=====Originally posted by Marvin
Officer promotion works differently in peacetime. It is administrative (how many medals, how many military schools, how many college degrees, how good you look in your official photo, how many HHQ assignments, etc.)
Much of it goes out the window in time of war. And most of it probably won't be applicable in a future where military commanders have managed to learn the lessons of history. Ergo, any promotion system devised by Vice will be as viable as any that's currently in effect.
First of all, sorry - don't mean to "beat a horse to death". I care about accuracy though. I wouldn't want the civilian populace to erronously think that military promotion is all about "time served", or that military promotion is not tied to performance. I will admit that its a "sensitivity" of mine - how the public perceives the military, and I care about veterans - which has NOTHING to do with the game, but "how promotions work in real life" is *apparantly* and *currently* relevant in the discussion.
Again; PARTIALLY correct; the best way that I can say it... because it is NOT as simple as that;
I concede that priorities change from peacetime to wartime. But NOT that MUCH. Certain standards and policies are always followed. They CAN be brushed aside ... for a while ... for other priorities, I admit. Also, there are units actually serving in combat zones - they don't have TIME to train or take tests (usually / sometimes) - but they are rotated back, and "near-peacetime" standards and policies apply when they are at Fort Huachuca, Fort Bragg, "or where ever". AND there are units that rarely see combat duty, because their function is to, say, provide admin support to Fort Meade or The Pentagon, or they are running the hospital at Walter Reed.
I've worked with enlightened officers who genuinely promote a good working relationship with their NCO's. With some of these officers, behind closed doors in staff meetings, sometimes everyone is even on a first name basis (NOT in front of the troops, of course). Certain things become apparant after one is promoted to a Platoon Sergeant (or above) and starts attending these meetings. Certain things get openly discussed. A good commander knows how to promote GENUINE loyalty, and his concerns become the concerns of his NCOs. I know what I am talking about.
Commanders have to be concerned about their units average overall physical fitness test scores. If they are low, for some reason, or he has too many people on the weight control program, then that commander has to answer for it, it WILL be reflected in HIS rating by his supervisor, it WILL effect his chances for promotion. If it continues, he will lose his command, get "buried" in a dead end staff position for a while, and he will get RIF'ed (a "polite" form of being "fired").
They have to be concerned about their units overall SQT test scores (Skill Qualification Test, what used to be called MOS tests; a *paper* test with some hands-on elements that attempts to evaluate how well a person knows their job).
CTT tests: "Common Task Test", a VERY hands-on test that evaluates those skills that are considered important for ALL the troops regardless of their jobs; things like putting on a MOPP suit (protective suit / "gas mask" for those that might not be familiar with the terms), basic first aid (from a battlefield perspective), how to maintain, clean and clear a weapon, etc. I forget how many overall tasks their are in the handbook (something like 40-50), and I forget how often a unit is *REQUIRED* to be evaluated in this by policy, but in any given CTT session, about 20 are actually tested. The troops rotate among the stations (concurrently in several groups), the scores are recorded and reported, and if they are low, that commander will answer for it and be told by HIS commander that remedial training is in order for his unit.
*Specific Big Special Tasks* given to the unit, of course always applies. "You are to take these 5983 new tanks, move them from the depot / railhead, prep them, ship them on time to the units in the field".
"WHY WAS THAT SHIPMENT LATE?! You should have been able to have that equipment properly prepped and shipped on time! And why were half the tires missing? You DO know, I assume, how hard it is to drive a HumVee through the desert without TIRES?! This WILL be reflected on your OER!!!!" (OER (unless the term has changed in the past few years) = Officer Evaluation Report. For Enlisted / E5/ SGT and above, it is NCOER).
And there are LOTS of other policy-dictated, standardized, part-of-life routine-performance-things that commanders DO have to be concerned about.
A Division Commander is in a war zone. Lets say, given his leadership style, he DOES task according to ability and probability of success, BUT his perception of his unit commanders is such that he believes they are all approximately equally able. So this Commander sometimes asks for volunteers. Over time, he notes that one SPECIFIC Brigade Commander is ALWAYS volunteering for the hard jobs. Most do pull their weight. ONE avoids taking risks. That won't get noticed? Promotions won't be effected?
The commander that just "drifts along", pretty much doing just what is specifically required of him or maybe a little more, just making the minimum standard or maybe a little more, eventually gets eliminated. The same is true (in a different way and MAYBE to a lesser extent) of the NCO; because the promotion boards see that, will NOT promote him, and there IS a policy whereby if you don't make certain ranks within certain time periods you HAVE to leave. Policy. Not always fair, because some MOS's are low density, and promotion is relatively rare - but thats the way it is.
Promotion in the military *IS* definitely tied to performance, both for Officers and NCOs, in both peacetime and wartime.
=====
Having said that, it might be too difficult to change the game (maybe there is a horrendously complicted variable or function structure associated with military promotions). Maybe Vice JUST wants to keep it simple. Maybe he believes that the only people that could possibly care about this are some prior service people (not, because the people that initially proposed this line of thought and are promoting it, I suspect, are not prior service. My apologies, if I'm wrong).
I think it would be a good thing, *if possible*, to make the change (I believe first proposed by SVB?). It would *encourage* people to take the harder, longer missions. I think it would give the players *more satisfaction*, in the long run when they get those promotions. But if the Polymorphic Multithreaded Chimeric Promotion Variable and FlagSet with Many InterDependancies is already established and integrated into the program, and it would be unwise to tinker with it, or if Vice just doesn't want to do it, no problem.
Its just a discussion. But lets please be accurate in certain facts.
(edit - emergency surgery performed on a massive wave of spelling errors and typos)
[Edited on 5-8-2009 by Storm]
