Gen. Pace: Throwing the Baby out with the Bath Water
Video: Gates Announces Choice for New Chairman
Biography of Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen
Biography of Marine Gen. James E. Cartwright
Gates Recommends Mullen to Replace Pace
Gen. Pace Terminated as Contentious Reconfirmation Hearing Loomed
June 8th, 2007
The sudden announcement that Gen. Peter Pace, USMC, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, would not be reappointed to the post was a surprise and has annoyed many…
Secretary of Defense Dr. Robert Gates:
“said while he wanted Pace to continue as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he decided a bruising confirmation battle was not worth it. ‘The focus of his confirmation process would have been on the past rather than the future. There was the very real prospect the process would be quite contentious.’"
[…]
“Pace was first appointed vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs in October 2001, and four years later he would become the first Marine named to the top job of chairman of that group.”
Many felt that he had done a great job in extraordinarily difficult circumstances…
And how quickly has the liberal mainstream media piled-on in an echo meme routine that has by now become only too familiar.
“There was no doubt that many folks felt that Gen. Pace was too compliant with the directives of Secretary Rumsfeld and he should have spoken up more forcefully,” said Gen. William Nash of the Council on Foreign Relations and an ABC News consultant. "At the same time it's an obligation of the chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff to serve loyally both the defense secretary and the president."
[…]
"Obviously the job was not good enough to warrant confirmation for a second tour," Nash added.
For Corps and Country,
Thank you General Pace for serving your Country with great honor.
####
General Peter Pace
Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
United States Department of Defense web site bio:
General Peter Pace was sworn in as sixteenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Sep. 30, 2005. In this capacity, he serves as the principal military advisor to the President, the Secretary of Defense, the National Security Council, and the Homeland Security Council. Prior to becoming Chairman, he served as Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. General Pace holds the distinction of being the first Marine to have served in either of these positions.
General Pace was born in Brooklyn, NY and grew up in Teaneck, NJ. A 1967 graduate of the
In 1968, upon completion of The Basic School, Quantico, Va., General Pace was assigned to the 2d Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division in the Republic of Vietnam, serving first as a Rifle Platoon Leader and subsequently as Assistant Operations Officer. He was later assigned to Marine Barracks, Washington, DC, where he served in a number of billets, to include Security Detachment Commander, Camp David; White House Social Aide; and Platoon Leader, Special Ceremonial Platoon.
General Pace has held command at virtually every level, and served in overseas billets in Nam Phong, Thailand; Seoul, Korea; and Yokota,
After an assignment as the Director for Operations (J-3), Joint Staff, Washington DC, then Lieutenant General Pace served as the Commander, U. S. Marine Corps Forces, Atlantic/Europe/South. He was promoted to General and assumed duties as the Commander in Chief,
As the Vice Chairman from October 2001 to August 2005, General Pace served as the Chairman of the Joint Requirements Oversight Council, Vice Chairman of the Defense Acquisition Board, and as a member of the National Security Council Deputies Committee and the Nuclear Weapons Council.
General Pace's personal decorations include: Defense Distinguished Service Medal, with two oak leaf clusters; Defense Superior Service Medal; the Legion of Merit; Bronze Star Medal with Combat V; the Defense Meritorious Service Medal; Meritorious Service Medal with gold star; Navy Commendation Medal with Combat "V"; Navy Achievement Medal with gold star; and the Combat Action Ribbon.
General Pace and his wife, Lynne, have a son, Peter, a daughter, Tiffany Marie, and a daughter-in-law, Lynsey Olczak Pace.
What worries me is that we are eliminating from high position in the military anyone who have ever seen battle. To say it in an interesting, intriguing way, we are miniaturizing the Military from high military positions.
ReplyDeletePetraeus excelled academically, but outside the ivy towers has had no real experience or achievement I can see.
Mullen, too excelled academically. Harvard Business School. But we aren't running a Fortune 500 company here and even if we were practical experience also accounts for a lot in the business world.
So what I see in this two men are that they are Military in Name Only. Sure they went through the military to get their academic achievement but in the end that's all they got through the military. The didn't get a real world military experience of what it is like to be in battle.
Now, I don't totally dismiss those who are educated (you can be smart but still not educated). Most of our generals were very educated, but they also came from the military background and had practical experiences necessary for them to understand the nature of war. There are just stuff you can't get from a book regardless of how smart you are and the mistake I have seen many smart people make is that the have developed all these complex high minded philosophies without even considering the real world practicalities of their ideas. Yeah, they outsmart themselves, and the troops suffer whereas someone with "street smarts" can quickly tell if a plan of action just might not work, even if it got a lot of accolades when presented as a PhD dissertation.
I understand that the constitution puts the ultimate control of the military in the hands of a civilian. That is most likely a very good idea. But surely they expected that the President would surround himself when making decisions on military manners with good military leaders who could give him a perspective from a military point of view. But when the military leaders themselves are nothing but de-facto business managers, professors, bureaucrats, politicians, where will future presidents go to get the point of view of the Soldier? Where will they go to get the point of view of the warrior.
Bush has made it quite clear. He doesn't want any soldier, any warrior in a leadership position in our military!