High Council

Not a religious blog today. Just a few random thoughts about the Army and the High Council.

As an aside, I get frustrated with the really poor standard of the Army's official web pages. They are old, slow and lacking information. Trying to find out the appointments of the relative High Council members has been almost impossible, as it has been to find their ages, let alone a bio of the members. Pictures - easy, but information - not so. Surely we can do better...

Anyway, Ten nominees for General with Comm. Knaggs declining leaving nine candidates. All of them white. All of them either male or single female, i.e. no married women nominated ahead of their husbands. All of them relatively old - but so are most of the high council members as it's almost impossible to reach Commissioner rank until retirement is looming large.

Why, if the Army is growing in Africa and the Sub Continent whilst declining in Europe, USA & Oceania, are there never any Africans or Asians nominated for General? And what does that say about the Army, its structure and priorities? Is the Army so fixated now on programmes that only Europeans have the nous to run the organisation?

The age of people reaching senior leadership positions is a real problem. Not that it is wrong for someone in their sixties to be in a senior leadership role, more that it is wrong that someone in their mid forties or early fifties (if not younger) cannot, it seems, under our current structure reach a senior position at those ages. Secondly, the military structure almost means that any entrepreneurial thinking has either been beaten out of a person by the time they make it to Commissioner rank, or they will not make it there in the first place either by reason of being overlooked or having resigned in frustration.

Get the feeling that I don't like the Army's structure?! I'm sure that the person elected to be the next General of The Salvation Army will be a fine candidate and will lead well. But, despite the fact that I have been following the High Council proceedings daily, I almost feel the appointment of the next General will be largely irrelevant to me. It will be more of the same. Will there be a General who makes me feel that Army is inspiring again? Or is the problem mine and my attitude, not the Army's and it's structure?

One final thought. Bear in mind that I am almost 50 years of age and I think the structure is outdated. What do teenagers and people in their 20's and 30's think?