Four senior executives at Palantir, Meta, and OpenAI have been formally appointed lieutenant colonels in the US Army following the creation of a “special” unit created for rich Big Tech mavens seeking military leadership roles. On June 13, the Army announced the creation of Detachment 201, otherwise known as the “Executive Innovation Corps,” which it describes as “a new initiative designed to fuse cutting-edge tech expertise with military innovation.” Four ultra-wealthy executives from top tech companies were sworn in to […]
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.
LTC’s either have command or staff positions and often approve things like operations orders and contracts. I find this deeply disturbing, especially with people marinating in techbroligarch conflicts of interest. There’s virtually zero chance they’ve been put there for no reason
Palantir is who was brought on to combine all of our information from the different departments in government. This is probably the last bastion. They also want those sweet, sweet, non-competitive contracts.
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.
Pushing papers is a job in the Army. It should have been given to someone that earned it.
That’s what to get outraged over, not some idiots being appointed as O-5s.
Honestly this is more personable and deserving of outrage. Yes Palantir getting contracts is technically worse but that’s like getting angry at inflation instead of the price of eggs. People can relate to the price of eggs. People can relate to someone being handed a senior job instead of it going to the person who served.
You do get promotions in the Army reserve. They are taking jobs that could have been a promotion for an experienced reservist. Even if it’s a do nothing job, it could have been a do nothing job that someone earned.
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.
There’s no reason to make these people pretend-soldiers. You can make them US Army contractors if they need to work with the army. You can make them DoD or CIA or NSA federal employees. There are already avenues for war mongering businessmen to take to work with the military.
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.
LTC’s either have command or staff positions and often approve things like operations orders and contracts. I find this deeply disturbing, especially with people marinating in techbroligarch conflicts of interest. There’s virtually zero chance they’ve been put there for no reason
Palantir is who was brought on to combine all of our information from the different departments in government. This is probably the last bastion. They also want those sweet, sweet, non-competitive contracts.
Shit, yeah, that makes a sickening amount of sense
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.
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.
Pushing papers is a job in the Army. It should have been given to someone that earned it.
Honestly this is more personable and deserving of outrage. Yes Palantir getting contracts is technically worse but that’s like getting angry at inflation instead of the price of eggs. People can relate to the price of eggs. People can relate to someone being handed a senior job instead of it going to the person who served.
You do get promotions in the Army reserve. They are taking jobs that could have been a promotion for an experienced reservist. Even if it’s a do nothing job, it could have been a do nothing job that someone earned.
Correct.
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.
There’s no reason to make these people pretend-soldiers. You can make them US Army contractors if they need to work with the army. You can make them DoD or CIA or NSA federal employees. There are already avenues for war mongering businessmen to take to work with the military.