Rumsfeld says foes fear change
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said yesterday that retired generals’ calls for his resignation are rooted in opposition to his push to streamline and restructure the Army.
The Chief would agree that there is a lot of truth in Rumsfeld’s comments concerning the crop of has-been retired generals of the ilk that has been referred to (unofficially) as “perfumed princes” – political and bureaucratic “managers” instead of examples of warriors.
Asked about resignation calls yesterday, Mr. Rumsfeld delivered a history lesson on what a Bush-ordered transformation has done for the Army and how some generals, retired and active, do not like it. He cited his decision to terminate the Crusader self-propelled artillery piece and the Comanche attack-scout helicopter, while taking the Army away from a division-centric force and toward smaller brigade combat teams that can deploy faster.
OH NO! He’s taking some of our new toys away from us! (Who cares whether or not they were actually what’s needed in today’s world military context!)
He called the Army transition to modular brigades “an enormous accomplishment. And our Army will be vastly better than it was five, six years ago. And that’s hard. That’s hard for the people in the Army to do. It’s hard for people who are oriented one way to suddenly have to be oriented a different way.”
(Self-explanatory.)
He said he is moving the armed services from “service-centric war fighting” to “interdependence. That’s a hard thing to do, for services to recognize that they don’t have to have all of the capabilities, but they have to work sufficiently with the others.”
Sounds like a kindergarten teacher’s report: “Doesn’t play well with others.” Ouch! Finally – there’s this ultimate heresy of military bureaucracy:
Mr. Rumsfeld then turned to his decision in 2003 to skip over a number of active-duty generals and pluck from retirement Gen. Peter Schoomaker, a career special operations soldier, to be Army chief of staff. Gen. Schoomaker had become a close adviser to Mr. Rumsfeld on another pet project, revamping U.S. Special Operations Command. Aides said Mr. Rumsfeld developed a trust that Gen. Schoomaker would carry out transformation the way the defense secretary wanted, as opposed to the former chief, Gen. Shinseki, who opposed much of the agenda.
What a radical concept: appointing someone you’re in agreement with and who you expect to carry out your policies! Shocking!
“The idea of bringing a retired person out of retirement to serve as chief of staff of the Army was stunning and a lot of people didn’t like it,” Mr. Rumsfeld said. “The fact that he was a Special Forces officer, a joint officer, added to the attitudes.”
“…but, but…he was already retired! He stole someone elses chance to get their ticket punched and get a new promotion! Circle the wagons! Call for the cavalry! Sound the bugle! We can’t abide THAT!!! Besides, those special ops types are actually worried about the best way to fight a war – to the detriment of maintaining the bureaucratic status-quo.”
Is it any wonder that these political generals have their nose out of joint?
F.E.T.E.