A Tough Tour of the Home Front

Admiral Mullen sought to "get a baseline" as to what was wrong with the Army, but still only obtained half of the story. If he was impressed with the frankness of the captains he talked to, all of whom have opted not to leave the Army and most likely are going to be career Army officers - they were students at the Field Artillery Captains’ Career Course, afterall - imagine what he would have heard from the captains that had already left the service. If Admiral Mullen wants to get a true “baseline” he needs to contact the captains that have already left the service with a bad taste in their mouth, captains that had planned to make the Army a career yet left after four, five, or six years in service, not captains that are already staying in the Army and just complain about their own career choice. Why did the captains that left leave? That is the question he needs to ask rather than gathering complaints from captains that have chosen to continue to serve as career officers. I pray that they have backbones to stand up to misguided policy and plans as they progress up the ranks... unfortunately, I believe most of the vertebrated officers have already left the Army.