Army Offering $35,000 Cash Bonuses To Keep Officers

yup....peanuts compared to what Blackwater mercenaries get... and THEY don't get courtmartialed for murdering civilians.....

But seriously.... the military is losing junior officers at record rates - not seen since Vietnam. West Point grads are bailing out when they can get out instead of making this permanent clusterf**k a career....

The moral and ethical core of our military is DISGUSTED at what they're being ordered to do.... but speak out and your career is dead - Capt. Fishback really made a difference with torture, didn't he....... OR YOU end up dead.... Col Westhusing REALLY killed himself after expressing serious objections to the behavior of "subcontractors" in Iraq?......

It's appalling that the REAL patriotism, courage and honor of those that serve has been so dishonored by this nation's leadership.

And can you blame them??! Apparently, Blackwater already has the upgraded Humvees, that are lacking in the regular forces.

Let's see...200 grand a year, plus all manner of benefits, or 35,000 and piss-poor gear?

Yeah...right...

Osprey's debut in combat zone has rocky start
Fort Worth Star-Telegram - Oct 09 8:00 AM By JAY PRICE

The controversial V-22 Osprey has arrived in a combat zone for the first time. It was an epic trip for the innovative $20 billion tilt-rotor plane, which took more than 25 years to develop, a process that included several fatal crashes. Even the last short hop -- from an amphibious assault ship into Iraq -- went awry, U.S. military officials said Monday. A malfunction forced one of ...

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How much does the Pentagon offer to get a Officer to fly in the new Osprey?

And by 'common sense' what do you mean?

The next President has already chimed in on the war and not much is going to change.

Not me Junior. I'm not hugging any of these HuffPo Whiners.

SGLI, and last I checked you could get up to $250,000 in coverage.

Promotions are not the problem.

Officers are trained in the field by NCO's who in most cases have anywhere from 6 to 14 years of experience under their belt. A LT is groomed for 3 or 4 years before they are considered ready to command and then as a CPT they are more of a manager while their 1SG actually runs the company. This is understood and accepted as the way the army works and has stood the test of time. If this process is accelerated and sufficient time is not spent molding young officers you will have a breakdown of leadership because you will have a 22year old fresh out of ROTC who thinks he knows more than a 34 year old SFC who has 16 years of experience and that just won't fly.

As long as young officers respect this arrangement and realize that they have much to learn from their senior NCOs things will continue and the army will survive but as soon as these young officers move up the ranks to quickly and start to ignore their senior NCOs you will have a mass exodus of senior NCOs which will be far worse.

In short officers manage the army while the NCOs train and lead it and there is no substitute for experience in this regard.

It is not that simple. Captains are promoted usually around their initial EOS.

They're allegedly 'bribing' officers. College grads. Edumacated inidviduals. Ignorance seems to be relative, also.