Posted on 04/15/2023 5:33:16 PM PDT by CFW
A Marine sniper serving during the Afghanistan evacuation recently gave testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the Afghanistan evacuation. His pain was palpable. A revelation worth examining was his identification of the possible suicide bomber prior to the incident. After the sniper, Sgt Vargas-Andrews, confirmed the target with multiple agencies, he asked his Battalion Commander, LtCol Whited, for permission to shoot. The answer from Whited, one in which Vargas-Andrews said he’ll never forget, was, “I don’t know.”
Not found in the media or Congressional testimony is that Whited, a former peer of mine, corroborated this version of events in his formal statement for the military’s investigation. When speaking to the investigating officer, General Curtis, on 5 October 2021, Whited stated, “[We had] a description of a person of interest. We watched him for hours… It bothers me still that we lost track of him, and never heard anything back from higher about him.”
The obvious indecision in Kabul on 26 August 2021 has a much deeper undercurrent. Since World War II, the American military promotion system hasn’t evolved with the needs of today’s challenging security environment. Current military professionals are conditioned, above all else, to please superiors for continued advancement. Said another way, when promotion is the mission, it will always be more important than troop welfare. “I don’t know” is another way of saying, “The risk to force isn’t as great as the risk to my career.”
(Excerpt) Read more at realcleardefense.com ...
The military promotes ‘yes men’ to the highest levels.
LtCol. Scheller is the Officer that was drummed out of the Corps because he dared to call out the incompetent Generals who blew the Afghan pull-out that got good men killed.
Very succinct summary of what ails our services: people move up primarily by never risking anything.
Considering that the military services exist for risk, the current system guarantees failure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OehvY94N-WA
“Why our Generals were more successful in WWII.”
Amazing analysis.
We are currently being led by cowards... Sorry, but if you are still holding a commission then you are sadly killing your troops... you are part of an organization that poisoned the entire service with a vaccine that everyone now knows that...
1) Didn’t keep you from getting COVID
2) Didn’t keep you from spreading COVID
3) Military Leadership knew that COVID wasn’t a threat to the the formation at the time.
4) We now know there are significant documented harms from the Vaccine... including death and a lot of permanent disability
5) The vaccine is still being given even though we know all of the above and you have to request a religious exemption...when what you should have is a sanity exemption.
Our Nations Officers are Cowards... the funny thing is... they know... and they know you know.
So guess what... recruiting is down. If you think I am letting my grandson join up while they intend to poison him... you got another thing coming...
Stand by for an intelligent argument to the contrary.
Our military is rotten starting with the Joint Chiefs and CRT- Wokie Milley.
The military is a special case, and the lack of leadership there is especially painful.
But corporations have made similar mistakes. Check boxes. Keep metrics (that are rarely looked at). Get promoted. Showing leadership is often a quick way to get fired. Only fools try to lead. It’s a thankless task. Be a mindless Yes Man and have a solid career.
We used to be a different country.
How did the “Fabulous” Milley get his job?
Trump?
An informative but sad article. Hackworth wrote the same sort of thing, with lots of examples, about our worthless military leadership in Viet Nam.
I understand this article author’s anguished desire to make things better, but he is failing to see the forest for all the trees.
Think about how fast our communications are now compared to WW2. Think how hard it was for the Pentagon or the equivalent War Department to get communications to all the millions of soldiers, sailors, and Marines. And look at how tiny our instantly in touch military forces are today in comparison to WW2.
Then explain why we have more general officers and admirals today than we did in WW2. I’ll wait.
The first thing that needs to be done is to eliminate at least 2/3s of all senior officers. There is absolutely no justification for the bloated load of brass in military and naval offices. Get rid of them! They make staff work and complicate decision making to justify their existence.
At least reduce to the officer to enlisted ration of WW2. Easy to justify, right? It’s the last war we won.
Officer to enlisted ratio.
Way too easy. Military people want to advance in rank. Organizing the military to have more high ranking officers gives more officers chances to obtain high rank.
People work to promote their own interests.
Super simple.
>> We used to be a different country.
As a nation, we’ve gotten used to coasting on the achievements (and blood sacrifice!) of generations before. In the process the average American has lost all kinds of “fitness” (physical, mental, spiritual).
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”
I pray we’ll recover, but according to the above we’re “stage 4”.
Yep. And that Pentagon full of proof of needless redundancy sits right there where every Congerscritter that flies into the national airport can see it.
The ROE was so bad sometimes there were 5-6 levels of approval needed to take out targets. I will assume the LTC could not make that call as he did not have the authority. I’ll bet the Washington NCA or Centcom could only make that call if the forces on the ground were not under a direct attack.
I don’t know about officers but the enlisted promotion system in the Navy is the fairest I’ve seen. It is totally color blind, gender blind, and relies almost entirely on job performance, earned qualifications, and in-rate knowledge. And yet, men and women of all races and ethic groups are represented in each promotion cycle.
I read the article. Some quick thoughts (as someone who served):
1. Ultimately, your immediate superior is the one best suited to evaluate you. I don’t see how that ever changes.
On every OER or PRF I’ve seen, those in the chain of command also have the chance to weigh in.
2. There is also a lot of risk if you take that authority for evaluation away from the immediate superior. It raises the possibility that you will be the lead of someone other than that person. That could be even more disastrous.
3. The nature of combat is that something will always be FUBAR somewhere. I doubt changing the promotion system will eliminate that. If done incorrectly, it may well increase it.
4. It a good idea to come up with objective measures of performance for every military specialty. However, that is easier for some specialties than others.
I watched a few minutes, it looks like a good author lecture, I listen to lectures in place of Rush now.
My dad worked for the military, and he regaled us at dinner nightly with outrageous tales of bootlicking, responsibility dodging, credit-hogging, desperate know-it-allism, outstanding stupidity, and unbounded wastefulness, all aimed at pleasing superior officers. What the article describes has been with us a LONG time, and the answer to the question is “No”.
“The ROE was so bad sometimes there were 5-6 levels of approval needed to take out targets.”
I’ve never been in the military so thanks for your insights. I’ve read many stories of the final decision on ROE being made by those in DC offices who ignored the intel from those on the ground who were actually engaging with the enemy. The decisions made by the “higher-ups” were political rather than designed to actually take out the target and accomplish the mission, while at the same time saving lives. However, if things went sideways, those on the ground were the ones who bore the blame.
There may need to be some changes to ROE to give more authority to those on the ground but that comes with its own problems and risks as well.
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