Thread: Contrary Peter Principle

Here's some commentary by Kaplan on a recent address by SecDef Gates on the promotion process.

Secretary Gates declares war on the Army brass. - By Fred Kaplan - Slate Magazine

He ended the speech with yet another remark bound to drive a stake into the collective heart of the traditional Army. Speaking of the junior and midlevel officers "who have been tested in battle like none other in decades" and who "have seen the complex, grueling face of war in the 21st century up close," Gates said:

These men and women need to be retained, and the best and brightest advanced to the point that they can use their experience to shape the institution to which they have given so much. And this may mean reexamining assignments and promotion policies that in many cases are unchanged since the Cold War.

Again, to civilians, this may seem unremarkable, but to the military establishment, it was a spark on the third rail. The promotion system is the way the traditional culture perpetuates itself. The board that promotes colonels to generals is filled entirely by current generals, who tend to seek successors who match their own image. This process permeates the entire culture. One colonel told me, in the course of reporting on another story, "Everyone studies the brigadier-general promotion list like tarot cards. … It communicates what qualities are valued and not valued."

Gates was telling the Army's leading lobby organization that the qualities valued by the current crop of generals are the wrong qualities.

Originally Posted by Shek

Here's some commentary by Kaplan on a recent address by SecDef Gates on the promotion process.

Could Gates have McMaster on his mind? Wonder what set him off. Essentially he's saying the general officer corp is not the best.