Army Officer Accuses Generals of 'Intellectual and Moral Failures'

[Van]

Dr. StrangeloveGeneral Jack D. Ripper: I can no longer sit back and allow ... international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.

Generally, I prefer Sam Adams or bourbon.

But this is the dichotomey of being an officer in a system of civilian control of the military. Even if the officer is objectively right, he or she is still subordinate to civilian authority under the constitution.

Civilian policymakers have neither the expertise nor the inclination to think deeply about strategic probabilities in the distant future…

But the civilian policymakers are still in charge. LTC Yingling arrived at the conclusion that the current crop of general officers was failing in their duty to advise the civilian policymakers and took it upon himself to correct the problem. From the snippets I've read so far, he's done a very good job. Now to see what comes of it.

This makes an interesting exercise in game theory. He'll win big or lose big as far as an Army career goes. Do the rewards of success versus the cost of failure justify the strategy? Under what odds? With any kind of recognition for the book, failure in an Army career will be greatly mitigated by public speaking gigs and future writing, but that is also a gamble.

Re: my previous remarks about LTC Yingling's motivation for writing; I was stating my ignorance, not attempting to impugne LTC Yingling's character. No offence to anyone intended.