Kurt Schlichter is retired from the Army, and finally free to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth:
People would thank me for my service, but I am a colonel – I just tried to look oriented to my surroundings. The troops and the sergeants/petty officers make it happen. They deserve your appreciation, and I only accepted your thanks on their behalf.
But, as amazing as the troops are, I leave an Army that is in crisis. Yes, some of it has to do with poor civilian leadership and strategic ineptitude, as well as budgets that prioritize passing out freebies to slugs at the expense of ensuring that our military can perform our government’s most vital function – defending our nation. Yet none of that explains the institutional sickness infecting the Army – and the other services.
Throughout my time, I served under great senior leaders, but today we see colonels and generals being court martialed for using their commands as their personal harems and private piggy banks – and getting slapped on the wrist where junior soldiers would find themselves locked up. Senior commanders who nearly lost the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were promoted while enlisted warfighters found themselves roasted over the coals by office-dwelling weasels for decisions made in the heat of battle.
Read the whole thing — and the news isn’t all bad.
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