Some folks make fun of Herman Cain's military strategy ("I'd ask the generals") but to me that sounds like a smart approach, and something that no self-respecting Yale graduate would ever say.
Sorry, but I’d have to qualify that. The system, as it has existed for quite some time, almost guarantees that toadying, politicians-in-uniform (who seem to also have to look like busts of ancient Roman patricians) who never, ever place duty before career, are the ones who rise to the top. Every time we have a major war, many lives are lost working out these self-serving incompetents and replacing them with real soldiers.
The late David Hackworth referred to them as the “perfumed princes” and if I were prez I’d carefully make inquires to find and appoint my own George C. Marshall to clean out the damn Pentagon.