Is the NCO Corps not the back bone of the Army? How about the fact that many of the people making these claims are part of the NCO Corps?
Here is what I propose. Get a copy of the NCO Creed read it and decide if you are actually living by the Creed of the Non Commissioned Officer. If it is broken we must fix it. The last line of the creed will solve many of the problems people have mentioned are broken or wrong.
"I will not compromise my integrity, nor my moral courage. I will not forget, nor will I allow my comrades to forget that we are professionals, noncommissioned officers, leaders!"
Sound off and let me know if I am way off base on this one.
Junior soldiers listen to bad NCOs and turn into bad NCOs, that is the point I think that some people are trying to make, the NCO corps is weakening because there is not a push to make NCOs better, to make them take the responsibility that has been handed to them seriously.
I will say that because of the wars, we have seen a huge turnover of soldiers returning home and ETSing, many of them good NCOs because they get rode hard because leadership wants things done right the first time. You can oly ride your prized horse so long before even he quits.
I will say this - just because we have an NCO Creed doesn't mean NCOs will follow it. I had those values long before I became an NCO.
Let's look at the real reason behind a issue plagued NCO Corps (my thoughts). The 2 biggest issues that come to mind are -
1) 13 years at war. We have focused on the war and less on garrison operations. That caused a lot of Soldiers to act a certain way and those Soldiers turned around and became Leaders.
2) Highly tweaked promotion system to accomodate the loss of Leaders at all levels. You can't lower the standard and expect the Leaders joining the ranks to "get it".
Now the kicker to both of these issues - We as NCOs have sat here and watched it happen and didn't do anything cause we had to focus on the wars. I believe if we get back into garrison operations and making Soldiers earn their rank we will see a mindset change over time.
Get rid of the CLI program - any NCO getting promoted on less than 50 promotion points really raises a red flag. I am not saying good NCOs didn't come out of the program but I bet the majority were substandard Soldiers not ready to be Leaders. That caused current Leaders to focus more on those Leaders instead of the collective group. The other piece to this puzzle is the NCOES system - make it mandatory to complete the school before you get promoted.
There is a different mindset when a Soldier works for their promotion or is just handed it.
My explanation should not be taken as the only issue but they are some of the major issues I see from my foxhole.
Yes, the military's business is to be ready to go to war, period. But there are other facets that will make a NCO a solid and effective leader that Soldiers should crave for.
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