Posted on 02/07/2008 7:07:00 PM PST by nuconvert
Odierno’s Departure
Max Boot
Nadia Schadlow has an excellent article in the Wall Street Journal pointing out why it would be folly to move General Petraeus out of Iraq prematurely. This is a point that others, including me, have previously made, but Nadia adds an important historical dimension by noting all of the major generals, from George Washington to Creighton Abrams, who have spent years overseas directing American war efforts. By those standards, Petraeus’s deployment abroad, while lengthy and strenuous (counting a tour in the Balkans, since 2001 he has spent 50 months, or more than four years, overseas), is not out of the norm.
What is abnormal, as Schadlow shows, is the American military’s current penchant for rotating almost everyone in the war zone after six, twelve, or, at most, eighteen months. (The State Department and CIA operate under similar policies.) That rotation policy is understandable when it comes to grunts who have to deal with combat and all its stresses. It makes less sense for headquarters staffers who serve in relative comfort and safety. (I stress relative, since life in Iraq or Afghanistan will always be a lot less safe and less comfortable than being stateside.) Turning over personnel constantly can lead to a loss of invaluable experience. Newcomers can take months to get up to speed, and in the meantime momentum may be lost.
That is a real concern because right now the entire headquarters staff of Multi-National Corps-Iraq is leaving Iraq along with its commander, Lieutenant General Ray Odierno. They are being replaced by an entirely new group of staff officers led by Lieutenant General Lloyd Austin. While Austin arrives to positive publicity, he has not wracked up the kind of invaluable experience that Odierno has during the past year while working with General Petraeus to direct the successful surge. Odierno arrived to some negative notices (in particular from Tom Ricks, author of Fiasco) but he is leaving to almost universal acclaim. The changeover will probably go smoothly, but there is a real risk of friction and loss of momentum.
The Defense Department should rethink its rotation policies. After Vietnam, the military rebelled against the policy of replacing individuals rather than entire units. The individual-rotation policy meant that often combat formations were made up of strangers—a deadly handicap in the heat of battle when esprit de corps is all-important. But while the unit rotation policy and 12- to 18-month tours make sense for combat units, they make less sense for staff officers, who could be deployed for longer periods and whose departures could be staggered to avoid a vast loss of experience such as the one we are now facing in Iraq.
Already General Petraeus and his predecessor, General George Casey, have served for longer than a year at a time, and so have a few of their key subordinates. It would make sense to extend that policy a bit more broadly.
It seems General Petraeus will become NATO commander
and Odierno will become Vice Chief of the Army
Odierno, hands down, has been one of the best managers of this military operation since it began.
Under him, we’ve seen tremendous gains. Under the others, we’ve seen stagnation, prompting the lefties to want a cut-and-run.
Your work has been greatly appreciated, Mr. Odierno. To Mr. Austin... DON’T BLOW IT!
This doesn't surprise me - for reasons that are not particularly obvious.
Let me pose the following question: What basic "problem" would Petraues have with Odierno?
Hint: Consider yourself as an academic answering the question above...I'll leave it at that...Mkay.
I first met Gen. Odierno several years ago at his change-of-command ceremony when he was a Col. coming into the 4th ID. He has come a long way since, and I am proud of him(and all our troops).
Why rotate success? Hello....any brains up there? My guess, the dumb bums of today would have rotated Eisenhower, Patton and the Bastards of Bastonge out of theater right before the Battle of the Bulge. Sheesh!
I went to grad school with Ray Odierno. He was a great guy.
He has been kicking butt and taking names in Iraq for a while now.
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