Review mentor program - Army Community - Army Discussions - Army Times

Review mentor program

The Army needs to rethink its decades-old “mentor” program, under which it hires retired three- and four-star generals to advise senior officers.

The Army started the program in the late 1980s, and the other services have followed suit.

But according to documents obtained by USA Today, the mentor-generals are paid as much as $330 an hour — more than triple the approximate hourly rate of an active duty four-star — while also earning six-figure retirement pay. All in all, taxpayers are paying mentors $400,000 a year or more.

The generals are usually hired by defense contractors, which send them back to their services to work. The Pentagon claims the services need the generals’ expertise.

But if that’s true, why is a general’s experience worth $175,000 to $200,000 a year when he was in uniform, but worth twice that as soon as he becomes a civilian?

If the services must bring these officers back, there is a simple, cheaper, way: Don’t retire them. The services could create a senior-status position for a handful of generals, keeping them on active duty for one to two years while their experience is relevant and fresh. Or, the Pentagon could set aside term-limited civilian positions for a few experts. Either way, taxpayers would save a fortune and it wouldn’t look like the Army’s generals are feathering each other’s nests.

The mentor program also raises thorny issues regarding the hiring of retired generals through defense contractors. These are retired Army officers who are drawing retired pay — which is not a pension, but technically, reduced pay for reduced services. They are trading on their Army experience and chosen for their Army expertise. As such, there is no need for a third party, such as Northrop Grumman or any other contractor, to be involved. There was a time when such officers would have provided such mentoring services out of a sense of duty, regardless of pay.

The Army has tasked Training and Doctrine Command to review this program from top to bottom. That’s good. But the reviewers must look past what is OK under the letter of the law and ensure that whatever program survives, it is free from cronyism and abuse.