Category: Big Pentagon

According to the Associated Press and Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, the White House is planning to nominate Ashton Carter to the position of the Secretary of Defense, seein’s how he’s the only one who will take the job;

Carter, 60, moved to the top of the White House’s short list after several leading contenders pulled their names from consideration. Carter is well-respected both in the West Wing and at the Pentagon, where he served until last year. He also has support among Republicans — of great importance given that Republicans will take the majority next month.

Yeah, well, the support that he has from Republicans doesn’t make me feel any better about his nomination. Many Republicans have embraced sequestration/Pentagon personnel cuts harder than many Democrats. At this point, I’d be skeptical of anyone Obama would nominate who isn’t me. No, I don’t trust any of youse guys either.

I know I predicted that Michèle Flournoy would be the next Secretary of Defense, but the Washington Post says that she took her name out of the running, because anyone with a measure of common sense doesn’t want to get their fingerprints on that train wreck;

Flournoy, who co-founded the Center for a New American Security and currently serves as its chief executive officer, wrote in a letter to her board of directors that the needs of her family prevented her from taking the job, according to a person who received the letter.

Former airborne infantryman Senator Jack Reed has also bowed out;

Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), who is close to Obama and who is frequently mentioned as a possible defense secretary, said on Monday that he was not interested in the job.

So, I sat and listened while a Pentagon spokesman, Admiral John Kirby, denied that Chuck Hagel was fired. I sat and listened quietly until the admiral said that Hagel had influenced so many important changes in the DoD, he ignored my shouted questions about what the Hell he was talking about. I guess he couldn’t hear me through the TV screen.

Yahoo News says that the top choices remaining are; Ashton Carter, John McHugh, Carl Levin, Ray Mabus and Robert O. Work, a former Marine artilleryman who retired in 2001.

My guess at this point is McHugh, just because he’s a Republican and the last two Democrat presidents like to have a Republican SecDef to blame.

Thanks to Chief Tango for the WaPo link.

It’s not that I’m all that smart, that I make this prediction, but reading Michèle Flournoy’s bio, she falls right in line with the President and she’d be a rubber stamp for him. According to the Washington Post in their rundown of candidates, she is the CEO of the Center for a New American Security, an organization the Post calls “a non-partisan think tank”. Yeah, they’re the guys who want to change military retirement. They’re the guys who recommended pay cuts for the troops and making out-of-pocket health care costs for retirees more expensive.

Another member of their staff is Phil Carter, a founder of IAVA and Obama’s veteran adviser during the 2008 campaign who became the Deputy Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs. Oh, yeah he also wrote anti-Bush propaganda in the Washington Post for a spell before making the leap to politics.

Michèle Flournoy worked at the Defense Department for Gates and Panetta, so she knows what is expected of her. Besides, we’ll need headlines about how she’s the first female Secretary of Defense to clog up the news cycle with non-news.

There are other choices, like John McHugh, the current Secretary of the Army and former Republican Congressman – Democrat Presidents love to have a Republican SecDef to blame their troubles upon. Maybus, the Navy Secretary is mentioned in the article, too.

Whoever the choice ends up being, we can be pretty sure that it won’t be someone who has the welfare of the troops, or even actual national security as their priority. The administration is looking for someone who will be the most rubber stampy.

The broadcast news is reporting without any details that Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel is stepping down fro that position. Jennifer Griffin on Fox News reports that he tendered his resignation to the President this morning and that they mutually agreed.

He never should have been the SecDef. His service in Vietnam was enviable, but he is out of his depth. Hagel was appointed because he is a politician, but with the world going to shit, we need a leader and none of the last few Defense Secretaries have fit that bill.

Hagel performed poorly at his confirmation hearing and that should have been a clue. Republicans voted to confirm him while they complained that he wasn’t a good fit – that makes no sense to me. But, hey, Hagel is the only Republican to have the support of VoteVets, so he had that going for him.

But, I’m sure they can find someone less competent and more political than Hagel to make the situation at DoD and in the world worse. Maybe they can get Wesley Clarke. Wouldn’t that suck?

Stars & Stripes reports that Chuck Hagel, the Secretary of Defense told women Marines at Camp Lejeune, NC that it’s their civil right to die in combat alongside men. Well, he didn’t quite say it that way, I’m just helping him clarify his position;

He noted that individuals who weren’t white and male were long unfairly denied their rights and opportunities, but American society has changed.

He said giving people a chance to succeed and maximize their talents is “the right thing to do.”

Some inside and outside the military and outside oppose opening up combat roles to women due to concerns they won’t be up to the task and it will harm unit cohesion.

Hagel acknowledged the challenges ahead.

“I know it is not easy. I know we are dealing with cultural issues,” he said.

Um, no, Mister Secretary, it’s not a cultural issue, it’s about science, most women won’t be able to meet the standard, the standard that has been recognized as the way to keep soldiers alive. Many men can’t meet the standard. It has nothing to do with sharing foxholes or sharing showers or hormonal twenty-somethings. It’s not cultural at all.

When Black men were integrated into the infantry, they met the standard. That was breaking down cultural barriers. Women aren’t meeting the standard that white and black and gay men must meet.

The standard has already changed. The Washington Post reports that 31 women have been accepted into a program that allows them to observe Ranger training in preparation for their attendance at that course in the Spring. All of you fellows with Ranger tabs who were allowed to audit the course, raise your hands.

When Chief Tango sent me the link, he asked how many Observer/Controllers worked at the Ranger course, I answered that I don’t know, but if I were to guess it would be less than 31.

“I was very satisfied with both the quality and quantity of the volunteers we received,” said Maj. Gen. Scott Miller, commanding general of the Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning. “Their performance and professionalism over the course of the week was extraordinary. This group did very well for what was a very physically challenging week for any Soldier.”

Col. David Fivecoat, commander of the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade, said the women were interviewed by Army officials and attempted numerous events incorporated in Ranger training before their selection, he said.

If they’re so good, why do they need a walk-through?

No one has been able to answer the question that I asked years ago – how does this social engineering program make our military more effective, how does it help kill more of the enemy? How does creating more female trigger-pullers help us win wars? How do you justify the expense of integrating women into combat in these days of dwindling funds?

The Associated Press reports that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, a former infantry sergeant who should know better, told reporters that US advisers in Iraq are accelerating the training of Iraqi and peshmerga troops who will fight against ISIS/ISISL/Islamic State forces;

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says the U.S. military is accelerating its efforts to train and advise Iraqi forces fighting Islamic State militants.

Hagel said U.S. special operations troops in Iraq’s western Anbar province are getting an early start on the train-and-advise effort.

Hagel said the effort began a few days ago. He did not provide details.

I have o idea how you do that, accelerate training, unless you add more hours to a day. You either train to a standard or you don’t. But, you know he’s a politician now, not a soldier, so he just says things people want to hear…no one expects his acceleration of training to work in anyone’s favor, well, except ISIS’ favor.

Speaking of pretty words, Hagel went on to the Reagan Library from NTC and announced more shit he doesn’t understand;

Hagel announced a “defense innovation initiative” that he likened to historic and successful campaigns during the Cold War to offset military advantages of U.S. adversaries. He described a “game-changing” strategy to sharpen American’s military edge in the face of budget impasses on Capitol Hill.

“We must change the way we innovate, operate and do business,” he told a defense forum at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

In a memo to Pentagon leaders in which be outlined the initiative, Hagel said the U.S. must not lose its commanding edge in military technology.

Of course we mustn’t lose our technological edge, but the Pentagon is throwing out the experienced officers and NCOs – the greatest benefit of a decade of war – to keep the head nodders, the officers and NCOs whose only real accomplishment was to keep themselves out of deployments for a decade of war.

I guess that’s how you innovate – toss out the experience, and shift the focus of the forces to a part of the world where no one is shooting at anyone.

TSO sends us a link from USAToday which reports Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s explanation for exceeding the Center for Disease Control’s guidelines for the quarantine of people returning from West Africa after dealing with the Ebola outbreak.

Hagel earlier this week signed off on the recommendation from the Joint Chiefs of Staff that goes beyond guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Isolating troops for 21 days even without symptoms of the disease, Hagel said, was a “smart, wise, prudent, disciplined, science-oriented decision.”

[…]

Part of the reason to isolate troops is that they would be staying in the region longer than most medical workers, said Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Troops are expected to have six-month deployments to disease-stricken areas.

That makes perfect sense to no one. 21 days after the redeployment is still 21 days whether a person was there one month or six months. I know because I checked the math on my fingers and toes (and I counted my favorite toe twice) as due diligence. Hagel probably didn’t think of using the toe thing.

I think what he meant to say was “Because I said so”.

And, oh, by the way, Stars & Stripes reports that the quarantine is optional for DoD civilians.

But unlike troops, the Pentagon can’t require civilians to comply with a pre-emptive quarantine, Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said Friday.

“Because they’re civilian employees and not uniformed servicemembers, we legally can’t force them to undergo a controlled monitoring regimen the way we can with uniformed troops,” Kirby said.

If that’s not the silliest shit ever.