Vindication for a General

**RTK** · 01-19-2007

Originally Posted by Tom Odom

Actually into the late 1970s. Ft Hood was a mish mash of mult-colored berets, multi-colored baseball caps, two or three shades of CAV stetsons, and ascots over the rainbow.

But to the point on CSAs: I watched 3 from fairly close range--across a desk briefing them--and from the perspective of one of 27,000 in the Pentagon. I also am privleged to call a former SMA a close friend. They are as Rob says in a very challenging environment; central to that environment is the challenge of information. A CSA is like a king in a castle with concentric rings of moats and walls around the throne. Those moats and walls are designed as much to isolate as they are to shield. The great CSAs learn quickly how to reach over the barriers and get the information they need. When they don't they make decisions skewed by their own or their "handlers" perspective. I see Shinseki's beret decision as one of those; once announced, he had to go through with it. I also see his testimony on numbers as an opposite case: he used his staff effectively to develop accurate numbers, rather than shoot from the hip.

Best
Tom

So what you're saying is that I should be thankful we didn't bring back the ascot....

**Tom Odom** · 01-19-2007

So what you're saying is that I should be thankful we didn't bring back the ascot....

Absolutely

UNLESS

we get to use swagger sticks and cigarette holders

Tom

**UCrawford** · 01-19-2007

Yeah, I'll admit that a lot of my opinion of Shinseki was formed from a position of ignorance. The employees often think they know more than the boss, which is probably where a lot of my opinion is based. And I agree that the beret was a stupid issue overall. It was a hat. That was really what irritated me more about Shinseki than anything though, it was an issue over what hat we wear in garrison and it kept dragging on and on into a huge mess...I think that most people didn't care about what the solution would be, they just wanted it to stop being an issue. That really wasn't all Shinseki's fault though, and I think SSG Rock is right that the bitching from the peanut gallery didn't help matters. I was just offering my opinion on it retrospectively.

And I think that a lot of the others were right about how well Shinseki handled the bigger issues. He put together what history has apparently judged an accurate assessment of the requirements for the Iraq invasion, he did the best he could at getting the administration to accept it, and he didn't start screaming to everyone when his suggestions were rejected (not that it likely would have done much good if he had if State of Denial and Fiasco were accurate). When it mattered, Shinseki got it right, acted like a professional, and acquitted himself fairly well as a leader, so my opinion of him is actually quite a bit higher than my comments about the beret issue may have indicated. But then again, that's also from a position of more or less total ignorance and I know that others are more well-informed on it than me. Just wanted to weigh in.

And swagger sticks would be kind of cool