DeSantis' 'Mission First Military' Plan Would Put the Armed Forces on the Path to Success

[Maj. Bill Martin]

Seeing how Trump himself made the call for Top Dog, are you suggesting that Milley blew Trump?  I would be much more comfortable accepting that scenario than having to believe that Trump actually thought Milley was the best person for the job.

That's the issue, right there.  From all the contemporaneous reports, he got along personally with Milley better than anyone else.  They talked a lot, cracked jokes, etc..  It's all in the article I posted above.  And because Trump liked and got along with him the best, he thought that made him the best person for the job.  It's the exact same pattern we've seen with Trump and foreign leaders.  Everything is personal for him, and about how well he gets along with someone, rather than an objective view of qualifications, abilities, and shared interests.

That is his fundamental flaw when it comes to choosing subordinates, and it is a critical flaw.

[txradioguy]

If DeSantis wants to cut the head off of all of the DEI crap that's infesting the military these days...IMHO you need to start with the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute at Patrick AFB.

Thats where a lot of this crap originates from.

It sounds like his plan is well thought out with a keen understanding of what America's military is supposed to do.

[sneakypete]

@sneakypete

That is a hell of a lot of backpedaling from saying the guy should be taken out and beaten almost to death multiple times.

@Maj. Bill Martin

How? I still stand by that.

And they all have stars on their collars, so justifying Trump's pick on that basis is ridiculous.

WHERE have *I* EVER justified Miss Miley wearing stars?

The question is why did Trump choose that particular general and his stars over any of the other choices he could have made.  Why ignore the recommendation of both the Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs to pick someone else?  Why Milley??

Beats me. I can only conclude that SOMEBODY  important suggested  Miley.

Trump had known Milley for more than two years before he made that pick.

How did that come about? Senior General Officers generally don't socialize with civilian businessmen.

And remember the debate during the Trump Administration over women in infantry/combat units?

No,I don't,but I will take your word for it.

The Commandant of the Marine Corps, Dunford, had argued against it.  Mattis had argued against it.  But Milley was for it, and that's who Trump chose.  He met with the Joint Chiefs all the time -- he had a chance to hear their views on issues (including women in combat) for two years.    He made his own evaluation, his own judgment, and is solely responsible for it.

It just does NOT work that way. Yes,Trump  WAS the one responsible  for making the final (bad) decison,but you can bet your bippy he had aides pushing Miss Miley.

No, that isn't the only conclusion you can come to.  You can come to the correct conclusion -- the only one for which there is a shred of evidecce and that was openly reported at the time.

Oh,well. If you can't trust reporters,who CAN you trust?

Trump struck up a good personal relationship with Milley, thought he was a really smart negotiator, and overruled the recommendations of the SecDef and CJS.

I am sure YOU  believe that,but I don't.

There isn't a shred of evidence that some unnamed "politicians" recommended Milley instead, but if they did, what kind of an idiot with zero military experience of his own would choose to listen to a bunch of politicians rather than to guys with more more than 60 years of experience between them?

In other words,Trump is to blame either way in your "UNBIASED MIND",right?

Milley is on Trump, and Trump alone.

PURE HorseHillary. Trump IS to blame as far as being the one to make the final decision,but he didn't make that decision on his own,no matter how much or how often you claim he did.
 

[sneakypete]

Seeing how Trump himself made the call for Top Dog, are you suggesting that Milley blew Trump?  I would be much more comfortable accepting that scenario than having to believe that Trump actually thought Milley was the best person for the job.

@Hoodat

You fools just never give up,do you? Rude,Orange,Rich Man is your target,and by GAWD nothing is ever going to change your opinions!

[Hoodat]

Gen. Mark A. Milley is managing the most consequential professional relationship of his life, with mixed results so far.

Helene Cooper, Eric Schmitt and Thomas Gibbons-Neff  |  Published June 5, 2020  |  Updated Sept. 27, 2021

WASHINGTON — Gen. Mark A. Milley was never meant to be President Trump’s top military adviser.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis had sent him to the White House in late 2018 to interview for the top American military post across the Atlantic, with its grand title: supreme allied commander Europe. Mr. Mattis wanted someone else, the quiet and cerebral Gen. David L. Goldfein of the Air Force, to be Mr. Trump’s next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

With the president souring on Mr. Mattis, his recommendation quashed General Goldfein’s chances. During the meeting, the president — who already liked General Milley’s brash demeanor as Army chief of staff — asked which job was better. And General Milley went for the top prize: by law, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the nation’s top officer and the senior military adviser to the president.  .  .  .

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/05/us/politics/protests-milley-trump.html


Read that carefully, @sneakypete .  He ignored Mattis' recommendation solely based on personality differences with Mattis.  But Trump liked Milley.  They hit it off well.  So without even considering what attributes were needed for each job, he simply offers Milley his choice on which job he wanted.  You got that?  Trump wanted to reward Mattis because he liked him.  At no point did Trump ever consider what qualifications were necessary for the position.  Nor did he take advice from anyone who did know.  You can blame it on him being orange and rude all you want.  But the bottom line here is that you were dead-ass wrong in your assessment.  Trump isn't some victim here who trusted underlings to steer him to the right candidate only to get burned.  Trump is the culprit who, completely on his own, selected perhaps the worst Joint Chief in US history.  And he did it solely because he and Milley got along.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

How did that come about? Senior General Officers generally don't socialize with civilian businessmen.

Trump was President -- Commander in Chief -- for more than two and a half years before Milley became CJS.  During that time, Milley was the Army Chief of Staff, which means that Trump would have had face to face contact with Miller anytime the Joint Chiefs meet with the President, hearing his advice, opinion on different issues, etc..  The President meetsSo he had two and a half years to get to know the guy, as well as the other candidates for the job.  And he choose Milley.

It just does NOT work that way. Yes, Trump WAS the one responsible  for making the final (bad) decison,but you can bet your bippy he had aides pushing Miss Miley.

Which "aides"  What are their names, and how do you know they made that recommendation?   You're just making that up because you don't want to believe Trump made that poor a decision on his own.

The President's two chief military aides/advisors are the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and he ignored their recommendation. And that's not me saying it, or something that has been invented years after the fact to blame Trump.  These articles were all from that exact time period, while the selection process was ongoing, and before we knew what Milley would do.  Trump has never claimed that anyone else recommended Milley to him, there isn't any evidence that anyone else recommended Milley to him, so why are you so positive that someone else recommended him for the job?  And even if "someone else" did, why would Trump listen to their advice over that of his two chief military advisors?

It's not like Milley wasn't known to Trump.  Trump knew him pretty well because he'd worked with him for more than two years, just as he'd gotten to know the other Chiefs of Staff.  That's part of the job of any new President -- meet with and learn from your senior military advisors so you can fulfill your duties as Commander in Chief.

Trump just made a very bad decision.

[txradioguy]

Gen. Mark A. Milley is managing the most consequential professional relationship of his life, with mixed results so far.

Helene Cooper, Eric Schmitt and Thomas Gibbons-Neff  |  Published June 5, 2020  |  Updated Sept. 27, 2021

WASHINGTON — Gen. Mark A. Milley was never meant to be President Trump’s top military adviser.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis had sent him to the White House in late 2018 to interview for the top American military post across the Atlantic, with its grand title: supreme allied commander Europe. Mr. Mattis wanted someone else, the quiet and cerebral Gen. David L. Goldfein of the Air Force, to be Mr. Trump’s next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

With the president souring on Mr. Mattis, his recommendation quashed General Goldfein’s chances. During the meeting, the president — who already liked General Milley’s brash demeanor as Army chief of staff — asked which job was better. And General Milley went for the top prize: by law, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the nation’s top officer and the senior military adviser to the president.  .  .  .

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/05/us/politics/protests-milley-trump.html


Read that carefully, @sneakypete .  He ignored Mattis' recommendation solely based on personality differences with Mattis.  But Trump liked Milley.  They hit it off well.  So without even considering what attributes were needed for each job, he simply offers Milley his choice on which job he wanted.  You got that?  Trump wanted to reward Mattis because he liked him.  At no point did Trump ever consider what qualifications were necessary for the position.  Nor did he take advice from anyone who did know.  You can blame it on him being orange and rude all you want.  But the bottom line here is that you were dead-ass wrong in your assessment.  Trump isn't some victim here who trusted underlings to steer him to the right candidate only to get burned.  Trump is the culprit who, completely on his own, selected perhaps the worst Joint Chief in US history.  And he did it solely because he and Milley got along.

And look how Milley thanked him for it.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

Seems like Milley effectively brown-nosed him.  Laughed at his jokes, etc..

Kind of says something about Milley -- and not something good -- that he wanted the CJS job instead of Supreme Allied Commander Europe.  The Joint Chiefs do not actually command anything.  Force commanders -- Central Command, Southern Command, European Command, etc.. report directly to the Secretary of Defense.  The CJS doesn't have any command authority over even the Chief of Staff themselves.   So, the CJS legally is nothing more than the President's top military advisor.  But if war breaks out, it's the Combatant Commanders who have actual strategic command.

Milley wanted the staff job rather than the Command.

[sneakypete]

Seems like Milley effectively brown-nosed him.  Laughed at his jokes, etc..

Kind of says something about Milley -- and not something good -- that he wanted the CJS job instead of Supreme Allied Commander Europe.  The Joint Chiefs do not actually command anything.  Force commanders -- Central Command, Southern Command, European Command, etc.. report directly to the Secretary of Defense.  The CJS doesn't have any command authority over even the Chief of Staff themselves.   So, the CJS legally is nothing more than the President's top military advisor.  But if war breaks out, it's the Combatant Commanders who have actual strategic command.

Milley wanted the staff job rather than the Command.

@Maj. Bill Martin

Milley seemed to specialize in staff jobs. Hard to get blamed for anything when you never have to make any of the decisions.