An Idea Whose Time Is Gone

Okay, I want you to imagine this.

You've got your regular job, network manager or working in a factory or beat cop. Whatever. But you're also a "weekend warrior"; once a month you go in for a weekend and once a year you go do your two weeks. In the event of a war, you know you're going to be called up to go serve your country. Maybe you even look forward to it.

So you get a call. There's a War on Terrorism and you have been called up to fight it. So your unit is activated. Trains in and off you go. Then, after six months, you get deactivated and sent back to your old job. Where your replacement is looking at you going "huh?" Well, that's how these things go, you think. And your boss, reluctantly, takes you back. And six months later you get a call. Time to go again. And then they tell you: This is the new plan.

Already some are saying "you're joking, right?" Nope. This is exactly what is happening to reserve pilots right now. They are being called up for six month rotation then being dumped back into the civilian world, only to be called back up again for another six month rotation. Is it just me or is this idiotic?

The indications are that it's about three things: Money, the "six months and out" regulations and "authorized officer corps." That is the Air Force and Navy still don't have enough money to have all the pilots they need, all the time. And military regulations regarding "temporary duty" and "permanent change of station" are based around a six month (180 days, actually) time frame. In addition, the Congress sets the maximum number of officers that can be maintained by the services and all the services are bumping on the upper end of those allotments.

I'll go on to say that there is a strong suspicion that there are "promotion" rationales as well. As long as these pilots are still "part-time" they don't interfere with the smooth running of the promotion program for the "real" officers.

It's also not just officers. Various reserve units have been called upon to supply individuals and groups, only to have them returned after six months and a new group sent out.

I think we need a new plan. First of all, the "deploy for six months" plan is ludicrous. In Vietnam we well learned that it takes about four months for anyone to "get the hang" of combat. And it wasn't until about the ninth month that they were really good. That goes for rifle-men and bomb-handlers and company commanders. Always having a "green" unit in combat, because you want to "spare" the boys and send them to refit, is dumb. It's costly in unit efficiency, it's costly in training and it's costly in lives.

Change the station of units that are going to be used in an "ongoing" way in the war on terrorism to a third nation and make it a permanent change of station. For the Marines, reactivate the "China Regiment" and give it a permanent overseas base, Okinawa would be nice but all things considered Diego (hellish as it is) is probably a better alternative. Then run all your combat ops out of that regiment. When it's not fighting, give it five times what the "peacetime" allotment is for training.

Manage the war from that base and have all the "spear" units, Navy, Marine, Army and Air Force, there. If a person wants to be on the "frontlines" of the war on terrorism, they can transfer to those units and train them hard . If they want to be a backstop, they go to the stateside units. At the "receiving" unit side, change the replacement method from individual to group replacement; don't replace a rifle-man, replace a fire team, preferably have a fire-team leader who is a "returnee." Do the same at every level; it's been proven time and again that teams that are bonded, be they mortar squads or bomb handlers or stevedores, are more efficient and have fewer casualties. For maintenance of the men, use standard leave and "R&R" protocols but rotate out units and teams, not (please) individuals.

And for God's Sake, call up who you're going to use and keep them called up. The military is not a dot com. If morale at a dot com is bad because they're looking at lay-offs, all you get is bad websites. If morale in the military is bad, you get dead people. And nothing is more destructive to morale than feeling like you're getting "jerked around" unnecessarily. Give them a life in uniform or a life on civvie street. If you ask, they will come. For as long as their country needs them and into eternity if asked. Just… treat them like soldiers , not disposable "employees."

To do anything else is an insult to the men and an insult to our nation.

"You talk of better food for us and schools and fires and all:

We'll wait for better rations if you'll treat us rational!

Don't mess around with cook-room slops, but prove it to our face

The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace !"