|
One of the primary contributors (IMO) of this lack of breadth in officers is OPMS XXI. Career tracks may allow for a better chance for promotion to O-6 and above for a greater number of officers, but it limits the variety of experience many Operations track officers were once afforded. When I was a 2LT, I knew many field-grade Infantry and Armor officers having Masters degrees in everything but operations-realted subjects. That doesn't seem to be the case now. If a Field Artillery (FA) captain wants to persue an advanced degree in a language, or international finance to expand his knowledge base, he has limited his chance of promotion within the FA, and needs to consider moving from his primary branch to a Functional Area if he wishes to stay in the Army.
"The state that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools." Thucydides
|