From "Hegseth Strikes Two Black and Two Female Officers From Promotion List/Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s highly unusual decision to remove officers from a one-star promotion list has spurred allegations of racial and gender bias" (NYT). The sources for this article are anonymous current and former military and administration officials.
Note that the language purports to know why one person was targeted: "Those struck included a Black armor officer and combat veteran, who was singled out because he had written a paper nearly 15 years earlier that analyzed why African American officers historically have opted for support jobs over frontline, combat positions, military officials said." That doesn't sound like a reason, and yet we're told he "was singled out because" of an analysis he wrote. Maybe tell us what he wrote. Why do black officers avoid the frontline? Did the analysis parrot dogma about systemic racism?
What about the others? We're told one female "served in Afghanistan during the bloody 2021 withdrawal," but that alone isn't a reason. What are the details? We're told "It’s unclear why Mr. Hegseth removed the other two officers — another logistics officer and a finance specialist" and then there is a 5th officer who "is a white man." It feels as though information is withheld so that all we see is race and sex and that looks like a pattern — a pattern of 4.
పోస్ట్లు
106 కామెంట్లు:
Most colonels don’t become general officers.
But his heavy scrutiny, especially of female and minority officers, is eroding confidence in a promotion system that is supposed to be apolitical and merit based, his critics have said
We had a system that was apolitical and merit based, but that's not what Hegseth is dismantling. What he's trying to find out is whether the female and minority officers were advanced due to merit or something political.
Good Lord. Everyone at that rank would have served, or "served" in some manner. That is not a defense.
The author uses "heavy scrutiny" to imply discrimination. Wouldn't the group that benefitted from advancement sans merit receive the most scrutiny?
This is predetermined narrative that, since it lacks actual evidence, satisfies itself with hints and winks.
It feels as though information is withheld so that all we see is race and sex and that looks like a pattern
New motto of the NYT: Ensuring those predisposed to see the pattern can quickly and unambiguously see the pattern.
Please, more, faster.
TosaGuy said...
Most colonels don’t become general officers.
Per Grok, 3,770 colonels on active duty, 250 Brigadier Generals.
John Henry
promotion system that is supposed to be apolitical and merit based, his critics have said
I don’t believe Hegseth has any critics who care about "apolitical and merit based." More importantly, if the problem is women and minorities being promoted for reasons unrelated to merit, then returning to a system based on merit would necessarily involve removing a disproportionate number of women and minorities.
That's just common sense.
The first black Marine four-star was just promoted a couple of weeks ago. That is a great way to hide racism!
"a promotion system that is supposed to be apolitical"
It is most definitely not apolitical, and never has been.
"and merit"
Not and seldom ever was.
It's a 90/10 ratio, 90% political box-checking, 10% merit...and it usually needs to be quite meritorious. Speaking from experience, and don't get me started on ring-knocking.
TosaGuy said, "Most colonels don’t become general officers."
Can confirm. Personally.
In a normal world, Affirmative Action promotions would always run that risk. Of course, in a normal world Affirmative Action promotions wouldn't even exist.
Do they really think that Hegseth was unaware that these particular promotion list deletions would be scrutinized to the nines? Do they really think that he isn't prepared for that with legitimate rationales? (And then there's the question of whether he gives a rat's ass what they think...)
NYT, huh? Writing an article about entrenched bias at the highest levels, huh?
"You been talking about the Queen again, Bob? On Independence Day ? ? "
"Mr. Hegseth has said repeatedly that he is determined to change a culture corrupted by 'foolish,' 'reckless' and 'woke' leaders from previous administrations."
"But his heavy scrutiny, especially of female and minority officers, is eroding confidence in a promotion system that is supposed to be apolitical and merit based, his critics have said
Yes, it was "supposed to be apolitical and merit based", but instead it was racist, sexist, and political, so Hegseth is undoing that.
The sources for this article are anonymous current and former military and administration officials.
All of who either pushed the racism, sexism, and politics themselves, or benefited from it, or both.
If you haven't found a way across the Achievement Gap, then ipso facto you haven't found merit. Sayonara.
I always like the way the Navy did enlisted promotion. You got points for time in Navy, time in grade, medals, performance evals, schools and some other stuff.
But about 75% of all possible points came from an exam given twice a year. Same day and time world wide. Test was on military, leadership and tech skills. eg; Everyone taking the test for Machinist Mate 2nd class took the same test.
The Navy knew how many they were going to promote for each rate and rating. Everyones points were added up and sorted high to low. If they needed 175 MM2s that cycle, the top 175 got promoted.
Everyone knew their points and cutoff was published.
Hard to imagine a fairer system.
Maybe they need something like that for officers.
John Henry
If you are by nature a complainer, a back-biter, an all-around malcontent, it must by nice to know that a sympathetic ear at the Times is just a phone call away.
He seems to be trying to undo some of the DEI bias cooked into the board selection criteria by the last few Administrations
good for him.
and yes, the path to stars in the Army runs through Brigade command
and yes, traditionally, black officers and black soldiers have overselected the combat service support fields, hurting long term promotion, but favoring their exit to civil life with a useful skill set.
The sources for this article are anonymous current and former military and administration officials.
... "Those struck included a Black armor officer and combat veteran, who was singled out because he had written a paper nearly 15 years earlier that analyzed why African American officers historically have opted for support jobs over frontline, combat positions, military officials said."
So the "military officials" who "said" that teh male officer was struck because of something he wrote 15 years ago are not on record members of the Hegseth DoW, but the anonymous whiners.
Only an idiot would believe any of the claims being pushed by this article as coming from "military officials", given their "sources".
We have the best Cabinet in history (or maybe since Lincoln and Washington) and the Left's goal is to personally destroy all of them.
Dems hate America.
The military has historically promoted steady as she goes, don't rock the boat, calm hand on the tiller, types to General / Flag Officer status. This results in a mix of "Yes Men" and stiff stovepiped cultures that refuse to deviate from the status quo. The civilian leaders typically choose to wear matching dark clothes too (beyond uniforms), and resemble cookie-cutter crows or vultures.
Each of the nominal reasons may or may not be why these peole were kicked off the list. Perhaps the military wants more creativity and variety in management.
Cleanup on Aisle 9 is always going to draw some flak. "Promotion mistakes were made." Correction is going to cause some pain.
I'm sure Iran, Russia and China are relieved that they won't have to face Obamas trans, dog collar wearing soldiers anymore.
Or Jag officers who write ROI that result in American casualties are going to be a great loss
Hegseth is one of Trumps best appointments.
RIDESPACEMOUNTAIN @9:41
Now that is a very polite, sanitized and whitewashed way to describe the promotion system. After a stretch as support staff at a command and general staff college my opinion of anyone who makes colonel is not publishable on the internet.
A disadvantage is that the test could question ANTHING a Machinist Mate was supposed to know. I had to know about 5 different kinds of distillation plants, air distillation, aircraft catapults, steam winches and other stuff I'd never seen.
OTOH, I like to read, tech manuals were the only thing we could read on watch so I read through a bunch of stuff I didn't need to.
I not only passed the test each time I had enough time in, I got advanced. I made e-6 1 day before completing 5 years active duty.
So perhaps it worked.
John Henry
First it is the NYatimes. Which means it is heavily biased towards helping their democrat party tribe.
Second they are finding it difficult to get to Trump so they always go after those around.
Third it’s the NYTimes which colludes with the now far left socialist Democrat party.
It turns out the types of people who disproportionately benefited from DEI are disproportionately negatively affected by its removal.
Althouse said...
Maybe tell us what he wrote... What are the details? ...It feels as though information is withheld so that all we see is race and sex and that looks like a pattern — a pattern of 4.
The media no longer hide the bias. Increasingly, I see putative straight news articles with a headline to the effect of "[something, something]...Here's what you need to know."
Obviously, "what you need to know" as decided by the publisher of the piece.
It defies reason, human nature, and the current culture to assume that a merit qualified minority would be passed over because they are also a minority. It's just the opposite. People are almost always thrilled to have a minority that is also merit qualified. This is the culture now with everything including friends, employees, family. If you have a minority, it's a badge of honor, not something to avoid. That's why DEI is a problem. The non-merit motivation is powerful in the culture. That may have seemed virtuous at first, but it's still the same old bad policy if merit is ignored or even minimized. Like nepotism, it's just corruption.
It's "woke" to check your targets before sending the missiles to make sure that you are not bombing a girls school. Not that it would have been that hard, since our own Pentagon maps had it as a girls school, but Claude saw that ten years ago, there was a naval base there! Claude is not woke! Of course the Israelis knew damn well that that naval barracks and office complex had moved a decade ago, but to point that out would be "woke" and "tie the hands" of our "war fighters."
He goes to Bible study every week where he learns a type of Christianity that incorporates the Old Testament, and teaches that those who help Israel will be blessed by the Lord; 3,000 year old propaganda still working!
Telling me those who want to receive a flag rank are “heavily scrutinized” sounds appropriate to me.
Among the biggest surprises for officers (in the Army at least...don't know about the other services) is the inverse relationship between intellect and promotability.
Early on in your career raw intellectual power combined with a feel for decision will significantly improve your ability to get noticed, this gets amplified further if you're an Academy graduate. Getting noticed is critically important but it's a double-edged sword as frequently your star gets hitched to CO's careers and it can rise and fall with them.
The further along you go the more raw intellectual ability can harm you, especially if you don't learn to conceal and use it at precisely the right moment, as the competition gets fiercer. The same things you made Major with won't work in making LtC, and so on for every following promotion. Clinching your star is by far the hardest, and then the game changes again, or so I'm told.
The military has more in common with a large corporation than people think. Old timers even used to refer to it that way.
imTay said...
It's "woke" to check your targets before sending the missiles to make sure that you are not bombing a girls school.
Which would explain why the Obama Admin didn't bomb any weddings.
Oh, wait.
Unlike the Iran case, where the girls' school was hit by an Iranian missile, Obama actually did deliberately bomb what turned out to be an innocent wedding.
Tim, how about you STFU when you have nothing.
We're told one female "served in Afghanistan during the bloody 2021 withdrawal.”
If she had anything whatsoever to do with the decision not to defend the Marines, Navy Corpsman, and Army sergeant at Abbey Gate, then she should have been court martial Ed for dereliction of duty, not placed on a promotion list.
I like my security hard. AMIRITE, ladies?
After an exhaustive talent search, the Los Angeles Fire Dept. had three lesbians in charge of that department. That's why they were able to do such a bang up job during that recent flare up in LA. Just think of how much worse those fires would have been if they didn't have such an inclusive group on the scene.....During the course of a long life, I have seen eminently qualified Black people, passed over for promotion. Racism is not some kind of paranoid fantasy. On the other hand, I have also seen utterly inept minority people occupying positions that they shouldn't have. That happens too........I'm okay with a certain amount of affirmative action, but when people who are visibly incompetent occupy positions of responsibility, that's more of a cause than a cure for racism.
Maybe Hegseth asked everyone their pronouns and crossed off everyone who thought he was serious and answered.
Note that the Left goes right for DEI. It’s all they know how to do.
This is why government keeps getting bigger and more intrusive. Undoing reverse discrimination is -- wait for it -- discriminatory! Undoing any regulation that benefited some special interest is mean and discriminatory toward that group, even it if it's a non-racial group (farmers, seniors, etc.).
As usual the NYT and its anonymous, probably imaginary, sources focus on Trumpsters interference with the march of Gramscian socialism rather than issues of substance. E.g., is Hegseth’s military better prepared to fight? No need to wonder why.
Hegseth gives a homily to his Bible Study class at the Pentagon, maybe it’s a prayer to Jesus to harden our hearts for all of the killing that we need to do in Jesus’ name
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gsqVj3G0cmA&pp=ugUEEgJlbg%3D%3D
I missed the part about our doing Iran in Jesus name, imTay. Did you just make that up?
.."What are the details? We're told "It’s unclear why Mr. Hegseth removed the other"..
as several people have pointed here, the OVERWHELMING majority of Cols (O-6) NEVER become an O-7.
So the reasons for removing people from this list are irrelevant; what matters is the reason for being ON the list.
Just doing a good (or even great) job of O-6 is NOT enough for promotion.. You have to be ahead of nearly ALL others.
Were these folk ahead of nearly ALL others? if so, the NYTs should list their accomplishments.
Every Col i've EVER personally known (1, a friend's father) retired as Col, because that's how far he made it..
and he was damn glad he made it that far.
RideSpaceMountain said...
"Among the biggest surprises for officers (in the Army at least...don't know about the other services) is the inverse relationship between intellect and promotability."
Can confirm, and I only made it to O-5.
Oh noes! Two of each? How about context, NYT? Out of a group of how many?
"Hegseth Strikes Two Black and Two Female Officers..."
Violence against women and minorities.
RSM,
“ The military has more in common with a large corporation than people think”
It’s a bureaucracy
So rather than having a board of professionals decide who should get promoted, it ought to be up to the Secretary of Defense (sorry, but it takes an act of Congress to change his title) to be able to veto the promotions. Their promotion papers will spell out clearly how they are exceptional. It seems like it is Hegseth's responsibility to state his reasons for denying the promotions. I.e., shouldn't have to demonstrate that their promotions are undeserved because they are 'cowards hiding under stars' and 'whores to wokesters.'
I bet he is pissed off that he never made it past O-4. Of course he apparently slept through all the classes on the UCMJ and the Geneva Convention, since he is not only ignoring them, but reveling in it.
So rather than having a board of professionals decide who should get promoted, it ought to be up to the Secretary of Defense
Yes, because we have a civilian controlled military.
it takes an act of Congress to change his title
Ditto flag rank officers.
Ditto flag rank officers.
Apparently, Hegseth doesn't trust Congress to promote the officers he wants.
"It feels as though information is withheld so that all we see is race and sex and that looks like a pattern" Progs withholding information to shape a narrative? No way.
MSM think:
1) Promoting blacks and women is good and therefore not reportable.
2) Not promoting blacks and women is bad and therefore a story.
Okey-Dokey. When the US military officer corps was all white and all male before WW 2, lots of politics went into who got promoted to General and who didnt. Often it was just a matter of knowing the right person, or getting lucky.
FDR Liked George Marshall better than Hugh Drum. So Marshall got to be Chief of staff in 1939. Nobody today knows who Drum is, although his record was much better than Marshalls. Marshall knew Omar bradley and pushed him during WW 2 and he ended up as Chief of staff. Marshall didn't know James Van Fleet, and it took Eisenhower's intervention for Van Fleet to get promoted.
Every Goddamn thing in the NYT/WaPo is propaganda. Never can they report anything straight.
"Apparently, Hegseth doesn't trust Congress to promote the officers he wants."
Would you trust Congress to walk your dog?
"I bet he is pissed off that he never made it past O-4."
He's above every officer and rank.
Would you trust Congress to walk your dog?
Leland was the one who pointed out that we have a civilian controlled military. Are you suggesting we eliminate congress? And I am the fascist?
He's above every officer and rank.
But that has nothing to do with his competence. Unless you believe the only requirement for a Department secretary, as I do, is the ability to kiss Trump's ass.
"It feels as though information is withheld so that all we see is race and sex and that looks like a pattern" Progs withholding information to shape a narrative? No way.
and Hegseth has provided exactly what information to justify his decision?
Ah politics and political influence in promotion to senior or flag rank. It helps to be in or near the Pentagon and to have real political chops. There's a reason for the military phrase "Perfumed Princes On The Potomac". Alternatively "Perfumed Princes At The Pentagon". In the 1920s the Army had General Conor Fox. His favorites/acquaintances got promoted. In the very late 30s and in WWII George Marshal had his "notebook". He had observed and remembered promising officers he had come across.
Were Fox's and Marshall's choices entirely merit based? Or was it proximity to the decision makers? E.g. see "Perfumed Princes".
Freder saw no problem with the awol defense chief during the houthi attacks
Hard to image there is anyone at DOD less qualified for his job than Pete. Affirmative action in spades.
So rather than having a board of professionals decide who should get promoted, it ought to be up to the Secretary of Defense (sorry, but it takes an act of Congress to change his title) to be able to veto the promotions.
Affirmative-action tokenism and political cronyism with respect to flag officers was rampant in the Clinton administration, and not at the behest of either President Clinton or his SecDef. It was the unelected First Lady, Hillary Clinton, who demanded to see the records of every female colonel and arranged promotions for those considered reliable left-wing feminists regardless of merit.
I served as a civilian employee of a military hospital under a certain colonel who was one of Hillary's girls and won a star not long after I went elsewhere. She was easily the most unimpressive and unsuitable person in a leadership role I met in my time there, well below a couple of other women whom I would have expected to be able to handle the job, and far behind one male colonel who outshone all three of them in every imaginable metric. Chaos and rancor followed her everywhere, and I heard through the grapevine that there was an audit of her department leading to a small financial scandal that put her in bad odor and cost her a promotion from brigadier to MG.
But hey! She had very very short hair, and a commitment to promoting others like her, so Hillary's threats and cajolery won the day.
"Mr Hegseth has said repeatedly that he is determined to change a culture corrupted by 'foolish,' 'reckless,' and 'woke' leaders from previous administrations."
No administration in living memory as been so consistently, insistently, can't-help-them-themselves foolish, reckless, and as wantonly destructive of the well-being and stability of our nation and much of the world at large as the current one, bottomed (as opposed to "headed") by moronic and now-obviously-mentally-deterioritating Don Don Trump and his gaggle of incompetent lapdogs, idiots, and bigger idiots.
What will we do about the pronoun gap if Hegseth has his way?
exhelodrvr1 said, "It’s a bureaucracy"
At this point, everything is. I'm a student of history so I know of a cure for it. Crisis. And not just any will do. They need to be scary and existential. Those are the ones that most importantly clean out human resources along with the imposters and dead weight.
Those are my favorites.
I served as a civilian employee of a military hospital under a certain colonel who was one of Hillary's girls and won a star not long after I went elsewhere. She was easily the most unimpressive and unsuitable person in a leadership role I met in my time there, well below a couple of other women whom I would have expected to be able to handle the job, and far behind one male colonel who outshone all three of them in every imaginable metric. Chaos and rancor followed her everywhere, and I heard through the grapevine that there was an audit of her department leading to a small financial scandal that put her in bad odor and cost her a promotion from brigadier to MG.
I'm sure you can find countless accounts of similar experiences, in both private and government institutions, of having to report to a complete morons, when there were many more competent people who would have done the job better. My professional career is littered with both.
If this article is true, it only reinforces the fact that Petey is an idiot. No class, no taste and no sense of "service". And, for that bone headed idiot that proclaimed that promoting 1 black soldier means there is no racism, you are as dumb as Petey. Decades, regardless of who was in the White House, minorities and women were promoted to positions of responsibility. Not "woke" or "lefty", just promotions based on competence. Too bad Donny T didn't use the armed forces criteria for picking out his cabinet. A bigger bunch of losers and unqualified dolts we have never had in our history. The only one that is kind of competent is Marco Rubio. And he has already sold his soul for "power" he will forever be tainted. As for the rest of them, sycophants all of them. Loyal to a fault, or to their everlasting detriment.
Crisis. And not just any will do. They need to be scary and existential. Those are the ones that most importantly clean out human resources along with the imposters and dead weight.
And as a very wise person once told me: If you have a manager who thinks he is really good at putting out fires, you are working for an arsonist.
It's a 90/10 ratio, 90% political box-checking, 10% merit...and it usually needs to be quite meritorious. Speaking from experience, and don't get me started on ring-knocking.
…confirming what I have always heard though your merit ratio is higher….
Like leaving 80 billion in equipment to the taliban
"Apparently, Hegseth doesn't trust Congress to promote the officers he wants."
Congress? (snort)
Freder saw no problem with the awol defense chief during the houthi attacks
How about, instead of raising irrelevant questions (and you have no basis for asking), you actually address my point?
Congress? (snort)
Again, are you contending that we should eliminate Congress?
How about milleys phone a friebd to beijinng
Hegseth is supporting a strategy. Don’t forget the BIG PICTURE!
The most mind blowing info I’ve read in quite a while…
10Δ
@_10delta_
3 weeks ago I argued the US goal in Iran is to seize the global oil spigot. Venezuela in January -> Iran in February.
Neutralize every supply channel outside the dollar system within 90 days. Achieve a compliant successor government and complete energy dominance.
The oil thesis was the obvious layer. However, when you zoom out & view the last four years as a single sequence rather than isolated geopolitical events, the architecture of the grander US plan becomes visible.
1st was Europe, which laid the groundwork.
The Ukraine conflict provided the justification for sanctions that collapsed Russian pipeline gas from 150 billion cubic meters to 40.
Then Nordstream was destroyed, which rewired the entire European energy system permanently. The US went from supplying 28% of Europe's LNG in 2021 to 58% by 2025, exporting a record 111 million MTs, the 1st country in history to break 100 MT.
Europe was transformed from a customer with options into a captive market now purchasing its survival in USD.
2nd was Syria.
The fall of Assad severed the critical node connecting China's Belt & Road Initiative to the Mediterranean.
The trilateral railway linking Iran, Iraq & Syria, designed to bypass Western maritime chokepoints, was completely destroyed.
This isolated Iran geographically & cleared the path for what came next.
3rd was Venezuela...
Read it all: https://x.com/_10delta_/status/2037098099823243273?s=20
Good stuff Iman. China's BRI is one of the key components people leave out of the equation, but it is pretty central to Trump's actions and I still maintain was key to Iran's attack on Isreal on Oct7. It turned out to be a huge mistake by China. Had the Dems stayed in power it might have worked.
It's amusing to watch the clowns come out and tell everyone that Trump has no plan. He is outplaying China at almost every turn. Oh how I would love to be a fly on the wall when Trump and Xi meet.
Hegseth's service at the War Department has stressed development of a more lethal and effective fighting force, rather than using some DEI quota system to make the libs happy. Results speak for themselves.
According to WAPO, the U.S. Navy has launched 850 Tomahawk missiles at Iranian targets, which averages 33 per day. That means that the entire military fiscal budget for 2026 of 57 Tomahawks was fired in under two days, so we are quickly reducing our on-hand inventory of 3,100 as of Feb 28. Costs have tripled over the years, so the missile can cost as much as $3.6 million apiece and take up to two years to build, according to the Navy. Replacement cost for 850 missiles is $3.1billion.
The U.S. military has also fired more than 1,000 air-defense interceptor missiles in response to Iranian counterattacks across the region, including from the Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD). Patriot missiles cost about $4.2 million each, and THAADs cost $12.7 million. Worse, these interceptors are firing at $30,000 Iranian missiles and drones. And all users across NATO and allies need more of these protection devices. We have been "Westministered" - We are out of Schlitz.
There is a lot of not knowing how officer promotions work here. A board of officers does rack and stack officers for promotion and decides who gets sent upward for consideration and who does not. Then there is a thorough record scrub. Then the secretary of defense reviews the list and sends to the president, then the senate approves the list. Officers fall off that list at every step of the way for a variety of reasons.
Please read TosaGuy.
The key aspect is the military is not the final approval on officer promotions, civilians are and three separate civilian entities get a crack at it.
Shocking the WAPO doesn't know how the military used to work and how DEI started under Obama.
Obama purged the flag core of useful warfighters and filled it up with men in dresses and POGs who never even sniffed life outside the wire.
Trump should have done this in 2016.
Entous delivered abiut a quarter of muellers that didnt pan out
“ No administration in living memory as been so consistently, insistently, can't-help-them-themselves foolish, reckless, and as wantonly destructive of the well-being and stability of our nation and much of the world at large as the current one, bottomed (as opposed to "headed") by moronic and now-obviously-mentally-deterioritating Don Don Trump and his gaggle of incompetent lapdogs, idiots, and bigger idiots.”
I was looking for an ounce of intelligent discourse in this but couldn’t find any.
Hard to image there is anyone at DOD less qualified for his job than Pete. Affirmative action in spades.
A white dude benefitted from affirmative action?
Good grief. You leftists get more and more stupid by the day.
Theres no pony there
They have no clue why those names were stricken, so they're going to pretend it was racism and sexism.
Ordinarily, I'd be skeptical of anything the bureaucracy recommends, but since I found out that Trump overrode advice and gave Mark Milley the top job I've started to wonder if maybe sometimes the bureaucrats might get it right (not that the recommended general has been any friendlier to DJT, but he might not have made that phone call to his Chinese counterpart).
On Monday the problem is a top heavy military. On Tuesday it's 'there's not enough female and black Admirals and Generals'. Pick a lane, Lefty.
That was the list of obams lromoted officers regretably
"I was looking for an ounce of intelligent discourse in this..."
Well, there's your problem, right there.
Freder Frederson said...
Apparently, Hegseth doesn't trust Congress to promote the officers he wants.
So Hegseth isn't an idiot. Good to know.
News flash for Freder: The President and the Secretary of War are both civilians in command of the military.
The Senate is not
gilbar said...
So the reasons for removing people from this list are irrelevant; what matters is the reason for being ON the list.
Just doing a good (or even great) job of O-6 is NOT enough for promotion.. You have to be ahead of nearly ALL others.
Were these folk ahead of nearly ALL others? if so, the NYTs should list their accomplishments.
Ding ding ding!
The sad thing is the NYT DID list their "accomplishments." Or rather, they showed the complete lack of accomplishments by those people.
Which is why Hegseth booted them from the list
Lake wobegon candidates
Freder Frederson said...
Freder saw no problem with the awol defense chief during the houthi attacks
How about, instead of raising irrelevant questions (and you have no basis for asking), you actually address my point?
That is the point. You don't actually care about qualifications or consistency. You are a tribal looter and a traitor trying to destroy our system from the inside. Democrats are all thieves and traitors and you hate this country.
Nobody should care about a thing you say.
@ gadfly
Good point about the munitions. We were spending more bucks per bang in the early stages. Some things to note. We are adapting cheaper Iranian drones for our own use. We have taken out 90% of Iran's ability to manufacture munitions. Taking out their munitions plants first thing is basic strategy. I haven't seen the estimate of how many munitions Iran has left, but I'd think they need to be held back and used for control of the straight. Interruption of shipping is about all Iran has left, and that is hurting other countries far more than the US.
Hegseth must be doing a good job. He has all the right Althouse crew enemies. This post even woke up Victoria, cookie and the Field Marshall himself, our resident military expert.
“Apparently, Hegseth doesn't trust Congress to promote the officers he wants.”
Sorry, Freder. Congress doesn’t pick generals and. Admirals. The DOD/DOW does that. And Hegseth runs it. SecDef gives the Senate a list of generals/admirals that they want to promote. And the Senate has an up/down vote for each nominee. Congress doesn’t have to specify who someone wasn’t confirmed. And SecDef doesn’t have to specify why someone was passed over for promotion to O-7 and above. It could as simple as just not getting along with them.
Keep in mind that SecDef has ultimate responsibility for the operation of his department. If an O-7 screws up, or even an O-10 does, it’s SecDef and POTUS in the hot seat. Which is why Congress doesn’t pick generals and admirals - they just confirm the nominations put forward by POTUS and SecDef. It’s been this way for more than 200 years now, and isn’t changing anytime soon.
“Every Col i've EVER personally known (1, a friend's father) retired as Col, because that's how far he made it..
and he was damn glad he made it that far.”
My grandfather whined throughout WW II, that he didn’t have a fair chance at BG, because he wasn’t a ring knocker. I think it far more likely that he just didn’t know how to play the political game. Or maybe just thought that doing his job well (opening Army camps across the South) was sufficient. It wasn’t.
He desperately wanted to go to Europe, where the promotions were. Army said he was too old, but so was Ike. Finally got his chance in late 1945, when he went over with a BG and another Col to be a War Crimes Tribunal for one of the concentration camps. But by then all the promotion opportunities were gone, and brevets were being reduced to their permanent ranks.
“ Like leaving 80 billion in equipment to the taliban”
That’s what happens when the focus of the DOD/DOW is DEI, and not winning.
If everything being done was 100% righteous, this anonymously sourced article would be written exactly like this. If you are inclined to believe that Trump and his appointees are malevolent racists, this anonymously sourced article would completely confirm your views. Journalism.
If anyone is really interested in learning how promotion works for USN officers from O4-O6, head over to mynavyhr.navy.mil. hundreds of hours of entertaining reading about the Rube Goldberg process. Ultimately it gets down to a number of more senior officers clicking on 100, 75, 50, 25, or 0 after a short brief by a random junior officer and 30 seconds of staring at a record displayed on screen.
They're are a number of things that you can do to try and make your record pop to the room more, but it is about as merit based as one can reasonably get. Even if one of the senior officers knows someone being reviewed, the rest most likely do not. Flag recommendations are not really a thing anymore, so being buddy-buddy with a bunch of stars doesn't get you much. Heck they even took away the photo again so they're is a very small chance that any of the voting members even know what you look like!
That's not to say that things are perfect and there aren't ways to game the system, but favoritism really doesn't have much of an opportunity to play. Incompetent mouth breathers get promoted for other reasons.
Not sure how other services do it...
Nominated for funniest ignorant take:
Hard to image there is anyone at DOD less qualified for his job than Pete.
1. Failure of imagination is SOP for lefties. Thx for confirming.
2. How bout one of you haters of Hegseth articulate a reason or three he is unqualified without resorting to empty insults.
3. I’m especially interested in comparisons to his predecessors since the failure-centric regimes of Austin & Mattis are still fresh in our minds, as is the abysmal foreign policy mistakes (?) made by Biden and Obama.
But all we from you progressive whiners is “me hate Pete.”
A list of people who you don’t hate would be shorter.
Freder.
Before you beclown yourself even more, every officer promotion has to be approved by congress. It's part of the process.
The irony is that if today's "journalists" practiced even a little bit of the technique that people my age were taught when working on their JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL FREAKIN' NEWSPAPERS, like supporting every assertion with actual evidence, they wouldn't be accused of nearly as much bias.
Incompetent, politicized hacks.
In the way-back, I had a good friend who had his name removed from the one-star list. He had wtitten a paper or given a speech that effectively challenged a feature of Strategic Air Command orthodoxy and Curtis LeMay was having none of it.
So, "Fuck-off, Bill", I don't care about how brave or brilliant you are. Pissing-off your boss is a bad career move. Period.
Women-in-command, in the military should be like abortions; legal but rare. I've known a couple of great ones but most are short of merely good.
"I was looking for an ounce of intelligent discourse in this but couldn’t find any."
It's a quite a word-rush, yes, but it is clear. Learn how to read better.
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