Resumes

I got this today as a forwarded email. Best thing I've seen since the mass email a while back comparing Condoleeza Rice to Martin Sheen, about who's best qualified to opine on national policy. This one clearly focuses on the military angle:

General Stanley McChrystal Biography
Commander, International Security Assistance Force/
Commander, United States Forces Afghanistan
United States Army
SOURCE OF COMMISSIONED SERVICE: USMA EDUCATIONAL DEGREES
United States Military Academy - BS - No Major
United States Naval War College - MA - National Security and Strategic Studies
Salve Regina University - MS - International Relations
MILITARY SCHOOLS ATTENDED:
Infantry Officer Basic and Advanced Courses
United States Naval Command and Staff College
Senior Service College Fellowship Harvard University
FOREIGN LANGUAGES:
Spanish
PROMOTIONS DATE OF APPOINTMENT:
2LT 2 Jun 76
1LT 2 Jun 78
CPT 1 Aug 80
MAJ 1 Jul 87
LTC 1 Sep 92
COL 1 Sep 96
BG 1 Jan 01
MG 1 May 04
LTG 16 Feb 06
GEN 11 Jun 09
FROM TO ASSIGNMENT:
Nov 76 Feb 78 Weapons Platoon Leader, C Company, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82d Airborne Division, Fort Bragg , North Carolina
Feb 78 Jul 78 Rifle Platoon Leader, C Company, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82d Airborne Division, Fort Bragg , North Carolina
Jul 78 Nov 78 Executive Officer, C Company, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82d Airborne Division, Fort Bragg , North Carolina
Nov 78 Apr 79 Student, Special Forces Officer Course, Special Forces School, Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Apr 79 Jun 80 Commander, Detachment A, A Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Jun 80 Feb 81 Student, Infantry Officer Advanced Course, United States Army Infantry School, Fort Benning, Georgia
Feb 81 Mar 82 S2/S3 (Intelligence/Operations), United Nations Command Support Group Joint Security Area, Korea
Mar 82 Nov 82 Training Officer, Directorate of Plans and Training, A Company, Headquarters Command, Fort Stewart , Georgia
Nov 82 Sep 84 Commander, A Company, 3d Battalion, 19th Infantry, 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized), Fort Stewart , Georgia
Sep 84 Sep 85 S3 (Operations), 3d Battalion, 19th Infantry, 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized), Fort Stewart, Georgia
Sep 85 Jan 86 Liaison Officer, 3d Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Georgia
Jan 86 May 87 Commander, A Company, 3d Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Georgia
May 87 Apr 88 Liaison Officer, 3d Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Georgia
Apr 88 Jun 89 S3 (Operations), 3d Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Georgia
Jun 89 Jun 90 Student, Command and Staff Course, United States Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island
Jun 90 Apr 93 Army Special Operations Action Officer, J3, Joint Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina and OPERATIONS DESERT SHIELD/STORM, Saudi Arabia
Apr 93 Nov 94 Commander, 2d Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82d Airborne Division, Fort Bragg , North Carolina
Nov 94 Jun 96 Commander, 2d Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Lewis , Washington
Jun 96 Jun 97 Senior Service College Fellowship, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University , Cambridge , Massachusetts
Jun 97 Aug 99 Commander, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Georgia
Aug 99 Jun 00 Military Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations, New York, New York
Jun 00 Jun 01 Assistant Division Commander (Operations), 82d Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina to include duty as Commander, Combined Joint Task Force Kuwait, Camp Doha, Kuwait
Jun 01 Jul 02 Chief of Staff, XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg, Fort Bragg, North Carolina to include duty as Chief of Staff, Combined Joint Task Force180, OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, Afghanistan
Jul 02 Sep 03 Vice Director for Operations, J3, The Joint Staff, Washington, DC
Sep 03 Feb 06 Commanding General, Joint Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Feb 06 Jun 08 Commander, Joint Special Operations Command/Commander, Joint Special Operations Command Forward, United States Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Aug 08 Jun 09 Director, The Joint Staff, Washington, DC
Jun 09 Present Commander, International Security Assistance Force/Commander, United States Forces Afghanistan , OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, Afghanistan
SUMMARY OF JOINT ASSIGNMENTS:
S2/S3 (Intelligence/Operations), United Nations Command Support Group Joint Security Area , Korea (Feb 81-Mar 82, Captain)
Army Special Operations Action Officer, J3, Joint Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina and OPERATIONS DESERT SHIELD/STORM, Saudi Arabia Jun 90-Apr 93 Major/Lieutenant Colonel)
Chief of Staff, XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg, Fort Bragg, North Carolina to include duty as Chief of Staff, Combined Joint Task Force180, OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, Afghanistan (Jun 01-Jul 02, Brigadier General)
Vice Director for Operations, J3, The Joint Staff, Washington , DC (Jul 02-Sep 03, Brigadier General)
Commanding General, Joint Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg , North Carolina (Sep 03-Feb 06, Brigadier General/Major General)
Commander, Joint Special Operations Command/Commander, Joint Special Operations
Command Forward, United States Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina (Feb 06-Jun 08, Major General/Lieutenant General)
Director, The Joint Staff, Washington, DC (Aug 08-Jun 09, Lieutenant General)
Commander, International Security Assistance Force/Commander, United States Forces Afghanistan, OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, Afghanistan (Jun 09-Present, General)
SUMMARY OF OPERATIONS ASSIGNMENTS DATE GRADE
Army Special Operations Action Officer, J3, Joint Special Operations Command, OPERATIONS DESERT SHIELD/STORM, Saudi Arabia (Jun 90-Mar 91, Major)
Commander, Combined Joint Task Force Kuwait, Camp Doha, Kuwait (Apr 01-Jun 01, Brigadier General)
Chief of Staff, Combined Joint Task Force180, OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, Afghanistan (May 02-Jul 02, Brigadier General)
Commander, International Security Assistance Force/Commander, United States Forces Afghanistan , OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, Afghanistan (Jun 09- Present, General)
US DECORATIONS AND BADGES:
Defense Distinguished Service Medal
Defense Superior Service Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster)
Legion of Merit (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters)
Bronze Star Medal
Defense Meritorious Service Medal
Meritorious Service Medal (with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters)
Army Commendation Medal
Army Achievement Medal
Expert Infantryman Badge
Master Parachutist Badge
Ranger Tab
Special Forces Tab
Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge
_________________________________________________________________
Obama Biography:
Birthplace: Location remains questionable.
Proof of United States Citizenship hasn't been provided.
Education: Columbia University , Harvard Law School . Records never produced, attendance remains questionable.
Military Career: None
Business Career: None
Political Career: Community organizer, Chicago, 1983-86; civil rights attorney, Chicago, 1991-96;
University of Chicago, lecturer, early 1990s-2004; Illinois State Senator, 1996-2005; U.S. Senator, 2005-2008; President 2008


The wrong guy resigned.

I'm a big believer in the idea of civilian leadership of the military, since the overwhelming majority of national revolutions start as a military coup d'etat. But at the same time, I really wish the United States Military would at least make some more noise. After all, their oaths are to defend the CONSTITUTION, not the administration, and I have to believe that dissatisfaction with the administration and its policies (as expressed by McChrystal) are FAR more widespread among people in uniform than most of the civilian populace would believe. Which is worrisome, if you step back and take a look at history, both in the long-view, and in recent development. There are wheels within wheels, rolling forward, and with some ominous signs.

Take this, for example: A lot of what the military does these days is domestic supervision and civil rights enforcement. "Police actions." Expert efforts by armed men to compel a populace to toe a line set by a government that the populace will now live under. American national policy in response to terrorism has become to conquer "rogue states" and set up republics, with the hope that the local people suddenly overcome generations of torture, coercion, and repression to step up, participate, and toe the line. And the military stays there until they do, killing dissidents and counter-revolutionaries as necessary.

Currently, the military is tasked with supporting several national transitions from totalitarian regimes to republic nations, with armed men on hand to enforce the rights of the populace. The United States military has had a couple practice runs at making it happen: Iraq, Afghanistan, and handful of Central American dictatorships. I see the possibility that they might just be warming up for the Main Event, inside our national borders. Overseeing a political transition here on the home front. Of course, the Law forbids such things. Posse Comitatus. But whatever; those are just words in books.

There is, of course, the very likely chance that elections are going to provide the necessary relief without the need for any "police actions" here locally. But is that correction of the problem, or just a new group of people at the wheel of a Federal Machine running out of control? This is just me talking, of course, but history suggests the inevitability of a nation deploying military forces internally, against the nation's own populace. It hasn't happened in the United States, not in any large degree, at least. But we've only been around for about 250 years. We haven't reached that critical mass of national political/civil clusterfuck where something has to give between the demands of the government and the desires (rights?) of the people. Yet. But again, history suggests the inevitability. It took centuries, but the Legions did eventually march into Rome. And to great fanfare from the populace. I see that as a possibility.

The flip side of the coin is that, while they have been acting to support the rights of people against totalitarianism, the United State Military has gained a LOT of expertise in tracking down and dealing with political dissidents. You know: those people who refuse to toe the line that Washington has drawn. Those poor dumb fucks who think that they were doing just find before all this shit came along, and who cling to the way things were Before. Those who resist "re-education," perhaps to the point that they take up arms against the New Order, and get hunted down by highly-trained, well-armed uniformed men. The military gets used these days to build republics where there used to be autocracies. But it's gaining one hell of a skill-set in the process.

Which makes for an interesting quandary here in the United States, about how that skill-set might ultimately be used. When the Legions come home under arms, are they going to settle in Washington to oversee a change in power, from a dysfunctional tyrannical set of overlords to a legitimately free republic? Or are the Legions going remain under the command of Caesar? Might they be sent to "pacify" Arizona, based on local recalcitrance on immigration issues? Or be deployed to Texas, to halt secession and/or to "guard" strategic oil reserves? What orders might be issued, in pursuit of "the common good," and to combat "treason?"

And should any of this ever come to pass, tomorrow or a century from now, who would you rather have calling the shots? Should the American Military be called upon to maintain peace inside the United States, would you want someone like Barack Obama at the head of the War Machine, deciding how troops are deployed and towards what ends? Or would you rather have someone like General McChrystal leading the way forward?

There is no easy answer, of course. And more than anything else, I wonder if this train of thought might be spun into a novel that would sell well enough to spare me the trouble of a day job.