Articles Posted in Up Periscope

Here’s a little more on the Army’s reinstatement of the QMP program from Nancy Montgomery with Stars & Stripes.

After nearly seven years of suspension, what the Army calls the “Qualitative Management Program” is back, providing a means, the Army says, of ridding the service of marginal leaders. The QMP review applies to all retirement-eligible master sergeants, sergeants major and sergeants first class with 20 to 30 years of service in the regular Army, as well as the active Reserves and National Guard

I would assume that a side effect of this policy would be less willingness to grant certain types of clemency post-trial.  I remember two “bottom-blows” in the Navy where less clemency was a side effect.

Yesterday was a post about another active duty war protestor.  Here is an update and some commentary.

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Armed for Court-Martial Combat, The Austin Chronicle.

From the Killeen Daily Herald News, by Rebecca LaFlure

 (photo Steven Doll)
Sgt. Travis Bishop, 57th Expeditionary Signal Battalion, walks out of a military court at Fort Hood with supporter Cindy Thomas, manager of Under the Hood Café Thursday afternoon on the first day of his special court-martial.

A Fort Hood soldier who says fighting in a war violates his religious views faces up to a year in jail for refusing orders to deploy to Afghanistan.

Call for Papers – 2010 ASIL Lieber Society Military Prize

by Kenneth Anderson

Here is the official call for papers for the 2010 ASIL Lieber Society Military Prize essay.  To enter a paper, you do not have to be a member of ASIL, but you do have to be a member of your “nation’s regular or reserve armed forces.” This particular essay contest, in other words, is for military personnel.

Some of you will recognize Lieber, and not just because one of his grandson’s has a Reserve Center down the road from me named after him.

“The Army has reached it’s end strength numbers and believes it can easily reach the additional 22,000 SECDEF authorized last month. It is reinstating its Qualitative Management Program (QMP) that screens E-6 to E-9 records for any behavioral or legal problems and then separates those Soldiers.”

Keep in mind the new policy that those in paygrade E-6 and above are to report civilian convictions to their command.  Failure to do so will be an orders violation.  This link should take you to the DoD policy memorandum.

I constantly am asked by former military personnel if they can re-enlist.  In almost all instances they have a GD or OTH, and at least an RE-3.  The QMP is just another reason why a negative discharge will be harder to overcome.

New policy keeps heat on deserters in Japan

By Travis J. Tritten and Hana Kusumoto, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Friday, August 14, 2009

The U.S. military in Japan has been more aggressive in charging and tracking deserters since a fugitive sailor stabbed a taxi driver to death last year, military legal staff and investigators said.

Since then, a dozen servicemembers have been charged with desertion and five remain at large, according to figures supplied by U.S. Forces Japan, Japanese police and local bases.

Navy stepping up drug testing program Stars & Stripes reports.

Sailors will face increased random drug tests as a result of recent changes to the Navy’s drug prevention program. The changes remove the requirement for an annual unit sweep. However, they mandate a minimum of four tests per month that must include at least 15 percent of a command’s members.