Recently an American technician was working on one of Taiwan's US-made Patriot surface-to-air missiles when a Taiwanese noncommissioned army officer walked up and asked an innocent question: "Would you stay if China attacked Taiwan and help us?"
The American said, "Sure, but you'd have to give me an M-16." And the Taiwanese replied, "Why? To defend yourself?"
"No," the American replied. "To shoot you with."
Frustration among American technicians over the way Taiwan runs its military is epidemic. The biggest complaint uttered by American technicians is Taiwan's noncommissioned officer (NCO) program. In the US army the program includes the ranks from sergeant to command sergeant major. In the navy the ranks are petty officer to master chief petty officer. NCOs are enlisted personnel with supervisory or technical responsibilities.
Basically, without its NCOs the US military would not function. They are long-serving professional soldiers who act as a buffer between the academic trained officer corps and the average green grunt. They take the impossible orders from above and translate them into doable responses. Without a reliable NCO program the military loses effective command and control during a crisis.
Americans are increasingly becoming Taiwan's de facto NCOs. They do not serve in Taiwan's military and are restricted to "technical service" of US-equipment sold to Taiwan. But they increasingly take on the role of maintenance and repair and little by little begin to give orders.
Taiwan's NCOs are not given the responsibility and authority that appropriately corresponds with their rank. They are not encouraged to take "the bull by the horns" when a problem arises. They cannot make everyday decisions about operations because of fear of backlash, should the decision be the wrong one or the one that the consensus would not have chosen.
When it comes to replacing a part, perhaps a light bulb on a control panel, the process becomes maddening. A sergeant major has to call a captain for permission, and then the captain calls Army headquarters to make sure a senior officer approves it. All of this to get parts that should be on hand for use, as these parts are expendable or within the range to keep in shop for repair. Since they are not on hand, they must be ordered from a warehouse that takes up to a month to deliver. The reason is the officers running the warehouse do not like the officers in the field.
In order to fix Taiwan's NCO program the military must realize that the NCOs can make better decisions because they work with the equipment everyday. They are not riding a desk at headquarters.
Taiwan needs to develop an NCO education system. Taiwan should not try to develop this program exactly like the US, because it will not work, but Taiwan can use the US example as a basis for designing a program that will work for Taiwan.
Many of Taiwan's NCOs are very professional soldiers, but their hands are tied because they are not allowed to make basic decisions and they have no authority. To make matters worse, promotions are not based on experience or job skills. After a certain amount of time at one rank, they are automatically promoted. The system actually encourages dysfunctional NCOs.
So what does Taiwan do when there is a war? Do US civilian technicians take over the role of NCO? Do they turn their M-16s on the Taiwan NCOs and joyfully pump a few rounds into them?
In a real war US technicians will more than likely jump ship, like rats from the Titanic. Taiwan's NCOs will probably hide in the closet pretending to search for the instruction manual, and officers at headquarters will be hiding under their desks kissing their behinds goodbye.
Wendell Minnick is Taiwan Correspondent for Jane's Defense Weekly.
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