The Five-Sided Bone Yard

Today's (8/26) NY TIMES Magazine publishes Challenging the Generals. This is the important story about which I gave you that "heads-up" a couple of days ago. It makes a couple of interesting and important points: our younger officers are not extending beyond their initial required terms of service; many of our generals earn their rank by not rocking the boat and by not being creative or outstanding. Some of the younger officers are challenging the perceptions of the older officers. In other words, the Army is just another ossified bureaucracy that seeks to maintain its own cultures and traditions, and heaven help anyone who tries to change things or present a different perspective.

It has always been the field grade officers, the 0-4s and 0-5s, the majors and LTCs who were the biggest proponents of change. In other words, they were in that delicate in-between age, not so young as to be stupid and reckless and not so old as to protect possible stars from gracing their shoulders.They were in the system long enough to know what needed to be done and not in it so long that they had sold their souls.

It's a good thing that the younger guys are speaking up, but will they be heard? Many months ago I referenced LTC Paul Yingling's "A Failure of Generalship" and I suggest that you read his indictment of the senior military in conjunction with the TIMES article.

In our system of government, which places control of the military under civilian authority, one must seriously consider consider how and to what extent a military officer should go when he or she disagrees with civilian orders. One must also consider how far a military officer must go when he or she disagrees with military orders, because the military does not, and perhaps can not, tolerate the degree of debate and discussion that occurs in the civilian world. What is flexible are those times when debate must be encouraged.

Read the articles for yourself.