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| The Medals They Carried |
It is a sad fact that while over a decade of war has hardened our military rank and file, our admirals and generals remain political wine stewards in ridiculously over-adorned uniforms, resembling more their third-world counterparts than a General Eisenhower or a William Tecumseh Sherman.
Ralph Peters, Lt Col, USA (Ret) points to a creeping sickness in our senior officer corps:
Misbehavior, double standards and outright criminal acts have become epidemic among our senior officers. There have been dozens of investigations or prosecutions. Our nation’s military leadership is sick.(General Failure)
After delving into L’affaire Petraeus as well as the electronic indiscretions of General Allen and the whole Real Housewives of CENTCOM saga, he gets to the heart of the matter…
The military is already an insular and unique group with its own culture and mores. Active duty personnel do enjoy civilian friendships, but for the most part, military hangs with military. We’re a family. I hope that scandals like this involving social climbing civilians will not serve to increase suspicions of civilian entanglements and close the ranks even more.
One of the prominent features of every State Department social function I attended in Latin America was ‘The Circle of Generals.’ The host nation’s generals would show up, but they kept to themselves, literally forming a tight circle, and avoiding all but the socially-mandatory interactions. They had learned to not mix their business with anything else at all, further isolating them and their forces from the people they were supposed to be serving.
And these cases are peccadillos compared to the charges against Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sinclair, former deputy commander of the 82nd Airborne: the forcible sodomy of female subordinates and a host of other nasty sex violations.
On Tuesday, we learned that four-star Gen. William “Kip” Ward, former head of Africa Command, will lose a star and pay a fine of $82,000 for cheating on government travel. Had Sgt. Peters done that, I would have gotten a dishonorable discharge and, probably, jail time. (General Failure)
He also lashes out at the hypocrisy and double standards of Petraeus and his fellow military strongmen…
The general held himself up as a paragon of self-discipline and model family man. In Iraq and then Afghanistan, he rigorously enforced “General Order No. 1,” which prohibits our troops from fraternization, all sex, alcohol consumption, the possession of pornography and, generally, from any activity that might make the boredom and terror of this kind of war more bearable. When our troops screwed up, they got hammered.
Generals can take a weekend in Paris and get drunk (as Gen. Stanley McChrystal did), but the grunt who goofs in a firefight faces a court-martial. (General Failure)He nails is, and this is why I think it all ultimately weakens us:
The military is already an insular and unique group with its own culture and mores. Active duty personnel do enjoy civilian friendships, but for the most part, military hangs with military. We’re a family. I hope that scandals like this involving social climbing civilians will not serve to increase suspicions of civilian entanglements and close the ranks even more.
One of the prominent features of every State Department social function I attended in Latin America was ‘The Circle of Generals.’ The host nation’s generals would show up, but they kept to themselves, literally forming a tight circle, and avoiding all but the socially-mandatory interactions. They had learned to not mix their business with anything else at all, further isolating them and their forces from the people they were supposed to be serving.
Also, I agree with Peggy Noonan. The awe-demanding Cult of Military, if continued at a blaring volume, sopping up retail freebies and basking in the glory paid in blood by an exclusively small subset of brothers and sisters, risks poisoning public good-will towards all of us who have ever served. This would redound to the detriment of the minority that really has fought and sacrificed, and who need our help because they didn't retire with a six-figure pension, lucrative book deals, a college degree, and a military analyst position on cable TV.
