OPINION:
In addition to rebuilding America’s military, President-elect Donald Trump and Congress should abolish our military’s up-or-out promotion system, and reform the all-or-nothing retirement system. Currently, rank and pay grade in the military are synonymous. The up-or-out promotion system requires that soldiers be promoted or cut at regular intervals. This is detrimental to career-minded soldiers and officers, as it constantly siphons away experienced personnel from front-line/combat duties and puts them behind desks, far away from the battlefield.
This results in most units being led by inexperienced junior officers and non-commissioned officers while simultaneously encouraging centralization and bureaucracy in the U.S. Army’s high command. It is also detrimental to specialists, whose jobs require longer periods of commitment.
In a high-tech army like ours, specialists and warrant officers are even more necessary than before. The all-or-nothing retirement system requires that soldiers serve for 20 years before receiving any retirement benefits. If a soldier leaves the service or is cut for any reason before completing his 20 years, he gets nothing.
Many former soldiers become contractors in order to make up the balance — to the chagrin of military reformers trying to decentralize the military and eliminate waste. Reforming these two bad policies would be a win-win. The military would be decentralized because the lower tiers would retain their experienced personnel, who in turn would be able to shoulder greater responsibilities, thus reducing the need for bureaucracy. The reduced need for bureaucracy would allow greater selectivity in filling those roles, which would mean greater efficiency and effectiveness.
Finally, a good replacement system would base pay grade on experience and rank on responsibility. Keeping pay grade and rank independent would make decentralization easier.
MICHAEL MCCABE
Alexandria
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