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a crew of 800 men was commanded by a P1 captain,” i.e., by a four-stripe captain. Today> with the largest man-of-war displacing P~~ haps 60,000 tons and carrying a crew of to 4,500 (including embarked air squad1" personnel), this ship is commanded by officer of the same rank. In reviewing prevailing rank inflation it is remarkable this task is not now a vice admiral’s.
There is one valid reason for an increase^ the proportion of officers in the middle upper middle ranks, a reason which caused an increase in corresponding grade8 ^ business and industry. Almost all forrns^ endeavor have become more complex ^ef cent decades and this has called for a h’g ,> proportion of managerial talent to “worK , This proportion must be carefully regu*
Those of middle age can remember when the Counselor of Embassy was a single official ranking next to the Ambassador; he was the Executive Officer and there could be only one of him. That has changed and now large embassies have half a dozen counselors. A new rank has perforce been inserted between the ambassador and the staff of counselors; it is called Minister Counselor, and in the largest diplomatic missions there are even three or four of these. In effect, the rank of counselor has become the equivalent of the old one of first secretary.
In the military services, no new officer ranks have been added—but the same phenomenon has occurred. A great many general and flag officers are today occupying billets which once would have been competently filled by colonels and captains. In the lower ranks it appears that this situation is even more aggravated. The gap of 4,000 officers in the middle ranks and the current number of officer resignations and retirements, as attested to by those keeping track of personnel requirements, may not be unrelated to rank inflation in its broader implications.
It can be asserted that, in general, careers attract candidates commensurate with the rewards offered by the respective careers. If this sounds somewhat materialistic, and in order to forestall those who will ask, “How about the opportunity to serve?” it is suggested that one must stretch his imagination far to picture a candidate for a Cabinet post who, on being told he can serve his country equally well as an assistant division chief, will accept the lesser assignment. No, human nature being what it is, the greater the reward the greater will be the attraction to quality personnel.
No one undertakes a military career for the monetary reward offered. He hopes for pay adequate to house and feed his family under dignified conditions and to be able to give his children a good education. The attractions are life in the service, a chance to serve one’s country, and the prestige and authority which formerly in most countries and throughout the ages have accompanied a rise in military rank. If these two latter attributes are taken away, a military career will attract only the time server in place of the dedicated. Then, and only then, does it become necessary for military salaries to “compete with industry.”
That this condition now obtains to some degree is strongly attested to by a canvass of young adults, held a few years ago, in which the young people were asked to rate the desirability of a number of professions and careers. In the opinion of the group, the metier of colonel in the Army came quite far down the list, behind a number of careers which a score of years ago would have been considered pedestrian indeed by the young and ambitious.
The following reasons, taken up in order below, are the ones usually cited to justify the “need” for increased rank, and all of them are to some degree specious.
The first and probably the least valid: “Increased rank is a device for getting officer8 the increased pay they need.” Of course, the correct way to right the injustice of inadequate pay is to legislate a pay scale appropriate to the several ranks and not to prostitute the promotion system to this end. Can the recent reduction of time in rank of ensigns from three years to 18 months have had any other that1 a raise-in-pay purpose? Can the institutin’’ of the enlisted “super chief’ grades have ha any other purpose? ^
The second reason is: “The services an their units have grown in size and highe’ ranks are needed to man them.” This haS limited validity, but only limited. As an e* ample: at the turn of the century, the larg- U. S. battleship, displacing 13,000 tons 'v’t
Carried
ee services (counting the Army Air Corps Cg Separate recruiter) bid up rank to induce tic 1ldates f°r commissions to enter their party^ ar service. Prospects would shop around.
Cnter tbe Navy as a lieutenant when the tke ^ Corps would make you a major? At lie|j^nd of the War, a number of Reserve nant commanders were surprised when
however, lest the natural tendency of “chiefs” to proliferate allows them to wear the feathers and war paint while in fact doing jobs which 'Indians” could perform competently—and lor far less wampum.
The evil of this type of inflation has crept in through two doors. The first is the amorphous Organizational table of staff units. To explain: lo most countries operational units are by c°fflmon consent commanded by ranks which generally correspond from one country to an- °ther. That is, an army division is commanded by a major general, a company by a captain, a platoon by a lieutenant. In the navies a toajor man-of-war is commanded by a navy Captain and a destroyer type by a commander °r lieutenant commander. Air force opera- honal commands correspond in a like manner- It would startle military circles if a platoon were to turn up commanded by a lieu- tonant colonel. With staffs there is no such c°mmon agreement. Who is there to say ''Tether the proper rank for a deputy assistant toef of staff for intelligence is that of major &eneral or major? Staff ranks are largely arrived at by the juggling of staff members c°ncerned, compounded in the case of joint toto combined staffs by the need to cater to e amour propre of the services and nationali- les involved.
The second door through which inflation ated to size of unit crept in was wartime *Pansion. Accompanying the great need for t^gher ranks to man a greatly expanded mili- j/V establishment, promotions proliferated. r°rnotions could not be given the careful nsideration of peacetime and many officers ^ a “free ride.” From this grew the idea at promotions were pretty much an auto- i tlc thing and respect waned for rank which to be won. Reversing the process when in CC canie was much more difficult, and 5SSI?lte °f such reversion to lower rank take place, much of the inflation over into peacetime. Then, too, the
they returned home to receive commissions as commanders. This was a pleasant farewell gesture, but it did not enhance the standing of a rank which it took professionals half a lifetime to achieve if, in fact, they did achieve it.
The third inflationary influence was, “I must have higher rank so that I can deal on equal terms with my opposite number.” This has resulted in a sort of rank ratchet where each pump of the handle raises the rank but the pawl prevents it ever being lowered. The worst offenders are the services themselves. “My man must be a colonel because the service (or nation) has a lieutenant colonel on our staff.” This attitude quite evidently becomes self-defeating and results in debasing the coinage in which we are dealing. That this device is unnecessary, besides bordering on the childish, is attested to by the following: The British Navy learned a bitter lesson after World War I when reduced peacetime appropriations resulted in wholesale “axing” of overinflated rank. The Royal Navy decided that for World War II, promotions in the regular naval service would be held essentially to those of peacetime. Accordingly, when the Service Commanders in Chief for the invasion of Normandy assembled their staff planning officers, the naval planner, Commander Rowell, Royal Navy, was seated with acting major general, temporary brigadier, substantive major Blank, representing the Army, and with an air marshal whose real rank was wing commander or squadron leader. When asked if he did not find this embarrassing, Rowell replied, “Certainly not. I am a real commander—my experience and professional knowledge equals or exceeds that of my colleagues and, further, I speak for the Allied Naval Commander in Chief.”
Switzerland is a country which, wisely, has resisted all attempts at rank inflation both military and diplomatic. In peacetime the senior officer in Switzerland’s small but efficient army is a colonel. Could anyone argue that in an international military conference the Swiss Chief of Staff of the Army or the senior troop commander would be at a disadvantage in representing his service and his country vis-a-vis a Ruritanian field marshal? Two-star rank was adequate for George B. McClellan to command the Army of the Potomac and, at Appomatox, General
a minor civilian official who, at the time’
serving in an equivalent level position e U though the latter will never be given the n , responsibilities of, say, a lieutenant coin1 . an officer presumably qualified to comn1 a battalion in battle.
There was a time when anyone who
Ulysses S. Grant wore three stars on his lapels. The Supreme Allied Commander in Europe of NATO has been since its inception a full general, and this rank, in spite of the small size of the forces involved, is undoubtedly justified because of the complex of Allied commanders to whom he must be senior. At one time, however, his deputy was a field marshal and his chief of staff was a full general. Recently, the deputy to the head of C.I.A., an Air Force officer, was a four-star general. Considering the many outstanding military feats of history which were performed by commanders with what would be, by modern standards, quite modest rank, why should research groups, planning teams and the like require the galaxies with which they are now equipped?
The fourth reason given for the expansion is: “We must have enough high-ranking billets to ensure promotion to a reasonable proportion of those in the lower ranks.” This is a valid reason, but it is suggested that what those in the lower ranks are seeking is responsibility, respect and, if you like, prestige. These, it is asserted, would accrue in greater measure to a lieutenant colonel who finishes out his career in command of a considerable military installation than to an anonymous brigadier general who is the fourth ranking member of a nondescript committee.
Having given what are believed to be the reasons for the inflation of military rank, it might be well at this point to examine the harm resulting therefrom.
Where rank proliferates and holders of a rank are not employed in positions commensurate with the rank held, inevitably the prestige and hence the effectiveness of that rank falls. Take the rank of captain, U. S. Navy. Before World War II, there were less than 300 of them, and each held an important billet or was destined to command a major ship. Today the majority of the over 1,000 officers in the office of the Chief of Naval Operations are captains. There are captains who are directors of divisions (very few—most division directors are flag officers). There are captains who are branch heads and more who are section heads. There are captains employed within these branches and sections. There are captains serving as executive assistants in inner offices and some who are administrative assistants in outer offices. It is submitted that the rank was not created to fill most of these jobs. These are men in their forties and fifties. In civil pursuits, responsible positions are filled by young men if they are found qualified. They do not have to arrive at middle age to be accepted into the inner circle of industrial and financial companies' Why cannot the rank pyramid be so adjusted that a proportion of each naval rank from lieutenant up be used in staff and planning jobs and thus release those in the rank of captain from being the department helots?
The belief that only those of general officer or colonel’s rank “count” is a recent man*' festation. Majors have commanded sizeable forts. Captains, U. S. Navy, have served successfully as governors of the Virgin Islands and Samoa. The Naval Proving Ground waS commanded by a lieutenant, U. S. Navy- Captains have served as Superintendents the Naval Academy. Navy Bureau Chiefs were given the temporary rank of rear admiral bn1 were recruited from the grades of captain* commander, and even lieutenant commander- Recently, a Chief of Naval Personnel stated that one of the difficulties of his job was tryin» to provide the flag officers required by the n1' creasing and necessary joint civilian coinin'1' tees, seminars, and the like, “outside the Navy.” He was asked why these must invar* ably be flag officers. His answer was that under the present inflation only officers of ^ rank were acceptable to the senior civilians >’1 authority. When one considers that a capta|1' is considered qualified to have the sole re sponsibility for a ship worth perhaps S* ^ million and for the lives of 4,500 officers a1’ men, it is ridiculous to stipulate that is not of sufficient stature to take his pm with a group to deal with international fis'11' rights, nuclear fall-out or what have yo*1- To keep an officer of rank and expert611^ in minor administrative jobs cannot fa^ ^ lower the morale of the officer concerned, it inevitably equates him in civilian eyesvV1 ^
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attained the rank of lieutenant colonel or commander had arrived professionally and could “talk” to anyone, congressman, captain °f industry, or senior bureaucrat. Now, in a great many instances, these civilians are deaf anyone below General Officer/Flag rank. This of course is a direct outgrowth of the rank debasement which is the subject of this article. The services have to accept much of the responsibility for the situation.
During the time that rank has been in the Process of being deprived of its true signifiCance so, too, has the meaning and standing °f the line of the Navy been downgraded. The 'toe officer is the fundamental naval officer, trained to operate and command ships and fleets at sea. The necessary and important |taff specialists have been recruited as ancil- aries to the line. In recent years the position the two bodies has suffered a sort of reVersal. Any specialist who cannot be readily Incorporated into an existing corps is given a
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are in the line. One can ask why the star Worn by that esteemed and useful corps, the mves. Would not an emblem denoting their SPecial corps be more logical? The irony of the Ration is that a true staff corps would resist ^ the death an attempt to dilute its pro. Ss*onal purity by introducing any personnel '?to its ranks who did not have its profes- °nal standing. For example, there could be logical argument in this day of unification 1(|to streamlining to constitute a combined 7ealth Corps,” composed of members of the v*>sting Medical, Dental, and Medical Ser- th"6 ^orPs' I d° n°t believe that any of the ree valuable corps would welcome such an .^toalgamation. Yet the similarity of callings a ^Uch greater than those of a law specialist stra qualified commanding officer of a de- °Ver. Quite evidently the officers of the line ^ave been unable to protect their profession ha^ 'nroads made upon it, and today we 0(^e the star on the sleeves of those who, as officer said, “cannot box the compass.” th .to wiff be those who take the position astr *n l'lese days of intercontinental missiles, • ,°nauts, and telestars, the question of an is of very minor importance. The
prestige of the corps which is the heart of the professional Navy and as such is not “minor.” Also there are those who contend that in this age the ability to control and fight ships at sea is no longer of great importance and that the line officer has perhaps become the “sailing master” of the 19th century, subject to the direction of the embarked or even shore-based land tactician. If this day has in fact arrived, then the Navy has disappeared and ships have become the extension of push-button warfare. Before this point of view can be adopted, we must be indeed very sure we are right. As long as our nation’s survival depends on a corps of men trained to cope with the vagaries and vicissitudes of the seas, we cannot afford to denigrate their profession so that this corps will be composed of the second best.
Everyone who knows anything about the military services of the United States in World War II pays tribute to the fact that victory therein could not have been attempted, let alone achieved, without the corps of reserve officers, many of whom in fields such as contracting, public relations, publications, and the like, had skills which far exceeded those of their regular Navy colleagues.
Having said that, let us examine another aspect of the rank and promotion question. We must start off by conceding that the line of the Navy is a profession. Let us suppose that a queer epidemic hit these United States, and thousands, even millions, of people were stricken with appendicitis, so many in fact that accredited doctors and surgeons could not perform all of the operations. Under this emergency it is easy to believe that a great number of college graduates could be trained under intensive instruction, within, say, a month’s time, to perform a simple appendectomy. That is not to say that they would be able to diagnose an abnormality or cope with a malignancy. It certainly would not mean that the state medical board or the American Medical Association would accredit them as Doctors of Medicine nor that the College of Surgeons would give them membership certificates. Their skill and devotion would be suitably recognized but not through the award of a professional rank. We had many examples during the last war where a temporary officer entered as a lieutenant, served with credit for three or four years in an administrative billet,
and emerged as a commander. No wonder that the acquisition of a brass hat—an achievement which previously had taken approximately 20 years, and which a grounding, collision, lost document or burned boiler or even a lesser mishap could forestall—was and is lightly regarded.
As an aside, it is worthy of note that that profession whose ultimate effectiveness is perhaps the most difficult to prove, has been the most jealous of its professional status—• I speak of the clergy, at least in so far as members of commonly recognized denominations are concerned. A layman who devotes most of his life to the church may become a warden, a vestryman, a lay reader, or in the Catholic Church a Papal Count, but only the professionally trained and ordained become ordained ministers, priests or bishops.
It is unquestionably easier to enumerate ills than to suggest valid cures for them, nevertheless an attempt is made below. Let us first, in italics, list the “reason” most often given for rank inflation, and then propose steps which, if taken, would in a reasonably short space of time bring rank back to the status which it once had and which it should have today.
• Increase in rank as means of obtaining adequate pay. Legislate adequate pay for each rank. The Congress has already taken a step in this direction.
• Larger units require greater rank. Action should be instituted by the Services to appoint officers of suitable rank to positions which are not, as are most of the operational commands, governed by a sort of international convention. When a party of congressmen are to go abroad, it should be explained to them that their courier cannot be a colonel. Colonels are available for regimental commands, but a bright and able Army captain is waiting to take the assignment. When a brigadier general is detached from a planning staff, a major, a staff college graduate, might well be appointed to replace him. A naval aide to a service assistant secretary could be replaced by an appropriate lieutenant commander, a rank at one time held by such aides.
A graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy with the Class o( 1923, Admiral Strauss corn- manded the destroyer Brooks, the cruiser Fresno, the AP^ Charles Carroll and Destroy^ Flotilla 6 during his 30-yea* career. His World War b duty included service on the staff of the Chief of Combing Operations, 1942-1943, and on the Staff of the CIC Naval Forces for the Invasion of Normandy, 1944. He was a member of the U. Delegation to NATO from 1952 to 1955 and, as a civilian, directed the AIR Missions in Tunisia (1957" 1960) and Malagasy Republic (1960-1961). He |S now European Representative of TEMPO, the long'^ range economic planning department of the Genfra Electric Company.
an order to the services that each service, i” designating officer representatives to jo*1?1 staffs or other joint bodies, will appoint the*r respective officers to a position, and that the officer so appointed will carry the authority of the position, regardless of the respect*'e rank of officers of other services. There *s precedent for this step. During World War the daytime commander of a carrier task f°rCjj was the senior aviator embarked even thong he might be junior to the senior line on*c ^ present. The proposed step would not effcct cure in “combined” units but if the preS*'® of the United States were put behind a sir*1* ^ measure for international military bodies i* likely that other countries would be glad to ,, relieved of the pressures of the “rate** system.
• Sufficient high ranking billets to accotntnol ^ promotion flow. A corrective step here is 111 difficult to implement. Its success will , pend on whether a psychology which eme 8^
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perhaps the very highest rank was every0^ due and that anyone who did not attain ^ was a failure. This point of view changed and can be if, as has been sugS' above, responsibility and prestige are ^ stituted as criteria in place of mere miff* of stripes. ^
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new system will produce. Whatever device is Used will bring dismay to a number of qualified and useful officers, but to deflate this over- 'uflated rank balloon filled with officers, many whom are in billets appropriate in a taut Military service to officers perhaps two ranks their junior, will require drastic and certainly Painful measures. A half-pay program suggests itself.
Finally, the line of the Navy should be restricted to those officers trained and destined exercise line functions. Just as it has been °Und necessary in an increasingly mechanized Sr>d complex navy to add to the number of fating specialties of our highly trained blueJackets, so, too, it is probably necessary that VVe create separate corps of officer specialties that we have separate insignia for law, lntelligence and other specialists. It is well falized that attempts have been made from fittie to time to effect this separation, and that P°litical pressure and the all engulfing wave j cgalitarianism have defeated these efforts. ^ the downward curve of military status is to e reversed the effort must be renewed and cUrried to a successful conclusion.
^he last step proposed is probably the most otroversial and will meet the most opposi- n- It is to revive the Navy Regulation, in Seect before World War II, whereby a re- ve officer of or above the rank of lieutenant inlander, when called to active duty, took , ^edence after the regular officer having 1 as much time in grade. If those who feel
that this regulation is discriminatory will examine it they will see that it is eminently fair. For a reserve officer, however efficient and dedicated, let us say a banker, who has attended his periodic drills and made his summer cruises, but who has maintained his business and home life over a period of 12 years, to step into active duty ahead of a regular officer who for eleven years has been standing his watches, taking part in fleet exercises, running gunnery or engineering trials, that is, constantly practicing the elements of his profession and experiencing their hardships and hazards, cannot but make the professional officer feel that he has perhaps adopted the wrong profession.
The purpose of the program outlined is to restore, to each holder of military rank, to those who would adopt a military career and to the public, the pride in that rank necessary to create a military establishment which can best assure our country’s safety. The way to do this is to assign to each billet the minimum rank which is needed to enable the incumbent to carry out his responsibilities.
Rank inflation can be cured if the required steps are taken. To effect this correction, just as to eradicate any ill that has become firmly established, will require strong measures, and probably will mean that for a time a portion of the officer corps of the regular military services will suffer. To allow the present overload of rank to persist or to worsen will rot the fabric of those services on which the safety of the country depends.
★
By Their Napkins Ye Shall Know Them
During a recent cruise of an East Coast destroyer to evaluate a new gunnery system, the wardroom seating arrangement became somewhat complicated, due to the large influx of civilian engineers, foreign naval officers, and evaluation teams. Nevertheless, the stewards were always able to present everyone with the correct napkin and direct him to the proper seat. We all wondered how they were able to do this until it was discovered that each steward had a fist as follows:
/
Ships’ officers.................................................................................... regular napkin ring
British Commander (tall)................................................................. guest napkin ring #1
British Commander (short)............................................................. guest napkin ring #2
Civilians.............................................................................................. paper napkins
■--------------------------------------------- Contributed by Lieutenant William F. Story, U. S. Navy
{The Naval Institute will pay $10,00 for each anecdote published in the Proceedings.)