I think it would be a slight pay cut, but not too much. But I cannot imagine an E-9 ever doing this. Only ten years left for retirement and this is the situation:
An E-9 is very high enlisted rank. There are only 10k of those in the entire military. You’re the top enlisted guy in your unit, possibly even your battalion or base. You’re included on command staff and in decision making. And you probably already have a degree. Lots of enlisted troops get them at night/on the side.
As An O-1 you’ll get coffee, make briefings ( but probably not give them), you might have 8 guys reporting to you if you’re infantry. You have zero say in anything.
I mean, someone motivated solely by money might be able to stand it, but most people who have spent any time at a level with respect and responsibility really struggle to get knocked back down to peon rank.
Can you explain this 20 year retirement a bit more? I assume you get some sort of pension at that point. Is there any incentive to stay longer to get a larger pension?
Also which 20 yrs count? For example if the Army paid for college and you’re doing whatever extra Army stuff they have you during that time, then does that count? Do years at a service academy count?
it’s still a good deal, especially since 20 years means you’re in your early to mid 40s when you retire. so you get your military pension on top of whatever you make when you go work at a corporate job.
If you’re running the military, this seems like a leak, since you figure to lose people at their professional prime. What I would do is some sort of graduated system where maybe you average out at 2%/yr when you get to 20 years, but it would increase so each year after year 20, you get a bit more.
You would still get a lot of people leaving at 20, but maybe you would retain more of them.
Did I mention the “up or out” policy for officer promotion? If you get passed over twice, you HAVE to leave. If you get passed over once, it’s a pain in the ass to try again because you have to start kissing ass and filling out a lot of bullshit paperwork, get recommendations, etc. and a LOT of people get passed over for promotion to O-6.
It’s the weed-out level. There’s a mini-weed out level at O-4, but that’s only 20%.
Because going for 0-6 is a pain in the ass, and normally doesn’t come until you’ve been in for 22 years, those O-5s who don’t want to even try for it get out at 20-21 years.
Some just stay at O-5 until they’re forced out. Many of my AFA classmates are at this point. My AFA roommate will never make O-6 (she had a DUI as a 1LT) but she’s still in for another year because she truly loves her job.
I don’t get this. They have to pay them 40% if they leave. So if they stay, then they really only cost 60%. How many new O-1s does that get you? On top of that, presumably the 20 year O-6s are more efficient and productive.
I guess it would make sense if there just isn’t enough O-6 level work to really do and you can use more grunts.
Nope, Can stay e-5 for 20 years. Most don’t but it’s possible.
One of the reasons O-6 spots are limited is because it is based on available positions. When you’re promoted to O-6 and up, you are promoted into an existing job, as well. So if there is no job for you, you aren’t promoted.