Petraeus and Odierno
By Ed54 Posted in Military Roundtable — Comments (3) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
By now everyone knows that GEN Petraeus (aka P4) has been selected to lead Central Command. There's no shortage of reportage on P4's potential impact at CENTCOM, so I won't belabor that topic much. I will say that many CENTCOM staffers feel the command has stagnated under Fallon's autocratic style, so any intellectual rejuvenation that occurs under P4 will be a good thing.
The lesser reported aspect of this move, but potentially the more significant one, is the nomination of LTG Ray Odierno to command MNC(I) in Iraq. This is great news for anyone who wants to see the US successful in Iraq.
LTG Odierno lacks P4's aptitude for press management, so he is still relatively unkown to the public. But he deserves as much credit for the surge as P4. LTG Odierno is the commander who actually implemented the surge on the ground, putting together a masterful operational campaign that drove Al Qaeda from Baghdad. He's also the commander who had the guts to push policy changes that allowed the Anbar Awakening and Concerned Local Citizens programs to flourish, no mean feat of bureaucratic courage.
I had the fortune to brief LTG Odierno in private a few times, and found him to be exactly the kind of General Officer we want leading our soldiers. No BS, no pretense, no ego, wholly task focused and willing to try anything that works. He is aggressive and decisive, but also calculating and informed.
War has a great way of bubbling the best leaders up to the top. That clearly has happened in this case. It's great news that Secretary Gates and President Bush have chosen to reward success in combat.
Despite being one of the rising stars in the Army (73 Easting, "Dereliction of Duty", BZ promotions, USMA history P) COL McMaster has been passed over twice for his star. Sounds like the army still has some problems with being a meritocracy.
Certainly one reason I got out...
Being famous does not neccessarily equate to being the best prospect for promotion and higher command. A USMA classmate of mine is famous for writing a book (won't say who). The media proclaimed him a rising star and COIN genius, but he recently retired as an O-5, just like me.
I've met COL McMaster several times and was quite impressed. However, the Army doesn't really care what he did 20 years ago or whether he wrote a good book. When it comes to GO selection, they only care about 2 things: how he did at Regimental command, and what the other GOs say about his potential to be a GO.
It is possible they didn't like certain aspects of his performance at Tal Afar. Or perhaps they were leery of his high media profile.
GOs form a very exclusive club and they are quite selective about the type people they pick to join their club. Plenty of rising stars stop at the BG board. There are far less stars available than there are qualified commanders competing for them.
When I was young I used to get pissed watching GOs bend over backwards not to piss each other off. A cardinal rule of GO-dom is never to tell another GO "no". As I got older I started to understand the rationale behind this ethos. The little pissing matches we engage in at company and field grade are part of the game and get everyone fired up. But when 2 GOs feud, tens of thousands of soldiers suffer the consquences and the whole system breaks down. GOs ARE the system and they are very careful to ensure that keeping the system running stays their top collective priority.
Not saying there ain't politics involved, just that those of us not in the club have only a limited appreciation of what it takes to be a successful member of the club.
"If all men were just, there would be no need of valor."
- Agesilaus
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