SENIORITY IN THE ARMY
Sla,—In August and September last numbers of men between the ages of 28 and 38, many through the Officers' Emergency Reserve, were gazetted to commissions in the army. Many of those who had been "accepted as officers" in Territorial Battalions were promised "seniority according to age." But from September 3rd these officers have had to remain junior in rank to men from 5 to 15 years junior to them in age. Many men of the age group I refer to, who have con- tinued as Second Lieutenants during the past eleven months, held im- portant positions in civil life, with assured careers, and remuneration at the time, or in prospect, greater than anything regular army officers could ever expect to attain—soldiering. Many of them are men of wisdom and experience in world affairs, with proved executive and administrative capacity, fully equal in these particular qualities to "professional" army men of the same age maturity.
Apart from the obvious difficulties of having to accept judgement on all matters of " administration," not necessarily always of "military aspect," these fully matured men of the 28 to 38 category have to take orders from, and have to tune themselves down to the social outlook and companionship of men who left Sandhurst or their schools 55 or zo years after those of the "28 to 38" group had already established and proved themselves in important careers as men of the world.
There is some little time, we may now hope, for re-alignment and Investigation of the anomalies which must arise out of the present mixture of men in this considerable range of ages, all holding the same rank. Seniority by " gazette " surely cannot continue to be the only yardstick.
Whether in battalion, brigade, or division where a large number of men are perforce holding key appointments because they are Sandhurst or Woolwich men, it would surely be possible and of the greatest value to leaven up all the units concerned by special selection of older men for company commands, and a variety of staff and ad- ministrative appointments. A company commander of 35, with ad- ministrative and executive experience in civil life—other things being equal, and surely eleven months in the Army today assures some military competence—would carry even greater confidence with the other ranks than, as happens at present, company commanders, adjutants and staff captains of 23 to 25 years of age. A cognate prob- lem is that there is a rapidly accumulating number of men under 23 of the best possible and the right material ready and qualified for commissions.
X. M. P.
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