Shutdown. The War Department

The ate-up Major makes his mark.

Soldiering. If you could open the graves of any of the 4.2 million veterans and their family members buried in our national cemeteries, and ask them what soldiering is about, I bet not one of them would quote Eugene Sledge.

Image: Department of War (officially, still named the Department of Defense)

Our chief civilian political appointee in charge of the military, Pete Hegseth, quoted Sledge. “War is brutish, inglorious, and a terrible waste. Combat leaves an indelible mark on those who are forced to endure it. The only redeeming factors are my comrades’ incredible bravery and their devotion to each other.” He did this standing in front of an enormous American flag, a la Gen. George S. Patton, who was practiced giving his “No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country” speech during World War II.

I believe Pete Hegseth wanted to give Patton’s speech, but there is no war threatening the United States, no overwhelming battle between the Allies and the Nazis, no titanic battle on which the fate of the free world depends. So Hegseth quoted Sledge, who rose to the coveted rank of Corporal in the U.S. Marines, at 19 betraying his parents’ wish for him to train as an officer, so in 1942 he purposely failed out of Georgia Tech’s V-12 officer training program so he would not “miss the war.”

What Hegseth didn’t quote is that after the war, Sledge became so traumatized by it, that he gave up hunting, and turned to birdwatching. War is hell. So much for bravery. Soldiering is not about the things Hegseth bashed upon the heads of his audience. Talk about not reading the room: fat generals, lazy troops. Sure, some soldiers, especially colonels and above, in their 40s and 50s, put on weight. Some E-7s in the Air Force have a job consisting of sitting in an office chair, and their biggest problem is getting a decent burrito for lunch.

Soldiering is mopping the floor, painting the backs of road signs to match the olive drab or desert sand the facility commander wants everything visible slathered in. Soldiering is showing up early, waiting all day, moving, counting, setting up, breaking down, and doing it again the next day.

The United States military has won wars not simply on the backs of bravery and devotion. It is in the art of logistics, production, movement, and support that victory is found. It is far better to have the best loadmasters, equipment designers (so that everything fits for road or train or sea movement), motors, engineers, and rear echelon people dealing with fuel and power, than to have the fiercest, most athletic, bravest warriors. The tip of the spear only engages the enemy because the spear itself is long and strong.

But that’s not Hegseth or his message. Every E-4 who turns a wrench, reads a technical order, processes payroll, sits at the computer, serves lunch, and tries hard to earn a good performance evaluation or pass the requirements to move ahead, knows that politics and ego drive the folks at the top of the food chain. Railing against “beardos” and yoga stretching for PT is perhaps good for television, and doing it front of every flag officer who were summoned for it like errant schoolchildren, might be useful for the cameras, but the average soldier is going to groan.

Hegseth just made life much, much harder for the average military member. He gave permission to the ate-up Major (which, in essence, he is) to go after the best and brightest in his unit because that guy might not have the shiniest boots. He enabled the petty, the abusive, the uncouth, and the uncaring, while putting on notice anyone who might just believe an actual report of sexual abuse. (It’s not like there isn’t a problem in the military.)

The ate up Major let the generals and admirals know he’s now in charge, and reports to the fat, out of shape man in the White House, and neither of them will tolerate backtalk.

If you were to dig up the graves of those who faithfully served our country in uniform, I think they’d be more likely to quote the speech on the monument behind the soldier mopping the grounds of the World War II memorial in Washington, D.C. in the photo above.

Because no man is really a man who has lost out of himself all of the boy, I want to speak first of the dreams of a barefoot boy. Frequently, they are to be of a street car conductor or he sees himself as the town policeman, above all he may reach to a position of locomotive engineer, but always in his dreams is that day when he finally comes home. Comes home to a welcome from his own home town. Because today that dream of mine of 45 years or more ago has been realized beyond the wildest stretches of my own imagination, I come here, first, to thank you, to say the proudest thing I can claim is that I am from Abilene.

Those were the words of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, on June 22, 1945, upon his return to Abilene, Kansas, after the end of the war. The duty of all who fight in war is to come home.

If Hegseth and President Trump want to call our defense infrastructure the Department of War, fine. We are not at war. We can call everyone home, dismiss the troops, mothball the fleet, and wait until the next war to call up the military again. We don’t need a trillion dollar defense monolith, with an ate-up Major at its head, telling troops “we don’t fight with stupid rules of engagement.” Without those rules, we are no better than savages. The exceptional part of the U.S. military is that we fight by an ethos, with maximum decision making power in the lowest ranking command level, but with accountability to rules of engagement, including specific mission objectives and, yes, military lawyers. Telling troops to “follow your gut” is a recipe not for discipline, but for chaos.

I think Hegseth’s speech may not have the effect he was going for. I think the average enlisted soldier will see it for what it is, an ate-up Major dressing down the generals. Some might be amused, but most will be scared what Hegseth has unleashed. It will not be good for military cohesiveness, doctrine, or effectiveness. It’s not how change is done. It’s not how leaders lead. It’s a throwback to Patton, not an intellectual reach to the ornithologist Sledge. It’s an insult to the man who began his military career moving convoys through muddy roads, and ended it by winning the biggest war we ever fought, then winning the presidency.

I wonder what Ike would say to Hegseth? I don’t think it would be positive.

Day One of the shutdown. I imagine today will be one of positioning to blame the other side for this. In short, most critical jobs will remain staffed. The EPA, Departments of Education, Commerce, Labor, and HUD will send most of their staff home. About half of the civilian DOD workers, along with Departments of State, Interior, USDA, and HHS will stay home. But the air traffic controllers, TSA, Social Security, Veterans Department, and Homeland Security will remain on the job. As will the active-duty military.

Trump will use the shutdown as a good excuse to continue firing federal workers out of favor. He will bring the military in where he wants them, in U.S. cities. He will act like Caesar. He will blame the Democrats for it. And the Democrats will blame him, and the Republicans.

It’s all theater. It is stupid, farce, bad theater.

This is what we all earned with our votes.

One more thing. I have read that some close to Hamas think they are “leaning” toward taking the deal. Nothing would make me happier. But I do not believe Hamas will take the deal without throwing in some conditions. And Israel will throw in their own. There’s a knife-edged chance things may move forward, only to collapse. My bet is still on collapse, however, if Trump pulls this off, many things can be forgiven. I say that because I don’t think any other president could have done this, if it works. That doesn’t make the other 99 percent of the garbage Trump does right, or good, or even worth it. But it does mean we might get something out of it that is worth praising on its own merit. Take that with a shot of Everclear and swallow.

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