Thomas E. Ricks's Blog, page 210

The weirdest recent foreign policy trend: Bushies telling Obama how to handle Iraq

The weirdest recent trend in foreign policy
is the spate of former Bush Administration types berating
President Obama for his handling of Iraq. Honestly, it feels to me like
seeing Custer provide advice on how to handle American Indian tribes. Please,
haven't you all helped enough already? (As for John Yoo advocating preemptive
war with Iran -- that is clearly just him messing with us. Rick
Santorum, too.) 

Second weirdest trend: Attacks on Iraqi
fortune tellers.

Wanted: Strategic leader, females need not apply—even though they're better at it

By "A. J.O."

Best Defense department of strategic affairs

This decade of military strategy was not our finest.  Many prayed for a deus ex machina to save Iraq, and then Afghanistan, and the same
general was required for both. Either this is a sign that the Army can produce
one really effective general per generation, or this is a warning that the
army's bench of qualified generals is dangerously short. As current wars wind
down, we should ask whether the officer corps has kept pace with changing
warfare.

The shortage of prepared generals is a lagging indicator
of the misalignment between the demands of strategy and those of a general's
career. With few exceptions,
four-stars are selected from a small pool of successful maneuver brigade
commanders. The only way to make it into this pool is to command maneuver
companies and battalions. By the eighth year of an officer cohort's service,
the Army de facto eliminates 90% of
officers from consideration for strategic leadership, including 100% of female
officers. This would be acceptable if the requirements of junior
maneuver officers aligned with those of senior leaders, but the Army's
requirements for maneuver officers are heavier on tactics than on strategy,
which makes sense up until battalion commander. And then it doesn't.  Because being a maneuver officer is a de facto requirement of strategic
leadership, graduating three months of Ranger school increases one's chances of
becoming a strategic leader far more than does five years of doctoral
education. 

A diversity of backgrounds in senior leadership would combat
group-think and increase options for new leaders. It's too bad there's not a
group of officers who've had the time to devote to strategic studies because
they've been barred from maneuver branches.

But wait -- there is! Female officers tend to have spent
disproportionate time on strategic issues, because they are excluded from most
tactical jobs.  In a post littered with
generalizations, here's the biggest: female officers tend to be more interested
in enhancing their strategic skills, because they know that their chances of
making brigade command are slim, division command microscopic, and chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff laughable. So why not do a stint as a speechwriter,
get a PhD, or spend time in unconventional but challenging jobs? Despite these
experiences, women currently play only supporting roles in strategy-advising
and writing for senior generals. In future promotions, the army should consider
non-maneuver officers, including women, for strategic leadership.

The author is a female
Army officer who served with a combat unit in Afghanistan.

Profile of an Army base after the wars

Kim
Murphy of the Los Angeles Times
ran a
scary profile of life around Fort Lewis, Washington, nowadays. (The base
had a record 12
suicides in 2011, according to another article.)

One local police chief reports that in his town over the
last two years, there were "24 instances in which we contacted soldiers
who were armed with weapons . . . . We've had intimidation, stalking with a
weapon, aggravated assault, domestic violence, drive-bys."

Here's
the overview:

Over the last two years, an Iraq
veteran pleaded guilty to assault after being accused of waterboarding his
7-year-old foster son in the bathtub. Another was accused of pouring lighter
fluid over his wife and setting her on fire; one was charged with torturing his
4-year-old daughter for refusing to say her ABCs. A Stryker Brigade soldier was
convicted of the kidnap, torture and rape or attempted rape of two women, one
of whom he shocked with cables attached to a car battery; and an Iraq war
sergeant was convicted of strangling his wife and hiding her body in a storage
bin.

In April, 38-year-old combat medic
David Stewart, who had been under treatment for depression, paranoia and
sleeplessness, led police on a high-speed chase down Interstate 5 before
crashing into a barrier. As officers watched, he shot himself in the head. His
wife, a nurse, was found in the car with him, also shot to death. Police later
found the body of their 5-year-old son in the family home.

A peer hotline for veterans

The
note below recommends a peer hotline for veterans, at 1-855-838-8255. As I understand it, these are not
expert counselors, rather people who have been there -- but talking to such people
can be helpful in a moment of crisis, panic or doubt.

The bottom line is that a peer hotline,
established several years ago for the NJ Guard, is now nationwide and serving
the Guard and Reserves and their families in all 50 states and territories.
Although supported by the Guard and Reserves, the program is independent, free
and confidential.

Since the death of our son by suicide,
we've become convinced that there will always be a population of soldiers and
vets who cannot or will not use VA or DoD mental health services and that there
must be other alternatives. This is a good one - the folks at UMDNJ are
wonderful, deeply committed, and absolutely stubborn. 

While we were out: A crime roundup

--The entire police force in Veracruz,
Mexico, was fired. The force was disbanded because it was rotten with drug
cartel infestation. 

--A guy who had been an Illinois National
Guard major was sentenced to five years in the pokey for accepting
kickbacks on contracts for construction at the Bagram base in Afghanistan. He
also has to pay a cool half million bucks in restitution. That should help the
defense budget for a minute or two.

--The XO
of the USS New York was fired for becoming overly familiar in a consensual
fashion with a female crewmember.

--The Army charged
eight soldiers in the 25th Infantry Division with hazing a fellow
soldier and hounding him toward suicide. This reminded me of our recent
discussion of hazing
at West Point. It is unclear to me how much of it still goes on at the
military academy, but it seems to me that none should be tolerated. Good
military discipline can be achieved without hazing,
and in fact is better without it.  

The best BD comments of the year: Jim Gourley's best of 2011, plus a few others

This, by request, is a list of the best comments that
were posted this year on Best Defense. As you can see by the headline, there
was a bit of a surprise here.

I actually didn't go back and read through the thousands
of comments posted in 2011 to make this selection, partly because I have a
life. Instead, I reviewed the comments that already had been singled out as
"comments of the day." While choosing the top 10 from that crop, I didn't look
at names, but when checking the links I saw that Jim Gourley was a consistent
winner.

Thanks to Jim-and to all others who commented. You guys
make the blog.

10. Jim Gourley on getting help and giving a damn.

9. How the Army screwed up its museum situation. 

8. Safety weirdness at Bagram. 

7. Gourley on how suicide is killing more soldiers than
the enemy.

6. Gourley on how to straighten out the Army's PT.

5. Lazy whining vets.

4. Lousy command sergeants major.

3. The second act of a Doonesbury character.

2. Army officer says he is not protecting your freedom in
Afghanistan and Iraq.

1. Gourley, once more, on the meaning of death in combat.

Rebecca's War Dog of the Week: 2011, Year of the War Dog

By Rebecca Frankel

Chief Canine Correspondent

Mr. T. E. Ricks has asked me to select my top three favorite War
Dog posts of 2011. A daunting task, but who says no to Tom? Not I.

This
was without a doubt, the year of the War Dog. The
sensation wrapped around Cairo, the  canine reportedly on the fateful
mission that took down Osama bin Laden, cemented -- well, more like exploded --
the interest we knew was there all along. Our own War Dog photo
essay received over 8.2 million page views in May alone, making it the
most clicked on piece in Foreign Policy history. (Pardon the pre-holiday horn tooting.)



And
while the Osama bin Laden dog is inarguably the most exciting and momentous
tale to come out of this year's MWD highlight reel, it's not my favorite. Not
even close. The stories I find are the most compelling are the ones that
illustrate how powerful the dog-handler bond can be, what it's capable of, and
how it makes these teams an unsurpassed force in a combat zone where,
unfortunately, we still need them the most -- leading in front, clearing roads
for IEDs.



While
it was hard to chose, these are also the posts that prompted the most visceral
responses and the most touching comments, both on the blog comment feed and
off. These stories dig into the heart of why we respond to these dogs in the
first place. Here they are in no particular order. Not surprisingly, my
favorites posts this year were some of yours.

Eli, brother and protector, goes home


One bad ass handler and his jumping war dog


Did Theo the bomb dog die of a broken heart in
Afghanistan?

Some end of the year news: This note feels especially fitting as
we close in on the two-year anniversary of this Friday feature: A War Dogs book
is coming. I'm currently on leave from my desk at FP and working on war
dogs full-time. I hope to bring many dispatches and new stories as I work and
travel over the next few months. Many thanks to all of you who've been
following along, sharing your comments, your suggestions, and of course your
dogs. Happy holidays.



In the picture above, Lance Cpl. Tom Welstand, a native of Berystedmunds, England, and a
military working dog handler with 103 Military Dog Squadron, shares a moment
with his search dog, Steegan, during Operation Zamrod Olai, June 25, in
northern Nad'Ali district, Helmand province.

The ten most-commented Best Defense posts of 2011

Here are the 10 Best Defense posts that drew the most comments this year. I am not sure that as a group they tell us much of anything. Except that people always have something to say about John F. Kennedy.

10. Was John F. Kennedy the absolute worst U.S. president of the 20th century?

9. What if President Obama hadn't intervened in Libya?

8. Comment of the day: An Army captain says the military is not protecting your freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan.

7. A dispatch from the My Lai archives.

6. Sure, you're a vet, but that doesn't mean you have license to act like a jerk. 

5. What did we fight and bleed for in Afghanistan? 

4. A midshipman asks: Should I refuse orders to continue an unconstitutional attack on Libya? 

3. So, income inequality really is a big national security issue.

2. Some thoughts on getting my arm broken at West Point.

1. Out for August and an open comment thread.

The ten most-clicked Best Defense posts of 2011

Here are the 10 posts that were most read, apparently, during 2011. I think they represent a pretty good cross-section of the blog. The only discrepancy that leaps out at me is that the War Dog posts, which don't draw many comments, are clearly well read. Also, I think the world hates Donald Rumsfeld more than I thought.

10. Rebecca's War Dog of the Week: A soldier's last words are a plea for Cane.

9. Sure, you're
a vet, but that doesn't mean you have license to act like a jerk.

8. Dave Barno's
top 10 tasks for General Dempsey, the new Army chief of staff.

7. Rebecca's War Dog of the Week: Eli,
brother and protector, goes home.

6. The
new face of war: A female general commands the U.S. air campaign.

5. Travels
with Paula.

4. Did Theo the bomb dog die
of a broken heart in Afghanistan?

3. Was John F. Kennedy the flat-out absolute
worst U.S. president of the 20th century?

2. 19 true things generals
can't say in public about the Afghan war: A helpful primer.

1. How Rumsfeld
misleads and ducks responsibility in his new book.

The top 10 Best Defense guest columns

 

There were tons of great guest columns this year, including
several that sparked several weeks of good discussions, such as Jorg
Muth's essay on command
philosophy. But here are some of the individual columns that stood out as I
reviewed all those good contributions:  

10. Nora Bensahel did a good job of reminding people that a
lot of the critics were wrong about gays in the military.

9. How to understand China.

8. Here are 66 ways to fix the Army. This series provoked a
rollicking, sprawling discussion that I learned a lot from.

7.  Lewis Sorley
explained how Westmoreland lost the war in Vietnam.

6. Why shooting at airplanes is different from shooting at
targets on the ground.

5. A female officer discusses wearing a headscarf in
Afghanistan.

4. It is always nice to see events prove someone correct,
especially about Iraq.

3. The travels of Lady Emma -- especially jet skiing through
the Triangle of Death.

2. Eric Hammel asked if our biggest national security
challenge is climate change. I fear he may be proven correct.

1. Travels with Paula certainly got a lot of notice. It also led to a couple of weeks of good debate among
several people. Here's one of them.

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