Unlearning lessons
Mew sent us a link to a story about SecDef Gates’ attempt to dismantle the Joint Forces Command in order to save money. The article highlights Congress’ attempt to block him to save jobs in the Tidewater Area of Virginia. That should be the least of their worries.
Joint Forces Command was founded in the fog of the Grenada liberation. The combined branches of the military discovered that they had huge blank spaces between them which unnecessarily complicated mission-related tasks. The Joint Forces Command grew out of these shortcomings. The test of the command came in the form of the Panama liberation and nearly every military operation since.
Now, the Secretary of Defense, who should have a sense of the history of the command if anyone does, thinks it fine and good to shut down one of the most effective tools that we have which teaches young officers how to work with the other services towards a common objective. The Joint Operations COmmand puts square pegs in round holes.
I’m sure that there are ways to cut spending other than cutting out whole commands. I guess they could probably start by cutting military aircraft for members of Congress. I mean, right off the top my head.
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Military issues
This may cost them two Dem Congressmen in Periello and Nye, both of whom were actually fairly good. But, defeats the purpose of electing Dems in that area when they can’t keep the military bases.
Although George W. Bush installed Gates, he was a liberal all along. He supposed to leave last December (at least that’s what he said), and he’s still there. Gates made a deal with the devil! Not good at all; liberals ALWAYS gut the military.
I really hate to sound paranoid and political but my first thought was “Doesn’t Va have a republican gov that beat Obama’s pick? And isn’t the Va Attorny General filing a lawsuit against the feds over health care? And doesn’t Va enforce the immigration laws that the feds refuse to enforce?”
Just saying—–
Senator Webb, Bob McDonnell and others are fighting this, people are not happy. Bob is a fighter and a no nonsense kinda of guy….but has GRACE. He is a retired LTC which is a perk to me. What’s more important is that he listens to us, and makes himself available to our citizens. He also founded the Virginia Wall of Honor. One of the nicest war memorials out there. Every year there is a ceremony to honor the Gold Star families and the new KIA’s from Virginia. I could go on and on why I like this guy.
TSO, I have to disagree, Perriello SUCKS, and I want him gone. He is from my town. I won’t get started….
IMHO, we’d do better to disband the Army’s TRADOC HQ than JFCOM. Most of the branch schools are already dealing directly with the DA staff anyway, and TRADOC is a speed-bump in the effort to get stuff done. ATSC is an exception, usually, but they are a Field Operating Agency of TRADOC and actually exist to help training work right.
TRADOC must have about a dozen GOs, and twice that many SESs. Besides, deleting them would do away with the need to move them from Ft Monroe to Ft Eustis under the current BRAC.
Just sayin’, from my foxhole….
I have a problem holding installations open just to preserve jobs. We have more flag officers today then the height of WWII, and we only have 10 divisions. The Army still intentially commissions more officers then needed for massive mobilization. That institional theory has been discarded by both the Congress and the Army itself, why not start cutting officer corps?
I fear “Jointness”, like “everyman a rifleman”, and “no front line”, is a term that may have lost its utility a long time ago. Its kernal of truth being deluted in a morass of cliches and buzzwords that have cancelled its origional meaning.
From the second world war until the aftermath of Vietnam, the Army/Navy and Army/USMC friction was so great it actually crippled the military’s ability to carry out operations. The command may have been nessary in it’s time, but today? I’m not sure.
I don’t think “jointness” would disappear with the disbanding of the command, but I don’t know where else an officer would really become very familiar with the capabilities of another service.
Eh, call me a fence sitter boys. Don’t know much to advocate for one position or the other.
Most people look at things like this backwards. You have to look at it from the prospective of our King-in-Chief and his appointees. You assume that they are on the side of the USA when I don’t they aren’t. Look at it from this angle and it will all make sense.