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As a former enlisted Marine of 10 years, I would like to see if the same conclusions hold true for Marine officers. I would be very surprised if so. The U.S. Army, as a whole, is a damaged organization. (That is not to say there are not exemplary units within.)

The best officers are leaving the Army, not the military as a whole.

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Former enlisted Army. Most of my friends with officer experience are still in. They are superb leaders. They're Marines and Army. I wonder if Air Force and Navy are having problems, because I don't hear too much about them -- the ones I do know left to go to school.

I would argue that the ongoing wars have forged some great officers and have exposed many more as being frauds (see most of the last joint chiefs of staff). I'm kind of happy that Gates just announced he'd push out 100 out of 900 top officers. Definitely need to cut out some of the deadwood.

I don't think the Army is damaged -- why would you say that?

What differences between Army and Marines do you see?

A comprehensive response to this question -- which deserves nothing but a comprehensive response -- would require too much writing to explain it all to an outsider. Too much relative to how much I'm willing to write on it, of course. :)

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