"ATTRITION: Evicting the Homesteaders
May 4, 2005: In the last few years, the U.S. Army has been able to get over 14,000 troops out of stateside garrison jobs, and into combat or combat support units. This is the speed up of a process that has been slowly going on for over four decades. These were long seen as choice jobs, and older NCOs often maneuvered themselves into long term (over five years) tenure in such stateside posts. This was called "homesteading."
In the next few years, the process will have reach the point where only about a thousand soldiers will be serving as in garrison jobs army-wide. In most army posts, only the post commander, command sergeant major, chaplain and some security personnel will be uniformed personnel. Everyone else will be civilians. But often, many of these civilians are retired soldiers. Indeed, the current wave of conversions is seeing many soldiers retiring to apply for the civilian job replacing the one they just left. The retired soldiers often hire other retired soldiers, and the job gets done more effectively than before, because people with more experience are doing it.
The one downside is that in some urban areas, where the cost of living is high, the army has to pay more, than they were paying soldiers, to do the work. But wherever the conversion takes place, the local communities are happy about it. When soldiers did the work, the army just transferred in soldiers for a few years, then out again (as is the army custom.) Now, local civilians get most of the jobs. The retired soldiers who take the jobs are there for the long term, and settle down and become locals. "
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