What if we went to war…and lost!

Most people don’t know Air Force General Charles Q. Brown, the man Joe Biden put forth to be the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  One of the most interesting things about General Brown is his meteoric rise from Colonel (O-6) to Lieutenant General (O-9) in just seven years.  General Brown is black and his rise in rank occurred during the Obama administration.  Now, I have no way of knowing whether Brown’s sudden and dramatic promotions were due to his race or whether it was predicated on merit – but I know how to do math.

One of the problems with General Brown is that many in the Pentagon have come to realize the general has a pre-existing bias regarding promotions.  To wit: according to republican presidential candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy, General Brown wants to reduce white male pilots from 86% of Air Force pilots down to 43%, despite the nation’s current recruiting crisis and wants to prioritize diversity for promotions.

To be clear, I haven’t been able to verify the general stating he wants to reduce the number of white pilots by 50% – that bit of information came directly from Vivek Ramaswamy, but I do know that when asked about his philosophy for promotions the general, like everyone else in the Biden administration, wants to use diversity as a basis for promotions and has been very outspoken on the matter that the Air Force needs more African-Americans in positions of leadership.

The general is also on the record saying when minority service personal feel they’re not qualified and don’t actively pursue promotions, that it becomes the military’s responsibility to “nudge & push” potential minority candidates, and to manage the matter to ensure the military has diverse candidates that can compete.   He also said that if they need help in certain areas where they are deficient, it’s also the military’s responsibility to coach, mentor and provide the additional training in leadership in order to ensure “…that all minority service members have the opportunity to compete on a level playing field.”

Gee, I wonder if George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant, Stonewall Jackson, William Tecumseh Sherman, Robert E. Lee, John J. Pershing, George Patton, Dwight Eisenhower, and Matthew B. Ridgeway had to be “nudged & pushed” before they took command of their armies.

The reality is that our military works superbly when it’s a colorblind institution and where everyone bleeds red, white, and blue.  And because it’s a life-or-death institution by its very nature, merit must be the primary focus for responsibility and advancement.  Nobody wants to enlist in the military knowing that merit is a low-level consideration.  That’s what gets people killed.

Last Friday my blog post feted my former commanding officer from Vietnam, Colonel Walter R. Ledbetter – a man who was a leader and who led by his actions.  While I never asked him, I doubt “The Skipper” became the leader he was because someone “mentored” him in the art of leadership.

In times of national crisis Americans expect just two things from our military: One, to protect and project America’s interests on a moment’s notice, and Two, to defeat any enemy it engages on the battlefield.

For those old enough, recall those heart-rending moments immediately after the Twin Towers were struck more than twenty ago and how we felt—we had been violated, we were vulnerable and for days we were on emotional quicksand.  With that in mind, try to imagine how it might affect our national psyche if just once our military failed to protect our national interests or did not defeat an enemy—it’s almost unimaginable.

Unimaginable, yes but very possible in the new diverse and woke military that places more emphasis on having “green” bases, than on military readiness.  I’ve implied as much in the past, but with what I see going on in the military with its reduced standards, focus on diversity, woke ideology and co-ed combat units I believe it’s only a matter of time before we engage on a battlefield and don’t exit victorious – I believe our shameful exit from Afghanistan was just a precursor of what’s to come.  And if and when that occurs, it will be due to the likes of General Charles Q. Brown who are doing their best to make the unimaginable a reality.