None of that is evidence that he's bitter over a promotion he didn't get before he retired from the Army in 2004, as you've alleged.
“None of that is evidence that he’s bitter over a promotion he didn’t get before he retired from the Army in 2004, as you’ve alleged.”
He was passed over for promotion, and he retired in 2004. He was reportedly livid that his subordinate, H.R. McMaster — who had served as a captain under Macgregor, and with whom Macgregor later had some operational disagreements — was promoted to Brigadier General in 2008, with rapid promotions up to and including Lieutenant General. That was a particularly bitter pill for Macgregor to swallow, as he was of the mindset (as it related to McMaster), that, “I (Macgregor) taught him (McMaster) everything he knows!”
He said that in any conventional armored fight with the Russians would result in the US not only being defeated, but annihilated. Then, egoist that he was (and still is), he said the US Armey could only defeat the Russians in armored warfare if it employed HIS blueprint.
Macgregor was known during his army career as a hothead and short-sighted, who was good at immediacy and a confined mission, but was wholly unable to handle the “what-ifs,” or the “bigger picture,” which is essential for star rank. While Macgregor likely saw himself as a modern George Patton, his superiors saw him more as a modern George Custer.