But Mr. Buttigieg’s stint in the Navy isn’t as impressive as he makes it out to be. His 2019 memoir is called “Shortest Way Home,” an apt description of his military service. He entered the military through a little-used shortcut: direct commission in the reserves. The usual route to an officer’s commission includes four years at Annapolis or another military academy or months of intense training at Officer Candidate School. ROTC programs send prospective officers to far-flung summer training programs and require military drills during the academic year. Mr. Buttigieg skipped all that—no obstacle courses, no weapons training, no evaluation of his ability or willingness to lead. Paperwork, a health exam and a background check were all it took to make him a naval officer.
Buttigieg’s War and ‘The Shortest Way Home’
I am on a limb here and with all probability somebody will correct me, but the Direct Commission path was a way the military has to get a civilian with special skills that a branch may not have to work within the military establishment and get the respect they deserve. I remember reading that in WWII, the famous United States Naval Construction Battalions known as the Navy Seabees used direct commission with a lot of success and brought into the Navy years of experience and knowledge on construction, demolition and problem solving overnight.
At the same time, we can see how such a great program has been abused to curry favors with the politicians and the powerful looking for DC street creds. It is sad that was built to defend the country and watered with the blood of many ends up being used as merit badge for political nominations.
But these are politicians we are talking about.
Hat Tip Paul K
Yes and yes.
Direct commission is a way to get critically skilled people into the military, usually in positions that are skills heavy with little emphasis on command.
Medical personnel, especially surgeons are quite common. An MD joining the military starts at a pay grade of O-3 (Captain) because of his/her education. He/she isn’t going to lead troops or carry weapons, and the skill set is to rare and valuable that putting an MD through all that training is sort of useless.
It can ALSO be abused for favoritism.
During the Civil War, the sons of the powerful were commissioned as Majors and Colonels, who generally did not take place in bayonet charges on the battlefield in Napoleonic tactics. By Gettysburg, the nature of the fighting had changed and many were killed.
By Vietnam, this abuse came back again. If the son of someone powerful got drafted, they could get a direct commission (sponsored by a Congressman) into a military unit very far away from the fighting. They could be a general’s aid in the Pentagon or a finance officer stateside. All the honor of serving with little to none of the risk.
I can imagine that a similar thing is happening today. Especially by a guy like Buttigieg, who didn’t seem to have those sorts of critical skills and only did six-months of deployment, driving out other higher ranking officers.
Yes, a “direct commission” is done for doctors, lawyers, and clergy. They come in at O-3 or higher.
It should be noted that none of the direct commission categories above are considered “command” officers and as such cannot do things such as be a POW commander, unless there are special orders for them to do so. Thus, 2LT would be the ranking officer over a JAG Col in a POW camp.
Question: Was Hunter Biden direct-commissioned? If so, was it because of his specialized skills? And if so, which skills did the military need? His energy-sector skills or his financial acumen? (It apparently wasn’t his knowledge and experience in pharmacology.)
I believe he was a cocaine disposal specialist.
He was direct commission JAG, with both an age waiver and a waiver because of his criminal record.
Daddy must have thought that a stint in the Navy would polish up his public image after making a reputation for himself as a drug using, stripper banging, sleaze ball. Apparently his cocaine and hookers habit was too big for the Navy to ignore even with daddy as VP and kicked him out.
It really makes you wonder just how bad Hunter Biden was. He daddy was the VP under the Democrat’s God and Savior President and still the Navy said “we have to get rid of him.”
The article explained to me why Mayor Pete looks so uncomfortable holding a rifle. (Picture posted here some time ago, but I can’t find it — this: http://a.abcnews.com/images/Politics/pete-buttigieg-rifle-ht-jt-190808_sl_5x8_608.jpg is a copy.)