Just what are the criteria for promotion in the Army? We have been hearing the name of General Stanley McChrystal a lot of late.
He is a Four-Star General in charge of NATO forces in Afghanistan. Now does his name ring a bell?
We have heard about his recommendation for an additional 40,000 troops. Seemingly forgotten is his original call, just this past Summer, for 80,000 additional troops.
Something just didn’t add up. Putting together what I had read from various reports brought on a nagging feeling that the numbers couldn’t be correct. True, the numbers in those reports may be off a little but I doubt they are seriously off the mark.
Eighty thousand troops is a large number. That was somewhere in the neighborhood of triple the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan at the time. Quadrupling force levels is a serious step. It also presents problems for the Army, both here and abroad.
The Army has about 50,000 combat troops remaining here, not presently deployed overseas. For the most part, these are troops who have served one or more tours of duty in Iraq and/or Afghanistan. They have been rotated back for a break from combat duty.
To accept the General’s original advice would strip us completely of all reserve combat troops while requiring the recruitment, training, paying and deployment of an additional 30,000 troops. And, we would still be left with no reserves.
Generals may not need a break but the grunts do. Following his recommendation would eliminate all breaks, unless we were to recruit, train and pay far more than 30,000. It would seem that it has been too long since the General took a course in basic arithmetic.
With no reserves, we would have no one to deploy in the event of a need. What is the likelihood that the rest of the world would remain quiescent – for the duration of our commitments in the Middle East?
Such ignorance should disqualify anyone for a position of responsibility for the lives of our soldiers. But, there is at least one more problem with his résumé.
Former NFL player Pat Tillman was killed in battle on April 22, 2004. General McChrystal was notified in less than a day that Corporal Tillman was killed by friendly fire. The General was responsible for putting together the fictional story fed to the media and for awarding the Silver Star.
According to Wikipedia:
On April 29 [2004], McChrystal sent an urgent memo warning White House speechwriters not to quote the medal recommendation in any statements they wrote for President Bush because it “might cause public embarrassment if the circumstances of Corporal Tillman’s death become public.” McChrystal was one of eight officers recommended for discipline by a subsequent Pentagon investigation but the Army declined to take action against him.
Notice the date. That was two days before the General received his second star. Since that incident he has gone from one to four stars.
Not only is this officer responsible for leading the troops in a very important theater, he is responsible for determining strategy and tactics. He is one of the voices that help to determine policy. Many ignorant politicians demand that we give him what he wants because he is ‘the commander on the ground.’ I am less than enthusiastic that he is in any responsible position, much less such a pivotal one.
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His involvement in the Tillman coverup is something I was not aware of.Thanks for posting it. I did say, when he was asking for 80,000 new troops, that it was a mathmatic impossibilty, as you pointed out.