Originally Posted by Straight Up Again
The personnel problem on the customer side is plain (2 year tours, not much experience etc), though a lot of my current customer PO is permanent civil servants.
I've recently read Neil Sheehan's "A Fiery Peace in a Cold War", and noted that the subject of Sheehan's book, General Bernard Schriever, was effectively in a development / procurement / acquisition role, working with civil servants, industry & contractors for a decade. None of this 'dip in for 2 years before escaping back to a REAL posting' business. GEN Schriever was even promoted from Colonel to General over this part of his career - ie he was the ICBM acquisition / procurement / development man in the USAF.
Not saying we post talented SQN LDRs / MAJs etc to DMO or various projects from project inception to Sqn service (no matter how long); nor saying we ought to build our own ICBMs
(OK I'm being silly); but there may be scope in this regard to minimise the posting cycle sh1t fight for projects of vital importance.
What would it take? Would would the costs be for both the service & the member concerned? What precautions would be needed to avoid 'customer capture'? What incentives would be needed to attract talented SMEs to 'opt out' of the posting cycle for 6-10 years?