In 1975 we were Captains. I was commanding K Troop, 3rd Squadron, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment of about 150 soldiers. Stationed in Northern Bavaria, our mission was to screen the Czech border, which meant to report on Warsaw Pact activity we saw and prevent the enemy from seeing the main force units to our rear. Our most important task was to show the American flag and confirm the U.S. commitment to defending Western Europe. We were the tip of the U.S. Army Europe spear and would have been the tripwire had the Soviets invaded, which then seemed not unlikely.
I was pretty good at fixing problem units – I had commanded two other turnarounds – and K Troop needed fixing. It was consistently the lowest performing cav troop; the first sergeant withheld mail and beat up troops he disliked; soldiers had firebombed my predecessor’s office and so on.
Between tours in Germany, I had been an “advisor” to an Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) infantry regiment. I had collected the normal basic load of Vietnam medals – Bronze Star, Combat Infantry Badge, Purple Heart – in the course of an unremarkable tour of duty toward the end of that war. I was grateful to have survived in one piece, unlike some of our classmates.
After Vietnam, the Army found itself considerably overstrength in several year groups, including officers commissioned, like us, in 1969. A reduction in force (RIF) in 1974 had shed many non-Regular Army (RA) officers, most of whom lacked college degrees. A second RIF had been rumored; one that would not spare RA officers, and so would potentially include West Pointers. Classmates doubted we were at much risk of being RIFed, less because we were West Pointers than because we had important jobs we had earned by having done other important jobs well. And there were still plenty of other weak Captains left over from the Vietnam surge who would be obvious candidates.
In April 1974, the Second Cav deployed to the Grafenwohr major training area for annual Tank Gunnery training and qualification. Tank Gunnery was a Pretty Big Deal with several 24-hour training segments over three-plus intense weeks. It was important to do well. One day while at Grafenwohr, I received a letter from Armor Branch through normal mail informing me that I had been selected for the RIF, and that I could elect to separate from active duty any time up to 4 October.
To put it mildly, I was surprised but I was busy preparing the troop for a night firing exercise and put the letter in my pocket. I assumed my boss, the squadron commander had also been informed, and that I would hear from him soon. Days passed, and nothing from him, so I grabbed him one day at breakfast and asked if he had seen the letter which I handed to him. As he read it, his face went blank and his response was something like “WTF? This can’t possibly be right. There must be some mistake.” And then, “Why don’t I know about this through command channels?” We were both due shortly on different ranges, so he kept the letter and promised to get back to me soonest.
As tank gunnery sorted out, K Troop finished a close second out of nine cav troops in shooting and was the only troop to put all 18 M551 Sheridans and crews through all seven day-and-night firing tables.
Training all our crews had been my primary goal, and we felt pretty good about attaining it. Meanwhile, my commander had determined that the RIF letter was no mistake. My prior Officer Efficiency Report (OER) had evidently put me in the bottom 20% of our year group and that had gotten me into the RIF. He graciously offered to call friends at Armor Branch to get this finding rescinded. By then, I had had some time to process it all. I thanked him for offering to “fire one of his silver bullets” on my behalf, but said, “Thanks, sir, really thank you, but no thanks. If I’m getting ranked so low as I apparently am, even if you could rescue me from this RIF, my future in the Army could hardly be bright. Staff jobs at Camp Swampy.” Reluctantly, he agreed and didn’t call Branch.
Of course, like many classmates, I had been unsure whether to wanted to “stay in” for an Army career. Our Army during Vietnam had not been an inspiring place. Not so much “Duty, Honor, Country”, but instead lots of lie, cheat and self-promote. After the war, some old grads blamed us junior West Pointers for losing the war. Not an inspiring environment. After June 1974, our five-year mark, we could resign, and a number of our strongest classmates had already departed for other careers. Selection for the RIF was indeed a wound to my ego but would come with severance of a year’s base pay, then, about $12K, which would ease whatever transition to civilian life I would ultimately figure out. And the discharge would be honorable, so no problem there.
On 4 October 1975, I became a civilian. Thinking I might want to join our State Department, I did a master’s degree in international relations at the Boston University’s Heidelberg campus. Then, I changed my mind – I might have the same issues at State – and instead got an MBA at Stanford. The $12K and GI Bill helped. Out of several good options, I took a job with Hewlett-Packard. I never missed a meal – I did fine!
With the benefit of hindsight, I have a couple takeaways:
- .Knowing how fallible any ranking system can be, especially when built on subjective ratings and anonymity, it’s surprising that the Army relied so completely on a mere handful of formal ratings (five in my case) to determine whom to keep and whom to purge. Perhaps the thinking was that the OER system had demonstrated its efficacy by (correctly!) rating highly the officers who were assigned to manage personnel at Branch. By this rationale, OER scores were obviously so reliable, there was no need to fine-tune Branch’s statistically derived RIF selections.
- This assumption may have been the reason Branch made no attempt to corroborate their statistical conclusions with my current or prior commanders, who would have vehemently disagreed. There were certainly other captains whom my commanders would have nominated for the RIF well ahead of me. But with confidence in OER scores evidently so high, no one at Branch felt any need to cross-check.
- Branch also didn’t even bother to advise field commanders which of their officers were about to disappear. My boss, a lieutenant colonel, found out from me, and his boss, the regimental commander and a colonel, found out from him. For an Army so obsessed with chain of command protocol, it seemed a little sloppy.
- The lowest OER (of five) I had received was 89 out of 100. At the time, I thought it was fair; I wasn’t perfect. I had not realized that OER inflation had rendered any rating below about 98 to be read at Branch as ‘do not promote / do not retain’. Whether my raters knew that when they had rated me was not clear. Several weren’t very smart.
- In years since, I have learned of three other classmates who had a similar RIF experience. At the time of the RIF, one was commanding a front-line tank company in Germany. Another was at the Infantry Advanced Course after having successfully commanded two rifle companies, one in combat. Not exactly low performers. Both these guys went on to top grad schools and successful civilian careers. Think of what the Army lost by RIFing us and keeping the actual low performers!
Classmates have asked – “Aren’t you angry?” Answer: no. Really, no hard feelings. Despite being the first in either side of my family to graduate from ANY college, I had been given four years at West Point with a truly great group of classmates. And had lived in Germany, not once, but twice! And commanded three cav troops! All of these extraordinary experiences I would never have had otherwise. And the preparation for life after the Army was amazing. Truly grateful. Still the RIFwas among the stranger chapters of my brief Army career.
In was in Germany ’70 to ’73 and received an OER under the Abrams pull up your socks guidance. After two successful command tours I left with an ARCOM and my OER. I ended uo at the Field Artillery Career Course joined by many classmates coming from either CONUS or RVN. It was interesting to note that virtually to a man there OERs were quite a bit higher than mine. I was an honor graduate of the career course and went on to Korea where I commanded the Second Division Honor Battery and received a max OER and my second ARCOM with many of the positive comments that the guidance had said that you shouldn’t use. My Rater had come to Korea as the former head of the Field Artillery Branch at DA in early 1975 and violated much of the guidance in writing my OER. I assume that he had learned of the damage that had been caused by the Abrams; message. I went on to serve another 7 years earned another ARCOM and an MSM, was promoted to Major and decided to resign and pursue a civilian career. Germany in the early 70s was difficult duty and the rewards were slim.
I don’t begrudge those that received inflated OERs, but I do sympathize with the fine RA and USAR officers who were released in 1975 through a flawed system. We lost some excellent soldiers.
Understood. Our bn cdr had to write letters explaining that he had stupidly followed guidance on ratings and had inadvertently hurt a number of people.
While I didn’t get rifd it contributed to my eventual resignation during the post rif slowdown era and I switched to USAR because It had caused me to look at civilian opportunities and continuing my career in another way.
Jim your experience was similar to mine, though I’m not sure I was on the RIF list. Two tours in Germany separated by a year in Vietnam. We were neighbors in Nurnberg at the end though our paths did not cross as I was a CO in the Engineer BN that was part of the 1st Armor division. Had two bad senior leaders in that role and decided that I would change careers outside of the Army. No rif bonus but the GI Bill got me through med school. No regrets about my army time, except the lack of positive leadership at the end.
Dear Jim:
Thanks for the enlightenment from one of us who took our five and flew. Your satisfying my general curiosity about those of us who remained for however long is much appreciated. For the half of us who resigned at the first opportunity, the grass hasn’t always been greener on the side of service, but such is, as they say, life! 🙂
Thanks again, and press on with your continuing success!
Best regards & BOTL,
Bill
Thanks, Jim, for your personal and detailed account of the RIF. It boggles the mind how “the system” can crank out promotions, non-selects, and RIFs, with many excellent people getting caught in the teeth of those gears. I’ve known top performers selected for graduate school and then a year lated non-selected for major.
You story rings loud and clear with the message of personal courage, good decision making, and being steadfast to your values. Pop your chest up! Thanks for sharing your story!
Geoff
Thanks for sharing.
I left the service in 1974 for a number of reasons. I was disgusted with how our country abandoned the Vietnamese people. I was disgusted with a general’s article 15 given to my XO because of a training exercise mistake over which he had no control; and disgusted by my Bn Cmdr’s reaction when I went to bat for my XO. I was disgusted with the lack of quality I saw in the officer corps in general. I deduced quickly CYA was a primal motivator among most, and many were marking time to twenty. I was disgusted by the early RIF which swept officers I considered exceptional out of service simply because they lacked a college degree.
An example: On my return from Vietnam as a second lieutenant, my first CO, a married man with a beautiful wife and two kids, asked me to set up a BOQ love nest for him and his mistress. The same captain was later arrested for shooting a farmer’s pig while trespassing on the farmer’s property to go fishing. My refusal to set up the love nest angered him.
All that went into my personal decision to leave the service and the good life I have had since not withstanding, I have second guessed that decision countless times. I have the utmost respect for those who stayed and made the army a better army.
Well, I am glad I went Air Force after reading this and all the comments! My first job was Squadron Section Commander in a Civil Engineering Squadron. I essentially baby sat about 250 airman. Biggest thing I did was take our base flag football team to the championships. Anyway, I left there after a year, having failed to get into either pilot or navigator school due to my eyes. I got straight 9’s from my boss, the max. My next assignment was at the AFA Prep School. And, my first OER was a 8 or so. Doesn’t sound bad but discovered that if you didn’t get straight 9’s it was bad news. My reviewer, a LTC said he did not agree with inflated scores. It didn’t matter to me as I was getting out anyway. My last few OER’s were straight 9’s but I wonder if the one or two in the 8,s would have slowed my advancement. Even the system in the AF was bad.
Jim, we never met, but our paths almost crossed. I did my LT time in 1970 with the 14th ACR in Bad Hersfeld (my Armor detail for my Intel Branch), then off to VN in 1971-72 as an advisor in 18th ARVN Division.
When the 1972 Spring Offensive hit, 5 of our 6 Infantry Advisors were wounded and evacuated, so I became an Advisor to one of our battalions. That is when we almost met.
As night was closing in, I was given a Vietnamese jeep driver and told to head north from Tay Ninh on the road to A Loc. I found your LTC (I forgot his name) on the side of the road. He waived us into a firebase which was cooking off from incoming. He told me that you have been previously wounded and extracted. I was your “temp” for 2 or 3 days until your replacement showed up. After seeing what you were doing in VN, there is no way you should have been on any RIF list. Glad it worked out for you.
As far as MILPERCEN goes, my story is different. After 3 years teaching at WP, I was informed that, in spite of my max OERs, because I was in one position while my contemporaries had multiple different assignments, I was now in the middle third. I did the math and figured that I would make Major, but eventually be on a RIF list and never make LTC. So I immediately submitted my intent to resign. Unfortunately, I still owed a year for graduate school, so was shipped off to Fort Monmouth. After arriving, I came down on the list for early promotion to Major. When I asked about it, I was told “we must have made a bad call.”
We did stay in for 20 and enjoyed our assignments, but never did follow Branch-expected career paths.
John,
Great segue. Sorry we did not meet at the firebase. Or before. Or since. Maybe at our next reunion?
Our LTC was Jerry Morgan, a good guy and an ROTC product of, I think, U North Carolina. He and I were sympatico other than he still seemed to think it made sense for the US to have become involved in Vietnam in the first place. By late 1972, that opinion had eroded, especially among those whose work put them up close and personal with ARVN. To anyone who did patrols with ARVN, it was crystal clear that Saigon’s demise was only a matter of time.
I’m very glad to learn that my successor, a CLASSMATE!, survived the experience. I had heard later that our CP had taken a direct hit from a 122mm rocket, killing everyone inside, including my/your ARVN driver. Thank God you, and I, missed that episode. Sad for Bah.
Was the senior US advisor to the 18th ARVN Division an Infantry COL Plummer? This gent landed one day at our CP when he knew my boss would be away. I greeted him with something like, ‘What the heck are you doing here, sir?’ to which he had no good answer. Soon enough, mortar fire began to pepper the CP. Plummer was outofthere ASAP. My understanding is that he wrote himself up for a silver star for the “engagement”. Such was the integrity of our Army during Vietnam. Little wonder Duty-Honor-Country was not always welcome at the party.