>What are their connections to the Democrats in general and to the extreme left and the Kerry campaign in particular?<
Bump.
The original article has been pulled, but this is still in the Google Cache:
Command Sgt. Maj. Dan Elder might raise some eyebrows with his personal view on the Army’s current promotion system. For those noncommissioned officers who’ve debated about staying in or getting out, Command Sgt. Maj. James Clifford offers a word of advice in his feature on The Meaning of an Indefinite Reenlistment.
Does the Command Sgt Major have an axe to grind? I haven't found the referenced "personal views," but I have found some intriguing connections.
Command Sgt Maj. Dan Elder appears to be a primary authority in the 13th Support Division that the "mutiny platoon" is from. He was involved in the just ordered a full stand down of all of their vehicles, and has released a statement which said that "they raised valid concerns."
Googling about the Command Sgt. Major finds some intriguing connections that may (or may not) mean anything.
He spent nearly 18 months researching and authoring a book about "The Sergeants Major of the Army, a book chronicling the history of the office of Sergeant Major of the Army and those who’ve held it." He authored this book at the suggestion of Dr. Andrew J. Birtle, "a senior historian from the Center of Military History in Washington, D.C." So, why would this matter? Well, Dr. Birtle seems to be one of the Pentagon insiders who thrived during the Clinton years. I can't tell yet, but it looks like he may be an anti-military military historian.
The most concrete thing I've found to push me this way is a course that he taught at the Army War College, "History and Analysis of Operations Other Than War." This course appears to be built around notions such as "the increasingly conservative and republican nature of the armed forces." That phrase is from an Asia Times article about Charles J Dunlap Jr, who is one of the authors used by Birtle as the basis for his course. And what did Dunlap author that was worthy of study? The Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012.
Other authors sited in Birtle's course appear to be part of the Democrat "suspect the military" military hierarchy. Richard E. Neustadt, Max Boot, Ken Allard (big alarm bells) and others.
Guys, this may be a hugh and series conspiracy, or it could just be their "good old boy network" asserting and spinning their "conventional wisdom." If it were anything but 2 weeks before the election I would just treat it as competing world views. The timing on this, however, is suspicious.
I'm continuing my search.