Posted on 10/12/2014 4:21:23 AM PDT by iowamark
Eisenhower was in his 50s during WW2, Schwartzkopf was about 60 during the Gulf War.
“Sounds like a good idea to me”
Extremely bad idea. Army Chief of Staff Marshall forced elderly officers over a certain age to retire in the buildup before U.S. entry into World War Two after the Japanese attack upon Pearl Harbor 7 December 1941. Fortunately, General Marshall made an exception in the case of Colonel George S. Patton and waived the age restriction for him. Col. Patton was promoted in rank to Brigadier General and given the task of organizing the U.S. Tank Corps for the U.S. Army in a desert training center around Ft. Irwin, California. Patton then planned the first major American amphibious invasion with the Allied attack upon French Northwest Africa in 1942. His leadership set the example for future U.S. amphibious invasions in the war.
Blind age prejudice against older military officers without regard to skill, luck, and sheer audacity is extremely harmful to the capabilities of the American armed forces. Any attempt to foolishly squander such human capital on the sacrificial stone of blind and ignorant policy should be and must be opposed with all the derision it deserves.
MacArthur’s heroism in WWI cannot be disputed. His actions as a General in WWII were appalling.
People are more complex than movies or histories can ever portray, but facts are stubborn and MacArthur was little more than a publicity-seeking figurehead when he ignominiously left the PI. LT GEN Wainwright may have been forced to surrender, but the defeat can only be attributed to MacArthur. He was an extreme narcissist and a poor general in the field as can be seen by any study of the PI campaign. Finally, his men did not respect him—my determining factor when it comes to command.
I won’t dispute his administrative or political skills in the aftermath. As I said, real life doesn’t always fit our neat boxes.
Now that is funny! Lol
Half the current generation will be dead before they reach that state.
There was a point after World War 1 where the British had more admirals than ships, a problem in bureaucracy and “rank inflation”.
That our military suffers it now, as we enter a second decade fighting militant Islam, bodes poorly for the nation.
“Old? Who’s old?”
Oookay, you shamed me into one more round. While in Vietnam I got a letter from my mom stating my draft notice had arrived. I don’t know what ever became of it or what. However, not to long after serving my three years in the army I did receive another card, think I was 4-A, as I recall, meaning inactive reserves but no sure. About your last comment; I have several friends and associates, all conservatives, who are pro-draft.
I reckon you already know this but.........
The 42nd Division got it’s nickname from being an amalgamated division formed from Guard units across the US. They were the first National Guard division to go to the Western Front because of that. Politicians and socially important people from many states were demanding that their units have the distinction of being the first state units to go fight the Huns so the War Department deployed the 42nd first due to their being raised from around the nation.
As an aside, my grandfather was a national president of the division association. He died when I was a kid so I didn’t get to hear much from him about the war.
Retire all the guys with experience and knowledge and replace them with young guys steeped in pop-theories of the day and beholden to whatever politician happens to be in office....
What could possibly go wrong??
Funny my uncle serve under MacArthur as and 18 year old in the Pacific an worshipped the guy
Hyman Rickover (Father of the Nuclear Navy) joined the navy at age 18 in 1918 and was forced to retire in 1982 after 51
years of service.
So did my great uncle, but he couldn’t stand him. Of course that may have come from being bayonetted a couple times while Mac was enjoying his Australian jaunt. Different perspectives, I suppose. From what I hear, he was very charismatic.
Your rants about MacArthur seem to.focuse on the Philippines but leave out they has no hope of holding them as the Japanese had overwhelming superior numbers..... and that he was order out by the President
Obvious question then...
How do attain “critical skills”??? Time in rate, re-enlistments...
If the two privates are not considered to be retainable for opportunities for “critical skills” you cannot learn without a little time in, then where does that leave us???
Your two privates are not going to be encouraged or retained if the impetus is to release them regardless if they have the evaluations, and or experience attained at that point in their enlistments if this trend continues...
Remember how we are told this is an ALL Volunteer force in this country...
Well, at this rate we have pretty much lost that pool because of these policies...
A lot of kids WANT to serve, they want it to mean something, it is important to them and they are motivated to sign on the dotted line...Destroy those virtuous ambitions and you destroy our armed services...Period...
MacArthur men did not respect him?... where to you get that nugget.of wisdom...
have ever spoken directly with any Army veterans that served under him?..
or are you just talking to Marines who harbored a resentment against MacArthur and the US Army in general in the Pacific feeling the Marines did all the heavy lifting....
or just reading books
Again your major beef with MacArthur seem to be the he left the Philippines to Australia. .. fair enough. ...
But do you deny he was given a direct presidential order to do that...
do you also denied as he was the primary force on getting the United States to retake the Philippines as soon as possible instead of bypassing it.
Can’t believe it took so long for someone to mention Rickover. Thanks, thought I was going to have to do it.
“...How do attain “critical skills”??? Time in rate, re-enlistments....”
Those are handled a number of ways that work together.
For critical entry level skills that are having a hard time drawing volunteers there are enlistment bonuses.
Others that have lots of volunteers but are technical with long training requirements they will have required time in service remaining requirements at graduation.
A private is worth a private’s pay. He/She is expected to be proficient at their tasks. To be considered for advancement they need to show the potential of mastering the next skill level. Get promoted, master the tasks, show potential for the next level, get promoted and keep repeating.
It makes no sense to retain a soldier who can only be a good private when you have time in service pay increases. Otherwise you would have a 20 year time in service private earning more pay than a 3 year sergeant.
“..I have several friends and associates, all conservatives, who are pro-draft....”
I don’t think with a 2014 mission, for the active Army, of 57,000 recruits (Reserves another 15,569) - getting a draft will not put much skin in the game for All American.
This web site shows the Army recruiting requirements. It was around 80,000 (active) for a number of years but has been falling the last couple of years down to now 57,000.
http://www.usarec.army.mil/hq/apa/goals.htm
Balancing the Pros and Cons I think the Cons outweigh the Pros.
Of course my rants focus on the Philippines — that was MacArthur’s Command. There probably was no hope of holding them, but MacArthur’s incompetence did not help.
If he had listened to Major General Brereton, Commander United States Far East Air Force, he could have eliminated significant portions of that overwhelming Jap force and maintained air superiority. MacArthur’s refusal to allow Brereton’s to attack Japanese air bases on Formosa (Rainbow 5 plan) directly led to the loss of control of the skies over the Philippines.
Instead, he left the planes on the ground to be destroyed. Even the Japanese expressed surprise at how unprepared the bases were. Due to weather delays, they were expecting a significant resistance and a counterattack at Formosa, neither of which MacArthur provided.
His staging the only combat ready Marines on Corregidor, his refusal to implement Rainbow 5 and the unconscionable delay of Operation Orange (Bataan supply and defense) caused what should have been a defensible retreat into the worst defeat ever suffered by American forces. He made those decisions and he is responsible for them.
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