Posted on 02/23/2017 4:53:13 AM PST by RoosterRedux
During the early part of the Second Gulf War, McMaster served on the staff of Gen. John Abazaid, who eventually became Commander of US Central Command, the unified command responsible for the conduct of the war. In this post, McMaster was able to assess the effectiveness of different approaches to the war in Iraq. His observations shaped the approach he would employ as commander of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment to pacify Tel Afar, a major city in northern Iraqs Nineveh Province in 2005.
I had occasion to address McMasters operation in a Naval War College leadership case that I wrote in 2009. Titled, Counterinsurgency From the Bottom Up: Col H.R. McMaster and the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment in Tel Afar, Spring-Fall 2005, it dealt with the way that McMaster prepared his command for the emerging operational environment in Iraq and then implemented a counterinsurgency campaign that pacified this major city. His approach in Tel Afar became the prototype for Gen. David H. Petraeuss largely successful operational strategy to stabilize Iraq in 2007 and 2008.
Despite his success, McMaster was twice passed over for promotion to brigadier general. It took Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Petraeus, one of his staunchest supporters in the Army. to finally break the logjam. Observers attribute his problems with selection boards to his passion, intensity and high tolerance for risk, which sometimes put him at odds with his superiors.
For one thing, McMaster was skeptical of the popular idea that technology had transformed the nature of war. He was a vociferous critic of the strategic happy talk that prevailed in the early part of the 21st century.
(Excerpt) Read more at amgreatness.com ...
Ping
McMasters’s book completely indicts LBJ and MacNamara. Not the JCS. He says LBJ wouldn’t listen.
A lot of lefties, like McTurd, applaud the choice of McMasters cuz they think as a “rebel” he will fight Trump. Just the opposite. I think he and Trump see eye to eye.
We have McMaster now, with his three foot long resume of accomplishments, compared to Susan Rice under Obama. She only had the correct ideology, and she did not mind lying her head off.
Now, does that not say volumes about the two men who made the appointments?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.