The Garrison Monster Cometh

I’m old enough to remember life in the Army before the GWOT.  Now that the Army is slowing down the OPTEMPO, there are more and more units spending time in garrison. After a decade at war, the big question is whether the Army will return to pettiness that characterized garrison life a decade ago.  There are now indicators that the answer to this questions is a regrettable, yeah…probably.

“Cool Guy Syndrome” : New Illness Infecting Army Leaders

The list of Army leaders getting fired is getting longer and longer as time goes on.  To recap the action, here is who has been canned recently:

GEN Stanley McChrystal, ISAF

COL Frank Zachar, 172nd Inf. BDE

COL James Johnson, 173rd Airborne Inf. BDE

LTC Frank Jenio, 2nd BN, 508th Parachute Infantry Regt.

COL Harry Tunnell, 5/2 Striker BDE*

*COL Tunnell had left command when the investigation was completed, however, the investigating officer said he would have fired Tunnell had Tunnell still been in command.

I’ve been doing a little research to see if I could find what all these guys have in common, and the results might surprise you.

A Crisis in Army Leadership? Recent Brigade Commander Fails Have the CSA’s Attention

A few months ago, I asked this question: Is the Army finally getting serious about toxic leaders?  It appears that the answer may be yes, although much remains to be seen.  What is clear is that the recent relief of two brigade commanders, COLs Frank Zachar and James Johnson, along with other embarrassing revelations of bad brigade leadership, has got the new Chief of Staff’s attention.  In the 25 April Army Times cover story, the new CSA promises action to curb these leadership failures.

It’s Official: Frank Zachar is an Asshole

In a previous post about the relief of COL Frank Zachar, I posited that the reason for his relief may have been that Zachar was a toxic leader.

I hate to say I told you so, but….I told you so.

A follow up story by the Stars and Stripes indicates that a report on Zachar’s relief, authored by BG Jimmie Jay Wells, says that Zachar’s command climate was, ““at best ineffective” and “at worst toxic.”

Systems Thinking and Strategy –or- Why the “Spaghetti Bowl” PowerPoint Slide was Pretty Cool After All

Thanks to Starbuck at Wings Over Iraq for posting this great video.

Remember the Spaghetti Bowl slide?  I always felt it was useful – it just had the misfortune of being composed on PowerPoint.  Unfortunately, two separate issues became intertwined.

First, the over-use of complicated PowerPoint slides (I’m not a fan).

Second, the use of Systems Thinking and Complexity Theory to help address tough problems like counter-insurgency (I am a fan).

Check out this video in which Ecologist Eric Berlow explains why the Spaghetti Bowl was a pretty neat product after all:

Defeat: Department of Defense

FOR EXCESSIVE AND DANGEROUS POLITICAL CORRECTNESS

According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, all of the US military services issued a report on the murderous rampage at Fort Hood, Texas in November 2009 when Nidal Malik Hassan, a terrorist, killed 11 Soldiers, 1 civilian, and wounded 32 others.

None of the reports mentions radical Islam.

The same misguided, politically correct culture which contributed to the tragedy may be inhibiting the lessons learned.  It is widely believed that Hassan’s supervisors overlooked his professional incompetence and jihadist attitudes in the name of multi-culturalism and political correctness.  .

Translation: they were afraid to discipline or report Hassan because he was a Muslim.

Now it appears this same culture is not only absent from the report, but is actually causing the Department of Defense to deny, as an institution, one of the fundamental causes of this incident.

Not misinterpret.  D E N Y.  As in, we know that Hassan was a terrorist, but we are going to look the other way.

Of course, this shouldn’t be a surprise to those who remember Army Chief of Staff George Casey, who, immediately following the shooting, said his chief concern was that the incident might “cause a backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers.”

2010 Iconoclast of the Year

I consider myself something of a cultural insurgent, and so have decided to begin a new tradition.  I will present an annual award to the person or persons I believe have done the most to change the ugly parts of military culture.  This dubious honor will be given out at the end of each calendar year for the previous year.

Before I get to the 2010 award winner, I’d like to recognize three honorary award winners from years past who most certainly would have received this honor had it been in existence.

Previous Winners

	Honorary Awards
COL John Boyd, USAF	COL Boyd’s Energy-Maneuverability theory revolutionized the way combat aircraft were conceived, built, and employed.  Defying bureaucratic resistance, he successfully fought to create a light, fast, maneuverable, and inexpensive jet fighter which became the most produced of all time – the F-16.  Later, his theories on using time as a weapon and his concept of the OODA loop significantly influenced the development of US military ground doctrine.
COL Paul Yingling, USA	COL Yingling, disgusted with the strategic incompetence displayed by US senior leaders in the early years of the Iraq War, risked career suicide by penning a stinging critique of said senior leaders in Armed Forces Journal entitled “A Failure in Generalship.”  His article, despite drawing angry retaliation from some senior leaders, touched off a critical discussion about strategic leadership in the US Army.
COL Billy Mitchell, USAAS	COL Mitchell was court-martial for his advocacy of air power in the years between World War I and II.  He successfully fought to gain limited budget resources for the development of air power.  His opposition was less concerned about national security than is was securing funding for its own parochial interests.  COL Mitchell’s effort resulted in a US Army Air Force that was able to fight and win over the battlefields of WWII.

Without further delay, I present the 2010 Iconoclast of the Year award to COL Lawrence Sellin.  COL Sellin wrote a scathing article regarding the bloated staff structure and obsession with PowerPoint in the US Afghanistan war headquarters.  You can read the entire article here. Among the more quotable quotes from COL Sellin:

“For headquarters staff, war consists largely of the endless tinkering with PowerPoint slides to conform with the idiosyncrasies of cognitively challenged generals in order to spoon-feed them information”

“Around here, you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a colonel.”

“The ability to brief well is, therefore, a critical skill. It is important to note that skill in briefing resides in how you say it. It doesn’t matter so much what you say or even if you are speaking Klingon.

Random motion, ad hoc processes and an in-depth knowledge of Army minutia and acronyms are also key characteristics of a successful staff officer.”

”Briefers explain each slide by reading from a written statement in a tone not unlike that of a congressman caught in a tryst with an escort.”

“Each day is guided by the “battle rhythm,” which is a series of PowerPoint briefings and meetings with PowerPoint presentations. It doesn’t matter how inane or useless the briefing or meeting might be. Once it is part of the battle rhythm, it has the persistence of carbon 14.”

For his efforts, COL Sellin was fired from his staff job and retired.

Bravo, COL Sellin, for saying what we all knew was true, but were too timid to say so.

Army Suicides Hit Record Mark…But Army Leaders Still Miss the Mark

Today’s San Antonio Express-News reports that Fort Hood set a grim record in 2010 – most Soldier suicides ever for that installation.

The Army seems unable to figure out how to address the problem.  A recent report of a study conducted by the department of defense concluded that suicide prevention efforts are simply failing.

If I had a solution to the problem, I would certainly be sharing it with the world.  I don’t.  However, I have a good idea of what probably won’t work, which is all the things that the Army is doing.  Consider the following statement from the Reuters article on the DoD study:

“We have done all the right things but despite all the things we have done, suicide rates have risen, particularly in the Marines and Army,” said Colonel Charles Hoge of Walter Reed.

How can you be doing all the right things, yet fail?  Perhaps your FAILURES indicate that the things you are doing are not, in fact, the right things?  Denial is more than a river in Egypt, Colonel.  

The “Phantom Menace Syndrome”, or, How US Navy Capt. Owen Honors Learned About Filmmaking

The big story of the week is the relief from command of Navy Captain Owen Honors for videos which he evidently wrote, produced, directed, and starred in from 2006-2007 while serving as the Executive Officer of the USS Enterprise.  Apparently, Captain Honors did not heed the lessons to be learned from either George Lucas or Kevin Costner – when you try to do too much yourself in showbiz, it always comes back to haunt you.

This episode is bound to conjure up painful organizational memories for the US Navy of the Tailhook Scandal, and set off a similar debate about professionalism in the US military.  Already there is an article in Christian Science Monitor in which the headline asks the question, “Do lewd videos point to deeper problem for military?”  The article answers its own question, in a manner of speaking.  The article quotes  Kaye Whitley, director of the Pentagon’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, as stating, “It’s a leadership issue.”  Well, Kaye, in reality its a bit deeper than that. 

It is a cultural issue, which is a reflection of leadership.  According to CS Monitor, senior leaders in the Navy knew about these videos long before they became public, yet are only now taking action.  It’s a leadership issue alright.  But its not Captain Honors’ leadership issue (for him it is a professionalism/ethical issue).  No, it is a leadership issue for all the leaders who knew about this, yet were perfectly happy to promote Honors up the chain because he got results.  That is, until it became public.  Now, those same leaders are perfectly happy to flame Honors for his actions, but only because now they are embarrassing the Navy.

You can’t tell me this is the first time Honors did this, either.  Certainly there have been other incidents, which Honors’ leaders were happy to overlook, most likely because Honors was a result-getter.  Regardless of all the talk in the military about integrity, professionalism, etc., results-getters and mission-accomplishers get away with a lot because senior leaders are willing to overlook “little” incidents like this – that is, until they become big incidents.  The sin isn’t doing something unprofessional – the sin is only getting caught.

Its a leadership issue alright.  Every single leader who looked the other way and allowed Honors to come up through the ranks unimpeded is to blame.  Yet, mark my words – aside from the officer who was the Captain of the Enterprise at the time the videos were shown – NO OTHER SENIOR LEADER WILL BE PUNISHED.  Sadly, that is the way these things work. 

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repealed

As I predicted in my previous post on DADT, the law has been repealed by the US Congress.  Curiously, there is a story that Lady GaGa was personally informed via twitter by Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid.  Another demonstration of how twisted our celebrity-obsessed culture really is.  What in the world does Lady GaGa, a “singer” and notoriously bad dresser, have to do with legislation related to the US military?   So she “tweeted” to her minions to repeal DADT…so?  Why should we care what she thinks?  Is she going to sign up?  I doubt it.

Although, her “meat dress” my have an interesting influence on military dress uniform fashion….