Tom Ricks on Firing Generals in the US Army

Brian W

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Only 16 minutes into the video, but interesting so far. Warning involves WW2 and modern war comparisons (eventually).

 

Mongo5486

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That was interesting to watch. It was a surprise when at the end he ripped apart a former battalion commander I had.
 

Eagle4ty

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Quite an interesting take. Not sure I totally agree with the conclusion but do agree the trend to to have Military Leaders (U.S. Military at least) take a middle ground approach is quite valid. I must admit I've only known about 5 General Officers personally in my time (at least to the point that I could make any informed opinion of their capabilities), but believe the most respected by me was one that a little over the line and only ended up as a Deputy Div Cdr (MJ GEN). That is not to say I didn't respect the others, but believed the one man that I held the greatest respect for was certainly "old school". I certainly agree with the speaker on the estimation of Bradley and Terry Allen (or was it Allan). Interesting side note: I have a book edited by COL Geo. C. Marshall, printed 1938 (perhaps edited in '37 though|), and to think by 1 Sep 39 he was CoS U.S.Army is almost mind boggling.
 

Brian W

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That was interesting to watch. It was a surprise when at the end he ripped apart a former battalion commander I had.
That is interesting. Were his observations on the BC accurate?
 

Mongo5486

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As a BC I thought he was a good officer and I never saw or heard anything that made me question his abilities. As a 3 star I guess Mr. Ricks found him lacking.
 

Brian W

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As a BC I thought he was a good officer and I never saw or heard anything that made me question his abilities. As a 3 star I guess Mr. Ricks found him lacking.
I guess there's a big difference in the skills each position requires.
 

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I don't think I like his characterization of the second Iraqi war as unimaginative & "hey, diddle-diddle, straight up the middle." While Franks can be criticized for other failures (https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/11/general-failure/309148/, http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1551801,00.html), his battle plan seemed to wrong-foot the Iraqi Army. To the extent it was unimaginative, the advantages of the American forces meant it did not have to be imaginative.

JR
 

Brian W

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What caught my attention was the subject as I've always wondered why so few officers were removed from command in post 1960 US army, when they seemed to be relieved at the drop of a hat in WW2.
 

jrv

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I was surprised too that being relieved was not the end of a career in WWII.

JR
 

kcole4001

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I've long suspected that an element of an officer's drop in success may be promotion either above or away from one's talents.
Because he is good at, for example, divisional field command he eventually gets promoted to Corps and maybe even Army command where he either finds himself out of his depth, or bogged down with too many staff and administrative/logistical burdens.
Being talented at divisional field command does not mean the officer is similarly suited for higher command duties. The work that he excelled at is now being done by subordinates, who might not be as talented as he was in that job.
And this failure is reflected upwards.

This would also account for the replacement not being 'terminal' as Mr. Ricks put it.
Having an otherwise good officer fail at one job does not mean he's useless, simply employ him within his proven ability again, or find another area where he can apply his talents without doing harm.

In other words, you take a team that works, and then shuffle around the members job's. It isn't always a recipe for success.
 
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