Quote Originally Posted by John T. Fishel View Post
Guys, the 7 post G-N CJCS were:
1. Navy - Crowe
2. Army - Powell
3. Army - Shali
4. Army - Shelton
5. Air Force - Myers
6. Marines - Pace
7. Navy - Mullen
The VJCS, by law, is different service. In the longer view, since 1986 four of the CJCS have been ground force guys. For 14 of the last 21 years the CJCS has been a ground guy. Final note: there was an article I read a while back (wish I could remember the author and title) that pointed out that at the highest levels of decision making, people at least partly shed their organizational identities and interact as individuals. It's a point that can be developed from Graham Allison's Essence of Decision.

Cheers

JohnT
Now if we could just get the right service at the top at the right time with some assurance...

The Army has had more than its share and there was indeed Pace, of course and I do not question that all of them have been able to put parochialism aside, truly. The Vice is always of a different service but he is not in loop to advise the Prez, only the Chairman is statutorily. A smart President will ignore that and Bush obviously did and has since.

My point was not parochial but that a deep seated knowledge of capabilities and limitations may not be there at the appropriate time and a fuss budget Prez or SecDef may hew to the letter of the law and not seek advice elsewhere. It is IMO not a big thing, just a minor glitch in the law.