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Comment by sgnelson

3 months ago

This is such a bad idea, I can't even...

O-5 isn't that much power - as a battalion commander, that's leading about 300-1,000 soldiers. They wouldn't necessarily be leading troops, but instead be in advisory roles where the rank might have them be taken a little more seriously by flag officers than if they were commissioned as a company grade officer.

  • Direction commission officers aren't line-officers (AFAIK), so they are don't command in the way you're describing. That assumes doctor/lawyer/nurse though...

I don't know any tech execs and I am only remotely familiar with the military, but I am hazarding a guess that the cultures in tech and the military are not at all similar. I'm also guessing that there is a massive difference between fighting for Ukraine by using your tech skills and participating in a time-limited, no-real-skin-in-the-game learning exercise.

Not to mention that at the same time this is happening, SecDef fired a number of generals, and the military is being used for political purposes, at least according to some.

  • Everything you said is true. But regarding your last point, I mean, the military has always been used for political purposes.

    • "Politics by other means" and all that, but the US military being overtly used for partisan politics was not the norm for the US.