... Don't tell.
Mr Wolf of the legendary BLACKFIVE with the down low.
Get Ready to Remove The BAN
Posted By Mr WolfThe Colorado National Guard this past weekend held a Change of Command ceremony with a historic twist- it appointed COL Dana Capozella as its first female commander of Army troops; she will soon be promoted to Brigadier General. What is far more interesting is possibly WHY the Guard appointed her as the commander of its troops.
First off, I must say that I have no problem whatsoever with the appointment of a female in this position. There have been, and are, many excellent female leaders in the Army. The problems I see with this particular appointment are twofold:
One- she has ZERO experience in either Afghanistan or Iraq, or any other combat deployment, despite being a medical officer where there is a known shortage of help in either theater. She has had deployments to Panama, Honduras and Nicaragua, but most people of a particular slant don't have problems going there helping on these MedReps. Appointing someone who will oversee deployments of combat troops and combat support troops without any experience leaves that leader devoid of a huge amount of knowledge. Going on 10 years of activity, NOT having a deployment tells me that this person likely worked harder at AVOIDING it than in joining it.
Second- she wrote this paper as part of her War College education- ''The Time Is Now To Remove The Ban'' In this paper, she advocates the complete removal of DADT and a swift and direct command repercussion to those who violate any changes in DADT by employing top-down disciplinary action ''swiftly and directly''. She does not advocate 'acceptance' but education and tolerance. She does mention that most Judeo-Christian teachings put that acceptance in conflict with their core beliefs. She does not address just how the Chaplains, who have enough to do with helping morale, will adjust core doctrine within their faiths.
The Colonel writes-
''The Long War is costly in terms of both the need for retaining qualified service members and the overall cost of sustaining this mission"
yet does not mention that she herself has not joined in helping reduce these costs by going. Why not? Does she not believe this is a 'just war'??
It appears, from the outside, that the Colonel was appointed because of her stance on DADT, and the upcoming removal of this policy by DoD on direction of the President.
Much, much more, if you can stomach it.#########################################
Back in the day, folks used to be able to buy their commands... and their titles. Some times that worked out. Others? Well... not so much.
My fear is that if we begin to promote combat commanders based on ideological purity, as it appears to be the case here, then the empty suit will spill lakes of American blood in pursuit of his socialist utopia.
Ok, I know and have served with the General mentioned. She has never done anything to avoid a combat deployment. I would have preferred having her for our deployment in OIF I. But 6 months prior her time as our commander was up and she had been promoted to a state command position. From that position she was of great assistance in procuring special supplies needed for our mission. She also saw to making sure our families were taken care of. She is more than capable.
ReplyDeleteThe observation that she's managed to rise to the rank of general without ever having been in combat tends to speak for itself. Maybe it would be more accurate to suggest that as a general, the standard should be "avoiding" deployment as much as it is to seek that deployment out. Chances are that had she done so, she would have been able to deploy in the past, rendering most of this discussion moot.
ReplyDeleteAnd I also shared BLACKFIVE'S concern that her promotion and deployment was a s a result of her ideological... and incorrect, particularly based on her lack of combat experience... position on ending DADT.
Other armies have made appointments and given jobs to commanders based solely on their ideological purity... and those appointments and commands have routinely ended in disaster.
As our military becomes just another federal government program, where promotion and assignment are based on race, gender and soon, sexual preference, I have grown to fear for my Army and my country.
The idea that ending DADT won't impact readiness is a crock. But like so many other policies, those shilling this one won't result in their spilled blood or sexual issues because those demanding this the most are far above that level... including this woman general. So, it's easy to give someone like that a command... because she'll never have to bleed for it... the cannon fodder will.