I've been asked by a couple of non-veteran friends what I as a former military man think about the General McChrystal brouhaha. Quite simply, I've never known a single soldier, airman, or sailor who didn't express misgivings about the the brass or the rear echelon folks.
It is a common perception among the men in the trenches that those giving the orders have no idea what the "real" situation is. That's frequently - but not always - because those men haven't received enough information about what their contribution lends to the overall effort. It has been my experience that once they understand how their role fits into the "big picture", a lot of the griping goes away.
However, this is different. We have here the case of the field commander griping - in front of a freakin' reporter - about the Commander in Chief. You want to gripe about the President to your buddies? Fine. But you don't air those complaints to those under you, nor to a member of the public. EVER.
I greatly respect and admire Gen. McChrystal for all that he has accomplished during his very distinguished career. But this incident reflects a serious lapse in judgment, and it's something that Just Isn't Done.
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Update: the geologist who was mauled by a bear on Sunday remains hospitalized in fair condition. And no, Skippy, that doesn't mean he's going to ride the Tilt-a-Whirl.
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The weather gnomes say we could have afternoon thunderstorms. That would be, shall we say, unusual. When I say unusual, let me put it in perspective: I've heard six ... no, seven ... thunderclaps since I've been in Alaska. And one of them was during a blizzard on Adak Island in 1976.
Will it happen? Sure; anything's possible. Notice I didn't say likely.
Psalm 22:27-28: “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is the Lord's, and he ruleth among the nations.”
2 comments:
If anything good comes out of the McChrystal debacle - it will be that reporters are kept at arm's length or
maybe even at base length - which is good. All this buddy-buddy crap is for the birds. Look where it gets the military - they get positions blown, activities and strategies blared to the world, and idiot writers salivating over being able to write a juicy story about a soldier being killed. It's disgusting.
If you ever meet a reporter the only thing to do is say "no comment" and tell them to leave - that's it. Nothing good ever comes of talking to them.
I see we are of one mind on this issue; not surprising. The only disagreement I have is I feel his rules of engagement have needlessly led to a substantial number of deaths for our, and our ally's, forces.
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