Generals H.R. McMaster, Jim Mattis, And John Kelly. New York Times
Sean Illing, VOX: Is Trump hiring too many generals? I asked a military expert.
A retired general on whether Trump’s empowering of generals makes war more likely.
On the campaign trail, Donald Trump was openly disdainful of the military brass. “I know more about ISIS than the generals do,” he said in fall 2016. “Believe me.”
But as soon as he was elected, Trump began courting a handful of generals for key Cabinet positions, including retired Army Gen. David Petraeus for secretary of state and Adm. Michael S. Rogers for director of national intelligence.
Later, he appointed retired Gen. James Mattis as his defense secretary (a post almost always designated for civilians), Gen. John Kelly as secretary of Homeland Security, and Gen. H.R. McMaster as national security adviser.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: I do not see much of a difference with this administration when compared to previous administrations when it comes to appointing Generals in key positions. And I certainly do not see the Generals in President Trump's White House driving U.S. government policy .... far from it.
On another note .... one thing that I caught my eye when I reading this interview was this ....
....Sean Illing: I think it’s more than “slightly pronounced,” but I take your broader point. What is unusual, though, is the utter neglect of the State Department. There’s something like 200 positions at the State Department that have yet to be filled, and the administration seems content to leave them empty. Doesn’t that create a decision structure in which the military perspective eclipses the diplomatic perspective?
Daniel Bolger: Yeah, there’s no doubt about that. Hell, the State Department has been understaffed for a long time. Here’s an alarming stat: there are more Marines in two regiments down in Camp Lejeune near me than there would be in the entire foreign service. That’s staggering.
You cannot compare U.S. Marines with U.S. diplomats .... they are two totally different professions with different responsibilities. And as for numbers .... yes .... the State Department is a smaller branch of the government than the U.S. military .... but the U.S. diplomatic corp is probably the biggest in the world .... even if there are a few hundred positions still unoccupied.
6 comments:
I feel safer and more confident now that Trump is leading. His style is different but he is doing good work by honoring those who fought for us.
BTW. Just finished reading Bowden book about the Battle foe Hue. Very good.
As far as city combat tactics go I can't say much but the one Colonel who took the time to read what was available in army manuals was great. I wonder that they didn't use sticky bombs to throw at houses and walls to blow holes.
The story is told well but way too late.
Aaron,
Good points, but remember at Hue the forces there were geared up and experienced in light infantry combat in non urban environment, they had to switch on the fly to something completely different and still take the fight to a well trained, supplied, and dug in enemy, pretty impressive.
Yes. And at a great cost though. Bowden writes of the insubordination and stupidity of some of the charges. Marines did their job though. Amazing shift of gears they made.
" insubordination and stupidity of some of the charges."
Yeah, the great mystery of military behavior. All leaders have a dream that their people will do exactly as ordered with a lot of personal initiative. It remains a dream. the best a leader (I think) can hope for is to "have" his people in the sense you as the leader goes and shows and they follow and do without having to be told almost anything. I really don't know about that fight. I know you don't want your people to just sit and not do anything unless they are ordered, but at the same time they can't be running off on they're own and doing things without permission. In the end the greatest lesson I learned is to stay out of the CSM's world at all costs, it was not a happy place.
Mark Bowden's agent asked me a few weeks ago if I wanted an ebook copy of the book ... and I forgot about it. Aaron/James. Thanks for reminding me .... I just said yes.
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