Army Captains Lose Promised College Benefits After Force Reductions
Breaking promises like this was bound to happen with all the officers being kicked out of the Army:
About 40 officers selected for involuntary separation this spring will be ineligible to attend graduate school on the Army’s dime, as initially promised.
Early in their careers, these officers signed contracts agreeing to serve three additional years on active duty in exchange for the Army paying for their master’s degree. As part of the program, called the graduate school option, or GRADSO, soldiers are eligible to attend school while still on active duty and still receiving pay and benefits. After graduating, they are required to serve three days for every one day enrolled in school.
About 40 officers who signed the contracts now find themselves among 1,100 captains selected for involuntary separation as part of an ongoing Army drawdown to reach an end-strength of 490,000 by Sept. 30, 2015.
One of these captains, who asked that his name be withheld for fear it would hurt his civilian career, said he will have served 34 of the 36-month-service obligation that should have enabled him to cash in with an Army-paid-for degree. (Army Times)
You can read more at the link, but the argument can probably be made these officers did not keep their side of the bargain by not being high performers that would have prevented them from being cut. Bottom line is that expect more situations like this if the Army due to sequestration continues to make cuts.
I’m not saying it Obammy but…
http://tinyurl.com/kmy7foj
Kinda B.S. This is the US Army you’re talking about…your definition of “high performer” can be highly subjective. Quite certain their ADSO can be met via Reserve status…if they choose to do so. To be honest, both sides are getting jammed – but the individual will lose to Uncle Sam in most cases.
“This is the US Army you’re talking about…your definition of “high performer” can be highly subjective. Quite certain their ADSO can be met via Reserve status…if they choose to do so.”
Hm…I’m not so sure. The Reserves are in a crunch now, too. That Continuing Resolution thing is killing them. So there aren’t a lot of officer jobs available, and there has to be a slot for them to take (and they have to pass the interview).
I should say the above applies to TR (traditional reserve) jobs…which would be the ones that would satisfy that active duty requirement. They don’t have the money for orders now.
Liz, point taken. That said, all those I’ve spoken didn’t seem to have any issues finding a Reserve job. Moreover, the more I think about…one could argue the three up-front years each Soldier served could qualify towards their ADSO. I don’t know what the fine print says, but the Army essentially gets six years of service out of this deal. I get that some may not be deserving of promotion, but I know some excellent officers (who don’t look like Adonis in their photos) who were passed over. It’s becoming increasingly clear – ones body shape overrides performance.
InnocentBystander, I couldn’t agree more about the promotion process. It’s far from a meritocracy. Most Captains aren’t passed over…that’s extremely rare. What is far more common is a commander receiving a number during a RIF (x number of O3 people have to get out, pick them). Even if they’re all stellar performers, some have to go. I don’t know about Army, but that’s what has been happening in the Airforce.
Since this benefit was part of the reason they signed on for the commitment and they aren’t leaving voluntarily I do think this sucks and is a breach of contract. But, a lot of military people are getting screwed all around. The military is about the only discretionary income pile left the politicians sure aren’t going to touch the Social Security or Welfare entitlements.
InnocentBystander, I am just playing devil’s advocate. I do not like these reductions, but the Army is being forced to do it. The focus of the cuts have been on the people who have had DUIs, PT failures, etc in their records. These are not all bad officers and some made the mistake when they were young LTs and are paying for it now. This is the just simplest way for the Army boards to make cuts. I with the Army would just let these guys finish out their terms of service. Now that all these officers are cut there will be officers with no blemishes cut if sequestration continues next year.
Liz, the DA photo is very important for the Army. I have seen people go on extreme diets and not drink water for a long period before taking the DA photo. It is once again another one of those easy discriminators that Army boards can look at in the limited amount of time they have to review files.
http://www.prageruniversity.com/Life-Studies/Is-the-Customer-Always-Right.html
…and here I thought the DA photo was just a sneaky way to meet quotas since it is included with a records jacket that doesn’t mention race…