Thanks, as always, Heather. I apologize that I still haven't had time to watch your interview with the President (been proofreading a book, sorry). Wow, this piece reminds me of another thing remiss: I only selectively view media these days (you, Nextdraft, 1440, bits and pieces of FP, Economist, etc) and somehow Doug MacGregor going of…
Thanks, as always, Heather. I apologize that I still haven't had time to watch your interview with the President (been proofreading a book, sorry). Wow, this piece reminds me of another thing remiss: I only selectively view media these days (you, Nextdraft, 1440, bits and pieces of FP, Economist, etc) and somehow Doug MacGregor going off the rails had totally escaped my notice these past few years. Disclosure: I was one of the passionate readers of Breaking the Phalanx back in the day (circa 1998), and full-on in my criticism of Army leadership (it remains, but I'm also not current anymore AND former peers of mine are now 2-Star generals). But wow, to read MacGregor's foreign policy comments...geez--stick to tactics, man. He's become the military version of Rudy Giuliani. Look, he was ALWAYS a bit of a self-promoter, but... people should understand that, in the late 90s this guy was mentioned in the same breath as H.R. McMaster...wow, what a fall (proof of this: his ambassadorial nom was simply returned. That speaks volumes). And proof that you can be intelligent, articulate, successful...and be an absolute crackpot too. His comments about Ukraine and Zelensky are not only, at best, a slanted assessment...they suggest a simple lack of understanding what's even going on there; they are lazy too. Sad, very sad.
McMaster's dropped a peg or two, proving that "Everything Trump touches, dies."
When I read his "masterful book" on Vietnam as research for my two books on the war, I was singularly unimpressed by it; most everything he went on about I had read in serious antiwar critiques written DURING THE EVENT. In the end I didn't use anything from it, since everything had been better said by others earlier. At best, that book qualifies as a "Master's thesis" at some "military history department" in an online "university." If that's something revolutionary, you Ringknockers have a long way to go. I've actually heard a couple guys who formerly had stars on their shoulders say the same things I have said here.
I had to look up "ring knockers," a term I'd never heard before. It refers to US military academy grads who call attention to their status by gently rapping their big, bold class rings against a hard surface in social situations. "They never shy away from bragging about their time at the academy" -- Eric Milzarski, www.wearethemighty.com
Thank you, I was planning to look that term up as well, when I finished reading the comments on this thread. Valuable time saved for research on other items of interest or in question! Dr. Richardson's LFAA and the ensuing comments never fail to inform, with links to articles and citations from books that go one my "To be Read" list. Always more to learn!! Always!
Well, I think McMasters, perhaps less capably than Mattis--but still-commendably, did the best he could as NSA in what we all know now was a 100% hopeless situation. Ring-knocker? I guess. Find me any general--or any high-level leader at all--who doesn't have an ego...but I never heard HR talk about the academy either. Anyway, I actually agree on the Vietnam analysis...but that's not the thing that got him notoriety. What did were the in-house critiques and assessments that were far more specific, and forward-looking ideas for the force. His assessments 14 years ago of where the Russians were going turned out to be spot-on when they invaded Crimea. My uncle--the second-most well-read human I've ever known (to Mattis. Mattis has 11k books and has read them all. I'm not kidding), worked with HR for about 2 years before he left to the White House and had only good things to say about him--and my uncle is notoriously critical of almost everyone. So...I guess my point is, it's almost universally-easy to take shots at these guys once they reach public status. Is H.R. McMaster a "genius?" No, I don't believe so. But within the incredibly conservative, intransigent bureaucracy known as the U.S. Army, he was able to find a balance between between outspoken maverick...and rising high enough to actually MAKE a difference (I believe he did)--and yes, I had a friend in 1998 who got into a full-out email FEUD with him about "selling out," (part of an anti-Boomer op-ed I'm writing right now AMAF)--so it's not a "pure" thing either. Yet, I still think he did more good than harm, by a lot. And he certainly never disgraced himself like MacGregor has.
That's interesting about the rest of HR's C.V. Thanks for pointing out. Glad to know we agree about the Vietnam analysis. You might find "The Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club: Naval Aviation in the Vietnam War" of interest. It even includes how the "North Vietnamese torpedo boats" at Tonkin Gulf were actually the reflections of the moon and the lightning flashes off an enormous school of flying fish that annually transit the Gulf at that time of year; LBJ was actually the only guy who got it right when he said - on being first informed of the "incident" - that "... Those poor dumb sailors were probably shooting at flying fish."
Mattis and your dad had a close competitor - Dick Best, the guy who sank the Akagi at Midway. The living room of his house here in L.A. was two stories high, and lined with book shelves to the ceiling on all four walls. And he'd read them all.
If you haven't yet watched her interview with President Biden, I urge you to find 30 minutes to do so. I finally did last night and plan to watch again.
Thanks, as always, Heather. I apologize that I still haven't had time to watch your interview with the President (been proofreading a book, sorry). Wow, this piece reminds me of another thing remiss: I only selectively view media these days (you, Nextdraft, 1440, bits and pieces of FP, Economist, etc) and somehow Doug MacGregor going off the rails had totally escaped my notice these past few years. Disclosure: I was one of the passionate readers of Breaking the Phalanx back in the day (circa 1998), and full-on in my criticism of Army leadership (it remains, but I'm also not current anymore AND former peers of mine are now 2-Star generals). But wow, to read MacGregor's foreign policy comments...geez--stick to tactics, man. He's become the military version of Rudy Giuliani. Look, he was ALWAYS a bit of a self-promoter, but... people should understand that, in the late 90s this guy was mentioned in the same breath as H.R. McMaster...wow, what a fall (proof of this: his ambassadorial nom was simply returned. That speaks volumes). And proof that you can be intelligent, articulate, successful...and be an absolute crackpot too. His comments about Ukraine and Zelensky are not only, at best, a slanted assessment...they suggest a simple lack of understanding what's even going on there; they are lazy too. Sad, very sad.
McMaster's dropped a peg or two, proving that "Everything Trump touches, dies."
When I read his "masterful book" on Vietnam as research for my two books on the war, I was singularly unimpressed by it; most everything he went on about I had read in serious antiwar critiques written DURING THE EVENT. In the end I didn't use anything from it, since everything had been better said by others earlier. At best, that book qualifies as a "Master's thesis" at some "military history department" in an online "university." If that's something revolutionary, you Ringknockers have a long way to go. I've actually heard a couple guys who formerly had stars on their shoulders say the same things I have said here.
I had to look up "ring knockers," a term I'd never heard before. It refers to US military academy grads who call attention to their status by gently rapping their big, bold class rings against a hard surface in social situations. "They never shy away from bragging about their time at the academy" -- Eric Milzarski, www.wearethemighty.com
Thank you, I was planning to look that term up as well, when I finished reading the comments on this thread. Valuable time saved for research on other items of interest or in question! Dr. Richardson's LFAA and the ensuing comments never fail to inform, with links to articles and citations from books that go one my "To be Read" list. Always more to learn!! Always!
Well, I think McMasters, perhaps less capably than Mattis--but still-commendably, did the best he could as NSA in what we all know now was a 100% hopeless situation. Ring-knocker? I guess. Find me any general--or any high-level leader at all--who doesn't have an ego...but I never heard HR talk about the academy either. Anyway, I actually agree on the Vietnam analysis...but that's not the thing that got him notoriety. What did were the in-house critiques and assessments that were far more specific, and forward-looking ideas for the force. His assessments 14 years ago of where the Russians were going turned out to be spot-on when they invaded Crimea. My uncle--the second-most well-read human I've ever known (to Mattis. Mattis has 11k books and has read them all. I'm not kidding), worked with HR for about 2 years before he left to the White House and had only good things to say about him--and my uncle is notoriously critical of almost everyone. So...I guess my point is, it's almost universally-easy to take shots at these guys once they reach public status. Is H.R. McMaster a "genius?" No, I don't believe so. But within the incredibly conservative, intransigent bureaucracy known as the U.S. Army, he was able to find a balance between between outspoken maverick...and rising high enough to actually MAKE a difference (I believe he did)--and yes, I had a friend in 1998 who got into a full-out email FEUD with him about "selling out," (part of an anti-Boomer op-ed I'm writing right now AMAF)--so it's not a "pure" thing either. Yet, I still think he did more good than harm, by a lot. And he certainly never disgraced himself like MacGregor has.
That's interesting about the rest of HR's C.V. Thanks for pointing out. Glad to know we agree about the Vietnam analysis. You might find "The Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club: Naval Aviation in the Vietnam War" of interest. It even includes how the "North Vietnamese torpedo boats" at Tonkin Gulf were actually the reflections of the moon and the lightning flashes off an enormous school of flying fish that annually transit the Gulf at that time of year; LBJ was actually the only guy who got it right when he said - on being first informed of the "incident" - that "... Those poor dumb sailors were probably shooting at flying fish."
Mattis and your dad had a close competitor - Dick Best, the guy who sank the Akagi at Midway. The living room of his house here in L.A. was two stories high, and lined with book shelves to the ceiling on all four walls. And he'd read them all.
If you haven't yet watched her interview with President Biden, I urge you to find 30 minutes to do so. I finally did last night and plan to watch again.