U.S. Army retired

The ides of March weekend and week thereafter brought forth columns of newsprint and television comment about the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq and renewed looks at the “broken” Army. There were a number of personal accounts by those who have served, some rewarded, some disillusioned. None was more plaintive than that of a young captain explaining his decision to leave the Army, an institution he had grown to love and respect but that he feels forced to leave in order to pursue his future. His goal is a more stable, more predictable life, but his concerns, desires and ambition can be expressed in one word: family.

He is fortunate to have found the lady of his dreams (he sympathizes with compatriots limited by the tempo of activities who have not been so blessed), and together they are working on wedding plans. But the Army intends that he attend his six months career course then embark on his next unaccompanied tour for the following year. Upon his return, he might land a stabilized three-year assignment; he might instead be assigned to a brigade in training for its next overseas commitment. Nothing promises him time to be a husband and father, and the projected first 18 months do not seem an auspicious beginning for a marriage.

It has long been apparent to me that long-term commitment to the Army requires, equally, job satisfaction and family satisfaction. Job satisfaction grows out of the knowledge that you are doing what you volunteered for and know your job, as well as confidence in yourself, your peers and your superiors. Today’s reenlistment rate and sustained magnificent performance of the Army in the field attest to general job satisfaction, despite the normal fault-finding common to subordinates who are sure they could do their bosses’ jobs better and to reporters seeking the disgruntled as the source of scandal or perhaps wisdom about what needs fixing.

Family satisfaction depends upon the recognition or acknowledgment by a soldier’s spouse that housing, schooling, recreation and other facilities essential for normal family life are and will be available. The soldier himself shares those concerns and worries about his responsibility to his wife and children. Children of course are a factor. They cry when leaving friends, hate to change schools, don’t like finding a new Scout troop or Little League team, but, as my daughter explained in her book, The Dandelion Diaries: An Army Brat Remembers, Army brats, like dandelions, flourish anywhere and are beautiful, persistent, enduring and adaptable to whatever surroundings. If parents are satisfied, children thrive.

Today’s Army is providing in good measure for both job satisfaction and family satisfaction, but only through heroic leadership that has sustained morale and esprit de corps for the extended period of today’s wars. The plight of today’s captains and sergeants and soldiers in general is that of overcommitment. The issue affecting job satisfaction today is the inability of the Army to adhere to its rotation policy of a year in combat, a year in recovery and a year preparing to return. The second and third periods have become one, and rapid rotation and multiple combat tours are the result. The issue affecting family satisfaction is the absence of the spouse or single parent. The Army is too small for its mission load, is wearing out both its equipment and its people and is in dire need of a recovery plan and program that will build a force adequate to the need.

The Army has to express that need, the Defense Department has to endorse it and Congress has to authorize and fund the means and wherewithal. It is a requirement that can no longer be postponed; the threats we face are not abating, and the long-term security and viability of the nation and perhaps the Free World are linked inextricably with the health of this Army. Congress has the constitutional responsibility to raise and provision the Army; the intent and commitment to fulfilling that incumbent duty has never been more important.

As for the young captain, he deserves thanks for his service and good wishes for his future. His logic is understandable and his decisions well founded. The Army will be sorry to lose him, and he—like my father and father-in-law, both World War I veterans, and many of my contemporaries who left the Army after World War II—will think, on many occasions, “I should have stayed.”

But out there also are young captains who will stay, who will see us through the current trials. The Army is not broken, it is not hollow—it is just worn. We have been through trying periods in the past and come back to full competence because enough young captains and sergeants stuck it out until rescue arrived. There should be no doubt the Army will fulfill its promise if only Congress fulfills its charge.