The Peter Pandemic Takes Its Toll

[SWJED]

Third Way Dispatch - The Peter Pandemic Takes Its Toll: HR McMaster is Passed Over by Matt Bennett.

... But the fact that a bunch of incompetent imbeciles are running our country is old news. Now we find that the Bush Administration has brought us the corollary to the Peter Principle: genuinely gifted and brilliant public servants who are kept far below the level to which they should ascend.

There are, no doubt, scores of such talents in the federal bureaucracy, held down from their rightful rise by political calculation, petulance or oversight. But one recent and egregious example is the Pentagon’s failure to promote (for a second time) Army Colonel HR McMaster.

Now you may be thinking, wasn’t it H.R. McMaster that led the pacification of Tal Afar, an operation so successful that Bush devoted an entire speech to it just last year? Didn’t I read about McMaster’s brilliant strategy in a long New Yorker piece about him? Wasn’t it McMaster who won a Silver Star in the Gulf War, leading troops so bravely and well that Tom Clancy wrote it up? And surely it was McMaster who’s PhD dissertation became a hugely influential book, Dereliction of Duty, that the then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs made required reading for senior military types?

Well brace yourself – the answer to all of your questions is yes. McMaster is a brilliant tactician, a decorated hero, a soldier’s soldier, and a master of the very kind of war we’re fighting in Iraq – the counterinsurgency. In fact, he’s back in Iraq now, helping soon-to-be-fall-guy David Petraeus try to fend off further disaster. But somehow McMaster’s “superiors” – the suits at the Pentagon who helped bring us the Fiasco that McMaster is attempting to clean up – have decided that he isn’t flag officer material...

It's a damn, damn shame.

[Rob Thornton]

Doesn't really inspire continued service does it? Things like this always remind me of Sam Damon. There are several other 06s who would serve the cnation well as GOs - but politics (of all flavors) will not permit it.

[Steve Blair]

Typical. And in a few years someone will be moaning about the lack of quality in the officer corps and wonder why all the captains left.

[Cavguy]

Doesn't really inspire continued service does it? Things like this always remind me of Sam Damon. There are several other 06s who would serve the cnation well as GOs - but politics (of all flavors) will not permit it.

Agreed. Makes me wonder bout my chosen profession too. Over time and travels I have heard much of behind the scenes bad talk about him - mostly for no other reason than professional jealousy. I personally have only met him during our TOA in Tal Afar, and I have to say that it remained a lasting success to this day, despite a few hiccups. I was amazed at what 3ACR was able to pull off with the tribes there, and how much was the result of his and LTC Hickey's efforts.

When I hear other O6's and above speak about him they talk about how he was opinionated, pushy, and a media hound. Yes, there was a little over-hype on success in Tal Afar, but there is no disputing the success there, and that it is one of the few cities with a functioning and reasonably fair government and police force.

I really think a lot of serving generals and colonels resent that he succeeded, frankly, and made many others look bad by default. And then he committed the worse sin of getting good press for it from Tom Ricks in "Fiasco". Many of the same criticisms have been leveled inside the army at Petraeus, but he made it out okay.

When I got off the plane back to Germany from Iraq in Feb 07 we were met, as customary, by a GO from USAREUR. The one-star who met us gathered a few company commanders and a few staff together for a pep talk. This general officer, who has since been promoted to a higher position, told us "not to believe the BS about Tal Afar;", [I guess he didn't know we spent 10 of 14 deployed months there] and "That we all know the real way to win the Iraqis is with force", or something to that effect. My fellow former company commanders and I were literally dumbfounded! We had just spent our tour in Tal Afar and had helped turn around Ramadi through tribal engagement, ISF cooperation, and targeted violence, and here a serving GO was telling us not to believe it? I am still maddened by the conversation.

However, just because he didn't get selected first look doesn't mean he won't get it later. Sometimes the army takes awhile to do the right thing.

Maybe Yingling is right about the GO corps. . It's a damn shame. Work hard, succeed in combat (where it counts), and get passed over in favor of people who don't rock the boat ....

[Dominique R. Poirier]

Independently of the question of who is ruling in United States now, the extract you posted relates more generally to a subject known as “the circulation of the elite.” There are several models of circulation of the elite’s process, according to each country. But there are some common and recurrent patterns. It’s quite a subject about which, coincidentally, I read extensively and continue reading.
Depending the country and its culture, history, and set of value, it may be either relatively easy to understand why such brilliant person has been held several rungs down the deserved ladder, or tricky to explain in a simple phrase, or even sometimes not all explainable or understandable (at first glance).

About the case of Army Colonel HR McMaster, now, I would be glad to size this opportunity to enlighten you with likely hypothesizes, but I miss further personal information about him, and even though I would get it, then this wouldn’t guarantee that my suggestion would be the right one. All I can say is that Army Colonel HR McMaster seems to be victim of “injustice,” according to this extract. But the notions of “just” or “unjust” seldom prevail when it comes to the circulation of the elites. In fact, things are much more rational and often justified by ever-changing variables. From the standpoint of the concerned person it seems to be a matter of “luck” and sometimes (or often, still depending the country) it is, indeed.

I would enjoy writing a book since I gathered matter and personal knowledge enough about this subject to make a thick one, but would it be “publishable?” Certainly not, I assume, all things well considered.

[RTK]

I'd still follow him anywhere, despite the selection board's results. I'd be willing to bet we'll hail his promotion less than a year from now.

[Rob Thornton]

However, just because he didn't get selected first look doesn't mean he won't get it later. Sometimes the army takes awhile to do the right thing.

I've seen some 06s I thought should be GOs make the cut - Robert B Brown is an 06 (P) I think. However there are other guys like J.R. Sanderson and Roy Waggoner that I think should have been promoted some time ago.

The question is how do you give the guys who can lead the Army (or any organization) the authority required to make the right changes in time to make "doing the right thing" something that happens before we have to pay the heaviest prices to figure it out?

I sat in on a VTC today at the AWC where GEN Petraeus spoke from Iraq. He had a great slide about creating "Leaders who get it". I think that only gets us half way though. We have to promote those leaders who get it and assign them to positions where they can affect change rapidly in order to save lives and implement winning practices. While an 06 can change a BCT and can demonstrate good practices, I think it really takes a GO to institutionalize change.

I imagine COL McMasters loves the Army as much as any and more then most. However I think he is too bright and intellectually ambitious (and I mean that in a good way) to allow the Army to keep him in a box. There are too many other fantastic opportunities for leaders of his caliber outside the Army. We often say we want one thing but our choice of spending priorities and our promotion/CMD lists would seem to indicate otherwise. As long as we follow those lines we will move forward slowly and with political risk aversion.

[T. Jefferson]

What about “up or out?” I was under the impression that 2 pass-overs for promotion would pretty well finish an officer’s career.

[Ken White]

said to me:

"I'm mediocre. All Generals are mediocre. If you're too good, your peers -- competitors, really -- will kill you on the way up."

After he told me that, I started watching and discovered he was right -- and the bad news is that negative comments were occasionally the lesser things done. The good news is that in my observation, the typical water walker had only a very, very few contemporaries who would do that -- unfortunately, sometimes just one is enough.

Sad news that. I sorta suspect that in the course of a career, he told the wrong boss to go pound sand, was proven correct and therefor got away with it at the time and delayed revenge was taken...

[Abu Buckwheat]

This is incompetence and vindictiveness at its worst -neo-conservatism at its finest!

Well I personally would not worry.

In 16 months there will be over 1,000 political appointmements available for the next President in the highest levels of DoD, CIA, DIA and State Department, not to mention the entire politicized counter-terrorism community.

I am pretty sure IN THE NEXT ADMINSITRATION proven records, competence and a realistic outlook on Iraq will equate to a job offer.

Tell him to apply for Deputy Secretary of Defense for SOLIC ...

[mike sullivan]

A long time ago a great guy told me that everyone gets passed over once. Great officer and leader.

[carl]

This is incompetence and vindictiveness at its worst -neo-conservatism at its finest!

Well I personally would not worry.

In 16 months there will be over 1,000 political appointmements available for the next President in the highest levels of DoD, CIA, DIA and State Department, not to mention the entire politicized counter-terrorism community.

I am pretty sure IN THE NEXT ADMINSITRATION proven records, competence and a realistic outlook on Iraq will equate to a job offer.

Tell him to apply for Deputy Secretary of Defense for SOLIC ...

I can't tell if this comment is sarcastic or not, so I will assume it is not.

I think it likely Col. McMaster displeased Big Army most of all and that is why he wasn't promoted. A change in administrations, regardless of the party elected won't change Big Army.

Secondly, changing the political party in power inside the beltway, won't change the big problem, which is the culture inside the beltway. That marches on strong regardless.

Third, what does SOLIC mean?

Last, as Rob mentioned, this is a strong sign that not only does Big Army not "get it"; they don't want to get it.

[MASON]

Was not this the major thrust of Col Yinglings article?
The very delema Mcmaster finds himself in.

Though I do not think congressional oversite is the best answer because they can only approve or disapprove of what they are shown.

Mason

[RTK]

What about “up or out?” I was under the impression that 2 pass-overs for promotion would pretty well finish an officer’s career.

This was his first look. He's been BZ on everything else.