Washington – Struggling to retain enough officers to lead its forces, the Army has begun to drastically increase the number of soldiers it promotes, raising fears within the service that wartime strains are diluting the quality of the officer corps.
Last year, the Army promoted 97 percent of all eligible captains to the rank of major, according to Pentagon data. That was up from a historical average of 70 percent to 80 percent.
Traditionally, the Army has used the step to major as a winnowing point to push lower-performing soldiers out of the military.
The service also promoted 86 percent of eligible majors to the rank of lieutenant colonel in 2005, up from the historical average of 65 percent to 75 percent.
The higher rates of promotion are part of efforts to fill new slots created by an Army reorganization and to compensate for officers resigning from the service, many after multiple rotations to Iraq.
The promotion rates “are much higher than they have been in the past because we need more officers than we did before,” said Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, an Army spokesman.
The Army has long taken pride in the competitiveness of its promotions, and it insists that only officers who meet rigorous standards are elevated through its ranks. But recent trends in promotions have stirred concerns that the Army is being forced to lower its standards to provide leaders for combat units.
“The problem here is that you’re not knocking off the bottom 20 percent,” said a high- ranking Army officer at the Pentagon. “Basically, if you haven’t been court-martialed, you’re going to be promoted to major.”
The spike in promotions is partly a result of the large number of Army officers choosing to leave the service. Army officers are getting out of the military at the highest rate since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, shrinking the pool of officers eligible for promotion.
