You don’t rise above USN Captain/US Army Colonel without being very political (the occasional exception getting one star but never further). Flag rank is knowing who and where to kiss on the way up. Just the nature of things. Mullen wouldn’t have been appointed if he hadn’t marched in lock-step with the administration and be a “Yes” man.
Administration wants this, so does Mullen. If the administration didn’t want this, neither would Mullen. Remember, this is the same Pentagon group that has agreed to giving the Taliban constitutional rights in Afganistan and other stupid decisions.
In five years in-country in Afghanistan I saw more perfidy, stupidity, blanching, wobbling, ass covering and ass kissing, as well as corruption to fill a bookshelf. I know who these people are.
I am glad I am not alone in recognizing what is ground truth rather than what is spoon-fed.
I picture America as Gulliver tied to the ground by little people and the harmful, destructive restraints with which they bind a formerly great nation.
I am pissed off about it no question.
But, when it came time to get things done, the catch-phrase was “it is what it is” and we did the best we could do despite the politicians posing as officers in command running the show.
Well, this is why every night when I try to sleep, I first have to pray to God to forgive me for my anger, give me some peace, and help me to be patient, knowing He will set things right in His own time; it is not my responsibility.
I look at Ecclesiates, Solomon, who turned out to be a piece of work in his own right, who summarized all of his musings on the transitory nature of man, the futility of his strivings, and the essential meaningless of acquisition of fame, glory, wealth, and acclaim, as all being mere vanity and by stating “in the end, the only purpose of man is to fear and obey God” (paraphrasing).
So, vulgar, angry, impatient, and bitter for so many wrongs that never are righted, I pray knowing I am just as bad and in need of forgiveness as the ones I blame for screwing it all up.