Taking Action To Get Our Military And Government Federal Service Back in Line: Sometimes You Have To Break A Few Eggs
There have been ongoing debates for some time now about our military leaders and their relationship with civilian leaders. For reasons that don’t make much sense given our tradition of civilian leadership of our military, recent years have only exacerbated what has now become-through the actions of some of these leaders-a trend toward undermining that tradition.
Much like many of these controversies or disagreements, there always seems to be the application of a different standard because “Orange Man Bad.”
This X posted article outlines the issue, Contempt and Consequence: The Case for Court-Martialing Insubordinate Flag Officers. Before jumping into this topic “a bit,” part of the problem here that is of relatively recent vintage is the desire of elected officials like the President soliciting and nominating Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) nominees who require waivers of their restriction on serving as Pentagon Chief because of their recent military retirements.
I personally believe we-and our elected officials-should be loath to support such an action because it is near impossible to argue that posting a recently retired military officer-no matter how exceptional, unique and highly skilled-comports to the best practice of having a civilian run the Pentagon. Particularly in a non-wartime environment.
Yes-there are arguments that President Trump nominated Gen Mattis just because he had been fired by President Obama. It would not be surprising that Trump would-in effect-be hiring somebody he knew he was going to clash with. A communicator and team builder-construction magnate-does not fear the adversarial position because the greatest problem is being wrong or uninformed: or both.
On the heels of firing Mattis at US CENTCOM, Obama somewhat kowtowed to the worst influences of the democrat party with the hiring of the near escorted through the ranks GEN Lloyd Austin, who somewhat emerged out of the racification of the US military post Vietnam and the All-Vol service policy.
Which soon resulted in the re-emergence of the ISIS Caliphate that played out as a startling and amazing and nonsensical, self-inflicted wound embarrassment for Obama that he attempted to assuage through spurious claims of a failure of Iraq to agree to a new Status of Forces Agreement because of Bush, er, Abu Ghraib, or something.
Regardless of the administration stated reason, the man on the scene responsible for everything his unit did-and failed to do-was US Army GEN Lloyd Austin.
When President Biden nominated GEN Austin to be SECDEF, particularly in light of his involvement in the re-emergence and rise of the ISIS Caliphate under his watch as Commanding General of US Central Command, it again seemed like a stretch to declare this officer the best and the brightest available: the only one suitable for the job, warranting a waiver of the requirements and ignoring the tradition.
Here is what Biden offered as the rationale for this embarrassing nomination (and consider this in light of the above incredulous McCain reaction to Austin’s testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee):
“When the Islamic State emerged as a terrorist threat in Iraq and Syria, endangering the security of America’s people and allies, President Obama and I turned to Austin,” Biden wrote. “He designed and executed the campaign that ultimately beat back ISIS.”
Biden also lauded Austin for his handling of the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq in 2011. Obama ordered the move against Austin and other advisers’ advice, and it is generally blamed for the rise of ISIS.
“General Austin got the job done,” Biden said. “He played a crucial role in bringing 150,000 American troops home from the theater of war. Pulling that off took more than just the skill and strategy of a seasoned soldier. It required Austin to practice diplomacy, building relationships with our Iraqi counterparts and with our partners in the region.”
Talk about cognitive dissonance, are we talking about the same planet, same person, same timeframe? Apparently lost on Biden include the facts of the matter: Austin asked for 20K troops in reserve, Obama approved 10K. The ISIS Caliphate reformed and embarrassed the Obama administration for the remainder of his presidency.
Austin was embroiled in an intel scandal where his command was accused of painting rosy narratives out of sober intel analysis that did not reportedly match the desired narrative coming out of US CENTCOM. DNI Clapper was reportedly heavily involved in the “reporting” from US CENTCOM.
Leaving it to Trump to clear up the “generational matter,” which “amateur” Trump accomplished in the first six months of his administration.
I was once upon a time loathe to undertake criticism of our government and president. When you review what happened in Iraq and try to resolve that with the words and actions of President Obama and Vice President Biden, it is very difficult to reconcile statements and assessments with the results on the ground.
When our children do such things, they get punished for lying.
Far worse is when you realize that these military “hacks” we are talking about had no criticism or angst about or against these actions.
We can blame congress over this lapse or anomaly in this tradition of civilian control of the Pentagon. The more deleterious issues relate to the military leadership who serve under them and the increasing erosion of these officers’ fidelity and fealty to their oaths of office.
Military service is fundamentally different than federal government service. The oath you swear is similar but is obviously to the constitution and often to a position-not a human-although there is a human-officer-who resides in a position of authority over you.
if you disagree with a plan, policy, order-whether lawful in your view or not-you have an obligation-a duty-to plainly state or raise an objection and/or an alternative. And you have two feet that you use to leave-to resign-if you disagree strongly enough that you can’t carry out such an order, or to perform or comply.
There is no case for objecting, performing, failing, and then whining about “it.” Folks like Austin, Milley and Mackenzie should have resigned before the debacle in Afghanistan unfolded as it was clear and plain to see for anybody with a military background that it would be absolutely catastrophic to precipitously pull out like we did.
The fact that these officers did not do so is disqualifying for two reasons. The far worse reason that I suspect is the case is that these officers knew this plan was flawed but just saluted that “turd” as a political solution and vowed to do the best they could under the circumstances: that is akin to chicken poop, absolute mealy mouthed cowardice that is the opposite of what our military owes the soldiers they lead and the civilian leadership they serve.
The other possibility is that these officers were delusional enough to believe that the plan was sound and that everything would work out all right: the straw in their own bathwater scenario.
It is somewhat sad to say that I would prefer it to be the latter scenario, because the former is simply too disturbing to work through for us military who served under an oath of office.
It is preferable to believe the military “dumb schtick scenario” than a military officer willing to sacrifice their integrity for political reasons.
The problem before us is we already have evidence of one of the above scenarios when Commanding General Austin oversaw the re-establishment of the ISLAMIC Caliphate and was in agreement with his bosses at the time-SECDEF Hagel and President Obama-that it was a “generational fight” to undo it.
Which President Trump debunked in short order upon gaining the presidency.
We had a similar situation under Austin and Milley’s leadership vis a vis Ukraine. Both made the rounds of congress and declared that if Russia invades Ukraine, it would likely be over in 72 hours or less: that was three years ago.
Further, when POTUS makes a statement to the effect that our US military response will depend on how much territory Putin takes or words to that effect, you can’t take that back in terms of a military strategy.
You don’t “hang around” to do the best you can or fight from the “inside” to salvage something like that. You say your piece, maintain your dignity, grab your “sack” and hit the bricks: good luck with that.
Similarly, when an aberrant and illogical COVID Vaccine policy is implemented for the next least vulnerable demographic in our society-the military (after children-) it should have prompted strong protests and ultimately resignations in these leaders. What could be more ridiculous looking than a helicopter crew cruising along with diapers on their faces?
Unless it is Austin looking like some space freak in mask and plexiglass shield meeting foreign dignitaries. WTF was this???
These generals to a man did nothing and said literally nothing in these cases. But Milley-for instance-played a stooge and tool for the left after the WH-the President and family-had to be evacuated-to the WH bunker -that was set up after 9-11 -when ANTIFA and BLM rioters broke through WH security that had not been augmented by DC Capital Police.
They then set fire to St. Johns Church and were attempting to tear down the iconic Jefferson statue before security gained control. Milley should have been sacked immediately that next day when he demonstrated he was unfit to serve anymore by speaking out and apologizing for what he bought into that he later agreed was a “photo-op.”
I’m not a big fan of going after retired military, but something has to be done to clarify and remind many of these folks who seem confused over this issue of where the line is on their oaths and their integrity.
Like the nifty 51 who signed the Hunter Biden Laptop letter in October 2020, who-much like this collective group of military-can be called back and reminded about what they seem to have forgotten or not learned regarding the expectations of a GO/FO in the military and senior executive in federal service.
MacArthur was sacked by Truman over his insubordination over the decision not to finish the job in Korea. Singlaub was sacked by Carter when he pointed out flaws in the plan to cut USFK forces. McChrystal was sacked by Obama for calling out his staff in the Rolling Stone Rag.
Of course, McChrystal’s replacement-his boss GEN David Petraeus-was also later fired by Obama as head of the CIA, coincidentally the week before he testified on Benghazi. Paving the way for John Brennan to become the CIA Director. (I can’t mention GEN Petraeus without linking to the amazing story of when he got shot at Fort Campbell and GEN Jack Keane helped get him medical support.)
None of these officers complained–Stan never clapped back at Obama and the stooges he surrounded himself with, like Ben Rhodes the novelist, who turned lying to the media and the American public into an art form: and bragged about it.
Yet he now feels comfortable somehow doing so against Trump. Many of these military folks and civilians now disgracefully sing for their supper with the LSMBTGA.
Seems like at best a double standard, and at worse insubordination. Are they entitled to opinions? Well, yes-opinions are like arseholes, everybody has them. But not everybody has signed an oath, nor is average John Q Citizen expected to abide or be bound by the warrior ethos of Duty, Honor, Country…it is beneath the dignity of their service and their oaths to weigh-in on some of these matters, particularly for pay.
And you can say-well look at me-I am retired military, and also a retired government senior executive. I retired as a CPT-but I never went Regular Army even when I was Honor Grad at Officer Candidate School and earned the privilege. I always considered myself a citizen soldier-and yes-I walked several times rather than comply with something I felt was wrong, illegal, or dumb arse.
One of my favorite incidents was when our unit at Garlstedt, Germany, 2d Armored Division (FWD) worked on our new Table of Allowances and Equipment and “somebody” (watch out for that nametag) came up with the brilliant idea of listing our “band“-which is not authorized below an actual division sized unit (we were a heavy brigade,) but was justified since our Commanding General was the US Norddeutschland Commander, as providing field tactical operations security.
During our next deployment, our G-2 Intelligence Officer was acting Chief of Staff and I was the acting G-2. The first day out the G-3 MAJ Ops Officer came over and told me-in a pretty snotty tude-that he needed 4 soldiers to provide nighttime security. I chuckled and said, “MAJ, Are you asking me to help you find the band?” When the Assistant Division Commander called us to attention, it was never proven that I had him in a headlock. Suffice it to say the LT had to supply “security augmentation” during that field trip (MAJ Post and I later become good friends after myriad deployments….)
I later withdrew my extension for a fifth year in Germany after a big conflict with my BN CDR–LTC Carol Hemphill. She was insistent that I take a Warrant Officer who was unsuited for a position in my Company who I had discovered had agreed to ship her personal items she bought in Ireland and London in his household goods when he did a lateral permanent change of station from Alconbury AFB England which was drawing down to Germany.
She basically told me she had made a promise on the issue of his assignment-and she was not happy when I asked who was in charge of the company? I hung up on her when she threatened to fire me if I was unable to comply (to which I replied, “you do whatever you think is the right thing to do…”)
My wife just happened to be listening-we were all dressed up in blues and fanciness ready to go to a Dining-In. She asked, “What was all that?” I said we are leaving Germany when I change command in Nov-and we did….
It absolutely killed me-tore me up to do that, although branch had been warning me that I was overdue for the Military Intelligence Officer Advance Course and was at risk of falling behind my peers (who cares-but, but, but the Advance Course prepares you for Command-I’m completing my second year of Command…)
I worked for over a year to get the Army Space Program Office fielding of the Echelon Above Corps Test-Bed, United States Army Europe-Imagery Exploitation System (the EACTB-UIES, the vaunted dream of new US Army Europe (USAREUR) Deputy Chief of Staff, Intelligence (DCSI,)) BG Eichelberger, assigned to my unit.
I had also successfully gained approval under Minor Military Construction to build building-360-out on the Zweibruecken Air Force Base flightline-an Army Photographic Image Interpretation Facility-to house it that would be complete by Feb 1988 (below picture groundbreaking ceremony for building 360, Zweibruecken AFB Nov 1986 by 26th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing Commander Col Gaillard R. Peck and 502d Army Security Agency and later 204th MI BN Commander LTC Carol A. Hemphill.) 
I also brokered a deal with the US Air Force-Intel Chief-one of the last active-duty officers with a Mig kill from Vietnam (Brig Gen Schaeffer??) to tether an Army Hard Copy Exploitation van at the Combined Operations and Intelligence Center in Ramstein off their Receive Location Antennae for our imagery analysts to immediately start exploiting national technical means imagery.
I worked with the Intelligence and Security Command in CONUS to get the 56 imagery slots on the Army books transferred to my company that were the residue of the canceled Tactical Imagery Exploitation System (canceled by Richard Armitage in 1984)-that was originally the planned first article fielding follow-up to the 1979 Fort Bragg DITB-DEMONS (Digital Imagery Test Bed-Demonstration System:) I obviously did not do all this work alone, but the point is sometimes ya gotta walk…(below picture building 360, Army Photographic Image Interpretation Facility, Zweibruecken AFB March 1988.)
Of course-the rest of the story is that later Hemphill was commanding Berlin Brigade as a COL and was “this close” to becoming the first female MI General Officer-when she was “removed” (not relieved) from command by INSCOM CG MG Scanlon after an IG investigation revealed she had abused her staff and misappropriated unit funds (2d offense.)
She subsequently had to be evacuated (in the Army we call it unarsed from the Area of Operations) by my buddy in charge of MI Branch COL William “Bill” Torpey before Scanlon had her locked up. Bill flew to Berlin to talk her off the ledge because she would not leave, as she was “toast” without butter or jelly. That is how dufous COL Claudia Kennedy became the first Army MI female GO (disaster.)
And how do I know these details-well number one, I was having lunch at the Hoffman building with Bill and my branch assignments manager-MAJ Mary Legere (yes, that (LTG) one) in Feb 1992 when Bill’s Exec came down with an urgent message that MG Scanlon wanted to talk to Bill “right f’n now, drop everything“-Bill later came down to let us know he was heading for Berlin with the “hook to get Carol out of country before she was locked up!” He also told me to plan to go to Monterey in April…
Bill had been Hemphill’s BN XO in Germany. He was arranging for me to go to DLI to do another command (which is how I ended up with 3 years of company command) to “help” LTC James W. Berry who was getting the “nominative command” of Troop Command at DLI to follow LTC Harry K Lesser-which I honestly did not want to do-but it was DLI, Monterey and Bill eventually somewhat shamed me into accepting the favor he was doing for me (the ungrateful CPT….)
But secondarily, after I retired and went back to Huachuca and the Test and Experimentation Command, Intel and Security Board, Intel and Electronic Warfare Test Directorate as a civilian test officer, the boss who had taken over-COL John Burns (aka, Abe Lincoln, like 6’4″ driving a little Miata) had taken over the Directorate after an assignment in Berlin.
We got along great, particularly after one day when he asked me why I was out of the Army-and I mentioned the Clinton VSI and SSB drawdown and retirement incentives, being passed over for MAJ as one of the 75 in the zone who were over 15 but less than 20 and therefore “qualified” for the “Voluntary” Early Retirement Programs. I also innocently asked if he knew Carol Hemphill.
He about lost his schtuff when I mentioned her name. He had assumed command in Berlin out of the S-3 Operations Officer position as a newly minted COL when Carol was removed-and suffered through the period where she still thought she was the CO….Scanlon let Hemphill do a closeout OER on John-he would never make GO…
It’s a small world….
And yes-I bash our political leadership all the time, and yes, I took the oaths as both military and civilian, particularly as a senior executive. My opinions and criticisms are backed up by facts and the details of the circumstances-for instance, when the Obama administration said they didn’t pay for Navy hostages and later had to admit we paid Iran money for Navy hostages. I called him out as liar, but not a Nazi or some other idjiotcy.
When I said Austin, Milley and Mackenzie should resign over Afghanistan-they had intel that dozens of the checkpoints leading into Kabul were under the control of the Taliban-not the Afghan govt.
Milley and Austin touted the security posture of 300K trained Afghan police and military to congress and they made the inexplicable decision to walk away from Bagram, anyway and rely on the international airport the US did not control.
Those were dumbschtuff, unexecutable, inexplicable, unsafe, untenable military decisions. If civilians made them-particularly POTUS-over their objections, they should have and had a duty to walk….and if they didn’t make clear to leadership how foolhardy this whole plan was, that is indicting.
I’ve lobbed my share of criticism and tongue in cheek pokes at the buffoonery over the years. If somebody feels like I’ve crossed the line, please call me at BR-549.
Meanwhile, this is one of my favorite critiques of some of these foolish policies our government has propagated on our military, where I channel my Non-Commissioned Officer roots in a spoof about military diversity and gender training: enjoy.
27 February 2025
LSMBTGA: Lamestream media echo chamber (LMEC-L) social media (SM) big tech tyrants (BT,) government (G) and academia (A)
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