Rumsfeld Said to Pick Retired General to Head Army

AP News via New York Times ^ | June 10, 2003 | By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

[68skylark]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a highly unusual move, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has selected a retired four-star general to become the next Army chief of staff, senior defense officials said Tuesday.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the selectee is Peter J. Schoomaker, who retired from the Army after commanding the U.S. Special Operations Command from 1997-2000.

The choice, which has not been publicly announced and is subject to confirmation by the Senate, may raise some eyebrows inside the military because it is rare for a defense secretary to bypass senior active-duty generals in favor of a retired officer to be the Army's top general.

The current chief of staff, Gen. Eric Shinseki, is retiring Wednesday.

Because no successor will have been nominated and confirmed by then, the vice chief of staff, Gen. John Keane, will temporarily assume Shinseki's job when he departs, officials said.

Rumsfeld had tried to persuade Keane to take the top job but he declined for family reasons, officials said.

Schoomaker began his Army career in 1970 as an armor officer but switched to the secretive world of special operations in the late 1970s. He graduated from the University of Wyoming, where he was a star football player, and served with a variety of armor and cavalry units.

From 1975-76, he completed the Marine Corps amphibious warfare course and in February 1978 joined the Army's 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment, now known as the highly secretive Delta Force that specializes in counterterrorism missions.

He later was commander of the Army Special Operations Command and the Joint Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, N.C.

[68skylark]

I'm glad to hear they've found someone to fill this job -- if this report is true I hope he's the right man.

From the few facts given here he sounds like a good choice.

[Steven W.]

what the media fails to recognize here is that this is obviously one of those honorable types who could no longer bare to serve under Sick Willy.

[Poohbah]

Special Ops is going to be on point for the War on Terror--good to have an Army CoS who understands the community. Too many tread-heads take the attitude of "if it ain't a big metal box on treads, it ain't soldiering." But he's also got a background in Armor--so it's not a foreign concept to him. And having attended Amphib Warfare School means that he speaks Marine Corps (and, bu extension, Navy), which is useful in today's "purple" environment.

Looks like Rummy may have found a really good candidate!

[Nat Turner]

and the purge of the Clintonista generals continues....

[hchutch]

This could be very interesting to watch...

[EternalHope]

What the media fails to recognize here is that this is obviously one of those honorable types who could no longer bare to serve under Sick Willy.

ALL promotions at the General Officer level require political approval.

The Clintonistas had 8 years to poison our military leadership. My personal military contacts tell me the damage was severe.

[Howlin]

That's exactly what I thought.

And I hope the first thing he does is get rid of those black berets.

[drjimmy]

Don't be too hasty to give this approval. Do a search using his name and "Waco" and you might not be too pleased with what you find.

[Pukin Dog]

The Clintonistas had 8 years to poison our military leadership. My personal military contacts tell me the damage was severe."

You don’t know the half of it. After Tailhook 91' the incoming Clinton administration used that scandal to destroy any officer who was not in favor of a politically correct military. We ended up with women in fighters who could barely fly (one ended up dead) and new problems with fraternization that we did not have to deal with before.

Anyone in leadership who did not agree with the direction the Clintons wanted to take the military was dismissed. We lost lots of very good men, including a man who was the current Blue Angels commander at the time of the fallout from Tailhook. His exemplary record was not enough to save him from the Liberals, and many other great pilots decided it was better to go fly a desk in the corporate world.

[68skylark]

I'm open to new information. If you have some facts, can you share them here so we all can see and comment?

[kayak]

bttt

[rabidralph]

We ended up with women in fighters who could barely fly (one ended up dead)

WOW. All of one?! As opposed to the guys who regularly turn cartwheels across the flight deck or who go into vertical climbs to impress their parents on their way out of Millington?

[Pukin Dog]

What is your point? Bad pilots come in all shapes and sexes. The first women entering the fighter pipeline were rushed through with lower standards. I am not at all saying that women are not qualified to be in fighters. Don't try to suggest that I meant anything other than what I said.

[rabidralph]

You just cited one dead woman pilot who was unqualified. What other female pilots are falling from the skies due to being unqualified and rushed through training? That's all.

[Pukin Dog]

If you knew how many women have been grounded or downed in the Navy over the past 3 years, you would not be asking me that. I dont need to mention names, because I dont intend to give my own away. However, rest assured that most bad pilots dont have to end up dead before washing out. Less than 2 percent of those entering NAVAIR male or female get into fighters. In the early 90's the Navy was under orders to get as many women into those cockpits as they could, and the Navy had to lower standards to do so. Some women made it, most did not. Many of those who did not wrote books, and one died. You can do your own research.

[drjimmy]

Sorry for the drive-by posting. Here's some info I found. From a 1999 Dalla Morning News story:
One undated document stated an Army general with an extensive special-operations background had been given special permission to go to Waco despite questions about the military's authority to send him. U.S. military special-operations lawyers had previously ordered Special Forces soldiers not to go to Waco even to watch the botched Feb. 28, 1993, raid that began the standoff...Federal law prohibits any military involvement in domestic operations against U.S. citizens without authorization from the highest levels of government.

"No auth. for Gen. Shoomaker [sic] to go. Has been approved, but approved by SEC DEF," the note on stationery from an FBI commander in Waco. "SEC DEF" is an abbreviation for the secretary of defense, then Les Aspin.

The general, Peter J. Schoomaker, had once headed the Army's secret, anti-terrorist Delta Force unit and now is at U.S. Special Forces Command at Macdill Air Force Base in Florida. He was one of two senior military special operations officers who visited Waco during the standoff and then attended FBI briefings with the attorney general before she approved the final tear gas plan.

Another undated, handwritten note mentions that Delta Force commandos and intelligence experts should be "invited" to Waco, stating "Delta commo/intel guys - helpful in observation role."

And to show that it isn't just the liberal media dragging Schoomaker's name through the mud, this is from a portion of a WorldNetDaily story:
In the opinion of WorldNetDaily's military source it is telling that in the five years since the two officers in the memo met with Reno about Waco, they have, between them, collected six stars -- a nearly unprecedented rate of advancement. Boykin, then a colonel has gained three stars to become a lieutenant general in command of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, and Schoomaker, then a brigadier general, quickly gained three stars to become commander in chief of the United States Special Operations Command, the ultimate leader of all Special Forces units, Ranger units, Air Force Special Operations wings and all Navy Seals, making him arguably one of the most powerful men in the military, after the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

It appears that Schoomaker declined to offer Reno advice on the Justice Department's proposed plan for attacking the Branch Davidian compound, saying it was not a military operation and he couldn't give an opinion. To me that is a plus for him. However, there are still some questions--raised primarily by conservative media outlets-- about exactly how involved Delta Force was in the operation. Does this stuff disqualify him from being Army Chief of Staff? Probably not, but it is food for thought.

[rabidralph]

I'll take your word for it because I do not have an inside track into the washout ratios. I just think it's rotten to politicize one death as proof that they're all unqualified or if they're flying, it's because of lowered standards. Lt. Hultgren could have been part of the regular "quota" of Class A mishaps that occur each year in naval aviation--nothing more, nothing less.

[SLB]

What I would give to be in on the confirmation hearings and see if any sneator has the guts to mention the word Waco. Any takers on that wager?

[68skylark]

It sounds like he asked (or was ordered) to show up at Waco and have a look. To me, it doesn't sound like he broke the rules that forbid the Army from being "involved" with domestic law enforcement.

I can think of any number of reasons why a good spec ops Army leader would want to look at the Waco situation. I'd say he wasn't doing his job if he didn't try to learn as much as he could about real-world stand-off situations, in order to improve the way the Army handles the situations they have to deal with overseas.

What the FBI and ATF and the Reno Justice Department did at Waco was terrible, but from what I know at this point it doesn't seem fair for any of the stink to rest at the doorstep of the Army.

Unless I heard more information, I'd say this was a non-issue.

[Pukin Dog]

I never said that they were all unqualified. Can you read?

Lt. Hultgren was not qualified to wash a Tomcat, let alone fly one. That is a fact. She committed safety errors that would have gotten better men sent packing. She had multiple downs in the training command. Many NFO's refused to fly with her. Her death was tragic because she had no business in that airplane. The Tomcat is a difficult airplane under the best conditions. The Navy killed that girl, because they were under orders.