The U.S. Army is failing its youngest and most promising scholars by forcing them to choose between academic excellence or a solid foundation in the service. Senior cadets from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, and ROTC, who compete for prestigious scholarships such as Rhodes, Marshall, Fulbright and others, do not receive the necessary development they require as lieutenants due to their involvement in these exceptional programs.

These cadets, selected for their scholarships during their senior year at their commissioning source, are commissioned as second lieutenants into active duty before completing their scholarships abroad. In each case, these young scholars will delay their Basic Officer Leader Course (BOLC) start dates by 14 to 26 months following their commission in order to complete their scholarships.

Many scholars spend less than a year with their first unit before beginning the Captains Career Course. The current onboarding system represents a significant missed opportunity to harness the potential of the Army’s youngest scholars and retain their unique experiences in the force.

Experience Undervalued

Their scholarship experiences could greatly benefit the Army, but often are undervalued or irrelevant to the assignments new second lieutenants are given. The current system puts scholars on the back foot from Day 1 despite their outstanding academic backgrounds.

Regardless of the type of scholarship, cadets generally follow a rigorous and demanding timeline. Cadets will self-identify their interest in competing for a scholarship sometime between the spring and fall semesters of their junior and senior years. From there, they rely on their mentorship circles to guide them through multiple, rigorous rounds of interviews and applications required to reach a scholarship decision board.

Cadets can receive notification of their selection for these prestigious opportunities anytime in the spring semester of their senior year up to late April as scholarship selection boards run through their lists of primary and alternate selectees. Within weeks, these cadets will be commissioned as second lieutenants, marking the start of their active-duty service.

Time Crunch

Once commissioned, the 48-month clock starts winding down for these officers to become captains. Post-commissioning, these scholars must wait two to four months to complete stateside prerequisites, arrange travel and prepare for the fall semester. After arriving, scholars spend considerable time, ranging from 14 to 24 months, executing their scholarships, with an additional one to two months for their return trip.

Only after a maximum of 28 months as a commissioned officer will these officers begin BOLC. BOLC itself is often over nine months long, when considering follow-on schools. Scholars who wish to attend U.S. Army Ranger School further increase their time in the training pipeline. Thus, scholars arrive at their first units with almost 36 months of active service under their belts, but without a day in the operational force or as a platoon leader.

By contrast, their peers who haven’t participated in a scholarship program likely will have led one or two platoons and will have moved on to specialty staff positions or taken over as their company’s executive officer. Over half a scholar’s time as a lieutenant will have been spent either on their scholarship or at BOLC, significantly reducing their time with their first unit and hindering their development as officers.

If scholars are lucky, they will spend their 12 remaining months as lieutenants leading a platoon within their respective branches. If they are unlucky, they will sit on staff and wait to attend the Captains Career Course. Since lieutenants are not guaranteed to lead platoons, many of these officers invariably will be pushed to the career course without ever having led soldiers in any capacity.

Missing Hard Lessons

This arrangement is detrimental to both the Army and these scholars, and leads to professional drawbacks. The Army disincentivizes the scholar from attending follow-on schools after BOLC; the scholar is likely to receive only one Officer Evaluation Report as a lieutenant and is highly unlikely to serve as an executive officer or in another similar position. Scholars will receive the bare minimum in practical Army education, which hurts their ability to learn hard lessons early in their careers.

While they may be branch-qualified, scholars may only shoot one gunnery, experience one platoon live-fire or experience only one company commander’s leadership style before moving on. The Army’s brightest young scholars might not experience a combat training center, hold key additional duties that they will need to effectively manage later in their careers, or experience a deployment until they sit in key leadership positions.

While missing these developmental opportunities does not necessarily preclude a scholar from a successful career, it does not allow them to set a good base for themselves. With the 2019 adoption of the Army Interactive Marketplace, an online talent-management platform, scholars now must compete in a highly competitive environment with just one Officer Evaluation Report representing a year of platoon leader time in the best of scenarios.

This does not mean they cannot find positions in units where their unique skill sets would provide the most value, but it limits their ability to do so. Many commanders are likely to be unfamiliar with the scholarships these young officers received, and the strength of their practical resume may not carry them through a hiring interview.

Possible Solutions

The Army can solve this problem in one of two ways: bar any cadet from competing for nationally competitive scholarships, or delay commissioning cadets selected for a scholarship.

Barring cadets from competing for scholarships would be a mistake, with effects that may not be realized for decades. The service academies are leaders in producing world-class scholars, and their yearly records of producing multiple scholars in each scholarship track show this. For each scholar the Army produces, the service gains additional trust and credibility with the American people. This also lends to the prestige of Army academic institutions and grants the Army future officers who have deep ties in academia and foreign nations.

Scholars return with an incredibly unique experience that undoubtedly will benefit them as they mature in their Army careers. Many will have unique connections to industry, performed research at the highest levels in militarily relevant subjects or spent years in foreign countries mastering the local language.

This experience may not be immediately beneficial while these scholars are still junior officers. However, the benefits of allowing them to be both a great officer and a great scholar will be visible when they broaden as senior captains and majors.

Delay Commissioning

Delaying a scholar’s commissioning would work in their favor in several ways. The first and most obvious is the amount of time they would get to spend as lieutenants doing the job they spent four years at their commissioning source preparing for—leading a platoon.

Scholars also would receive more time to attend follow-on schools after BOLC, attend training with their first battalion and experience all the Army needs them to experience as junior officers.

If the Army does not require scholars to commission immediately upon graduation, it may allow scholars to apply for scholarships that grant skills instead of degrees. For example, West Point cadets cannot apply for Fulbright Program scholarships as English teaching assistants because that path does not grant a master’s degree. However, the English teaching assistants track grants an unparalleled ability to learn a host nation’s language.

Delaying commissioning also would more adequately allow the Army to utilize the skills scholars bring to the table. Instead of throwing scholars into the force without thought, their career managers could send them to brigades regionally aligned to the areas in which they spent the past few years studying. For example, a scholar who studied in India might find a good home in the 11th Airborne Division, which performs yearly exercises with the Indian Army. One from an opportunity in Eastern Europe may find a good place in the 3rd Infantry Division or another European-aligned division.

The Army is failing its youngest and most promising scholars during their first four years on active duty. Outstanding cadets who go out of their way to compete for unique opportunities find themselves behind the curve as they enter active service. Because the Army insists on commissioning scholarship recipients, its brightest scholars are denied chances at platoon leadership, additional Army schooling and other vital developmental milestones that will serve them well as captains, majors and colonels.

The Army also is denied a chance to take and use the unique skills these new officers bring to the force. The Army should do everything in its power to accommodate these officers, but instead, they are set up for failure.

Capt. Matthew Walters is a military intelligence officer and assistant operations officer for the 519th Intelligence and Electronic Warfare Battalion (Corps), Fort Liberty, North Carolina. Previously, he served as a tank and battalion scout platoon leader in the 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. He is a 2019 graduate of the University of Oklahoma and received a Fulbright scholarship to Ukraine the same year.