How the Military Murders Meritocracy - Modern War Institute

Not all officer make good commanders. Not all officers make good staff officers. We should not throw out the individuals who do not make good commanders. They may very well have other talents and my be valuable team members in another capacity. Grant it that the army was very large then, but during WW2 they did not force people to resign, they found the right fit for each person. In the now famous, E company, 506 PIR, Captain Herbert Sobel was a great trainer, but not a good combat leader. On the other hand Captain Dick Winters was a great combat leader. Whenever this subject comes up I always remember what Field Marshall Erwin Rommel said about choosing leaders in his units. In my opinion, it is the best philosophy on choosing leaders ever given. Notice, he does not make those with both of the good characteristics his commander.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlefield_promotion#Types_of_Battlefield_Promotion

And by contrast, you'll read on here that this was apparently re-allowed in 2009...whether for all svcs, not a clue, however, it's an interesting contrast with the whole brevet argument, I'd thought, if nothin else, ya know?

This is a cyclical problem. When I was a CPT, our Branch Managers told us that we needed to get a Master's Degree. The hot thing at that time was getting a Master's in Business Admin or in Robotics. So we all went out and got our Master's degrees. Relatively few of us were assigned to employ our Master's. I was a Russian linguist and had graduated the 47 week DLI Russian Basic Course as an enlisted soldier, then completed a Bachelor's in Russian Language and History en route to my commission. But I was not assigned to use my Russian studies. The needs of the service, especially under the stress of many years of war, make talent management to best use everyones' skills very difficult. I hope things get better, we have some amazing people and need to best employ their skills. That is especially true now that we are back facing our "old friends", the Russians, and their "new friends", the Chinese.