Posted on 06/10/2003 10:02:44 AM PDT by 68skylark
WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a highly unusual move, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has selected a retired four-star general to become the next Army chief of staff, senior defense officials said Tuesday.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the selectee is Peter J. Schoomaker, who retired from the Army after commanding the U.S. Special Operations Command from 1997-2000.
The choice, which has not been publicly announced and is subject to confirmation by the Senate, may raise some eyebrows inside the military because it is rare for a defense secretary to bypass senior active-duty generals in favor of a retired officer to be the Army's top general.
The current chief of staff, Gen. Eric Shinseki, is retiring Wednesday.
Because no successor will have been nominated and confirmed by then, the vice chief of staff, Gen. John Keane, will temporarily assume Shinseki's job when he departs, officials said.
Rumsfeld had tried to persuade Keane to take the top job but he declined for family reasons, officials said.
Schoomaker began his Army career in 1970 as an armor officer but switched to the secretive world of special operations in the late 1970s. He graduated from the University of Wyoming, where he was a star football player, and served with a variety of armor and cavalry units.
From 1975-76, he completed the Marine Corps amphibious warfare course and in February 1978 joined the Army's 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment, now known as the highly secretive Delta Force that specializes in counterterrorism missions.
He later was commander of the Army Special Operations Command and the Joint Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, N.C.
What's interesting is that the Air Farce, for all its warts and flaws, handled bringing women onto combat aircrew duties much more professionally.
Remember Lieutenant Kelly Flynn? How many Navy Captains or flag officers would have sent her up for a court-martial like the Air Force did?
Yeah, because they actually enforced their standards.
Flag and General Officers usually have a pretty good grasp of how to use the resources (manpower) and assets (equipment) at their disposal. He will have at least a M.A./M.S., very likely a PH.D., and has probably both attended and taught at the War College.
Special Operators appreciate and depend on field support. While it's true that they go in deep in small teams, they aren't without support. A senior Spec. Ops guy, whether he's a Ranger, SEAL, Marine Recon, etc., will be well aware of the value of heavy armor versus LAV's, and Apache's versus A10's, A10's versus fast-movers, and NGFS versus artillery tubes versus F/A 18's. (Hint: Precision guided munitions put the Battleships out of business as NGFS platforms, not missles or the cost of operations.)
What I really like about Special Operators, at least the guys I've served with, is that they are very "close to the ground", both psychologically and in many cases, literally. They don't have time or luxury for B.S.. Stuff works or it doesn't. Tactics work or people die.
I'm a Navy guy, but I respect the other services roles and perogatives, and hope this works out.
FReegards, SFS.
from what I hear John McCain was a "limited talent" pilot, who wouldn't have seen pilots wings, let alone combat, except for his connections.
Female pilots may actually have some advantages over men in high G situations, physiologically, and it is yet to be proven, one way or the other, how they will do psychologically.
Now, I'm not particularly aware of any problems with vertical climb outs from Millington. Doesn't mean they don't happen, or didn't in the past. However, the most recent such incident I'm aware of that was in Tennessee, was, I think, an F-14 leaving Nashville, wasn't it? That one just augered in, what, about 2 years ago? He was doing a viking takeoff to impress the folks and lost an engine, or ingested a bird, or both.
Cannot speak for the AF, but female aviators in the Navy have had a problem with aggresiveness. Too much thinking, defensive instead of offensive initiative. This goes for not only combat situations, but in staying ahead of the airplane. Women do much better in Hornets than they do in Tomcats because anticipation of what the airplane will do is not required, while the Tomcat can have a mind of it's own. Short, compact bodies do have a small G advantage.
He came from the Navy's worst squadron at that time, VF-213; the same squadron as Lt. Hultgren.
Do they have advantages over Men in High S[tress] situations?
Just had to drop that one in there.
When I was younger I shot a drunk and armed intruder coming into my parents home. My Mom & Sister completely lost it!! I mean lost it...running through the house screaming and crying...LOL...I actually had to walk into the kitchen and phone 911 in order to get the ball rolling. Mind you, my Mother is married to a former Recon Marine and she herself is in charge of nationwide distribution for a Forbes 500 company. She's a pitbull. But when it got overwhelmingly salient...she went dramaqueen.
There isnt a test on the planet or any amount of statistical results that'll remove "my impression of women under stressful situations" from my head. They're just not wired for it, and no amount of slanted discussion or impure data is ever gonna change that.
sounds like the one I'm thinking of. I'm pretty sure it was an F14 and I know the incident I'm thinking of was Nashville. Being an F14 it would have had both a pilot and a RIO (radio / intercept officer, I think) and checking the web, it looks like they both died.
I did a Google search on "+f14 +nashville +crash" and came up with a couple of hits. One article confirmed that pilot error finding, though it doesn't metion the "showing off for the folks" that I remember from the time. The other just gives the basic info from the crash itself. That hit was at:
http://www.tomcattersassociation.org/F14/f14-news.htm
What stunned me was that I thought this was only a couple of years ago. This was January of 1996!!
Millington still has military planes fly in and out, but not near what they used to. The Naval air station has been closed (no longer training plane mechanics) and the majority of the base has been turned over to the city. There is still a military area, but its a clerical office. The airfield gets used for some military tasks (combat air patrol sometimes is based there during high alerts) but is supposed to be mostly civilian now. Just a couple of weeks ago, however, they had a big air show, including the Blue Angels. I didn't get to go, but friends who went said they had a larger presence of more different active military aircraft than they had seen in a long time.
I've found that both men and women can come apart at the seams under stressful circumstances. I've worked with women on ambulance runs where drugged out psycho's came at us with knives and the woman in question took the guy out. She handled it because it was her job. I know of an incident where the same woman fell apart and "freaked out" after a killing (by police) when she was off duty and it wasn't her problem. It can be a matter of circumstance. I never have a problem with a trauma case (don't get shook or emotionally stressed) when I'm in a position to help. I've got a job to do and don't have time. I'll get just as strung out and stressed as anyone, man or woman, if it's not my job to "go to work" because I don't have that reflex to fall back on.
People all react differently and the same people will react differently to different situations. I'm glad you were there to take care of your family. I wouldn't be a bit surprised to have had your mom take care of business in the same manner if you weren't there to shoulder the burden for her. Don't sell people short. You'd be surprised, both for the good and the bad, at what some people can do under the right set of circumstances.
Did you know the RIO in question? God rest both of them.
Time flies, don't it. The initial news report said that his parents were at the airport/air field watching him take off. So he probably wanted to do something special for them and it went horribly wrong. A retroactive Hold muh beer! alert.
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.