HAMMER: Korea was the first war where the US Army rotated Soldiers in and out of theatre in significant numbers, a practice that has continued ever since. In doing practical and instructional knowledge is lost and lessons have to be re-learned, sometimes at great cost. How would you change the manner in which we now rotate Soldiers into different conflicts across the globe? Are the benefits worth the cost, when our enemies remain in place and continue to learn? What are the pros and cons of each system?

The practice of rotating Soldiers into various zones of conflict should be continued. This allows Soldiers a clear understand of what to expect if they deploy. This practice should only be used for deployments to conflict zones. Trying to use this practice into zones of “preparedness” such as Korea pulls Soldiers away from their families and puts extra stress on the family. It creates an unequal work/family balance that creates issues at home and an overall distaste for the military if unprepared.

For a typical Soldier they will conduct complete validation up to the Battalion level prior to deployment. If deployed to a combat zone they will execute the job they have been training to do over the 3-4 month build up, redeploy home, PCS/ETS and continue the cycle. The rotational concept in Korea is similar except for a few key differences. With the current rotation model Soldiers conduct their train up, deploy, train, redeploy and PCS. The lack of executing a job makes it difficult for Soldiers to understand why they are here. This lack of understanding creates resentment for their leadership and the Amry as a whole. They can’t see any benefit of the constant training they are being forced to do and often times refuse to pass on the information they’ve learned because they dont see why it is important in the first place.

If given the opportunity I would recommend combat deployments continue in areas of conflict. I would recommend all non-combat related deployments are turned into PCS movements for Soldiers and their families.