[OldGoatCPO]

The Assistant Secretaries I met were either retire military (not all Generals) or SES types. Civilians that are treated like Generals. The appointed Secretaries are temporary, an SES is generally a career bureaucrat. That has been my experience anyway. Some of the Assistants Secretaries were pretty cool people. Some were former enlisted, one was a CMH holder from Vietnam another was a retired enlisted guy who was very good at some arcane stuff and because of that he valuable to the DOD. I think he was the only guy in DOD who knew how to make coffee😂

[marktwain]

In my one short time at the Pentagon, I saw full Bird Colonels making coffee.

I was a lieutenant. I think I was the only one in the Pentagon I saw, the whole time I was there...