May 19 2009
Think Outside the District
Here’s a shocker: Lawmakers and military leaders are concerned that too few military and civilian personnel with badly needed skills are working in Afghanistan and Pakistan. (Pakistan is another tale of woe.) According to Congressional Quarterly, members of the Senate Armed Service Committee tossed out numerous (desperate) recommendations:
• Retrain soldiers in critical specialties. The idea to retrain soldiers as badly needed engineers, medics, and the like has merit (like no one has thought of that one), but the time needed to turn out well-trained specialists is outside JCS Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen’s narrow timeframe. He needs them now.
• Tap the Guard and Reserve. It seems lawmakers might be unaware that reservists and members of their state guards already might have enough time in Iraq and Afghanistan to apply for citizenship. Mullen nixed that suggestion pretty quickly.
• Increase the end strength of the U.S. Army yet again. Possibly the most bizarre idea, this increase would come on the heels of a plus-up of both the Army and Marine Corps. But this recruit pool essentially would be brought on as temps — in for a period and then booted when no longer needed. Defense Secretary (and occasional superhero) Robert M. Gates said, “The question is whether the increase beyond the level where the Army and Marine Corps already are is sustainable over the long term.” We’ll take that as a “no way,” since the budget barely sustains current manpower levels.
The civilian slots are a different story.
Since entering Afghanistan in 2001-2002, defense leaders have been concerned about the lack of trained civilian personnel. The commander of the Paktika, Afghanistian, provincial reconstruction team told us he had 11 civilian slots in his 70-person PRT. Civilians on hand? Zero. Between Paktika and two other Afghan cities, Gardez and Ghazni, 29 of 33 slots were empty. Extrapolate that across Afghanistan and things look pretty bleak.
Putting aside the recently touted idea of pressing into service reservists with desirable civilian specialties, it appears there are a number of retirees who would sign on for the Afghanistan gig. These are young, healthy, successful retirees who are not put off the by the risk as many civilians have been. These are people across the retired community who would walk away from sizeable private sector paychecks, because intangible fulfillment has no price tag.
Surely someone has thought of this manpower pool? Or maybe lawmakers are looking at scoring points at home instead of in the nation’s defense.
As a retiree I would gladly work for the DOD in the AOR. I’m a trained physician assistant with over 30 years of experience, a twice squadron commander, a deputy medical group commander, interim medical group commander and IG. I will more that happy to work in the medical field in any capacity.
Andrew Colon, Colonel, USAF (ret)
Its a no brainer. I would go tomorrow. Heck i would have gone yesterday. Its hard to discern where to find those who are ‘looking ‘ for us?
Straight pay, no additional retirement benefits needed so they don’t have to worry about messing with DFAS retirement schedules etc and that should quiet the ‘double dipping inevitable argument’ (yes from those who wouldn’t think of going even if you could double -dip), since retirement benefits are for what you have already done, and a straight salary pay would be paying you for what you are doing now .
And these cultures respect thsoe who have made it to older years.
MY two cents.
jack mc
I think the option to utilize retired military personnel to fill shortfalls abroad is a great idea on a volunteer basis of course. Maybe a better idea would be to offer the retired military members an opportunity to backfill military billets here in the CONUS and or other OCONUS locations so the GI’s there could be utilized in the combat theaters of operations. Either scenario or a combination of both could work.
Another option would be to voluntarily bring retiree’s back to a “limited role active duty status” to backfill the G.I. positions. Set some limitations on how long they can / will serve and identify what roles they won’t be allowed to serve in, e.g. direct combat related positions, etc, etc.
I am a retired Combat Engineer Officer, with a VA disability rating of 80%. With that said, I would gladdly volunteer for duty with a PRT in Afghanistan. I am a CGSC grad and was DA selected for promotion to Major (O4) in 1993, but as an AGR officer in the NYARNG, I was not promoted. Promote me and I’ll go. Also, I was retired, not for medical reasons in 2003, yet I have not been payed for my last 3 yrs of Active Duty service, and I am still owed over 4 years of back retirement pay. Therefore, I wish to be considered for PRT duty, at the grade of O4. Please put my name on the top of the list to deploy to Afghanistan. As a patriot and former Combat Engineer officer familiar with “nation building”, and “winning the hearts and minds of the locals”, while serving in Central America. I’m packing my rucksack, so send me my orders to go.
CPT Wasneechak, USA, retired
Retired USAF LtCol – following retirement worked 7 yrs in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 2 yrs in Bahrain, 2 yrs in Sudan managing U.S. civilian contracts. Actice duty – radar ops. Retired installed radar ops in Saudi, CADCAM in middle east, satellite comm in Sudan – Iraq and Afghanistan pose no unknown quantities. 2000 managed USAID program in Kosovo performing needed service including integrity as taught in US military and often times unknown in international management circles. Would need about ten minutes to pack up and go – but no – retired, out-of-touch, etc.etc. A vast resource available, qualified and ready to win and untapped in the United States military retirement commmunity.
Why stop with the young? There are many older retirees with a variety of skills and experiences both military and civilian. Our families are grown and on their own and as mentioned previously medical and retirement benefits are already there. They can be utilized in many areas outside of the battle field. The goverment and DOD have overlooked this natural resource.
Recalling retired officers to serve as PRT commanders is a superb idea. I was recalled in 2005 and did a year in Afghanistan. After seeing what was happening with the PRT’s in my AO, the thought that came to me then was that this would be a great job for a recalled retired officer. Many of the PRT commanders I met were not very enthusiastic or competent in the job.
I suggest this to DoD, select a retired field grade officer for recall, give him the TDA/personnel list of the PRT and let him contact fellow retirees to fill those slots. All of us know soldiers we served with who would do well in given jobs. Those slots that the officer couldn’t fill would be filled by DoD. Recall the team, give them appropriate training and send them to Afghanistan for a year. It would work! Afghans respect older folks, it’s part of their culture. It used to be part of ours, but seems like we have forgotten.
I thoroughly enjoyed my year in Afghanistan. It is a war that is winnable and worth our efforts. I would do it again in a flash!
I will forward this blog with its comments to OSD and let’s see what happens. I expect it to be ignored, but who knows.
My comment on “younger” retirees was more to overcome service objections than any slight against retirees of any age. Finding the right people for service abroad is about finding the right and qualified people. The courts have spoken on age issues.
As a retired officer with 20 years U.S. Army experience and 16 years as a USPHS officer I have often wondered why all that expertise goes untapped. Even when we were on active duty there seemed to be great hesitation in sharing resources with the other services. I was one of the lucky few able to arrange for attachment to the Army working in mental health clinics and disaster relief operations. With the paucity of mental health services available to the various services and the VA, how come our suggestions fall on deaf ears?
As to assignments in Afghanistan and Iraq, use of retired personnel can free up others to carry out tasks deemed critical for their specialties.
Maybe MOAA can light a fire under someone.
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