04 September 2005

The army, the hurricane and the future

An interesting little view into the Army, in light of the disaster:

As everyone knows, the National Gaurd is being mobilized (throughout the nation, ie. from all states, and possibly the district). Interestingly, all the PMSs, the heads of all Army ROTC programs in the nation, got an email from the commanding general of Cadet Command saying that if cadets get mobilized and sent to the NOLA area that there will be nothing the PMSs can do.

Let me explain the way a couple things work. 1. ROTC/West Point/OCS are the way the Army makes officers. We need officers, and officers take a lot longer to make than do privates, etc. We cost more money and have longer commitments because of it. 2. ROTC Cadets who do SMP, the Simultaneous Membership Program, are simultaneously cadets and members of National Gaurd units. This allows them to train and gain expirience with units that they will eventually go into once they commission. And, because the Army realizes that they would be robbing Peter to pay Paul, those cadets can not be federalized (ie. sent to Iraq). However they can be mobilized as part of a state action, and in this case, can be sent to the NOLA area for god knows how long.

This is not a complaint in any way. Cadets know that as National Gaurd folk that they can be called up at any time. Almost all joined the the Army after September 11, and know that we are at war. Most expect to be called up and deployed once they commission. The one major difference here is that this natural disaster will have a much longer shelf life than many others. I have no idea how long the NG will be deployed, but it will be a long damn time. I also have no numbers as to how many cadets around the nation will be affected by this. It does mean that some measurable number of cadets will not commission on time, and will have to recycle to the graduating class one year back. This will probably not be a large impact, but I just don't know.

It is just one more way that the nation and the Army will be affected by this disaster. Yet another thing to think about.

posted by Interested Soldier @ 17:29