Today’s recommended reading.
Not since the early days of the Ford administration has a general served as White House chief of staff—and arguably not since the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, himself a retired general, have senior military officers wielded such influence at the top levels of an administration. Kelly forms a nexus of power with three other generals: Secretary of Defense James Mattis, a retired Marine general; Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a Marine general; and national security adviser H.R. McMaster, still a uniformed lieutenant general in the Army — and a replacement for retired Lt. General Michael Flynn, who was fired after less than a month in the job.
What say you?
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Über vmijpp
VMIJPP hails from the star city of the south, Roanoke, Virginia. A 1989 graduate of the Virginia Military Institute, he is a retired artillery officer in the United States Marine Corps, with time in both the active and reserve sides. He served in Iraq in 2004, and in Afghanistan in 2009-2010. He joined the magnificent OPFOR.com as a guest blogger from the now defunct but never uninteresting Rule 308, where he denounced gun control and other aspects of tyranny, and proclaimed the greatness of the United States. When the sun set on OPFOR.com, he migrated here with Keydet1976 and the others.
Dieser Beitrag wurde unter
Chaos,
Elements of National Power,
Leadership,
Marine Corps,
Recommended Reading veröffentlicht. Setze ein Lesezeichen auf den
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keydet1976
In The Old Corps 
I see Trump needs 3 Marines to equal 1 Soldier. Just sayin’…
On topic, considering the credentialed amateurs of the last 24 years, having people who can remember to zip up their fly after taking a piss is a welcome change.
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Interesting reading–James Kitfield is usually a solid writer and thinker. I think he’s right that it depends on what the president decides to do that really matters, and these generals (and Rex Tillerson) have to decide how they reconcile the loyalty and integrity boxes on their efficiency reports, as we used to say in the Army. Dave O makes a good point about Marines….I’ve met HR McMaster–we were on the faculty at West Point at the same time in th 1990s, when his book came out. Smart guy, but I agree with Kitfield that his credibility is eroded slowly the longer he stays in his current position. I hate to say this, but I think John Nagl, who I also know from West Point, is probably right about him.
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I do have an irritation at the article’s underlying presumption: all American FOGO are General Jack D. Ripper and can’t be trusted to be peaceful, productive citizens. The hysteria surrounding isolationism on both left and right reveals their common ties.
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Indeed–I have to admit, I’ve found GOs unimpressive in one way or another–folks like Mattis and Chiarelli really stand out.
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