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thedrifter
08-11-03, 05:56 AM
08-07-2003

Is It Fresh Blood, or a Putsch?



In the middle of the ongoing Iraqi guerilla war, with more military actions awaiting, the new U.S. Army uniformed leadership has forced at least six senior generals into early retirement, with another half-dozen earmarked for the same treatment in the near.



What is unusual about this development is that no Army or DoD official has cited the cause for the widespread ousters, and there has been no evidence of misconduct or performance failures indicated as a cause for the retirements. An Army spokesman on Aug. 4 declined to comment on the issue on grounds that none of the six alleged retirements had been announced formally.



If there are valid issues behind the decision of incoming Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker to mandate these retirements, it is unnerving that the personnel decisions should join the increasing ranks of “national security” secrets.



It will also be worth observing whether or not these generals join the “privatized” ranks, in the format of D.C. lobbyists or “consultants” – representing the interests of big business.



The online news website InsideDefense.com, on Aug. 4 first revealed the early and forced retirements. They include Lt. Gen. John Caldwell, the military deputy to the Army's civilian acquisition director; Lt. Gen. Dennis Cavin, the commanding general of the Army Accessions Command; Lt. Gen. Joseph Cosumano, the commanding general of the Army's Space and Missile Defense Command. Lt. Gen. Johnny Riggs, director of the Army Objective Force Task Force, Gen. Paul Kern, commander of the Army Materiel Command, and Lt. Gen. Charles Mahan, deputy chief of staff for logistics) are also reportedly retiring early.



By all appearances, the announcements represent a “housecleaning” that will allow Schoomaker to replace these generals with a leadership team of his own. Gen. John M. Keane, who oversaw the notification of the early retirements pending Schoomaker’s formal arrival as Army Chief on Aug. 1, has resumed his role as vice chief of staff pending the nomination of his own replacement.



Apart from the significance the forced retirements have on the future of Army transformation, the personal impact on the generals being shunted aside is noteworthy.



Officers who retire before spending three years in their current rank revert to the next-lower rank, receiving less retirement pay. The Army for a number of years has enforced a very strict “no exceptions” policy to the rule.



To fully comprehend what is going on, it is important to note that this is not the first incident of its type. Beginning last year, Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld effectively decapitated the Army’s topmost leadership. First, he announced the replacement for Gen. Eric Shinseki as Army chief a full year before his term was slated to end, in what many observers saw as a ploy to sideline Shinseki from the ongoing struggle over the Army’s future. Then on Apr. 25, Rumsfeld fired Secretary of the Army Thomas White, subsequently announcing that Secretary of the Air Force James G. Roche would replace White.



Following that, Rumsfeld went looking for a new Army Chief of Staff from the roster of active-duty generals and came up empty. He then drafted Schoomaker from retirement for the top Army post, following the reported refusal of three active-duty Army generals - including former Central Command commander Gen. Tommy Franks and Keane himself - to take the position.



Pentagon observers have termed those promotion refusals as a “legal mutiny” by three of the Army generals who deserve much of the credit for the preparation and conduct of the war against Iraq. When senior subordinates refuse to follow their leader – in this case, Secretary Rumsfeld – something is badly wrong. One has to ask, “What do they know?”



Here’s something that we do know: Rumsfeld has made a name for himself by pushing the Army toward rapid organizational and deployment reforms. These reforms have sparked significant internal resistance within the uniformed leadership. Rumsfeld’s opponents fear that his proposed reforms will come at the cost of major cuts to the ground force structure.



When one observes 150,000 of America’s finest troops virtually pinned down in a country without an opposing army, it becomes difficult to dismiss the critics’ fears as unfounded. Re-arranging the foundation of the U.S. Army during an ongoing military campaign is dangerous, especially for an obviously under-strength Army.



While the argument is valid that the time of the Cold War and the Cold War-sized U.S. military has passed, it is also valid to recognize that current operational requirements from Korea and Kosovo to Iraq demand a larger fighting force.



On taking office as Army Chief on Aug. 1, Shoomaker reportedly said, “When we are at war, we must think and act differently …. We become more flexible and adaptable …. We must win both the war and the peace. We must be prepared to question everything. What is best for the nation? What must endure? What must change?”



These are all valid questions. What remains deeply troubling is that neither the secretary of defense nor the new Army Chief has taken the first step toward answering them.



The only message that I can discern from the forced retirements is that Rumsfeld does not trust his senior Army generals, nor they him. Those officers who have committed themselves to serve their nation in Army uniform also know that decades of loyal service – which includes voicing honest disagreement over profound issues – means little or nothing to their political masters.



In the guise of “selecting a new team,” it can be said that Rumsfeld, Roche and Schoomaker have carried out a putsch to enforce their vision of change on the Army.



That’s the wrong kind of transformation.



Ralph Omholt is a Contributing Editor of DefenseWatch. He can be reached at skydrifter@attbi.com.

http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=DefenseWatch.db&command=viewone&op=t&id=163&rnd=709.7656791656284

Sempers,

Roger
:marine: