Military HR

Navy Opens Fire on Cold-War Personnel System

Almost nothing in the U.S. military is older, and in more dire need of replacement, than the way it promotes its young officers and enlisted people. Codified in 1947, recertified in 1980, the system advances the vast majority not for performance or even potential, but for time served. “This is unheard of in the private sector,” wrote one Army Reserve brigadier general. “It rings loudly of institutionalizing mediocrity at best, and poisoning the pool of future senior leaders at worst.”