"Meta boss praises new US army division enlisting tech execs as lieutenant colonels"

[70sEraVet]

Meta’s chief technology officer has called it “the great honor of my life” to be enlisted in a new US army corps that defence chiefs set up to better integrate military and tech industry expertise, including senior figures from top tech firms that also include Palantir and OpenAI.

Andrew Bosworth, a long-term lieutenant to Mark Zuckerberg known widely as “Boz”, is one of several senior Silicon Valley executives commissioned to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the corps, called Detachment 201, which the US army says will “fuse cutting-edge tech expertise with military innovation”.

Bosworth, who joined Facebook in 2006, was sworn into the army reserves earlier this month alongside Shyam Sankar, the chief technology officer of Palantir, a technology firm with extensive defence contracts, Kevin Weil, chief product officer of OpenAI, and Bob McGrew, an adviser at Thinking Machines Lab, a $10bn AI company. They wore military fatigues at the swearing-in ceremony but will not be full-time soldiers.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jun/25/meta-exec-us-army-enlistment

This just doesn't sit well with me. No military training whatsoever, no physical exams, apparently. Just big-shot tech bros, jumped up to Lt. Colonel in exchange for their tech advice. Hopefully, they were properly investigated for Security Clearances!

[DBoon]

1. tech executives simply do not understand the military

they are worse than useless, as they are full of preconceived ideas about management that have nothing to do with how the military operates

They also lack the humility to understand what they don't know.

[Firestorm49]

2. To teach the military what? How to gather up even more info

on us? If it were any other sane minded administration, I’d try to see it for the good it could yield. But not in our current quagmire of inefficiencies being called government.

[marble falls]

4. Hackey sac and and the ins and outs of coping Ecstasy at Burning Man.

[marble falls]

3. Tech executives are not the types to be military. He'll never hack it. If he thinks as a Lt Col he will change Army ...

... culture, his failure will be amusing.

[70sEraVet]

5. It just makes me think of the European countries in centuries past ......

that kept getting their asses kicked because they sold high-ranking commissions to the wealthiest aristocrats. Any country that decided to start promoting based on military skill and battlefield experience, crushed the opposing forces!

[taxi]

10. Here's a great example of that

This is an interesting story.

The command was given to Admiral Jean Baptiste De Roye de La Rochefoucauld, Duc d’Anville, a young nobleman of thirty-seven who had never been to sea. He owed his appointment to his cousin the minister of the navy.
...
The expedition was ill-fated and not a single victory did it obtain; disaster followed disaster, until there were left only scattered fragments of the once proud fleet.

https://fairviewhistoricalsociety.ca/duc-d-anvilles-french-armada/

This link gives a better account of how wrong things can go -

The fleet embarked on Wednesday, June 22, 1746, from the west coast of France under the command of Jean-Baptiste-Louis-Frédéric de la Rochefoucauld de Roye, Duc d’Anville. The fleet consisted of ten ships of the line, seven frigates and sloops, two fire ships, 19 transports, 14 store ships, 11 merchantmen and one hospital ship. On board were 3,500 infantry marines and artillery gunners, as well as 7,300 sailors, which consisted of officers, petty officers and seamen (many of whom were conscripted)—in all about 11,000 men and 25,000 tons of shipping. Nearly six months later, only a few ships and men from this great armada straggled home to French ports. In the words of Nova Scotia author Thomas H. Raddall, “The story of this great armada is one of the most tragic in the history of America.”

https://hmhps.ca/pdf/HMHPS-historical-paper-no-5.pdf

[Abnredleg]

13. These guys have no command authority /nt

[70sEraVet]

14. You mean, they're like 'Honorary Officers'?

I'm in my American Legion Post's Honor Guard. I regard it as a sacred duty to perform the rifle salute for those who served their country with honor. I have never considered that I might be asked to perform that service for someone who was cosplaying as a service member.

[Abnredleg]

15. There is precedent for commissioning civilians

for specialized knowledge. They are reservists who will be interacting with high ranking military and civilian officials at the DOD - they won't be "playing soldier."

Let's be honest - would there be such outrage if Harris won the election?

[70sEraVet]

17. Harris would not have put a MAGA tech bro like Elon in charge of destruction...

of the functioning of our federal government. So I do not feel in the least guilty for questioning the legitimacy of placing this group of tech bros in officers' uniforms.
And, in honesty, I'm disappointed by your comment.

[70sEraVet]

16. Are they this, Abnredleg?

Civilian Aides to the Secretary of the Army (CASAs) are business and community leaders appointed by the Secretary to advise and support Army leaders across the country. CASAs come from many professions including business, education, finance, industry, law, the media, medicine and public service. Each is proactively involved in the community and brings to the position an interest in the Army, a high degree of business and civic leadership and an ability to influence the public. CASAs are Special Government Employees who agree to serve as representatives of the Secretary of the Army without salary, wages or related benefits, and are afforded a 3-star protocol status.

https://www.army.mil/casa

[Abnredleg]

18. No

I need to do some research and figure out under which statute they are being commissioned.

[GP6971]

6. Was this approved by DOGE?

[Abnredleg]

12. No - it was approved by the Biden Administration

They been kicking this proposal around for a number of years, and was announced before the 2024 election.

[Bayard]

7. An insult to Army officers who actually earned their rank

[Abnredleg]

11. I was an officer and I'm not insulted

Everyone involved knows they aren’t real officers and that the rank is honorary. The program is a good way to get needed expertise into military decision making.

[BurnDoubt]

8. What they do.

IT"S WRONG!!!!!
Poo Tee Weet.

[BurnDoubt]

9. AI Cap'n!