Monday, August 21, 2017

Is Our Military Force Structure Outdated?

Our military force structure once divided officer and enlisted based on class; nobility vs. the commoner. That was great when men still wore white tights, but we have since evolved beyond the taste of such civilities. We eventually replaced the often out-of-reach trait of nobility with higher education, our nation's version of an out of reach trait for commoners. Not so any more. 

The enlisted force is becoming more educated by the year. Many enlisted, most notably our senior enlisted, have bachelor’s degrees (31%) and master’s degrees (10%), while 77% of company grade officers only have bachelor’s degrees. And while these senior enlisted members bring far more experience to the table (usually 3 times the number of years), they are still out-ranked by the lowest of “wet-behind-the-ear” officers. 

All of this has led some to begin questioning the legitimacy of utilizing higher education as a distinguishing trait for organizing our force structure. This article goes even further by calling into question the legitimacy of an officer/enlisted structure entirely.

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