An Army of Experts:
In response to COL Bircher’s personnel policy proposal to get rid of basic branches
When I read COL Bircher’s Best Defense Column on personnel reform, I was impressed with the “go big or stay home” mentality of his proposal. Eliminating Basic Branches after over a hundred years of tradition is likely to rustle some feathers. It is the fear of this sort of major reform which inhibits our ability to innovate. Eliminating Basic Branches for post-ILE leaders would have the benefit of broadening the experiences of future operational commanders, but I am skeptical that many of the positions of leadership in a modern military can “be learned en route to the assignment.”
COL Bircher’s proposal has the advantage of creating generalists, forced to learn a wide variety of skills across the spectrum of their career. However, when I look at what it takes to run the world’s largest, and perhaps most-complicated, organization I feel like there is still a need for experts in various functional areas. His proposal got me thinking what would happen if we were willing to throw the current system of branching and functional areas out the window, or modified their existence.
Rather than an Army of “generalists”, I wonder if we wouldn't be better suited by an Army of “experts”. Similar to his proposal, I would suggest that post-ILE jobs be filled with a “Green Pages” concept of personal choice, leader preference, and some healthy competition. Where I would propose a difference, would be that we dramatically increase the Function Areas and require all Officers to choose an area of expertise. Once this has been done, the coding system for positions can be reduced and the concern over “leaving the herd” and fulfilling “key development” positions can be minimized.
Increasing the functional area expertise of the field grade officer corps on this level would require a substantial increase in our investment in education, both civil and military. School houses for the various current function areas would have to increase throughput without sacrificing quality. Funding for this and for advanced civil schooling would need to increase correspondingly. Within this proposal, it is realistic (and I think useful) to require completion of a Master’s degree, or higher, prior to consideration for promotion to Lieutenant Colonel. Given the increasingly complex demands of the operating environment that both the White Paper and the new Army Operating Concept anticipate, I think this would be a worthwhile investment.
The other question becomes how to build commanders. I’m reminded of LTG McMaster’s discussion of the importance of studying warfare both in breadth and in depth. Commanders that have developed a depth of expertise in strategy, in civil affairs, or in a particular region may be better suited to connect operational victory with strategic success. Consider the benefit of having an Operations Officer that is a regional expert within a regionally aligned brigade. The language skills, cultural knowledge, and personal connections developed through travel and study could be greatly beneficial towards accomplishing the mission. We all must still be generalists to a great degree, but studying any subject in depth gives the leader a greater perspective from which to make decisions.
