I hope he's ready. I know he's been in the public sphere and the spotlight more than most, certainly more than me, but lots of people are going to be gunning for him and hoping that he fails. I'm not one of them, but acknowledge it's a possibility.
The Trump Presidency 2.0
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Devildoc
Verified Military
My issue is the hypocrisy of the left (this time; it'll be the GOP next time) of what constitutes "qualified." I am certain there are people more qualified but POTUS doesn't want them. According to what's on paper, he is qualified. So there should be no more dialogue.
Given how many well-heeled, highly-educated CEOs and FOGOs who've been utter failures as SECDEF so we can't use CEO or whatever as a standard of competence. A few SECDEFs were nothing more than representatives or senators, with no military or "large organization" experience who had a mixed bag of results. A lot of them left the DOD in worse shape than they found it.
There's a reason SECDEF has been called "the graveyard of political ambitions". Edited, a lot of people have pre-destined the DoD for failure because of him, and even for just that reason I hope he is wildly successful. There's just no correlation between experience and outcome in that job.
ThunderHorse
Verified Military
I guess someone should have told this guy that not having a Ranger tab means you'll never be successful as an Infantry officer in the modern Army. That tab TOTALLY means more than his DSSM and BSM(V). And, you know, all of the stuff he did outside of an Army school.
And earning a tab or a trident or achieving any other high-level achievement totally means a guy is a good dude and would never, under any circumstances, do anything morally questionable like... I don't know... allegedly commit war crimes in Afghanistan.
I'm not trying to make it sound like having a Ranger Tab isn't important, especially for an Infantry officer. It absolutely is. But it's not a litmus test of moral character in the long term, nor is it necessary for success in higher office. Something like a quarter of all SECDEFs never served in the military at all.
This conversation is just as dumb as the "what constitutes SOF" one we always seem to have here.
"Having a tab will set you so much apart from your peers". My ACOM and MQ (roommate from when we were at Benning) who is now an S1 and probably the best Brigade S1 in Hawai'i.
I've met so many dudes in the Army that the only thing they accomplished was having a tab and it put them in a fraternity and provided them protection. And you had BCs and BDE COs who would pick because a dude had a tab instead of if that guys platoon or company scored higher at Gunnery and Live Fire...
I'm unsure which was more pervasive, the Regimental Protection Agency or the WPPA...
There are many reasons why these positions don't have "qualifications". Will he carry out the strategy of the duly elected president? Yes or No answer please. That is the only qualification.
The Federal Return to Office EO is about to cost us a ton of money if cooler heads don't prevail. Organizations within the DoD are already pricing what it would take to lease office space. Like I posted earlier, some orgs do not have enough seats, so if you want everyone in "the" office you're going to have to find seats which won't be cheap.
It makes for a great sound bite though. "Raaarrrrr, back to the office! We just DOGE'd the fuck out of things and they are better! Efficient! Saving money!"
It makes for a great sound bite though. "Raaarrrrr, back to the office! We just DOGE'd the fuck out of things and they are better! Efficient! Saving money!"
Devildoc
Verified Military
A short little article "Secretaries of Defense: Why Most Have Failed." Just for context. Nothing we've seen or been through has been new.
The irony of a "return to meritocracy" is it means a return to this style of Army being common. Tons of dudes who are asskissers will get jobs over dudes who've got better resumes.
If only we've had recent decades of history showing how bad that works out.
It's the whole point. Musk thinks People will resign, which will say money.
Like you said, it's a great soundbite if you don't look at the numbers. You could have half of the federal workforce quit and you'd only save 2% of the budget.
@AWP surprised you haven't commented on Guard guys going to Ranger School. The Guard views it as an enhancement, not a requirement.
My state, Michigan, rarely sent anyone to Ranger School. LRS Company had to fight for slots, and it was a requirement for those in leadership positions.
We have a member (who can out himself if he chooses) who was offered Airborne after AIT, but his state said no.
So SecDef being tabless doesn't offend me.
My state, Michigan, rarely sent anyone to Ranger School. LRS Company had to fight for slots, and it was a requirement for those in leadership positions.
We have a member (who can out himself if he chooses) who was offered Airborne after AIT, but his state said no.
So SecDef being tabless doesn't offend me.
ThunderHorse
Verified Military
As much are the Army has tried to become more "corporate" with the marketplace nonsense I'm quite unsure it has done that since the marketplace does interviews and the BCs can now not accept you. By Name Request has not gone away. I think the previous system was better than making things more corporate. The issue is the culture around both to be honest, you can change the system but if the institutional culture says "well he's a regiment guy he's obviously a better combat leader than the dude who's been on heavy platforms his whole career" when it comes to selecting BDE COs for Armor units...
So I've seen it both ways and generally don't agree with the changes that have happened on the officer side. Big Army pushed more dudes down the throats of BCs when captain assignments were blind. Major was a lot less blind. But now even first assignments are not even blind. I HAVE NO IDEA how enlisted side of this works.
So I think the asskissers have maintained their hand.
Topkick
Verified Military
Most tabbed assclowns I experienced were 2lt's straight from the schoolhouse with no PL experience.
I'm not sure I understand how it follows that "meritocracy" = "asskissers." By definition, a meritocracy focuses on the "better resumes," does it not?
I'm not a fan of blanket policies; one size of policy does not fit all. However, I'm supportive of "take your ass to work" generally. There is already so much waste inherent in government work, and IMO a lot of times "work from home" translates to "home, but not working."
There are, of course, innumerable counter-examples. But a whole lot of folks who were at work before COVID went home during COVID and never came back. Time for that to change.
ThunderHorse
Verified Military
The federal bureaucracy is massive, I support the do more with less movement considering the pay of a GS-11...
This was in response to the discussion around seeing officers with tabs get jobs over those with better resumes. Similar to how being a WP graduate opens some doors.
The enlisted version of this would be Free Masons; seen that more than a few times in my career.
The broader point is that when we talk about a "meritocracy" we imagine it's always the right guy or gal getting hired, when more often than not it's just somebody who was "better liked".
I wasn't aware of the specifics of the officer marketplace that @ThunderHorse laid out, which seems like may address this even less.
TLDR20
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The Free Mason thing was weird, that certainly didn’t exist in SF, but it was a thing in the infantry.
ThunderHorse
Verified Military
I saw the Free Mason thing a lot with guys in the VA Guard. (Didn't serve in the VA Guard but saw them often because VMI obviously) They wore rings...was pretty easy to spot.
Does this trash human feel sorry for the American citizens that have been victimized by illegal invaders?
Does this trash human cry over the trafficking of children into sex slavery?
Did this trash human take illegal invaders into her home?
She's nothing but a virtue signaling dolt.
Joke aside, there's a big problem in the feds with what we can do "outside our job description" that leads to bloat/downright laziness.
I'm so good at my job that if I did only my written food logistics tasks I'd work less than 12 hours a week.
Luckily, I like helping the other loggies and learning their functions, but that's definitely not true for everyone.
Cry. Cope. Seethe.
The same people that are now crying and showing videos of children being deported with their parents supported the largest human trafficking (I don't even have the right word- operation? Disaster? Abomination? Disgusting event??) for the last four years.
This is now, and always has been, about the children. From Haiti and the Clintons to the Biden admin.
Protect children, at all costs. That's it. That's the take.
Box
Verified SOF
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As we continue to bash the current SECDEF for being a "tabless bitch" - according to my research, only Mark Esper and Lloyd Austin earned Ranger tabs before taking over that job.
We had another SECDEF that was so pure and pious that nobody bothered to bring up the fact that he had been arrested twice in his younger years for driving while intoxicated.
Then of course we all need to make sure that his marital affairs are above reproach because only presidents and senators are allowed to bang starlets, wave their dicks at people, sodomize their interns, leave them to drown in a lake, cheat on their wives, get drunk on duty, or brag that some women will just let you grab then by the kitty...
Truth be told - the chances are pretty good that this guy is going to get ran off before long - just like MOST of those that came before him.
...but lets continue to pretend that this time, ITS DIFFERENT
Hell even McNamara got fired when it became obvious that the only thing he was really good at was escalation of force. He couldn't figure out how to win - but he was good as escalating.
...in fact - there are many who would say he mismanaged our involvement in Vietnam so poorly that the culture wars of the 60's are tied to the optics of the US military being a bunch of drunks drug addicts and baby killers
...which could also serve the argument that he did such a bad job that it help create hippies
...and I fucking HATE hippies
...maybe we could have avoided all of that if only McNamara had earned a ranger tab
We had another SECDEF that was so pure and pious that nobody bothered to bring up the fact that he had been arrested twice in his younger years for driving while intoxicated.
Then of course we all need to make sure that his marital affairs are above reproach because only presidents and senators are allowed to bang starlets, wave their dicks at people, sodomize their interns, leave them to drown in a lake, cheat on their wives, get drunk on duty, or brag that some women will just let you grab then by the kitty...
Truth be told - the chances are pretty good that this guy is going to get ran off before long - just like MOST of those that came before him.
...but lets continue to pretend that this time, ITS DIFFERENT
Hell even McNamara got fired when it became obvious that the only thing he was really good at was escalation of force. He couldn't figure out how to win - but he was good as escalating.
...in fact - there are many who would say he mismanaged our involvement in Vietnam so poorly that the culture wars of the 60's are tied to the optics of the US military being a bunch of drunks drug addicts and baby killers
...which could also serve the argument that he did such a bad job that it help create hippies
...and I fucking HATE hippies
...maybe we could have avoided all of that if only McNamara had earned a ranger tab
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