Cheerleader Generals
Reading “Military Update” by Tom Philpott (“Some relief, but commissaries may get cut”) is like listening to the home town cheerleader. In the ‘80s General Shachnow – a true soldiers’ general- said “anything above the rank of major is political.” In 1990 a 3-star general addressed the Military Intelligence Officer’s Advanced Course captains in Fitch Auditorium of Alvarado Hall at the U.S. Army’s Intelligence “School of Excellence”, Ft. Huachuca, AZ. They were facing a 40% reduction-in-force. He related telling a new class of lieutenant colonels (aspiring generals) at the Command & General Staff College (“ILE” today) most of them didn’t deserve to be there. He told them to their faces they had been selected for their popularity rather than their courage to tell truth to power. (Who says we don’t have political commissars?)
Mr. Philpott quotes all the service commanders (the official “cheerleaders”) -and, of course, the lobby group American Logistics Association. They quickly alarm us to the effects of disastrous cuts to critical programs and the almighty “C-“ ratings. Any military executive officer knows what a sacred cow the operational readiness rating of a unit is to commanders – and what a political football it is. Anything less than “C-1” guarantees a premature end to a commander’s career. I saw a battalion commander tell the 7th Special Forces Group Commander ”Sir, I couldn’t look myself in the mirror if I changed it from C-3 (non-mission capable) to C-1.” He was relieved of command two weeks later. At that time every team I knew of were manned by half the numbers required.
I received considerable pressure from my battalion commander to “rewrite” my assessment of a failed Special Forces team during their Army Readiness Training Exercise Program, (ARTEP). A wise warrant officer whispered “What kind of s…t storm do you think would occur if Congress knew Special Forces teams were not operational?” Despite my commander opining the whole company deserved to fail, they passed with flying colors.
“Gold Watch” DOD programs and “C-1” operational status seem vulnerable only when military-industrial cash cows are threatened. According to the Grace Report and multiple MULTIPLE GAO and OMB reports, huge reductions in the massive expenditures spent on Fraud, Waste and Abuse would not jeopardize one “Gold Watch” sacred cow. During budget cuts it’s always the troops who get short changed during the political blame game.
