'The General Mattis collection: a mixture

[Stevely]

Ingrained bureaucracy – read GS (especially 15’s and FOGO equivalents) plus the extraordinary numbers of embedded contract workers now prevalent in many major commands - has a habit of ignoring active duty commanders – with an attitude of “waiting it out” until the next change of command. Their stonewalling is both unconscionable and criminal in my most humble opinion.

JFCOM is one of the worst offenders - I wish General Mattis the best and hope he can make a difference... It is sorely needed to say the least.

This can be the case. However, on the GS side (actually note that in most of the DOD, and soon all of it, "GS" is finished, having been done away with in NSPS - we converted earlier this year), the personnel system has changed greatly, so that the days of the un-fire-able civil servant are past (though there was always some amount of myth to that, a determined commander could can a civil servant, many found it easier to just move them on. Of course this happens on active duty, too). It is now much easier to get rid of troublesome civil servants, though of course same protocol follows just as if you want to chapter a bad soldier: document, document, document.

But speaking from inside the belly of the purple beast, it is not that simple, uniformed military on a 2 or 3 year tour vs. civil servants waiting them out. For every JFCOM Sir Humphrey, there is an active duty officer armed with dubious ideas and a willingness to waste the taxpayer's dollar, all to get his star. This place often feels to me like a bunch of little feudal fiefdoms, squabbling over agendas and resources. I've seen one O6 build a shadow organization to another O6's directorate, and so try to steal his rival's portfolio and resources.

Just wanted to point out that there are more mischief makers here than just the guys with ties. When you get right down to it, money and ambition - they ruin everything. There is a lot of both here and that fuels the craziness.

I have not much experienced the stonewalling you described, except in one case. And in that case, the two-star flag who got waited out, gave in my opinion all the opportunity for his underlings to do so; there was an impression from my lowly POV at least that he was just marking time and waiting for his next post. He had a very "hands off" leadership style... His successor was of a different sort entirely, and he has since taken a very active interest in his organization and has even asked to extend his tour one year to make sure that his changes will stick.

I am very excited that Gen. Mattis is our commander - there are many of us who are hoping for great things from him. A man like him is a breath of fresh air from the series of gizmo-centric commanders we've had prior to him. Let's all pray for him that he makes a difference.

PS - Rob, nice suggestion, will have more to say about whither JFCOM, when it's not such a late hour.