Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Will Recent War Lessons Aid Future Military Programs And Institutions?

Photo: U.S. President Barack Obama meets with General Ray Odierno after stepping off Air Force One at Baghdad International Airport in Baghdad, April 7, 2009. (Reuters)

Odierno: Recent War Lessons Will Aid Future -- Washington Post

Gen. Ray Odierno, the soon-to-be Army chief of staff, described last week how he hoped to reshape his service as officers like himself, battle-tested over the last 10 years, return from Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We have majors today and captains today that all they’ve experienced is war,” Odierno said during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Change, he added, “is about challenging these leaders who have had so many challenges and been so successful. . . . We have to be able to continue to challenge them because we’re going to need them as we move forward in the future.”

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My Comment: Changing the culture in any military organization is very hard to do, they operate as huge bureaucratic institutions in which change is something that is very hard to accept and even more difficult to implement. I wish General Odierno success in changing this culture .... but if history is any indication .... it is going to be very difficult and the odds are against him.

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