Yes! It is fire-and-forget foreign policy, of a piece with a nation that sends 1 percent to fights its wars and lets the rest ignore them.

And with that depressing thought, good night to all. And thanks to you, Bev and FDL.

I hope so. I am sick of wars. And I don’t understand why some people are so hot to intervene in Syria.

I am going to sign off now, unless is a final question coming in.

Best,
Tom

The commonality of all three is the sense that there was an adult in charge, and that the military was given good civilian oversight.
Best,
Tom

The Senate will do its best to beat that out of her. If it can’t, I think they will ostracize her.

Whether or not you like John McCain, he does tend to speak his mind. And I think the other members of the Senate hate that in him.

Best,
Tom

This one will surprise you: I think the three best defense secretaries I’ve covered are:

Dick Cheney*
William Perry
Robert Gates

(*–Note: As defense secretary. He didn’t do so well as VP.)

Hey,
I think we have just about run out of questions. Last chance!
Best,
Tom

You are right. I don’t think Congress would appreciate it. Look at the hot water General Mattis has gotten into for simply speaking bluntly.

My favorites, after Marshall:

–Matthew Ridgway, in Korea, for turning the war around.

–Ray Peers, for redeeming the Army’s soul with his tough, unblinking investigation of the My Lai murders of 1968.

–William DePuy, for his thoughtful rebuilding of the Army in the 1970s–and John Cushman, for trying to get DePuy to expand the concept of rebuilding to include helping officers think better.

–David Petraeus, even now, for operating differently in Iraq, taking some risks in 2007, and setting the conditions that enabled the American military to withdraw. Yes, I know he didn’t end the war.

Best,
Tom

Clearly there was some lowering of standards of recruitment a few years back, at the height of the Iraq mess.

But the lowering of standards for generals has been a long, slow process. I think American generalship hit rock bottom during the Vietnam War. After that war, there was a great rebuilding of the Army. It got new weaponry. It revamped training and made it more realistic. Most importantly, it moved from a draft to a recruited force. But the one big problem that was not addressed was generalship. They left that the same.

Best,
Tom

I loved studying FDR’s relationship with Marshall. They were not close. Marshall did not like to socialize with FDR, and in fact did not go to his the president’s home in Hyde Park, NY, until he had to go to FDR’s funeral. When FDR addressed Marshall as “George,” Marshall made it clear that he preferred to be called “General Marshall.”

Marshall was not the only candidate to be named Army chief of staff in 1939. It could have been Hugh Drum. But FDR had noticed Marshall’s habit of speaking truth to power, and knew he needed that.

That is the quality we need now, and the sort of person we need running the Pentagon and CIA. And we also need a president who appreciates that sort of bluntness. I think Obama is a pretty good president, but I don’t think he always appreciates getting the unvarnished views of his generals. He can insist on getting options from them, but should not be put out if they express preferences for what they think is the best course.

Best,
Tom

Yes, but only for people who don’t understand the military.

What we need is not necessarily a huge budget, but an effective military. Unfortunately we no longer have a Congress that appreciates the distinction.

The media and the public too. Which may be one reason we are more interested what generals do in their bedrooms than what they do in the professional execution of their duties.

Best,
Tom

I am not gonna surprise you!
Best,
Tom

Nah. I was always surprised that a fiscal conservative would think that the answer to the military was to throw money at it.

Yep. We seem to learn that lesson every 20 years or so.
Best,
Tom

Well, that may be part of the problem–that is, bad people aren’t pushed out and good people don’t rise fast enough.

A big part of the problem is rotating leaders in and out. I think when we have a good leader, especially in wartime, we should keep him in place or promote him, if possible. I can’t imagine “rotating” Ike home in the spring of 1944–”You’ve done a great job getting the force ready, but it is now someone else’s turn to command.” But we were more serious back then. Now 1 percent of the nation fights, and the other 99 percent ignores our wars.

Best,
Tom

It all depends on what lessons they take away from it. So far, they are taking few lessons. That is what makes me worry that we will wind up with a military that resembles the Royal Navy of 1938–big, powerful and irrelevant.

So I thin the best thing we could do for the military right now is cut its budget by a significant percentage. For the last 10 years, we have had a flood of money flowing into the military, and so we have a generation of officers who have no idea of how to operate economically. As a British official once said, We have run out of money, so now we must think.

Best,
Tom

Great, and telling, anecdote.
Best,
Tom

Numbers are hard to come by. The first thing is to distinguish trigger-pulling contractors from others, such as truck drivers.

I haven’t been able to nail down the total number of security contractors killed in Iraq. We know it was more than 300. But numbers on non-American KIAs are not kept well, and are incomplete.

Best,
Tom

How many generals made 4 stars in 8 years? Well, all of them in World War II. Ike went from lieutenant colonel to 4 stars in about 4, if I
recall correctly.
Best,
Tom

I actually think that the widespread use of “security contractors” (which we used to call mercenaries) is another indication of a lack of professionalism among our generals.

What makes a genuine professional (doctor, lawyer, academician, clergy, military officer) is that you are aren’t supposed to do it for the money. Mercenaries do soldier for the money. They also are not pledged to defend the national interest. Their presence “pollutes” the battlefield and confuses bystanders.

Best,
Tom