The Dead Zone
"When you get in the Green Zone, there is a physiological phenomenon, I think, called Green Zone fog. There is such a sense of winning. they will show you, it’s death by powerpoint. . . .It’s always that their argument is winning. If you press, after the third of fourth time . . .you start to see what we all know, which is [that] the surge is unsustainable. . . . We need a strategic redeployment out of Iraq. . . . Three hundred million dollars a day; 3,700 of our finest soldiers and Marines are dead; 30,000 catastrophically wounded and maimed. And a military [that] right now is well beyond its ability to deal with other contingencies."Well, here we are; well, here we are!
Just watch us rolling up a score.
We'll leave those fellows behind so far,
They won't want to play us any more!
--Yale Boola, Hirsch_________
--Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA), 8/28/07 Thinkprogress.org interview
[printed in 9/15/07 issue of The Washington Spectator]
__________
Military and White House briefings often suffer a disconnect from reality. Briefings have a half-life of about one day and often reflect a wish, versus objective reality.
Officers are especially acculturated to superlatives and grandiose statements. It all begins with our phoney Officer Efficiency Reports (OERs) that guide our phony careers. These phony careers are the basis of our phony wars, making for a closed loop. We actually begin to believe our own rhetoric.
Officers are especially acculturated to superlatives and grandiose statements. It all begins with our phoney Officer Efficiency Reports (OERs) that guide our phony careers. These phony careers are the basis of our phony wars, making for a closed loop. We actually begin to believe our own rhetoric.
The same goes for our citations for our awards and decorations. It is unacceptable to say, "He is an average soldier and does an average job." That reality is translated into: "Capt. Blank is the most exceptional Company Commander in the Brigade, and possess the potential for positions far above his rank." This stated potentiality implied he knows how to expose his orifices to penetration.
Ranger has always thought that being an officer is a little like being a female porn star. Both have to pretend that they like it in the ass. You are going to get screwed, so in a sense you do learn to accept it. Life in the quid pro quo.
The Army system fails miserably to realize that the actual man described in the Official Personnel File and OER is not the same as the records show. The records are hyperbole, the man, reality. General Petraeus is a fine example of this phenomenon at its highest game point.
He is only a man and events are beyond his control, but that's not the hype. The Army is not filled with Odysseus types, as the death and wounded lists show. We are limited by our cultural blindness and rigid professional training. The military does not accept free thinkers, and Petraeus is no exception.
As fine a man as he may be, he is the product of his West Point education and Army culture. I would argue that his PhD does not make him more qualified to do his current job. It appears to add another layer of competency, but does not advance his current assignment. Only time on the battlefield can do that.
A look at Petraeus's chest shows no individual valor awards, no Combat Infantry Badge. Which is more important for a combat leader -- individual combat experience, or a PhD?
Generals Washington, Scott, Lee, Grant, Pershing, MacArthur, Patton, Eisenhower, Bradley, Westmoreland and Scwartzkopf did not need advanced degrees to fight their armies successfully. Soldiers should attend to basics.
Ranger fondly remembers his superior officer in RVN--Capt. Norm Dupuis [DOO-pus], a direct commission from E-9 to 0-2 in Special Forces. No college degree and beaucoups combat experience. We were staff weanies on a B-team (B53), and our boss, Col. Glock, was a West Point paper flash individual. To make it worse, he was a tanker.
Well, old LTC Glock was fond of briefings and charts, and of course, OERS and threats of adverse OERs. Once in our daily dog and pony show (our version of the power point), Norm used a chart that tallied up how many times we had used the other charts; what a brilliant statement!
As a mustang, Norm was not threatened by OERs because he knew he would eventually revert to an E-9 after the endgame and RIFs. He had the freedom to say, "The only way an OER can hurt me is if you roll it up and poke it in my eye."
And he was right. Due to institutional bias, SF types were heavily rifted (reduction in forces) and eliminated from the officer corps. This still haunts the Army, since their CI institutional combat experience and knowledge was effectively purged, in favor of reversion to a now-outdated Cold War mindset.
Generally speaking, the officer personnel in the 1970's and 80's SF served in the Airborne units in RVN and generally had no SF combat experience. This is also the period that SF became flooded with Ranger tabs, changing the mindset of that organization irrevocably. Poor way to run an Army which needs many skill sets in today's world.
But of course, their briefings continued, tight and professional.
Labels: OER inflation, the green zone fog
posted by rangeragainstwar at 10:29 AM
6 Comments:
In his semi-auto-biography, LTC Anthony Herbert had a lot to say about the Army, and how it changed for the worse after Korea. For one thing the Ranger tab became a mandatory hole to be punched, especially if you were a graduate of Army Vo-Tech.
He coined a phrase for ring-knockers that I heard a lot here and there: "quibblers."
You know, Hackworth had a phrase for what was wrong with the military leadership---he referred to it as a master of business management style.
And I think he had something there; my son had the chance to work with a Brit officer when he was in the Army. They had an officer exchange going, one of the things that impressed him most was that this office had risen through the ranks of enlisted; and thus valued them more highly. I think ALL officers should be made that way---but what the hell, I am one of those stupid old idealistic meritocracy sorts, wtf do I know?
labrys,
Ranger agrees that 2 years of enlisted service should be required for acceptance into officer training. Some armies even have an intermediary slot between cadet and officer.
lurch,
And I always thought Quibblers were a cookie. A flaky cookie, at that.
On a personal note, I met Herbert in the early 70's when he worked at FORSCOM or 3rd Army; can't remember which.
Of course, Ranger, I am one of those terribly unpopular sorts who feels ALL young citizens should do two years of mandatory national service--military or something in line with helping clean up disasters or the like. Something to get them out of the safety zone and into the world in a way that helps them identify with more than the high school clique that helped them form the all too common sense of entitlement that makes them look down on the folks who join the military services.
labrys,
We are totally in agreement on the 2-yr. service commitment. I was so pleased with McCain, before he sold his soul, back when he, too, called for national service after high school. VISTA, Americorps, NG--whatever, it's a fine idea. As it is, a heartless Republican Congress gutted Americorps over the past several years.
Both the society benefits, and the young person who learns integration into his or her society.
Post a Comment
<< Home