Did the Army Do Right by its 80,000th Recruit?
Now that the FY-2006 Recruiting Year has officially ended, we're trying to ask the following questions of U.S. Army Recruiting Command Public Affairs and other Defense Department Public Affairs organizations. If you get any answers, please let us know. Click here.
As a Rutgers University graduate, was Specialist (E-4) Shirley Salvi qualified for Officer Candidate School (OCS)? Her hometown paper certainly thinks so. So does this blog.
If qualified, was she considered for OCS? If not, why not?
Since many government flacks tend to ignore nonpartisan grass roots citizens initiatives to Support Our President (i.e., blogs) in favor of mainstream, corporate media, we're posting here at the same time.
UPDATE: There's a great discussion on Steve Gilliard's News Blog.
Stay tuned.
posted by Karl @ 10/01/2006 07:22:00 AM
8 comments
8 Comments:
She sounds more than qualified for OCS- but since she enlisted, she's got to complete Basic and her MOS training first; had she gone through college ROTC this would be a different story.
The GOP are screwing up left and right; there's no need to go looking for stuff that isn't there.
Thanks.
Check out the blog ArmyOCS.com by clicking on the link above. There's some good commentary there from people like yourself who know the details.
Yes, it's correct that she enlisted, but did the recruiter go over all the options with her?
If she made a fully informed decision that she wanted to enlist vice pursue a commission, no problem at all.
But it would be troubling to see our Army make its recruiting quotas by quickly enlisting people who should be considered potential officers.
That's just as bad as enlisting people who shouldn't be in the military at all.
Well, Karl, from what I've heard (and I admit this is hearsay from my fellow Soldiers, as well as my personal experience), the Army does have a shortage of Soldiers.
College graduates who enlist (and have at least a 4 year degree) can automatically join the military as an E4 if she chooses to be enlisted. What usually happens is that they enlist, do some time at the bottom of the barrel, and decide to become Lieutenants later on down the road. I personally knew my LT when she was a Specialist, so it's not uncommon.
Either way, she'll either become an officer, or quickly be promoted to a Sergeant or Corporal, and will be leading Soldiers within 18 months. All I would ask of her is that she knows her job well, can shoot straight, and looks out for the Soldiers under her. If not, she's just another incompetent leader who got promoted too fast.
Correction: In the first paragraph I meant to say shortage of Officers, not Soldiers. My bad.
OT: recruitment opportunity this week--
http://ukgop.blogspot.com/
This recruit might have enlisted to obtain benefits for which officers might not qualify, such a sign up bonus or student loan repayment.
Maybe she wanted to be an enlisted soldier and does not want the additional responsibility that comes with becoming a noncommissioned officer or an officer.
Or perhaps she will go to OCS at a later date.
In addition, she may opt to apply for a direct commission, a course of action that exists for Army members with at least a year's time in service who have attained the rank of sergeant, have a bachelors degree, and meet a few other prerequisites.
1st Republic,
What are you talking about?
1. OCS enlistees are eligible for Student Loan Repayment.
2. The pay/BAH/BAS differential between an O-1 and E-4 over 3 years (about $65K) more than trumps any enlistment bonus available.
3. There is no direct commission program for MI NCOs in the Active Army. None. Everyone must attend OCS whether they are 11B4Vs or 98 series E-5s.
I know her personally and I know that she is going to do OCS later on. She started out enlisted not only for the experience, but also when you switch to officer after being enlisted you earn more respect amongst fellow soldiers and the pay is higher than if you went in directly as an officer. Also, if you come in directly as an officer you are not guaranteed a branch and she wanted intel so when she switches over, having already been in intel, she'll have a better chance.
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