Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Cracks in the Army becoming clearer

One of the more thoughtful officers I’ve met over the years is Army Lt. Gen. James Dubik, now retired. So when he sends up a warning flare, I pay attention. This is what he had to say recently in Army magazine: The fault lines within the Army have been emerging recently: increased suicide, domestic violence ...

WayTru/flickr
WayTru/flickr
WayTru/flickr

One of the more thoughtful officers I've met over the years is Army Lt. Gen. James Dubik, now retired. So when he sends up a warning flare, I pay attention. This is what he had to say recently in Army magazine:

One of the more thoughtful officers I’ve met over the years is Army Lt. Gen. James Dubik, now retired. So when he sends up a warning flare, I pay attention. This is what he had to say recently in Army magazine:

The fault lines within the Army have been emerging recently: increased suicide, domestic violence and divorce rates; reduced attendance at NCO developmental schools; declinations of command and too few combat arms officers in senior service colleges; imbalances in some officer year groups and branches; expansive undermanning of staffs in some major commands and insufficient trainers in the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command; an overreliance on contractors-to name a few. To be sure, today’s Army has yet to reach the low ebb of the 1970s, but the trajectory is not good. The fault lines are clearer now than they were just a couple of years ago.

Tom: Unfortunately, we’re not going to be able to spend our way out of this problem. (See yesterday’s item by General Barno.)

Does anyone know more about the "declinations of command" that General Dubik mentions? I just googled it but my internet only caught a few info-minnows. 

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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