If we get into a shooting war directly with the Russians and/or the Chinese, it's going to be officers like Milley making life and death decisions. The fact that Obama in all 3 of his administrations has placed greater value on diversity and political allegiance in the officer corps selection rather than competence is going to result in those officers being black, latino, native American, white female, gay, lesbian, transvestite, or some other oppressed group, with "D" by their names. Competency is not required. So, that may very well place us into the same situation as the Red Army in 1939, after Stalin had fired or excecuted almost the entire officer corps of the all Soviet services, so that he had yes men and women making the tactical, and sometimes, strategic decisions, for their fight against their fellow socialists, the national socialists. And how did that go for the Soviets.
Great analogy. When you think about it, it is amazing that the Russians were able to survive the first couple of years of the war. A big part of what turned things for them had nothing to do with their military capabilities. It was the Russian winter that stopped the Germans dead in their tracks. No such advantage here in the States (generally speaking).
Mmmm.... in truth the Russians deliberately killed* the excellent and experienced German army at the cost of severe losses to their own, their replacements learned war from the enemy, while the Germans never recovered that level of brilliance again.
Strategic mistakes by the top German leadership weren’t recoverable after Stalingrad, the Germans didn’t have enough fuel.
*Kill the German army while ours improves at cost was also part of the Allied Western Front strategy in WW1.
I never served in the military but my father did (1943 to 1963) and that formed a lot of the person I am. The military is all about “chain of command” until it isn’t convenient or doesn’t suit their needs.
The top levels of the military have always been political but, it seems to me, because they knew that’s what they needed to be in order to obtain the military objectives of defending the country. Today they are full on woke from Milley wanting to know about “white rage” to the CNO defending gay “spoken word” events on our war ships.
The way that our political and military leaders pissed on the twenty years of sacrifice by our uniformed soldiers was disgusting and disgraceful.
Not a single military leader had the integrity and self respect to stand up and state that the operational plan for retreat out of Afghanistan was rational or defensible from a military standpoint and publicly state so and that they wouldn’t have their name be associated with it tells you all you need to know about today’s military.
The only officer held accountable for the shit show that was Kabul was a USMC Lt. Col. infantry commander who had the courage to say the emperor had no clothes. For that he was put into the brig, had his sanity questioned and was booted out of the service after seventeen years of faithful service.
Absolutely right! That was Stu Scheller. Consider this, when Stu Scheller posts something on social media critical of military leadership, he gets a court martial. When Milley offers to give our enemy advance warning of an attack, he's a hero. How in the world did we get here?
I'm not military either, but to say the Afghanistan debacle was unavoidable is a slap in the face of every soldier that serves. for the last 15 years when anyone would push for an exit in Afghanistan, we were told that wasn't possible because the country would fall into the hands of the Taliban and we couldn't abandon our allies within the country. so what the hell was going on the last 15 years of military strategy? in my mind that was worse than Saigon. a giant stain on any military leader in charge...
Don't forget the time Gen Eisenhower wrote to Field Marshal Keitel to tell him that he'd give him a heads-up if that lunatic FDR tried some crazy-a** ****. Oh, he didn't? Where did Milley learn that, I wonder? Probably not at the Naval War College, where he earned a Masters, but I wouldn't be so quick to give a pass to Princeton and Columbia, where he earned a BA and MA respectively. It was hardly "America First" on those campuses at that time. Or since.
This is the second time in a week that the world's political and media elite were exposed as complete ignoramuses, as far as their knowledge of history is concerned--the thunderous applause in Canada for a member of the Waffen--SS being the first. Duh, what organization would a patriotic Ukrainian join in order to fight the Communists?
And if those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it, or if history doesn't necessarily repeat itself but rhymes, I haven't quite figured out if we're in 1790s France, 1918 Russia, or 1930s Spain. But we're definitely in Europe's July of 1914. Something really big is coming at us.
I agree. The price we’ll pay for The Great Dumbing down will be high. We’re already paying for it via the cancerous layers of “officialdom” running local, state, and national agencies while the sheep shuffle about under the load.
“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.”
The government thinks they are Athens, in truth they are frightened, wretched cowards afraid of everyone above all their own people, whom they have lost.
Miley’s problem is he clearly rose as Managerial Class and must please everyone, thus pleasing none.
There’s no better man for the job in truth. Were a warrior there we’d plunge to a fiery Doom.
“...and the movement toward a more openly political military seems to be appearing as the tactical and strategic skill of military leaders declines.”
Yup. That pretty much the issue right there. Senior military officers are politically skilled. And that’s about it. Across the board the system promotes that “gift.” It’s also an issue throughout modern government. We probably have more institutions Les by more pedigreed individuals then ever before, yet we can get anything done. Sure, everyone is very good at identifying problems but they lack the skills to lead efforts to conclusion. Instead they all dance around problems, revamp COAs, and then identify the problems, revamp the COAs...
We have left that coarse, unenlightened time when competence and excellence were rewarded, and are now in the glorious era of the social media star, the 'influencer', if you will, which discourages knowledge, competence, and actual achievement in the drive for clicks and likes. This explains equally the state of the military, the government, and public employees.
But I think we only appear to live in a shallow world of surface and gloss, where everyone has goldfish attention span and only posturing matters. The depths are still there, underneath it all. None of this would function without the patient contributions of humble and competent people.
Perhaps someday a big wave will wash away the accumulated surface scum.
I think you're right - I hope you're right - that beneath all the rubbish are genuinely competent people who go through life making things better for everyone without getting the thanks they deserve. Sadly, there don't seem to be enough of them and they're in danger of being completely ground down.
I agree that you'll find less and less of these people in so-called "public service" "leadership" roles, because bad money drives out good.
I'm not as pessimistic, though, in large part because I don't take at face value the self-importance of these individuals or the institutions they purport to represent. They are but parasites and usurpers. Their power is an illusion maintained only by the consent and participation of the bulk of humanity. As their mendacity and hollowness reaches fruition, as our collective patience wears thin, they will dry up and blow away. (There will surely be some collateral damage along the way, I admit!)
I think we could do pretty well as a country without either the bloated administrative state or the bloated military. Indeed, to the extent that we're doing OK, it's in spite of these. My unsolicited advice: just steer clear of them, establish good relations with your neighbors and an honorable livelihood, and carefully moderate your intake of outrage media. Seems to work for me.
All well & good, but I’m keeping my scopes zeroed, and rifles, pistols, & mags lubricated, just in case the wind isn’t strong enough to dry them up and blow them away.
Thoroughly Modern Milley ought to be wearing make up and a dress while giving speeches on white rage. Of course, that would increase his appeal to his pandering audience and/or media.
His high school teammate was named “Richard.” “Richard” might be a deadname now, but it wasn’t at the time. We need to be true to the individual’s “lived truth.” 🤣🤡
The coup has already happened. What we see now is merely a consolidation of power, a messy mopping up action. Nevermind that; quibble over the details. We /know/ Milley is a perjurer and - given that Ukraine war is anything but pretend - a traitor. He's one of those responsible for the death and maiming of easily .5million Ukrainians - and it is pure sophistry to claim they are not "our" soldiers; who is paying their salaries, hello? His head belongs on a pike somewhere along Rt 95.
There will be war. It is perhaps the only way to clear this society of the psychopaths, narcissists and parasites. And maybe not "will"; it seems it is already here.
"I don't think it's quite fair to condemn the whole program because of a single slip up." Great movie, great subtitle, and a great column. But I was waiting for the other shoe to drop: "I'm not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed. But I do say no more than 10 to 20 million killed, tops! Depending on the breaks."
This in no way approaches the real Civilian Military problem;
Oh Civilians- you don’t actually have a military anymore. Just some guys standing there, they’ll melt away-wisely- at the next real push. You’re on your own.
This will shortly become apparent. It looks in practice like Uvalde, or the Afghan Army ANA rapid collapse in 21.
And the contempt for our Flag Officers in all ranks is so palpable the children of military - normally quiet- go stone faced and hiss “the Generals are not of us, they are part of the Elites” then go quiet again. Wonder where the kids learned that?
I'm sorry, but this whole Milley thing just drives me nuts! Milley's actions in communicating with the Chinese behind the back of his Commander-in-Chief and offering assurances of advance notice in the event of an attack were treasonous! The only reason Milley is not behind bars is because of the Democrat's hatred of Trump. Milley's actions reinforce the Democrats' assertions that Trump is unhinged and can't be trusted and they need to lionize Milley to maintain that story line. Milley is a useful idiot who in normal times would have been dealt with most harshly. That Politico, the Atlantic and other left wing outlets applaud Milley's actions should tell you everything you need to know about them.
If we get into a shooting war directly with the Russians and/or the Chinese, it's going to be officers like Milley making life and death decisions. The fact that Obama in all 3 of his administrations has placed greater value on diversity and political allegiance in the officer corps selection rather than competence is going to result in those officers being black, latino, native American, white female, gay, lesbian, transvestite, or some other oppressed group, with "D" by their names. Competency is not required. So, that may very well place us into the same situation as the Red Army in 1939, after Stalin had fired or excecuted almost the entire officer corps of the all Soviet services, so that he had yes men and women making the tactical, and sometimes, strategic decisions, for their fight against their fellow socialists, the national socialists. And how did that go for the Soviets.
God help us and pray for the Republic.
Danny Huckabee
"Every battle is won before it is fought." Or lost.
Great analogy. When you think about it, it is amazing that the Russians were able to survive the first couple of years of the war. A big part of what turned things for them had nothing to do with their military capabilities. It was the Russian winter that stopped the Germans dead in their tracks. No such advantage here in the States (generally speaking).
Mmmm.... in truth the Russians deliberately killed* the excellent and experienced German army at the cost of severe losses to their own, their replacements learned war from the enemy, while the Germans never recovered that level of brilliance again.
Strategic mistakes by the top German leadership weren’t recoverable after Stalingrad, the Germans didn’t have enough fuel.
*Kill the German army while ours improves at cost was also part of the Allied Western Front strategy in WW1.
I never served in the military but my father did (1943 to 1963) and that formed a lot of the person I am. The military is all about “chain of command” until it isn’t convenient or doesn’t suit their needs.
The top levels of the military have always been political but, it seems to me, because they knew that’s what they needed to be in order to obtain the military objectives of defending the country. Today they are full on woke from Milley wanting to know about “white rage” to the CNO defending gay “spoken word” events on our war ships.
The way that our political and military leaders pissed on the twenty years of sacrifice by our uniformed soldiers was disgusting and disgraceful.
Not a single military leader had the integrity and self respect to stand up and state that the operational plan for retreat out of Afghanistan was rational or defensible from a military standpoint and publicly state so and that they wouldn’t have their name be associated with it tells you all you need to know about today’s military.
The only officer held accountable for the shit show that was Kabul was a USMC Lt. Col. infantry commander who had the courage to say the emperor had no clothes. For that he was put into the brig, had his sanity questioned and was booted out of the service after seventeen years of faithful service.
Absolutely right! That was Stu Scheller. Consider this, when Stu Scheller posts something on social media critical of military leadership, he gets a court martial. When Milley offers to give our enemy advance warning of an attack, he's a hero. How in the world did we get here?
I'm not military either, but to say the Afghanistan debacle was unavoidable is a slap in the face of every soldier that serves. for the last 15 years when anyone would push for an exit in Afghanistan, we were told that wasn't possible because the country would fall into the hands of the Taliban and we couldn't abandon our allies within the country. so what the hell was going on the last 15 years of military strategy? in my mind that was worse than Saigon. a giant stain on any military leader in charge...
The military doesn’t make policy, including strategy. It follows orders.
BTW the military warned about Karzai airport and indeed the horrid corruption in the Afghan government for 15 years.
Yes, the military told the politicians precisely in mid 2000s that Karzai airport was worse than Dien Bien Phu.
You may have some idea the military has power, it doesn’t.
We are legally and in status terms armed convicts , or at least indentured servants.
They don’t listen and they don’t care.
yeah, I was just reading about the problems with Karzai. terrible.
by "military strategy", I meant the strategy for the military. I know the military are just a hammer for the most part.
Don't forget the time Gen Eisenhower wrote to Field Marshal Keitel to tell him that he'd give him a heads-up if that lunatic FDR tried some crazy-a** ****. Oh, he didn't? Where did Milley learn that, I wonder? Probably not at the Naval War College, where he earned a Masters, but I wouldn't be so quick to give a pass to Princeton and Columbia, where he earned a BA and MA respectively. It was hardly "America First" on those campuses at that time. Or since.
Hey General Milley, maybe win a war, then you can talk sh-t about the CinC, until that happens STFU.
This is the second time in a week that the world's political and media elite were exposed as complete ignoramuses, as far as their knowledge of history is concerned--the thunderous applause in Canada for a member of the Waffen--SS being the first. Duh, what organization would a patriotic Ukrainian join in order to fight the Communists?
And if those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it, or if history doesn't necessarily repeat itself but rhymes, I haven't quite figured out if we're in 1790s France, 1918 Russia, or 1930s Spain. But we're definitely in Europe's July of 1914. Something really big is coming at us.
I agree. The price we’ll pay for The Great Dumbing down will be high. We’re already paying for it via the cancerous layers of “officialdom” running local, state, and national agencies while the sheep shuffle about under the load.
“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.”
Malachi 4:1-2 NIV
We’re 1911 China and the Fall of the Qing Dynasty without a successor.
The winner will be the American Mao - the most fit warlord.
We Americans are both Athens and Melos.
The people are Melos.
The government thinks they are Athens, in truth they are frightened, wretched cowards afraid of everyone above all their own people, whom they have lost.
Miley’s problem is he clearly rose as Managerial Class and must please everyone, thus pleasing none.
There’s no better man for the job in truth. Were a warrior there we’d plunge to a fiery Doom.
As it happens it all just slips away.
We're on the same page here, I think. From Monday: https://www.theblaze.com/column/boychuk-who-the-hell-does-mark-milley-think-he-is
Sorry I missed this!
Thorough.
I'm a simple man, I see Buck Turgison, I like and I comment. Heck Col. Mandrake too, for that matter.
Major Cong.
YEEEHAAAA !!!
“...and the movement toward a more openly political military seems to be appearing as the tactical and strategic skill of military leaders declines.”
Yup. That pretty much the issue right there. Senior military officers are politically skilled. And that’s about it. Across the board the system promotes that “gift.” It’s also an issue throughout modern government. We probably have more institutions Les by more pedigreed individuals then ever before, yet we can get anything done. Sure, everyone is very good at identifying problems but they lack the skills to lead efforts to conclusion. Instead they all dance around problems, revamp COAs, and then identify the problems, revamp the COAs...
We have left that coarse, unenlightened time when competence and excellence were rewarded, and are now in the glorious era of the social media star, the 'influencer', if you will, which discourages knowledge, competence, and actual achievement in the drive for clicks and likes. This explains equally the state of the military, the government, and public employees.
Clicked and liked! ❤️
But I think we only appear to live in a shallow world of surface and gloss, where everyone has goldfish attention span and only posturing matters. The depths are still there, underneath it all. None of this would function without the patient contributions of humble and competent people.
Perhaps someday a big wave will wash away the accumulated surface scum.
I think you're right - I hope you're right - that beneath all the rubbish are genuinely competent people who go through life making things better for everyone without getting the thanks they deserve. Sadly, there don't seem to be enough of them and they're in danger of being completely ground down.
I agree that you'll find less and less of these people in so-called "public service" "leadership" roles, because bad money drives out good.
I'm not as pessimistic, though, in large part because I don't take at face value the self-importance of these individuals or the institutions they purport to represent. They are but parasites and usurpers. Their power is an illusion maintained only by the consent and participation of the bulk of humanity. As their mendacity and hollowness reaches fruition, as our collective patience wears thin, they will dry up and blow away. (There will surely be some collateral damage along the way, I admit!)
I think we could do pretty well as a country without either the bloated administrative state or the bloated military. Indeed, to the extent that we're doing OK, it's in spite of these. My unsolicited advice: just steer clear of them, establish good relations with your neighbors and an honorable livelihood, and carefully moderate your intake of outrage media. Seems to work for me.
All well & good, but I’m keeping my scopes zeroed, and rifles, pistols, & mags lubricated, just in case the wind isn’t strong enough to dry them up and blow them away.
Chris, let me say out loud what you are too polite to say:
Milley is owned.
Fauci is owned
Biden is owned
No one is this incompetent. The lionization (of all of them in the media) is just to keep the narrative going...
You are correct
But you underestimate incompetence
Thoroughly Modern Milley ought to be wearing make up and a dress while giving speeches on white rage. Of course, that would increase his appeal to his pandering audience and/or media.
You might suggest it to his booking agent on October 1.
Maybe could appear with his high school football teammate, "Rachel" Levine. Talk about a 1-2 punch!
His high school teammate was named “Richard.” “Richard” might be a deadname now, but it wasn’t at the time. We need to be true to the individual’s “lived truth.” 🤣🤡
Like this:
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=mark%20milley%20makeup%20meme&iax=images&ia=images&iai=https://snuggleduck.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/mark-milley-chairman-of-the-joint-chiefs-lipstick.jpg&ko=-1&t=ddg_ios&atb=v229-1
LOL!
Very interesting review of previous high-level conflicts between the military and elected politicians, thanks!
The coup has already happened. What we see now is merely a consolidation of power, a messy mopping up action. Nevermind that; quibble over the details. We /know/ Milley is a perjurer and - given that Ukraine war is anything but pretend - a traitor. He's one of those responsible for the death and maiming of easily .5million Ukrainians - and it is pure sophistry to claim they are not "our" soldiers; who is paying their salaries, hello? His head belongs on a pike somewhere along Rt 95.
There will be war. It is perhaps the only way to clear this society of the psychopaths, narcissists and parasites. And maybe not "will"; it seems it is already here.
"I don't think it's quite fair to condemn the whole program because of a single slip up." Great movie, great subtitle, and a great column. But I was waiting for the other shoe to drop: "I'm not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed. But I do say no more than 10 to 20 million killed, tops! Depending on the breaks."
Milley is Managerial Class General. This sums it.
This in no way approaches the real Civilian Military problem;
Oh Civilians- you don’t actually have a military anymore. Just some guys standing there, they’ll melt away-wisely- at the next real push. You’re on your own.
This will shortly become apparent. It looks in practice like Uvalde, or the Afghan Army ANA rapid collapse in 21.
And the contempt for our Flag Officers in all ranks is so palpable the children of military - normally quiet- go stone faced and hiss “the Generals are not of us, they are part of the Elites” then go quiet again. Wonder where the kids learned that?
And Can you hear me hissing?
Good luck.
I'm sorry, but this whole Milley thing just drives me nuts! Milley's actions in communicating with the Chinese behind the back of his Commander-in-Chief and offering assurances of advance notice in the event of an attack were treasonous! The only reason Milley is not behind bars is because of the Democrat's hatred of Trump. Milley's actions reinforce the Democrats' assertions that Trump is unhinged and can't be trusted and they need to lionize Milley to maintain that story line. Milley is a useful idiot who in normal times would have been dealt with most harshly. That Politico, the Atlantic and other left wing outlets applaud Milley's actions should tell you everything you need to know about them.