The Crossed Pond

Having served with so many extraordinarily competent senior officers, I am rather far from the otherwise convenient opinion that Generals and Admirals are rather standard persons that have simply demonstrated a gift for patronage and ladder climbing. While I might count a handful of this sort, the overwhelming majority are highly intelligent, extremely capable, well educated, and quite rational. And yet, they are products of their times, culture and a selection methodology that does seem to produce a type; which however gifted at war fighting, tactical command, and management, can and often does provide shockingly bad strategic advice. See: Iraq. Of particular note is the tendency of general and flag officers, and perhaps especially retired ranking members, to demonstrate staggeringly poor awareness of social norms and trends among the non-septuagenarian portion of the population.

I remind myself of these long held opinions as a form of minor self-satisfied compensation against the great disappointment of seeing over a thousand retired generals and admirals sign on to an open letter to the President advising against repeal of Section 654 of U.S. Code Title 10: the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy excluding openly gay and lesbian citizens from military service. This letter does not merely recommend continuation of the policy, but stakes a position so logically unsound, so intentionally ignorant of statistics, and so ridiculously alarmist as to make me, well… I play at being a jaded misanthrope, but truth to tell: I’m a naïve optimist continually surprised and outraged by what should be entirely predictable reactions from my fellow man. But still, this letter disappointed me more than I expected, and I’m still vacillating between anger and ennui.

Comment is called for.

First, some perspective on the numbers: A thousand retired generals and admirals does indeed sound quiet impressive, and I don’t mean to suggest that opposition to repeal of DADT is a minority opinion among senior retired persons. But do remember that there are nearly 800 active duty Generals and Admirals serving right now, a number that does not include National Guard and reserve GOs and FOs. There are, quite literally, over five ten thousand living retired generals and admirals.

The list is perhaps more interesting for who is NOT a signatory. Of the last six officers to hold each the following positions: Only 1 of the last 6 Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are included. 2 of the last 6 Commandants of the Marine Corps, 1 Chief of Naval Operations, 1 Chief of Staff of the Army, and 1 Chief of Staff of the Air Force. No Superintendants of the Naval Academy, going back beyond the last six, to before I attended. (I chose “the last six” because beyond that they tend to be, well, dead.) Colin Powell is missing, as is Wes Clark, Shinseki, and Shalikashvili. Surprisingly, given his past statements on homosexuals, Peter Pace is not included. Neither is Barry McCaffrey or Norman Schwarzkopf. Granted, there could be any number of reasons for not appearing on the list other than actual ideological opposition: lack of awareness of the list, civilian employment that might be adversely affected by signing up, or future corporate or political plans that might, likewise, be impacted by inclusion in this group. I can only say that in terms of networking, there is almost no group, especially in this age group, that can compare to retired generals and admirals. They retain, out of habit, comradeship, and ego, close ties and awareness of current military affairs.

Tomorrow, we fisk the letter itself.