Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

A Politicized Military... DUH!

At the highest levels, the US Military has always been “Politicized.” Read the oath that all military personnel take. “…I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of those appointed over me...” The President is enabled by a political party in getting elected and it should come as no surprise that the Military is inclined, for the right reasons as well as the wrong, to the politics of the Commander in Chief. Duh!

This holds true for Republican Presidents in the past and for the Democrat who currently enjoys the office of Chief Executive. The President appoints the Chairman of the Joint Chief’s of Staff and other key Officers to their posts. If that isn’t political I don’t know what is. Anybody who thinks promotion to the grade of General Officer (GO) isn’t political is uninformed. The board based selection process used to select officers up to the grade of O6 (Colonel/Admiral/Commodore) becomes one of patronage beyond that. Every officer in uniform, who has been around awhile, understands and accepts the way the selection process works. There is no question that criteria of objectivity yield to the good old boy network for selection into the GO fraternity. From here it is an easy step to accept the influence of political patronage and the effect that has on the process. Like the Phoenix it takes on a new life after each change of Administration. It is not necessarily bad or unfair. It is however, a waste of time discussing it.

The Chairman of the Joint Chief’s of staff and other key military appointments are as political in nature as the appointment of cabinet officials to head Governmental Agencies. The chief difference is that senior military officers carry a reputation of special trust and confidence that their civilian counterparts do not always enjoy. They keep their job only for as long as the Chief Executive suffers them to serve. The commander in chief can change Senior Officers at the top levels of command and influence with the ease of formals coming off on Prom night. Most often a senior officer is asked to “Retire” quietly. When this happens it is the result of one of several things. These tend to include, sexual misconduct, financial misconduct, mission failure, or “Running off at the Mouth.”

In the fog of what happened the night Benghazi took place one can only speculate on the sudden retirement of prominent General Officers. It happened, and amid the shroud of secrecy one is left to speculate why. It is my suspicion that it is one of the latter two. It could be that there were some harsh exchanges between commanders in Europe and Africa with the White House Situation room as our Ambassador and three Americans were left to die. Then again it could have been that they were sanctioned when milestones relating to an alert posture of their commands were not met. This was an alert posture that spun out of control as a National Crises unfolded, complicated perhaps by a disengaged President. Take your pick. These retirements and Benghazi are probably not coincidental.