Good morning, Blue Chekists!
What are we offended by this week?
Well let’s take a look at what’s making everyone take to their fainting couches this week.
“Ian, Hegseth has called an unprecedented meeting of all General Officers!”
Yeah, literally everything the military does the first time is — by definition — unprecedented.
You know what else is unprecedented? The level of insubordination directed towards a lawfully-appointed Secretary, and a lawfully-elected Commander-in-Chief. You may not agree with lawful orders, but slow-rolling them, ignoring them, or outright suborning lawful authority, is not within y’all’s purview.
Honestly, if it were me, I’d have all 800+ of them1 meet in an auditorium, break up into groups of ten officers, and each group draw one of ten marbles from their bag. Every officer who draws one of the nine black marbles gets a club. The ones who draw the single white marble get a Very Bad Day.
“Ian, what if someone blows up the meeting and kills all of them?”
…
…
… And?
I watched that Mongolian goat-rope that the Oval Office seriously called the “Withdrawal from Afghanistan”, and I had friends and buddies who were there. Every bit of incompetency in that mess came from the folks with stars on their shoulders.
The United States Navy playing “bumper ships” in the Pacific? Yeah, the ship’s Captains own those charlie-foxtrots, but the guys with stars on their shoulders set the Command Climate. Sloppy leadership at the Headshed leads to sloppy leadership at the line level.
Navy ships bedecked with so much rust that Joe Dirt the Rag Man would be ashamed to board one? That’s on those skippers, but you know what? The Top Dogs Mit Stars gets to take a bite out of each one of those little apples.
The rampant issues at Fort Hood? Or Cavazos, or what the hell ever — that little cess-pit is your base, generals. If you can’t unscrew it, then you have failed. And failed miserably you have.
The John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School scandal? Because a general wanted to social experiment a name for himself? Gawd.
A colonel in the US Army decides that a photo of him in his uniform with his BDSM gear over the top of it — allow me to say again: A field grade officer in the US Army thought it was perfectly okay to have a photo of him in his uniform while wearing his sexual fetish mask — was not only acceptable, but was good to post on social media. That is symptomatic of bone-deep rot in his leadership. In other words — the generals.
If you really want to despair, research how far behind the power curve the United States military is when it comes to modern drone warfare, ie: what’s going on in Ukraine. Bloody damnation. And that’s all on the shoulders of the guys with the stars.
The sole function of the military of the United States of America is to kill the enemy, and break their stuff. Period. Any social engineering which does not directly lead to a more efficient, versatile, and lethal killing force is irrelevant to the military.
A whole bunch of these politicians LARPing as general officers seem to have forgotten that. Hopefully they’re about to figure it out, but I have ZERO faith in their level of competency when it comes to fighting China in the Pacific. Or Russia anywhere else.
“Ian, the Vice-President used salty language on social media. It’s not very statesman-like.”
That’s an odd way to say, “I eat history books instead of reading them.”
Google “Lyndon B. Johnson” and “jumbo”. Don’t do it at work, or in the presence of children, maiden aunts, or mules.
Hell, George Washington had an explosive temper that he tempered when he became President, but his ability to swear a blue streak at people is well documented.
Andrew Jackson’s parrot picked up his ability with fowl2 language to the point that at his funeral the parrot had to be removed due to its swearing.
Sigh. The history of corrosive language from the POTUS and the VPOTUS is long and rich. Find something else to clutch your pearls over.
Right, I’m done with social media for the day.
Ian
EIGHT HUNDRED PLUS flag officers??? Are you bloody well kidding me???
Yes, I wrote that on purpose.
Like so many others, I really, really want that day of meetings to start with Secretary Hegseth leading all of them in PT. At least the comedic value of it would be epic.
When risk averse GOFO won't lead for fear of damaging their retirement and future employment opportunities, you get the mess our military is in. Every GOFO I've ever met since the 90s was risk averse.
Junior officers flying their helicopters into airliners. Carrier commanders making a 'right turn, Clyde' and dropping aircraft, forklifts, and assorted crew in the Red Sea. And the forceful vaccination of a soldier by a group of thugs in uniform (I saw that video again this morning, raising my hackles).
This Gordian knot needs an Alexander to cut through it, IMHO. I hope Hegseth has the sand for it. 🙏