Oh Captain! My Captain!

A little over a year ago I gave a salute to the sergeants, "the enlisted leaders who do most of the day-to-day supervising of the rank-and-file soldiers."

Now the Army is concerned about losing those in another crucial rank, captains. From “Army effort to retain captains falls short of goal,” by Yochi J. Dreazen (Wall Street Journal 1/26):

An expensive Army effort to retain young officers with big cash bonuses has fallen short of its target, underscoring the military’s continuing struggle to recruit and keep troops.

The program persuaded 11,933 captains to commit to additional Army service, short of the 14,184 goal. The military will pay out more than $349 million in bonuses to the officers who took the incentives.

Later:

In Iraq, captains – who have usually served multiple tours in Iraq – are crucial to the counterinsurgency strategy that military commanders credit with a sharp and sustained decline in the country’s violence.

With more troops at his disposal because of last year’s surge strategy, Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander there, pushed small units of soldiers, generally led by captains, off of larger bases and out into Iraqi neighborhoods. In many parts of the country, those captains brokered local cease-fires and persuaded Sunni tribesmen to join the fight against al-Qaeda in Iraq, developments credited with sharply reducing Iraq’s bloodshed.

Large numbers of captains also serve on the military training teams that live alongside, and mentor, the fledgling Iraqi army. That means that captains are essential to the eventual U.S. exit strategy from Iraq, which depends on standing up an Iraqi military capable of defending the country on its own.

But the military’s heavy reliance on captains comes at an enormous cost. Many captains – generally in their late 20s or early 30s – have done two, three and in some cases four tours in Iraq or Afghanistan.

On trips to the war zones, it is common to meet captains who have young children they have never met or ex-wives who left after growing tired of waiting for the soldiers to return home.

A salute to the captains. Our thanks for your service.