European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 31, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Flag rank the military s i by Jim Stewart Cox news services looking Back on it he signs were All there. He had seen combat in Vietnam served As aide to a general commanded a battalion in Europe and attended the army War College. His ticket had All the right punch holes his friends told him. So after 20 career moves and 24 years of service army col. Peter t. Berry recently permitted himself the luxury of thinking i just might make  he got the word on a wednesday at 7.45 . He had been working for an hour on paperwork in his cubbyhole of a Pentagon office when in walked a smiling maj. Gen. Don Eckelbarger Berry s new Boss. Outside the hearing of others Eckelbarger told him congratulations Pete. You re on the brigadier generals  although a Senate subcommittee will consider the names and the Lull Senate must vote on the nominations the process is pro forma now. Berry and 56 other colonels who make up the army s 1966 class of generals have grabbed the biggest brass ring their profession offers. Making Flag officer today in the armed services is bucking tremendous Odds although there Are proportionately More generals than at any other Lime the officer corps itself is larger More educated and More competitive. The Chance of making general or Admiral today has been estimated at one in 10,000. Less than 2 percent of All colonels or captains in the Navy make Flag rank. It is the equivalent of making chief executive officer of a major business a huge leap in prestige pay and Perks both within and outside the service. The Competition is All the Keener now because of the services rapidly disappearing combat experience. Less than one in four officers today saw combat in Vietnam. Promotions come slower As training procurement and budgets become the new battlegrounds for advancement. Promotion from second lieutenant or Ensign in the Navy o first lieutenant lieutenant Junior Grade normally the most routine of advancements for new officers took a year during the Vietnam War. Today it is a minimum of two years and then a Long wait for Captain. More than a third of All army Navy Marine and air Force officers today hold advanced degrees. The number is growing As younger officers seek a competitive Edge in the race for Flag rank. Given All that. Berry Felt entitled to a Small if jubilant Celebration i got Swackerd he said. You could even say  Berry s 16-year-old daughter had a More measured reaction to her father s Success. Does this mean we have to move again she asked. The Competition begins even before their Gold bar is pinned on. New second lieutenants have already passed a crucial juncture with the selection of their Branch and military specialities choices frequently made during College. There Are two schools of thought about the Best approach. The most popular is that you should be a Well rounded officer if you expect to make general said retired army maj. Gen. Kermit Johnson. Get the widest experience  another theory is sort of the Hyman Rickover approach that you should become super competent in one Field and not spread yourself too thin said Johnson. Rickover was the domineering father of the nuclear Navy and handpicked officers to command the Fleet s nuclear submarines there is rhyme to both reasoning. The narrower the military speciality . Ordnance transportation Legal intelligence the narrower the Field of Competition. But it also holds that there Are fewer Flag rank slots required for such support activities. Most generals and admirals still emerge from the ferociously competitive combat arms. There individual and interservice Competition winnow the Field in the absence of Battle. Of the Navy s 31 newest rear admirals 28 came from the Fleet s unrestricted line of officers surface warfare aviation and submarines. Similarly 28 of the air Force s 50 most recent nominees were rated pilots and of the 57 new army generals named last week 48 came from the combat and combat support branches 19 from infantry alone. The average age of All these new generals and admirals is 47 and their average time in the service is 24  in command was an essential Factor. Beginning As lieutenants these generals to be had steadily amassed time commanding troops and materials first As platoon leaders Junior officers of the deck and later As battalion brigade Squadron and Large ship commanders. They were also graduates of their service s top universities the army naval and air War colleges. Many had also studied at the More comprehensive joint service schools like the National defense University in Washington. And a Little military Blue blood also helps. While Only 11 percent of its officer corps Are air Force Academy graduates. 30 percent of that service s most recent general class Wear the ring. The Road to Flag rank is filled with peril. The path is littered with talented officers who had the misfortune of working for eccentrics or running a program that suddenly fell from Grace. Few senior officers suffer foul ups and live to Tell of it and those few Are legendary. World War ii Navy hero Ernest King was twice reprimanded for drunk and disorderly behaviour. Adm. Chester Nimitz once ran a ship aground an Accident of nightmarish proportions for any Navy officer. There is absolutely nothing worse said retired rear . Stan Fine. I be known officers who spent their entire Lime captaining a ship in a slate of worry. They re at the mercy of a Sailor working in the Bilges or a fireman who turns the wrong valve. A promising career can end in a  commanding a ship is where the Navy starts separating the Lucky Good Guys from the unlucky Good Guys said retired rear . Eugene j. Carrolljr. Horror stories abound. One occurred last year in the Caribbean sea and involved one of the More promising captains in the Navy. A 25-year Veteran with a career that included a Mig-21 kill Over North Vietnam a Silver Star the distinguished flying Cross command of a Carrier fighter Squadron and fighter Wing the Captain had reached the fast track to Flag rank Whan he was Given command of the Carrier Coral sea. After a series of aircraft launch and recovery drills the Captain left the Bridge for a Quick Shower in his sea Cabin. In his absence Junior officers began plotting the course of a ecuadorian Tanker that was erratically approaching the Carrier. In a confusion of orders the two retired it ear . Eugene j. Ca Nohrr. In photo i Ait when the Navy Tarta Tapa Nung vie Lucky Good costar wars contractors by Bryan Brumley associated press free years before president Reagan startled the nation with his Star wars dream of Basing missile defences in space the Boeing co. Created a special office to line up ballistic missile defense contracts that experts predicted were on the Way. We got an Early Start says Mike Gamble who became strategic defense coordinator for Boeing in 1980. At the time the company had several dozen contracts with the Pentagon on projects that were later consolidated under he strategic defense initiative As Star wars is formally known. In 1980, there was a perception Here that some of the emerging technologies could be used for ballistic missile defense said Gamble interviewed by Telephone from Boeing Headquarters in Seattle. The situation was much the same at Hughes aircraft Lockheed Mcdonnell Douglas and Rockwell International companies which Are among the top 20 Pentagon contractors and the top 10 doing Star wars business. Despite the conventional Wisdom among Many politicians and scientists that strategic defences were. Impractical because they could be overwhelmed by offensive weapons the perception was growing among the weapons laboratories and defense contractors that ballistic missile defense was becoming technologically possible. Thus when Reagan surprised most of the world with his March 23,1983. Speech calling for Star wars research the big defense contractors already had their engines running. After the speech the Pentagon swept various missile defense research programs into the new strategic defense initiative organization and proposed spending $26 billion on them through 1989, an increase of about $9 billion Over planned spending. Congress is paring Reagan s plan by about one third Back closer to the original spending Levels. While Many in the scientific business and political communities remain sceptical of Star wars the research has slowed ahead. Suddenly the contractors found themselves \ drenched in dollars said Joseph Campbell an analyst with Paine Webber in new York. 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