Great article! For a few years, I was always deterred from projects because they had already been done and better, so there was no reason to do it. Now, though, I just enjoy implementing things in my own janky way and learning a bit along the way.

You do get promotions in the Army reserve.

Correct.

They are taking jobs that could have been a promotion for an experienced reservist.

Probably not. This little think tank was just stood up. Title 10 gives the maximum numbers of officers per service per grade ( https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/523), and I wholly doubt that five new O-5s make an actual difference to getting to that cap. I also doubt we are anywhere near the maximum numbers of authorized officers. There is a retention crisis after all.

Beyond that, they would have to compete within their own competitive categories, so whatever category these people are in is the only one (minorly) affected. In fact, what is most likely is that the Secretary of the Army authorized to add five to the quota for that competitive category to mean that no one gets negatively affected. When officers are directly appointed to senior grades (which does happen), it’s not a big deal.

Look, I agree that this is bad, but it’s not malicious…just dumb and a waste of time and money while cheapening the service career officers have. In the end, this is just a publicity stunt and an eval bullet for some General somewhere. There’s plenty more to be outraged about from this administration than direct commissioning five idiot executives who will likely not do anything of substance.

LTC’s either have command or staff positions and often approve things like operations orders and contracts.

They are not going to have command. The article itself says they’re going to some “Innovation Corps,” which just sounds like some boondoggle assignment on a staff. They will have no actual Army job. They’re just going to be pushing contracts to their companies. That’s bad, but it already happens, so it comes out as just nothing. They are almost certainly not going to be in anyone’s chain of command.

Plus, I’d bet they’ll probably be at the Pentagon. An O-5 there has as much authority as an O-1 in the “real” military.

There’s virtually zero chance they’ve been put there for no reason

Probably just some flag officer’s good idea fairy or a way for a flag to secure a job after retirement. Again, not good, but very par for the course for DoD stupidity and/or corruption.

There are plenty of actual things to get outraged over. Having some tech bros play Army as O-5s is not that important. The DoD already gets bent over a barrel by Palantir and other companies to use their software; it’s wasteful and supports terrible companies. That’s what to get outraged over, not some idiots being appointed as O-5s.

I get the sentiment, but this is really a nothing-burger. They’re coming in as reservists, so they won’t compete against active duty at all. I don’t have much experience with the Army, so I don’t know how their promotions work with regard to MOS. However, I’d imagine they aren’t competing against other MOSes. There’s also a history of doing this with doctors and lawyers.

In general, this is dumb and just a way for some idiot executives to play Army every so often and feel really big and important while doing nothing of value.

Yep, but those who resign for moral reasons will be more likely to take actual actions to protest/stop what’s happening. The military will have a hard time recruiting competent people in that environment, though, and the people taking the vacancies will likely have diminishing competence as time goes on.

To put it in perspective, if more officers retire at 20, they’ll generally be O-5s (Lieutenant Colonels or Commanders), and so the next year’s promotion cycle will need to promote more O-4s to cover the vacancies. This will then trickle down, and suddenly, you have officers who have been O-3s for just a couple of years being promoted to O-4 rather than waiting longer and gaining experience.

In that scenario, there will be less efficiency in planning and execution and far more incompetence, and if being used against civilians, more brutality. But incompetence is easier to defeat in the long run. Seeing the incompetence and brutality will deprive the military of the smartest recruits who staff the important IT, intelligence, cyber, etc. communities. So, while they may get true believers, a lower proportion will be competent.

No matter how it shakes out, it will get very bad.

Not wrong. At “best,” we’ll see a fracturing of the military…which could be much more trouble than it’s worth. I’d expect a small wave of resignations/desertions (since resignation for an officer takes a long time). The remainder of good people will actively try to avoid and sea-lawyer their way out of doing any damage to civilians without violating orders. There will be a good chunk who will happily fire on US civilians, though.

It’s important to spread the message far and wide that they are not alone

This right here. Disobeying orders is hard, and upholding one’s oath when being told from all sides is hard, especially when friends and colleagues are going along with it. You don’t want to be the squeaky wheel who makes trouble for everyone. It can become easy to think that you’re alone if surrounded by people “just following orders.” It’s made harder still when considering that a single morally courageous action can throw away a career and potentially land you in the brig.

Plus, actual veterans and service members think it’s stupid. “Thank you for your service” is a punch line.

Sounds like it’s going to be a violent summer. As soon as the first protestor gets injured or killed, this will start to spin out of control.

I’m not a lawyer, but I really don’t see how this is legal, unless executed in a very particular way. I really only think this is legal if a state’s governor allows their NG troops to work with ICE under Title 32 within that state alone. Once a state’s Guard gets federalized, they are working under Title 10. The important difference is that Title 32 grants governors the ability to use their NG for law enforcement, but Title 10 means that they fall under DoD policy, and therefore subject to Posse Comitatus and unable to engage in law enforcement unless legislation is passed.

With that said, the only way I could see this being used is within states with friendly governors (so red states) who mobilize their NG and offer DHS their personnel as aid. But then those personnel could only be used in their state. So, if Indiana mobilized their Guard on Title 32 orders and aided ICE, then they could only operate within Indiana unless invited into another state. If ICE wants to do a raid with Guard personnel in Chicago, then they are SOL because then that would be an interstate invasion.

What this could do is allow ICE personnel to focus on Democratic states while Republicans use their NG to do the majority of ICE’s dirty work. In other words, a bunch of ICE people will come to blue states to do the rounding up, while NG will do the rounding up in red states.

My take, too. They can comply with the court order and save face. The charges are not very solid, though. This can play into Trump’s hands in that if he’s acquitted, just silently brushing it under the rug with another outrage (the admin is seriously just an outrage/scandal ponzi scheme). If he’s convicted, then they can parade him around like they were right the entire time.

I think that’s a bit simplistic. I think Biden’s position on Gaza hurt turnout, but at the very most, that would mean Trump would win the electoral vote only rather than both the electoral and popular votes. There were several other reasons, e.g. the economy, Biden not bowing out earlier, Harris not putting some separation between them, etc. that ultimately doomed them.

I mean, obviously the answer is yes. But that is a great hook into what’s next.

This article also does a good job of making an argument for the Democrats to tack left and have a strong contrasting message to the Republicans. Even the squishiest, least offensive MAGA is still pretty far right and closer to Trump than to any Democrat. They don’t even regret their votes in any appreciable way. The most regret is coming from people who stayed home or voted third party. Give them a real contrast so even the most intellectually dishonest grifter can’t say “both sides” anymore.

If the Democrats had a real message and some fight in them, they could be an opposition party. Instead, most just want to write strongly worded letters without doing the hard work. And with that, they might actually win elections. Too bad they’re only starting to figure this out now when it’s probably too late.

Even beyond that, you’d think that at some point someone would realize that if you have to tell someone you aren’t a monster even though you’re acting monstrously, you’re a monster, regardless of whose orders you’re following.

It’s also not all-or-none. Someone who otherwise is really interested in learning the material may just skate through using AI in a class that is uninteresting to them but required. Or someone might have life come up with a particularly strict instructor who doesn’t accept late work, and using AI is just a means to not fall behind.

The ones who are running everything through an LLM are stupid and ultimately shooting themselves in the foot. The others may just be taking a shortcut through some busy work or ensuring a life event doesn’t tank their grade.

Sounds like yet another high crime and misdemeanor. Why doesn’t the co-equal branch established in Article I do it’s duty? And failing that, why doesn’t Hegseth, who has “We the People” tattooed on his drunken forearm, have the courage that he demands of others to tell off his boss? Where are the Oath Keepers who say they are so opposed to a tyrannical government and take their oaths to the Constitution seriously?

They wipe their collective asses with the Constitution. For that, everyone in this administration, and those who enabled it should burn as the traitors that they are.

Again, fighting isn’t for everyone. We fight so others can get away and maybe have the hope to see their home again. But in fighting, we realize that there’s a VERY good chance that it leads to death. Not everyone is prepared for that, and not everyone’s family can afford that. It’s risk calculus, and it’s different for everyone.

Not to mention, as the article said, there are some cases where getting out and speaking freely is more helpful. One extra person on the street won’t make a difference, but a well-respected academic may be able to work to sway another country or international organization to intervene, and that is worth it.

Don’t be an asshole. Staying or going is an intensely personal decision. “Fighting back” can cost a lot, up to one’s life. If someone isn’t ready for that–and that is understandable–then they shouldn’t be coerced. There is no shame in packing up and leaving.

If you’re staying, then part of fighting back is encouraging and helping those who are unwilling or unable to find the exit because if we are being very honest, the chance of coming out of “fighting back” alive is not very high, especially if you’re a vulnerable minority.

And yes, I’m staying.

Can’t pardon a lawsuit. Lawsuits are civil; pardons are for criminal cases. Those staffers could be bankrupted, which would be hilarious.