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Rich tech bros bypass military training to secure high-ranking positions [1]

['Ellsworth Toohey']

Date: 2025-06-20

Four prominent tech executives, including Meta's CTO Andrew Bosworth, have joined a special U.S. Army Reserve unit where they'll serve as lieutenant colonels without completing basic training.

As reported in Steven Levy's Plaintext newsletter, the executives are part of "Detachment 201: the Executive Innovation Corps," a new military initiative designed to modernize the force. Joining Bosworth are Kevin Weil from OpenAI, Bob McGrew from Thinking Machines Lab, and Shyam Sankar from Palantir.

Unlike traditional reservists, these officers can work some of their required 120 annual hours remotely and won't be deployed to combat zones.

Levy questions whether this special treatment is appropriate: "During a wave of widespread unease over privileges of tech elite… special arrangements for well-off digital achievers seem tone-deaf." He also points out that these executives could likely have provided the same assistance as civilian advisers, without the controversial fast-track to senior military rank.

The special program is loaded with potential conflicts of interest, as their companies simultaneously pursue military contracts. Meta recently announced a deal with defense contractor Anduril, while OpenAI secured a $200 million defense contract.

Kevin Weil expressed humility about his instant elevation to senior rank: "I'm still a little bit sensitive to the title, because there's so many people that have given their lives or spent their lives dedicated to this. So I want to earn the title." As long as it doesn't involve completing basic training like the poors, of course.

Previously:

• Watch tech bros plot mankind's doom in HBO's Mountainhead

• Tech bros on Ayahuasca looking for answers

• Tech bro's 'AI' was just Filipino workers

• Tech bro's 'anti-fraud' AI actually just regular old fraud

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