With a single glowing exception, your recitation of the Pentagon game played by upwardly mobile, ambitious young and mid-level officers. The sole exception is the comment on ''Left of center'' officers receiving better assignments because of what you perceived as their political orientation. While that may be your subjective evaluation, objectively, it is not a correct assessment.
Well, Steel told us why he thought that was the case, how about filling us in on why this isn't so?
I know of at least one officer that was promoted to general that I wouldn't let manage a Dairy Queen under the Clinton reign. And yet, there she was...
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Respect your assessment, sir, but also respectfully disagree.
I'm not talking about promotion boards. Promotability depends on the billets you're appointed to, as well as your execution in those billets (obviously). If you don't get the billets, you'll be behind your peers.
In my case, I was promoted ahead of my peers because I had picked billets no one else wanted, which were considered the "kiss of death" for promotion when I was an 03 & 04. A sea-change in priorities within the Navy occurred as well as a brief demographic dip, which put me on the fast track. I just happened to fit the profile the boards were looking for when I was promoted. Other than that, I was an "average" officer.
From conversations I had with a few guys I knew at the Pentagon) as well as some more personal things I can't reveal, I held the firm conclusion in 1995 that CO, XO, and certain department head billets had new "political" criteria attached to them after '94. I was never passed over or failed to be selected to the billets I pursued, but I'm sure that the entire process - from the composition of promotion boards to billet detailing - changed radically.
Let me put it another way, using Tailhook as but one example: A lot of very good officer's where cashiered. Would you rather have had 4-5 FITREP's signed by one of these guys, or some politically correct bum in the Pentagon who attended all the correct parties, conferences, and social events. Would a guy who had the "wink-wink" correct political attitude be a better asset during your next promotion board than a warrior who was just cashiered for "Tailhook" occurring on his watch?
The honest answer is that promotion depends upon more than just competence. You have to be selected to the right billets, and the board must be inclined to recognize that your demonstrated competence is of value to the service. That changed in my favor between 1989-1994, and it killed a lot of guys when it changed in the leftist-favor between 1994-2000.
SFS