KB
09-25-2004, 11:13 AM
By Ralf W. Zimmermann
Was my old outfit – the 3rd Brigade Combat Team (BCT) of the 4th Infantry Division – up to new tricks in the Army re-enlistment game?
That was the question when local Colorado TV channels recently featured several young troopers muttering about threat methods to keep them involuntarily in their units. Stay with the brigade until 2007 or get shafted to some other Fort Carson outfit deploying to Iraq, they reportedly were told.
The reporters seemed surprised and shocked by these revelations. One anonymous young sergeant’s comments struck deep: “I don’t want to go back to Iraq. I went through a lot of things for the Army that weren’t necessary and were risky. Iraq has changed a lot of people.”
What is up?
Once again, one must step back and look at both sides of the equation, disregarding heated emotions, often exacerbated by reporters who don’t really know how our military works.
You’d be a fool to believe that military enlisting and re-enlisting is a clean process, characterized with mainly wonderful emotions. Just the opposite is true – it’s more like a brutal used car sale.
To recruit and retain soldiers, recruiters and their bosses usually apply a good dose of spin and deception. I always remember one young trooper coming into my commander’s office, complaining he never wanted to be a tank crewman. He insisted that he had signed up to work with computers and the recruiting sergeant had promised him just that. The young man complained about a breach of contract and demanded “the lying sack of recruiter crap” be fired.
Sadly enough, the recruiter had not lied at all. As a tank gunner, our troop actually worked with a very simplistic ballistic hand-crank computer.
Re-enlisting on duty also offers the possibility for deception. Most senior commanders judge subordinate units by the amount of reenlistments. Therefore, higher re-enlistments translate into the senior’s belief that a unit has to have great leaders and a nice working environment. Well, that’s actually true for a small percentage of units and leaders.
In general, however, re-enlisting is about statistics. When pressured, units won’t leave any stone unturned to buy soldiers’ loyalties. It’s the time when retention noncoms and commanders bring out the trinkets – logo bags, special pens, T-shirts and other goodies – to secure the troops’ signatures.
If a soldier refuses to sign his/her life away for the trinket, it’s on to the next level of coercion with the question: “What are you going to do on the outside? You know that there are no jobs out there!”
If that doesn’t do it, the command shifts to the "John Gotti" gear with threats of crap assignments and unwanted extensions.
Now, in defense of our Army, I must say that commanders are now more than ever forced to “go Gotti” early – it actually makes sense.
Despite a growing personnel crunch in reserve, Guard and active-duty troops, the Army must stabilize its outfits. That’s a good thing! Maintaining close leadership relationships and retaining experienced warriors produces higher combat efficiency. For the 3rd Brigade, it means having people sign-on until 2007, the end of the first stabilization cycle in Iraq.
Knowing the 3rd BCT in Fort Carson, I have to give them the benefit of the doubt. Many unit commanders will actually try to do what’s right and let those who want to leave move on to military jobs on post. But, there are only so many cushy jobs available there. Reality is that not every GI Joe or Jane can become a gym attendant, a permanent grass-cutter or tend to the “horsies” of Fort Carson’s mounted color guard. By necessity, many with outstanding volunteer time will have to go to other units – some deploying to not-so-nice places.
The key for the troops faced with arm-twisting is to lay out their individual case to their chain of command. Be truthful why you don’t want to stay in after your commitment is up and remain committed to the out-decision. Ignore the threats because there is only so much the chain of command can do.
For commanders and their chains of command, it seems high time to come forward about the real deal when it comes to recruiting and retention. Maybe they can make the point up the chain that a personnel crisis might be looming in the not so distant future, requiring new incentives and additional contingency plans.
Maybe some sort of draft isn’t as far off as many of our political leaders insist?
DefenseWatch Senior Military Correspondent Lt. Col. Ralf W. Zimmermann, USA (Ret.) is a decorated Desert Storm veteran and former tank battalion commander. His recent novel, “Brotherhood of Iron,” deals with the German soldier in World War II. It is directly available from www.iUniverse.com and through most major book dealers. Zimm can be reached at r6zimm@earthlink.net or via his website at www.home.earthlink.net/~r6zimm. © 2004 LandserUSA. Please send Feedback responses to dwfeedback@yahoo.com.
Was my old outfit – the 3rd Brigade Combat Team (BCT) of the 4th Infantry Division – up to new tricks in the Army re-enlistment game?
That was the question when local Colorado TV channels recently featured several young troopers muttering about threat methods to keep them involuntarily in their units. Stay with the brigade until 2007 or get shafted to some other Fort Carson outfit deploying to Iraq, they reportedly were told.
The reporters seemed surprised and shocked by these revelations. One anonymous young sergeant’s comments struck deep: “I don’t want to go back to Iraq. I went through a lot of things for the Army that weren’t necessary and were risky. Iraq has changed a lot of people.”
What is up?
Once again, one must step back and look at both sides of the equation, disregarding heated emotions, often exacerbated by reporters who don’t really know how our military works.
You’d be a fool to believe that military enlisting and re-enlisting is a clean process, characterized with mainly wonderful emotions. Just the opposite is true – it’s more like a brutal used car sale.
To recruit and retain soldiers, recruiters and their bosses usually apply a good dose of spin and deception. I always remember one young trooper coming into my commander’s office, complaining he never wanted to be a tank crewman. He insisted that he had signed up to work with computers and the recruiting sergeant had promised him just that. The young man complained about a breach of contract and demanded “the lying sack of recruiter crap” be fired.
Sadly enough, the recruiter had not lied at all. As a tank gunner, our troop actually worked with a very simplistic ballistic hand-crank computer.
Re-enlisting on duty also offers the possibility for deception. Most senior commanders judge subordinate units by the amount of reenlistments. Therefore, higher re-enlistments translate into the senior’s belief that a unit has to have great leaders and a nice working environment. Well, that’s actually true for a small percentage of units and leaders.
In general, however, re-enlisting is about statistics. When pressured, units won’t leave any stone unturned to buy soldiers’ loyalties. It’s the time when retention noncoms and commanders bring out the trinkets – logo bags, special pens, T-shirts and other goodies – to secure the troops’ signatures.
If a soldier refuses to sign his/her life away for the trinket, it’s on to the next level of coercion with the question: “What are you going to do on the outside? You know that there are no jobs out there!”
If that doesn’t do it, the command shifts to the "John Gotti" gear with threats of crap assignments and unwanted extensions.
Now, in defense of our Army, I must say that commanders are now more than ever forced to “go Gotti” early – it actually makes sense.
Despite a growing personnel crunch in reserve, Guard and active-duty troops, the Army must stabilize its outfits. That’s a good thing! Maintaining close leadership relationships and retaining experienced warriors produces higher combat efficiency. For the 3rd Brigade, it means having people sign-on until 2007, the end of the first stabilization cycle in Iraq.
Knowing the 3rd BCT in Fort Carson, I have to give them the benefit of the doubt. Many unit commanders will actually try to do what’s right and let those who want to leave move on to military jobs on post. But, there are only so many cushy jobs available there. Reality is that not every GI Joe or Jane can become a gym attendant, a permanent grass-cutter or tend to the “horsies” of Fort Carson’s mounted color guard. By necessity, many with outstanding volunteer time will have to go to other units – some deploying to not-so-nice places.
The key for the troops faced with arm-twisting is to lay out their individual case to their chain of command. Be truthful why you don’t want to stay in after your commitment is up and remain committed to the out-decision. Ignore the threats because there is only so much the chain of command can do.
For commanders and their chains of command, it seems high time to come forward about the real deal when it comes to recruiting and retention. Maybe they can make the point up the chain that a personnel crisis might be looming in the not so distant future, requiring new incentives and additional contingency plans.
Maybe some sort of draft isn’t as far off as many of our political leaders insist?
DefenseWatch Senior Military Correspondent Lt. Col. Ralf W. Zimmermann, USA (Ret.) is a decorated Desert Storm veteran and former tank battalion commander. His recent novel, “Brotherhood of Iron,” deals with the German soldier in World War II. It is directly available from www.iUniverse.com and through most major book dealers. Zimm can be reached at r6zimm@earthlink.net or via his website at www.home.earthlink.net/~r6zimm. © 2004 LandserUSA. Please send Feedback responses to dwfeedback@yahoo.com.