The Army is changing how they select their Battalion Commanders. For the better. And it's about time.

"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura) 03/05/2020 at 16:19 • Filed to: None

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Take some of the politics out of it. Interesting note: they’re putting the interviewees behind a black curtain like they do when symphonies audition players, but my brother plays professionally for a significant symphony orchestra and he says everybody knows exactly who’s behind the curtain. Rusty thinks this is a very good thing. Choose them to command the battalion first, where they make a difference, then learn if they’re cut out for the promotion politics that follow. Note: Rusty served in the US Army from 1984-90 and had maybe half a dozen battalion commanders in that time and every one was a self-serving prick and didn’t give a flying front door about me or about anyone else under their command. Maybe that has changed...

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 03/05/2020 at 16:30

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every one was a self-serving prick and didn’t give a flying front door about me or about anyone else under their command

Pretty sure that is how you become senior management in any organization.

ttyymmnn > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 03/05/2020 at 17:05

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M y brother plays professionally for a significant symphony orchestra and he says everybody knows exactly who’s behind the curtain

This is true to a point. If you are having a local audition, and you are hearing players you’ve worked with before, then sure, you know who they are. If the orchestra is rigging the audition and knows who they want to hire, then they’ll hire that person (or just give them a bye to the final round, which is not screened). In a open, national/international audition, they usually have no idea who the player is.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. 03/05/2020 at 17:10

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*chuckles* (Well, not really a chuckle, but more of an ironic snort...)

Certainly among the administrator/managerial ranks where politics are involved.

We had a blah-blah-blah from the assistant superintendent yesterday, newly promoted, and I leaned over to my work sister and asked her what this administrator’s job must actually consist of. Lots and lots of bull***t that does but little for kids.

ttyymmnn > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 03/05/2020 at 17:12

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We should use this same questionnaire to weed out potential presidential candidates. 

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > ttyymmnn 03/05/2020 at 17:12

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I wondered about that. I think with these Army officers, the situation will be much more like the latter.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > ttyymmnn 03/05/2020 at 17:14

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President Trump has demonstrated that these standards need not apply to the POTUS.

ttyymmnn > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 03/05/2020 at 17:17

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In some ways, I don’t like the screened audition. In the old days, you would move to a new town, play your ass off, get recognized, get hired as a sub, then get the job if you played well and weren’t a dick. You were rewarded for being a good, reliable  player and a good colleague. With the screen, you might get a competent player, but then they turn out to be a toxic asshole in the section. Or, they learn their audition music really well, but suck at actually doing the job. This happens more often than you might think.

ttyymmnn > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 03/05/2020 at 17:18

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What would be funny if it weren’t so tragic is that he fails every. s ingle. q uestion.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > ttyymmnn 03/05/2020 at 17:39

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It’s the very definition of how he fails.

ttyymmnn > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 03/05/2020 at 17:40

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Which shows why those are such good questions.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 03/05/2020 at 17:44

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The Army has been making moves lately, and for the better I’d argue. A friend of mine just picked up Colonel, and he was about to drop his retirement package. He’s never held a b attalion command, and didn’t care to, he’s spent a lot of his career in comms and more recently doing cyber (something Army definitely needs). So he got passed over on his first application, not holding a major command is usually a career ender. H e was getting ready to submit his retirement package when he got notified that he got a “second look” because they realized he has key skills they need, and got the promotion.

The “second look” is a relatively recent thing, as far as I know, and it seems like a great tool compared to the “Up or Out” policies that have been in place. There’s too much competition with the private sector, and there’s too many advanced skills needed on the modern battlefield, to turn people away who are willing and able to do the job.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Snuze: Needs another Swede 03/05/2020 at 18:01

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Back in ‘88 or ‘89, there was this hapless fellow Sergeant Wagner. I don’t know how he ever made E-5, but he was the sort of guy who had the intellect of and engine block but who would stop at nothing to accomplish whatever was required of him, as long as he could understand what was required of him. The warrant officer technician conspired with the E-7 maintenance sergeant to trap SGT Wagner in some snare and they wrote him up, got him busted to E-4, then got him drummed out of the Army. Thing was, Wagner would have made a dependable E-4 and would’ve been happy to serve out his days as an E-4 and would have earned well his meager pension. But no, it was Up or Out, and out Specialist Wagner went to go and stock shelves at the grocery store. He was a physically very capable man, just not the brightest bulb on the tree.

Regarding colonels: if I got elected POTUS 46, perish the thought, but if I did, my first official act would be to see the Vindman Brothers promoted to full colonel, retroactive to the date they were perp walked out of the White House, and given the billet of their choice, or retirement at O-6 if that was what either of them wished. And in four years, if they’d served effectively as colonels, I’d have them promoted to brigadier, if that was their wish. Additionally, I’d ask the first lady to invite the Vindman Brothers’ wives to the private quarters at the White House for a nice luncheon. (I should note here that nice luncheon and Mrs. Vandura aren’t two things you’re likely to hear or see in the same sentence, and she would ask me not to accept the POTUS 46 gig if it were offered to me, but I like my fantasy.)

facw > Snuze: Needs another Swede 03/05/2020 at 19:11

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As technical skills have become more important, it does seem like the military could stand to have separate rank progressions for officers, one that recognizes advanced subject mastery, and one that recognizes command ability. Different skill sets, but you want to be able to retain people in either case, even if they don’t have both command expertise and technical expertise.

facw > ttyymmnn 03/05/2020 at 19:13

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I’d argue some of those things disqualify people from even being referred to as a “leader”. Being in a leadership role does not make you a leader in and of itself .

M.T. Blake > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 03/05/2020 at 19:52

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I thought it was always: Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, Catch a General by the toe. If he hollers, let him go. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.

Annnnd you, are, not it, because you, get, too,  many people killed.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 03/05/2020 at 20:30

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I’ve seen the same thing in the Navy - great, hard working sailors drummed out because they didn’t want to move up the ranks, or weren’t smart enough to, even though they were perfectly happy and capable.

I occasionally threaten to run for POTUS. Thats when Mrs. Snuze threatens divorce. 

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > facw 03/05/2020 at 21:20

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They had that for the enlisted grades, Specialist for those people instead of Sergeant,   until the 80s w hen they abolished it.

Derpwagon > facw 03/06/2020 at 12:38

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Those are called Warrant Officers. 

Derpwagon > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 03/06/2020 at 12:39

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Nowadays it’s Warrant Officers.