On generals who wear spinach

Greg Jaffe has written what by all accounts is a very fine study of America’s generals (I haven’t read it and probably won’t—too many books, too little time!). The other day he was interviewed on the blog Abu Muqawama, and in the course of it had this to say about last year’s hero in Iraq, David Petraeus:

‘Petraeus is a very effective strategic leader. What bugs me is the narrative that he was somehow birthed atop Mount Olympus as the brilliant four star who saved the Army. In reality, his career is a bizarre departure from the norm. He does four tours at the elbow of top generals…. He spends relatively little time in the field actually leading soldiers (especially compared to Casey [Gen George Casey, fired by President Bush in the run-up to the 2007 Surge]). Petraeus’ career path doesn’t win him a lot of admirers among his peers, who whisper that he’s a palace general or a bit of a suck-up. But it makes Petraeus a much better general and probably a less adept battalion and brigade commander. This is a guy who starts preparing for a strategic leadership role as a captain. I don’t think Casey was as effective. But it is a huge mistake to write him off as not bright, intransigent, lazy or stuck in the Cold War as many in the COIN crowd tend to do…. He was a great soldier and quite possibly a better battalion and brigade commander than Petraeus. … I think we all have dismissed him far too quickly in our rush to celebrate Petraeus. Casey’s struggles in Iraq need to be dissected and understood. If you call him as a failure or “no Petraeus” you miss important lessons.’

I think this is a shrewd analysis and goes far to explain why Mr Petraeus decorates the whole front of his body with ribbons and bits of metal—he’s a general who’s never really experienced war. He wears a 101st Airborne patch on his right shoulder, suggesting that he served with it in combat, but that’s pure humbug. He was the division’s commanding general, for crying out loud! How close does a two-star general get to the shooting? (Well, okay, he was once shot in the chest, but that was friendly fire at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. In one of life’s odd twists, the doctor who operated on him was the future Republican Senator, Bill Frist.) I would feel a lot more comfortable with Saint David if he would emulate Dwight Eisenhower and clean up his uniform. Blue skies! – Dan Ford