Road to 350: What Does the US Navy Do Anyway?

[Griz882]

Here’s an interesting concept.

Army recruits officers from Meta, OpenAI and Palantir to serve in new detachment

Executives from high-tech firms Meta, OpenAI and Palantir are joining the Army Reserve at the rank of lieutenant colonel to serve in Detachment 201, a new “Executive Innovation Corps,” the service announced Friday.

defensescoop.com

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

Here’s an interesting concept.

Not bad, civilian to LtCol.
Wonder how they will get brough up to speed on actually being part of the military.

 

[Griz882]

Not bad, civilian to LtCol.
Wonder how they will get brough up to speed on actually being part of the military.

 

[Brett327]

Not bad, civilian to LtCol.
Wonder how they will get brough up to speed on actually being part of the military.

They won’t.

 

[Hair Warrior]

Here’s an interesting concept.

Army recruits officers from Meta, OpenAI and Palantir to serve in new detachment

Executives from high-tech firms Meta, OpenAI and Palantir are joining the Army Reserve at the rank of lieutenant colonel to serve in Detachment 201, a new “Executive Innovation Corps,” the service announced Friday.

defensescoop.com

Not really a fan of this. There are a lot of charlatans in tech sector C-Suites, for starters. If they can already join today at O1-O3, what’s stopping them from joining? It’s not the pay. If we really need their skills and they truly refuse to spend any time as a JO, make a civilian auxiliary or bring them in as a part-time contractor.

We just tried an experiment where a tech genius was plucked from industry and placed into a senior govt role straight from the tech sector - he thought it was a good idea to put a rogue Starlink dish on a certain roof and transmit USG data without permission. It wasn’t great.

And if some senior officer is telling me that these private sector execs can’t do what they need to do with “only” two bars instead of a silver oak leaf, then maybe they’re the problem and they should listen to their JOs more often. Heck, there are already a bunch of JOs in the reserves who are executives at tech companies who should automatically jump up to O4 or O5 instantly based on this criteria (I know a few), but once you’re in the system you’re stuck in the wickets with everyone else. And that isn’t a bad thing - it gives you time to learn and grow within the correct system.

Notable exceptions:
- Doctors, dentists, nurses
- William S Knudson
- Joseph Francis Carroll

They’re the exceptions that prove the rule, though. A top cardiologist at a US hospital is going to follow the same medical training and adhere to the same ethical process as a military cardiologist. The same cannot be said for an executive at Instagram understanding DoD information systems, classification levels, ethical constraints, or cyberspace operations.

 

[Griz882]

Not really a fan of this. There are a lot of charlatans in tech sector C-Suites, for starters. If they can already join today at O1-O3, what’s stopping them from joining? It’s not the pay. If we really need their skills and they truly refuse to spend any time as a JO, make a civilian auxiliary or bring them in as a part-time contractor.

We just tried an experiment where a tech genius was plucked from industry and placed into a senior govt role straight from the tech sector - he thought it was a good idea to put a rogue Starlink dish on a certain roof and transmit USG data without permission. It wasn’t great.

And if some senior officer is telling me that these private sector execs can’t do what they need to do with “only” two bars instead of a silver oak leaf, then maybe they’re the problem and they should listen to their JOs more often. Heck, there are already a bunch of JOs in the reserves who are executives at tech companies who should automatically jump up to O4 or O5 instantly based on this criteria (I know a few), but once you’re in the system you’re stuck in the wickets with everyone else. And that isn’t a bad thing - it gives you time to learn and grow within the correct system.

Notable exceptions:
- Doctors, dentists, nurses
- William S Knudson
- Joseph Francis Carroll

They’re the exceptions that prove the rule, though. A top cardiologist at a US hospital is going to follow the same medical training and adhere to the same ethical process as a military cardiologist. The same cannot be said for an executive at Instagram understanding DoD information systems, classification levels, ethical constraints, or cyberspace operations.

I mildly disagree. A similar program (the dollar a year men) was essential to allied victory in WWII. I have no idea what the troops in ‘42/‘43 thought of those tin-plated colonels, but they did critical work. No reason it can’t be replicated now.

 

[Brett327]

I mildly disagree. A similar program (the dollar a year men) was essential to allied victory in WWII. I have no idea what the troops in ‘42/‘43 thought of those tin-plated colonels, but they did critical work. No reason it can’t be replicated now.

Robert McNamera being a notable example. The better question, though, is why it should be replicated now. I’m unclear on this point, and given that nearly everything this administration does is, at the very minimum, self serving, if not outright corrupt, one wonders what the true motivations might be.

 

[Flash]

Here’s an interesting concept.

Army recruits officers from Meta, OpenAI and Palantir to serve in new detachment

Executives from high-tech firms Meta, OpenAI and Palantir are joining the Army Reserve at the rank of lieutenant colonel to serve in Detachment 201, a new “Executive Innovation Corps,” the service announced Friday.

defensescoop.com

Why do they need to be in uniform? They could easily do this sort of job as a civilian or in advisory capacity. As a matter of fact there are several entities that already exist to do just what they are supposed to be doing. And them being in mid-grade officers would even put them at a disadvantage, if they were going to be in the real Army.

 

[Griz882]

Why do they need to be in uniform? They could easily do this sort of job as a civilian or in advisory capacity. As a matter of fact there are several entities that already exist to do just what they are supposed to be doing. And them being in mid-grade officers would even put them at a disadvantage, if they were going to be in the real Army.

I imagine it is so all involved feel like they are part of the team.

 

[JTS11]

Why do they need to be in uniform? They could easily do this sort of job as a civilian or in advisory capacity. As a matter of fact there are several entities that already exist to do just what they are supposed to be doing. And them being in mid-grade officers would even put them at a disadvantage, if they were going to be in the real Army.

Day 1 of Meta/OpenAI bootcamp.

 

[Griz882]

The better question, though, is why it should be replicated now.

This is THE fundamental question for creating this detachment. My hipshot take is that some people see failures in the existing defense acquisition process and imagine they can “fix it” from the inside. Still, Brett is right, it could be easily corrupted. I hope they do well, at least with reference to aligning military needs with a “better” process. We’ll see.

 

[BigRed389]

This is THE fundamental question for creating this detachment. My hipshot take is that some people see failures in the existing defense acquisition process and imagine they can “fix it” from the inside. Still, Brett is right, it could be easily corrupted. I hope they do well, at least with reference to aligning military needs with a “better” process. We’ll see.

Yeah…Direct Commission for acquisition doesn’t need to be a thing. Setting the framework for it, sure, but I disagree that it adds any value now over simply bringing them in as civilians. And honestly, there is a lot more flexibility and ambiguity on the civilian side. A strong GS15 can “outrank” a SES in discussions based on positional authority and through demonstrated subject matter expertise. Much less likely in uniform, and simply commissioning to a senior rank grants rank with none of the relevant experience to get there.

The one exception I might make is for folks who earned their operational experience stripes and got out from AD, and are looking to jump back in with their private sector experience.

The whole DOGE dunking on Feds thing that might make the civilian appointment path very unappealing, but that’s a problem this Administration has both created and wholly owns the solution to.

 

[GroundPounder]

Shifting gears, we've talked about Harvey Milk in this forum before, and I wasn't a fan of the decision to name this ship after him, but this seems like yet another example of poorly chosen battles.

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5330963-navy-ships-rename-harvey-milk/

No matter which side of the aisle you're on, I don't think many people want to be switching names on things every 4 or 8 years. Or namesakes, even if the name stays the same.

JHC, can we all just get on with solving actual problems.