The Pentagon’s controversial plan to hire military leaders off the street

Lateral entry, if approved, could open a door for civilians to join the military’s senior officer ranks. Some leaders want to explore this idea for enlisted military jobs, too.(Photo: John Harman/Staff)

 

Defense Secretary Ash Carter wants to open the door for more “lateral entry” into the military’s upper ranks, clearing the way for lifelong civilians with vital skills and strong résumés to enter the officer corps as high as the O-6 paygrade.

The idea is controversial, to say the very least. For many in the rank-and-file military, it seems absurd, a bewildering cultural change that threatens to upend many assumptions about military life and traditional career paths. But while it’s not universally embraced, there is interest in Congress and among some of the military’s uniformed leaders — even, they say, in exploring how the services could apply this concept to the enlisted force.

This is a key piece of Carter’s “Force of the Future” personnel reform. Unveiled June 9, it aims to help the military bring in more top talent, especially for high-tech career fields focused on cyber warfare and space. Advocates say it will help the military fill important manpower shortfalls with highly skilled professionals and, more broadly, create greater “permeability” between the active-duty military and the civilian sector.

U.S. General: Military Will Face ‘Great Pressure’ to Lower Standards for Women in Combat Roles

Current and future U.S. military leaders will face immense pressure to lower standards in the services in order to allow more women to serve in combat roles, a top general recently warned.

Gen. John Kelly, commander of U.S. Southern Command and a Marine for 45 years, told reporters on Friday that his “greatest fear” is the easing of the military’s stringent training standards as a result of the new policy of integrating women into combat and infantry posts.

Retired US Generals: Americans Too Fat and Unfit to Fight in the Military

A new report issued by a group of retired generals warns that high obesity rates and levels of unfitness among Minnesota’s younger residents has become an issue of national security, and needs to be urgently addressed by the state’s community.

The title of the report says it all – “Too Fat, Frail and Out of Breath to Fight.” According to the findings, about one in three Americans is too overweight to serve in the military. In Minnesota alone, the same applies to about 69% of the state’s young adults.  An additional one in ten of the state’s youth suffer from asthma, which automatically disqualifies them from joining military service.

A worsening morale crisis

So goes the nation when the will of the military has been broken. This is the culmination of decimating purges and cuts from the Obama administration. The hammer of the world (see also HERE) and most powerful nation, that the world has ever seen, is being systematically destroyed from within and a new chapter in world history is about to be formed — one without America.

 

 

Chapter 1 – A Worsening Crisis

After 13 years of war, troops feel burned out and without a sense of mission. More doubt their leaders and their job security.

For many of the war-weary troops who deployed to combat zones over and over again for 13 years, the end of an era of war in Iraq and Afghanistan is good news.

But for Marine Sgt. Zack Cantu and other service members, it’s a total morale killer. For many of them, particularly the young grunts and others in combat arms specialties, it’s the realization that they may never go into battle for their country and their comrades.

U.S. has no ‘plan B’ for Bahrain naval base: officer

WASHINGTON: The US military has failed to prepare a realistic “plan B” if political turmoil forces the closure of a vital naval base in Bahrain, a naval officer argues in a report released Monday.

The Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain is the most US important maritime base in the Middle East but senior officers have become complacent about its future, Commander Richard McDaniel asserts.

“Surprisingly, military leaders have no ‘Plan B’ if strategic access in Bahrain is jeopardized,” McDaniel wrote, in a paper published by the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.

Chinese communists influence U.S. policy through ex-military officials

China uses retired U.S. military leaders for intelligence operations, report says

China’s intelligence services are using a private exchange program for retired U.S. and Chinese generals to influence the U.S. government and downplay Beijing’s large-scale military buildup, according to a congressional report.

The Sanya Initiative launched in 2008 with support from retired Adm. Bill Owens, a former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the China Association for International Friendly Contact (CAIFC), a Chinese military front organization, the report said.

“Institutions and persons affiliated with [People’s Liberation Army] military intelligence entities play a prominent role in the Sanya Initiative,” the report by Congress’ U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said.

The intelligence and influence effort was outlined in a late draft of the commission’s 2011 annual report. However, the section containing details of the intelligence links was left out of the commission’s final report made public in November.

Full article: Chinese communists influence U.S. policy through ex-military officials (The Washington Free Beacon)