thedrifter
07-07-04, 07:38 AM
07-05-2004
Regular Army Bird Colonel Blasts The Civilian Pentagon Brass
Stupid Is As Stupid Does
Not blinded by disdain, but certainly saddened. As one of the remaining classmates on active duty, I vividly remember the loathing I felt for the previous administration, and the great anticipation of the incoming Bush team. I still am extremely fond of the President, and absolutely love his values, candor, integrity, etc. I firmly support our responses to 9-11 (I was in the Pentagon, so it is pretty personal), believe OEF was on target and a great operation who's eventual success will be a great triumph for the people of Afghanistan.
HOWEVER, I just spent 2 years at the Army War College as a student and then as faculty before assuming Bde command last week. The candid analysis of why we went to war in Iraq, and how we waged it are extremely discouraging. If the reason was to dispose a tyrannical dictator who thwarted US National security interests in the region, and had a strong likelihood of developing/using WMDE and supporting terrorism, then so be it, but that was not the stated reasoning.
AS to the how of this war, many of our classmates were commanders or senior staff members of the effort to conduct OIF, and they and their soldiers have preformed superbly, but! We had units running out of gas, ammo, water and food simultaneously while in contact. Our forces were in extremis unnecessarily because of a political desire to do this on the cheap, and reduce "footprint" in friendly Gulf States. The cost of that has been greater civil disorder and more dead soldiers. Initial failure to secure the multitudes of weapons cantonment sites (like we did in the Balkans) has made IEDs plentiful as well as RPGs and automatic weapons. We conducted a 6 division fight with 2 1/2, and had the Iraqi's had any sense at all, we could have lost a division easily. Nor is it particularly heartwarming to have OSD leadership with a "blue-centric" attitude, who do not understand that not everything has a kinetic solution, and sometimes (often times) many soldiers on the ground for a long time is the answer.
It is very hard to put the rabbit back in the hat, but I remain optimistic that with the recent transfer of power that average Iraqis will see the continued sectarian violence as unproductive. Our cultural mindset makes it very difficult for us to understand their willingness to create disorder and chaos rather than allow power sharing and civil order to prevail. I think our chances of securing a peaceful, democratic Iraq in the near term are dubious. I do think if we can stabilize the country, allow "good-government, i.e. responsible, protective of human rights, maybe not Jeffersonian democracy) to flourish and maintain enough presence to keep pressure on the terrorists, we have a chance. The big if! Our Army is tired, worn out (people and stuff) and there are not enough of us in any component (AC/RC) to sustain this forever.
The American people have not been asked to sacrifice; rather we have sent a small professional/mercenary force to do a dirty job. We need to repeal tax-cuts increase end strength and accept the fact that a 10 ac div force is not enough for this policy. Soldiers (AC/RC) are going to vote with their feet, we are forcing soldiers to remain on active duty after their ETS dates and recalling others. This IS a form of draft. The force is not big enough to do this job over the long run.
My other major beef with the OSD leadership is the bastardization of the promotion system. The Sec Def now personally interviews/approves selections to MG and above. The strength of our system has included the diversity in thought of our senior officer corps, now we approaching the personal oath to the Furher taken by the Wermarcht. It is unacceptable to report the truth to our senior leadership if that truth is inconsistent with the view du jour. We have senior civilian leadership who are zealots rather than advocates, hence our inability to understand that the Iraqis were not going to throw roses and sing kumba ya when we invaded their country, despite extensive intel reports to the contrary. The sound military judgment of our senior officer corps was totally disregarded to attempt to validate some "Toffler like" view of future net-centric, effects based operations.
So after my diatribe, yes I like the President, and it will kill me to vote for the other guy, but our President is accepting the advice of senior officials who are leading us on a dangerous path that frankly scares me to death.
http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=Special%20Reports.db&command=viewone&op=t&id=266&rnd=62.088398346020924
Ellie
Regular Army Bird Colonel Blasts The Civilian Pentagon Brass
Stupid Is As Stupid Does
Not blinded by disdain, but certainly saddened. As one of the remaining classmates on active duty, I vividly remember the loathing I felt for the previous administration, and the great anticipation of the incoming Bush team. I still am extremely fond of the President, and absolutely love his values, candor, integrity, etc. I firmly support our responses to 9-11 (I was in the Pentagon, so it is pretty personal), believe OEF was on target and a great operation who's eventual success will be a great triumph for the people of Afghanistan.
HOWEVER, I just spent 2 years at the Army War College as a student and then as faculty before assuming Bde command last week. The candid analysis of why we went to war in Iraq, and how we waged it are extremely discouraging. If the reason was to dispose a tyrannical dictator who thwarted US National security interests in the region, and had a strong likelihood of developing/using WMDE and supporting terrorism, then so be it, but that was not the stated reasoning.
AS to the how of this war, many of our classmates were commanders or senior staff members of the effort to conduct OIF, and they and their soldiers have preformed superbly, but! We had units running out of gas, ammo, water and food simultaneously while in contact. Our forces were in extremis unnecessarily because of a political desire to do this on the cheap, and reduce "footprint" in friendly Gulf States. The cost of that has been greater civil disorder and more dead soldiers. Initial failure to secure the multitudes of weapons cantonment sites (like we did in the Balkans) has made IEDs plentiful as well as RPGs and automatic weapons. We conducted a 6 division fight with 2 1/2, and had the Iraqi's had any sense at all, we could have lost a division easily. Nor is it particularly heartwarming to have OSD leadership with a "blue-centric" attitude, who do not understand that not everything has a kinetic solution, and sometimes (often times) many soldiers on the ground for a long time is the answer.
It is very hard to put the rabbit back in the hat, but I remain optimistic that with the recent transfer of power that average Iraqis will see the continued sectarian violence as unproductive. Our cultural mindset makes it very difficult for us to understand their willingness to create disorder and chaos rather than allow power sharing and civil order to prevail. I think our chances of securing a peaceful, democratic Iraq in the near term are dubious. I do think if we can stabilize the country, allow "good-government, i.e. responsible, protective of human rights, maybe not Jeffersonian democracy) to flourish and maintain enough presence to keep pressure on the terrorists, we have a chance. The big if! Our Army is tired, worn out (people and stuff) and there are not enough of us in any component (AC/RC) to sustain this forever.
The American people have not been asked to sacrifice; rather we have sent a small professional/mercenary force to do a dirty job. We need to repeal tax-cuts increase end strength and accept the fact that a 10 ac div force is not enough for this policy. Soldiers (AC/RC) are going to vote with their feet, we are forcing soldiers to remain on active duty after their ETS dates and recalling others. This IS a form of draft. The force is not big enough to do this job over the long run.
My other major beef with the OSD leadership is the bastardization of the promotion system. The Sec Def now personally interviews/approves selections to MG and above. The strength of our system has included the diversity in thought of our senior officer corps, now we approaching the personal oath to the Furher taken by the Wermarcht. It is unacceptable to report the truth to our senior leadership if that truth is inconsistent with the view du jour. We have senior civilian leadership who are zealots rather than advocates, hence our inability to understand that the Iraqis were not going to throw roses and sing kumba ya when we invaded their country, despite extensive intel reports to the contrary. The sound military judgment of our senior officer corps was totally disregarded to attempt to validate some "Toffler like" view of future net-centric, effects based operations.
So after my diatribe, yes I like the President, and it will kill me to vote for the other guy, but our President is accepting the advice of senior officials who are leading us on a dangerous path that frankly scares me to death.
http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=Special%20Reports.db&command=viewone&op=t&id=266&rnd=62.088398346020924
Ellie