(ESPCEX) Military Officers Face a New Evaluation

Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is leading important changes following recent scandals involving high-ranking officers. This is part of training and development programs for generals and admirals. They will include new courses to train the security detail, executive staffs and even the spouses of senior officers.

Saying ¹he was disturbed about the misconduct issues, General Dempsey said that evaluations of top officers needed to go beyond the traditional assessment of professional performance by superior officers alone. He said that he had decided the changes were necessary “to assess both competence and character in a richer way”.

“You can have someone of incredible character who can’t lead their way out of a forward operating base because they don’t have the competence to understand the application of military power, and that doesn’t do me any good”, General Dempsey said. “²Conversely, you can have someone who is intensely competent in the skills of the profession, but doesn’t live a life of character. And that doesn’t do me any good.”

General Dempsey said that regular professional reviews would be transformed from top-down assessments to the kind of “360-degree performance evaluation”, which includes feedback from subordinates, peers and superiors. For the new training programs, he said that while it may be impossible to prevent infractions, “most officers need to be reminded of the rules and regulations on a routine basis”.

Teams of inspectors will observe and review the procedures of commanders and their staffs. The inspections will not be punitive, but will provide a “periodic opportunity for general officers to understand whether, from an institutional perspective, we think they are inside or outside the white lines”, he said. In addition, new programs will be instituted to ensure that a commander’s staff, and a spouse, are fully aware of military regulations.

“In my 39 years in the military, I have learned that you are not a profession just because you say you are. You have to earn it and re-earn it and re-evaluate it from time to time”, General Dempsey said.

 Adapted from www.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/us

In the sentence “Conversely, you can have...” (ref. 2), the word conversely indicates that the two situations described in the paragraph

 As ondas eletromagnéticas, como a luz visível e as ondas de rádio, viajam em linha reta em um meio homogêneo. Então, as ondas de rádio emitidas na região litorânea do Brasil não alcançariam a região amazônica do Brasil por causa da curvatura da Terra. Entretanto sabemos que é possível transmitir ondas de rádio entre essas localidades devido à ionosfera.

 Os escravos tornam-se propriedade nossa seja em virtude da lei civil, seja da lei comum dos povos; em virtude da lei civil, se qualquer pessoa de mais de vinte anos permitir a venda de si própria com a finalidade de lucrar conservando uma parte do preço da compra; e em virtude da lei comum dos povos, são nossos escravos aqueles que foram capturados na guerra e aqueles que são filhos de nossas escravas.

(ENEM 2009 2ªAPLICAÇÃO)   

Trabalhe, trabalhe, trabalhe.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Mas não se esqueça: vírgulas significam pausas.

Revista Língua Portuguesa, n.º 36, outubro de 2008, p. 30.

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