Post by matunuck on Nov 2, 2016 9:29:42 GMT -5
Carter Announces New Recruiting, ROTC Links to Force of the Future
November 1, 2016
LOCATION: NEW YORK CITY
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ASH CARTER
TEXT:
CARTER: Thanks, Cadet Reynolds. And good morning, everybody.
What a beautiful, spectacular place. Thank you. Thanks to CCNY for letting me be here this morning. This is an institution that was founded to educate the sons and daughters of this great city of New York, a city which has given so much to our military over the years as well.
It's been home of some of the most iconic moments in our military history. In the months after we declared independence in 1776, we learned here for the first time to fight together as a nation -- the battles of Brooklyn and Harlem Heights and Washington Heights....
Next, turning to those who instruct ROTC cadets because so many of our officers come from ROTC units, we want them to be taught by our very best. Just like you want the best professors and you all check out your evaluations on ratemyprofessor.com, we're the same. And the thing is often in the military, just as with teachers in our society general, generally the job of being a ROTC instructor isn't always treated as importantly as it should be. We have educators here, I've been an educator myself.
For instance, some officers determining their next assignment may have to choose between a ROTC instructor or accepting a command slot that would get them promoted sooner. This can make the job less appealing to those that want to advance up the ranks, making some good officers who want to make yet more good officers unable to choose to do this.
And now, that's -- fortunately, that's not always the case. My senior military assistant, Brigadier General Eric Smith -- Eric, where are you? - who's here today, right back there. Eric, my senior military assistant in the office of the Secretary of Defense, instructed future Marine officers and the Navy ROTC program at Texas A&M. And he'll tell you it was fantastic.
So, did our chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joe Dunford. He was a Marine officer instructor at Holy Cross in Massachusetts for three years. The first ever chairman, by the way, to have ever done so. And that not only gave critical insights into the generation of the officers that he would lead in the future, but it also helped him build closer ties between us and that community. Teaching leadership on a college campus is something DOD should reward. And we need to encourage and make it easier for our best people to do so.
And that's why I've directed the military services to ensure that their officer promotion and selection boards were appropriately value those who serve as ROTC instructors. We're also going to set up a pipeline for officers did ROTC themselves to give back to the program and be instructors later in their careers....
November 1, 2016
LOCATION: NEW YORK CITY
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ASH CARTER
TEXT:
CARTER: Thanks, Cadet Reynolds. And good morning, everybody.
What a beautiful, spectacular place. Thank you. Thanks to CCNY for letting me be here this morning. This is an institution that was founded to educate the sons and daughters of this great city of New York, a city which has given so much to our military over the years as well.
It's been home of some of the most iconic moments in our military history. In the months after we declared independence in 1776, we learned here for the first time to fight together as a nation -- the battles of Brooklyn and Harlem Heights and Washington Heights....
Next, turning to those who instruct ROTC cadets because so many of our officers come from ROTC units, we want them to be taught by our very best. Just like you want the best professors and you all check out your evaluations on ratemyprofessor.com, we're the same. And the thing is often in the military, just as with teachers in our society general, generally the job of being a ROTC instructor isn't always treated as importantly as it should be. We have educators here, I've been an educator myself.
For instance, some officers determining their next assignment may have to choose between a ROTC instructor or accepting a command slot that would get them promoted sooner. This can make the job less appealing to those that want to advance up the ranks, making some good officers who want to make yet more good officers unable to choose to do this.
And now, that's -- fortunately, that's not always the case. My senior military assistant, Brigadier General Eric Smith -- Eric, where are you? - who's here today, right back there. Eric, my senior military assistant in the office of the Secretary of Defense, instructed future Marine officers and the Navy ROTC program at Texas A&M. And he'll tell you it was fantastic.
So, did our chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joe Dunford. He was a Marine officer instructor at Holy Cross in Massachusetts for three years. The first ever chairman, by the way, to have ever done so. And that not only gave critical insights into the generation of the officers that he would lead in the future, but it also helped him build closer ties between us and that community. Teaching leadership on a college campus is something DOD should reward. And we need to encourage and make it easier for our best people to do so.
And that's why I've directed the military services to ensure that their officer promotion and selection boards were appropriately value those who serve as ROTC instructors. We're also going to set up a pipeline for officers did ROTC themselves to give back to the program and be instructors later in their careers....