![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/th-174306232-1-300x199.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Trying to address many shortages in Army knowledge of\u00a0 beneficial skills, the service is ramping up an old practice you may remember from the old, old days – direct commissioning.<\/p>\n
\nEight decades ago, when the world was at war, the Army needed experts it couldn\u2019t mass produce: medical professionals, lawyers, intelligence analysts, communications experts, electrical engineers, industrial planners, film actors and more.<\/p>\n
Direct commissions filled the void, according to service historians, producing around 104,000 officers in 1942 from experienced civilians.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a panel discussion last month, Army Reserve chief Lt. Gen. Jody Daniels, spoke candidly about her struggles cutting through red tape to appoint new officers via direct commission.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur process right now for direct commission is a disaster,\u201d the three-star general said.<\/p>\n
The numbers largely support Daniels\u2019 argument.<\/p>\n
Outside of specialty fields (like law, the chaplaincy and medical professions), the Army only netted 13 direct commission officers in fiscal year 2020 and 32 in fiscal 2021, according to annual historical summaries.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Problem seems to be that the Army wants to recruit folks with vital skills (as one example cited, wouldn’t it be nice to put an experienced UPS executive advising on logistics?) But they don’t have expedited procedures in place to actually get the folks they want, and someone making it through the process in a year is exceptional. Seems that 2 years is the current norm.<\/p>\n
\nOne of Daniels\u2019 deputies at Army Reserve Command, Brig. Gen. Kelly Dickerson, said the long waits for civil affairs experts have provided valuable lessons in improving the pathway.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have the talent \u2014 we can do these things, and that took a lot of pushing on the system,\u201d Dickerson said. \u201cIt is [around] 46 steps to be directly commissioned into the United States Army \u2026 we\u2019re going to fix that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Army Times<\/a><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"