM

2015-10-26T18:01:17-04:00

1. Give some sort of predictability to the troops. Everything works off a schedule and right now, there is no real schedule to go off. Almost like waiting to ramp up and move out, just to end up on the tarmac being told to hurry up and wait. I know the time is hard with deployments and train ups to go, but if your troops do not know what's next, what the mission is, or the leaders don't know their roles in the bog scheme of things, we have a serious problem.
2. Fix the entire promotion system. Do away with pictures, names, and any identifying criteria that could be used by a board to select or not select a troop. Give their file a random number and allow the board time to do their jobs without knowing who they're actually looking at. If they have an issue with the file, contact the unit and rectify it.
3. Build faith in the ranks. There's always been an issue between Joe's and O's, but it's getting really ridiculous now. We are not in a profession where we need to be friends, but we need to have a mutual understanding and respect for one another. Allow the UCMJ to do it's job equally. Nothing worse than screwing up as a joe and get one punishment that you do or do not deserve and then hear some O did the same thing, and it was a slap on the wrist compared to joe's. It shouldn't matter, but these things get out (Ex LTC Sinclair vs any Joe), and the discontent it breeds doesn't help anyone. Stop with the talk of "we're keeping the best" and "ridding ourselves of those who aren't as good". If you can bring him in when your chips are down, and he/she did everything he could to teach, mentor, and bring his joes home, he's a success. He was there for you, now be there for him/her. How is a culture of watching your back or knowing the good ol boy network has your career in their hands a good thing? How is thinking your battle could be the one thing that ends your career if you piss him off? No Soldier should be forced to think that his peer or superior could get rid of him for whatever reason and it's not a solid one.
4. Re-train the troops. I've mentioned here before the amount of time given to teach to kill, yet nowhere near the same amount of time is spent teaching them to live. The services need to balance their need for killers with their actual need to have functioning troops when they're not in combat. MRT's should be the beginning of the cycle of readjusting troops back into garrison and post deployment life. They should have the undivided attention of their commands and if that can't be, then a proper reporting method to solve this issue enacted. Make mental health more acceptable, and rid units of leaders who cannot support the mental health of their troops.
5. Stop with the BS acquisitions. We have more crap sitting around designed for one use, with no real use afterwards. With this, you've allocated monies that could've gone to troops programs, that is now on someone's hand receipt doing nothing (MRAPS anyone?). Becoming more of a joint military force should help with this. We all use the same radios, same tires, same whatever so that if a Soldier and Marine are working together, they both know the others equipment. They both can accurately operate the equipment, and thus save lives and time.

Response by COL Jon Thompson made Oct 26 at 2015 9:08 PM

2015-10-26T21:08:38-04:00

I am not sure what he means by "study re-mobilization." Studying should give a recommendation, not be one. In terms of GO selection, that has to start at the lowest officer levels and is a problem in part due to the promotion system. This is a generalization but in the way it currently works, it promotes toxic leadership while the good or great leaders either get passed over or get out. I have worked with some great senior officers and then there were those who had no business being in leader positions.

Response by SGT William Howell made Oct 27 at 2015 7:21 AM

2015-10-27T07:21:30-04:00

Yeah not really buying what they are selling. It would seem like a better title would be, " How to fix our Officers Corps." He only left out the part about Soldiers. So let me try my hand. I don't have John Hopkins name in my title, but I do have Iraq and Afghanistan in it.

1. Officers - promote out not up. If they are ineffective get rid of them.
2. Revamp all military training. Raise the standards, don't lower them. Integrate training to the way we fight. We should have joint operations were we learn the capabilities of the other branches.
3. Never take advice for some guy at John Hopkins. As a matter of fact, with the exception of giving us money nobody in congress should have one flipping thing to say about how we are organized or ran.
4. Win a war then rebuild a country. Not the other way around.

Response by COL Lars Braun made Oct 27 at 2015 8:56 AM

2015-10-27T08:56:09-04:00

I am open to suggestions for improvement, but i reject the idea that the military is broken and must be fixed. Joint assignments are a good "hoop" for senior officers. We already have SAMS course for a select few. Education of a broad base is necessary to build a skilled profession. Documents like the QDR are the foundation of future plans and provide a focus for the huge organization.