Questioning the brass
Why, for example, do we serially rotate our top war commanders? Earlier this month, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. was selected to replace Gen. John R. Allen as the American commander in Afghanistan. He will be the 11th officer to lead our war there in 11 years.
Rotating troops is appropriate, especially when entire units are moved in and out. But rotating top commanders on an annual basis makes no management sense. Imagine trying to run a corporation by swapping the senior executives every year. Or imagine if, at the beginning of 1944, six months before D-Day, Gen. George C. Marshall, the Army chief of staff, told Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme allied commander, that it was time to give someone else a chance to lead.
My former colleague Andrew Exum, an ex-Army captain who studies insurgency, sees such rapid turnover as evidence of “the casual arrogance with which the U.S. military has approached the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.” And yet our political leaders have not publicly questioned the rotation policy.
Why, also, do our military chiefs pay so much attention to getting our troops to the battleground and seemingly so little to what they’ll need once the initial battles are over?
Blowback
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The article focuses on the military brass, while vaguely mentioning the real culprits.
Petraeus should have exposed Obama a long time ago, alas.
Schadenfreude on November 12, 2012 at 4:00 PM
You don’t know the half of it …
I was a Master Chief working for a major Navy manpower unit headed by a one-star Admiral. I was HIS Master Chief. He selected me to work for him – then he instilled his vision into me for the future of navy manpower. My job was to get out on the road and evangelize this vision to Navy leaders throughout the world.
Before six months had gone by – he was rotated and another one-star relieved him. THAT admiral had a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT VISION.
It was comical almost – I was out on the road doing a seminar and I can’t tell you how many times I heard … “Hey you were just here last year and you said something completely different!!”
Duh – I had a different Admiral “last year”.
The mobility of management in the Navy is one of the plethora of things killing our Navy today.
HondaV65 on November 12, 2012 at 4:07 PM
Because diversity demands everyone gets their chance.
Because promotions and perks are passed out based on numbers.
Rocks on November 12, 2012 at 4:09 PM
The “brass” over the next four years will only be those who will wage war against the American people in service to the tyrant that has been re-elected by the citizens of this country. Stop imagining a military that fights for such quaint notions as “freedom” ad “liberty.” It will be the king’s army, tasked with putting down rebellion within the nation’s borders, not dangers from without.
Rational Thought on November 12, 2012 at 4:11 PM
We routinely put politicians with absolutely no qualifications in top Cabinet and administrative positions due to party affiliation/loyalty, then wonder why government is so inefficient and corrupt.
a capella on November 12, 2012 at 4:33 PM
The military isn’t going to do this given the makeup of the troops, which is part of the reason why the left loves cutting funding for the military and veterans’ programs. The real threat is if we see left creating US equivalents of Hugo Chavez’s “Bolivarian Circles” backed by a big budget. Right now the unions do some of this, but they don’t really have the kind of financing or reach needed to terrorize the population at large.
Doomberg on November 12, 2012 at 4:35 PM
Some people take losing very hard …
Sigh …
Oh well. Let me just say, having served in the military – the vast majority of the rank and file come from Southern (i.e. RED states). You will not see these people ever firing on Americans.
HondaV65 on November 12, 2012 at 4:43 PM
The military will do what it’s told to do…by the top brass…who will all be part of the king’s court. Don’t kid yourself.
Rational Thought on November 12, 2012 at 4:43 PM
I doubt it and agree with Honda’s take; the US Army won’t fire on fellow Americans like that. Look at what happened in Chile in 1973 for what happens when a well-funded military with an aggressive leader and the political left clash.
There is a reason the left’s trying to unravel and defund the military.
Doomberg on November 12, 2012 at 4:48 PM
You are not fighting Islam or Muslims, so what can you say? It isn’t the troops fault and the mindset of the Generals is dictated by the CIC. Ignorant political leadership is primarily responsible and greatly aided by the enemy at home giving poison for advice.
Hard cycle to break now, maybe unbreakable until something else breaks first.
BL@KBIRD on November 12, 2012 at 4:51 PM
So they can “do their time” so they “earn their stars” so they can spike their pay before they retire. Our military brass is nothing but a bunch of effete cake eating jokes
snoopicus on November 12, 2012 at 4:53 PM
I remember hearing that no one named Barack Hussein Obama could be elected president of the United States just 7 years after 9/11. And, of course, no president with a record of total failure like the past 4 years could be re-elected. And no president could get away with running illegal guns to the Mexican drug cartels. And a couple of terrorist attacks that get called something else and covered up, that’ll bring down a corrupt regime, right?
I’m all done with “it could never happen.”
“That’ll never happen” is a pre-2008 mindset. Different country now.
Rational Thought on November 12, 2012 at 5:39 PM