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By Senator Sam Nunn
Military personnel recognize from the first day they enter a program of training to become an officer that competition for advancement is an integral part of military service. Such competition is healthy, and helps maintain a vibrant, combat-effective officer corps.
This basic philosophy of competition is embodied in legislation enacted in 1980 called the Defense Officer Personnel Management Act (DOPMA), which establishes uniform procedures governing the appointment, promotion, separation, and retirement of officers on active duty.
The DOPMA legislation recognizes that the active-duty officer management system is a closed system. Individual officers enter at the bottom of the system upon the completion of precommissioning programs. They are then placed on active-duty lists that delineate their seniority in relationship to other officers. From the moment they receive their commissions, officers compete with their peers in an increasingly rigorous environment for assignments and promotions in a system that progressively requires fewer and fewer officers. Open, objective competition is central to the effectiveness of this system.
The one feature of officer management law that is not in line with this basic philosophy of competition is the current practice for all graduates of the military service academies to be commissioned as regular officers.
Currently, all graduates of the military service academies automatically receive a regular commission when they enter active duty as second lieutenants or ensigns. This occurs no matter what their record or standing, and prior to any service as commissioned officers. No graduate of any other commissioning source is guaranteed a regular commission. This means that the limited number of available appointments as regular officers goes overwhelmingly to graduates of the military service academies.
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 1992 and 1993, enacted into law in December 1991, contains a provision that brings this automatic regular commission practice into line with the competitive philosophy of DOPMA. Under this provision, beginning on 1 October 1996, all officers will initially be appointed as reserve officers. They will then serve at least one year on active duty before they may be appointed as regular officers. This requirement means that all officers, regardless of source of commission, will compete on equal terms for appointments in the regular component on the basis of fitness reports that document their demonstrated performance and potential in actual military jobs. The 1 October 1996 effective date was selected so that all cadets and midshipmen currently enrolled in, or recruited for, the military service academies would still receive initial regular appointments as a matter of equity.
I have believed for some time that all military officers should have the same opportunity at the outset of their careers to compete for the enhanced status and promotion potential that a regular commission provides. The military service academies provide excellent training and education for future officers of the military services. There are other commissioning sources, however, particularly the Reserve Officer Training Corps and Officer Candidate School, that also produce officers with outstanding military and academic educations.
The legislation enacted by Congress will ensure that there are no artificial impediments in law that may deter the finest of our officers from regular careers. It is completely consistent with the principles of fairness and competition so vigorously embraced by the military service academies, and it certainly does not preclude the competitive selection of any or all military service academy graduates from being appointed as regular officers.
Critics of this legislation have argued that the environment at the military service academies is far more rigorous and demanding than other sources of commissioning, and that the sacrifice that cadets and midshipmen make entitles them to receive regular appointments. The point this argument misses, though, is that setting aside a significant percentage of a limited number of available regular appointments cuts deeply into those that can be offered to other deserving candidates, many of whom may already have proved themselves on active duty. I believe it is much fairer to allow performance on active duty to determine who will become regular officers rather than performance in an academic environment, no matter how rigorous. Should we in effect award regular commissions to young people of the age of 17 or 18 when they are selected for the military service academies, or should we await their performance and compare them with their colleagues who have become officers by a different route?
Over the next several years the size of all of the military services will be reduced. The officer corps will also be shrinking, and there will be fewer opportunities for young people to serve their country as military officers. In an environment in which the military services will have to be even more selective than they are now in picking their future leaders, it is essential that they make this decision on the basis of demonstrated performance and potential on the job.
Under these circumstances, it is even more appropriate that all prospective military officers be given the opportunity to compete equally for regular commissions. Frankly, given the superb education that graduates of the military service academies receive, I expect that a large majority of them will continue to receive regular commissions early in their careers.
Senator Nunn (D-GA) is Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Editor's Note: The legislation does not apply to U.S. Coast Guard officers.
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