Meritocracy my ass! Most promotions for O6 and above have long been based on “who you know and who you blow”.
I observed too many who moved quickly up the ladder whose mission accomplishment knowledge and skills were overrated by their sponsors and who had reached their Peter Principle level of incompetence as captains or majors. There were a number of these during the 70s through the 90s whose combat experiences were along the lines of algore’s combat experience; if they had been in country for a month doing a Pentagon staff study it went down as combat experience and they received a medal. Those in the trenches doing the hands-on missions and actually leading troops generally don’t get any recognition that will get them promoted.
The promotion system has long been a political game and this started long before even the Civil War when politically appointed Union generals were the screwing up the war effort at every turn. I was of the opinion in 2001 when Bush came into office that he should have fired the JCS and probably half of the generals/admirals who had come up under clinton. Over the years the one branch that has suffered the least from this “perfumed prince” syndrome has been the Marine Corps.
FUBO & FAD
I earned my eagles, like most Navy O-6s I know. Your generalization is unfair.
To fail promotion to O-3, you'd have to have had sex with the skipper's daughter. To fail promotion to O-4, you were probably a poor leader or ineffective in your warfare specialty. To fail promotion to O-5, you probably did not deserve a shot at a department head billet. After that you had to be selected for command; only 10-25% are picked. Only 50 % of officers eligble select for O-6. If you do not, you probably gooned your command tour. Those not having a command do not get promoted in the line officer corps. In order to promote to Flag rank, one must have had a major command at sea and a bonus command. In this case, I will agree with you. Someone on the Flag board must know you and sing your praises.
I guess the Air Force runs their service differently. After all, they get money to build the golf course and officer's club, then ask for more for the runways, right?