Famous Foax

[ltmurnau]

GEN David Petraeus, the new commander in Afghanistan, talks with BGEN John Vance, the commander of Task Force Kandahar, outside Kandahar City.



My tenuous connection to this picture is that John Vance and I were in the same platoon in "phase training" at the Infantry School in 1985, learning to be rifle platoon commanders. I remember wowing him once (but only once) because I knew more about Soviet tactics than he did. I always thought he would go far, not only because his father was also a general but also because he was quite tough and smart in his own right.

Comments

[emmabovary.livejournal.com]

He's hot, too!

[ltmurnau.livejournal.com]

I imagine he is, wearing that tactical vest and all that body armour... (snicker)

He commanded the Task Force last year too, but was brought back suddenly when his successor was relieved of command for first an N.D. (Negligent Discharge, meaning he fired his weapon accidentally in an area where it wasn't even supposed to be loaded) and then having an "inappropriate relationship" with a subordinate.

The Canadian chief of staff in the UN mission in Haiti (a Colonel) was also just relieved of duties for having an "inappropriate relationship" with someone, though the someone involved wasn't military. These guys know they need to keep it in their pants when they are deployed but it happens anyway.

[emmabovary.livejournal.com]

Why are they supposed to be celibate when deployed? Being in the sandbox is bad enough. Requiring single people to not mix it up seems to be piling on more hardship onto hardship.

[ltmurnau.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm not sure if there are any orders about being celibate while deployed (as I think there are in the American Army) but it's a severe breach of ethics to have relations with a subordinate, as General Menard (Vance's successor and now predecessor) did. The Colonel who just got relieved of command had an intimate relationship with someone who was not military - think it was UN - but was in a position of influence over how the mission was able to accomplish its, uh, mission. In either case the officer put his own welfare ahead of his troops and effectively sabotaged his ability to work effectively. And that's wrong.

[r1vethead.livejournal.com]

Besides the glaring ethical issue ltmurnau raises, there's another one - discipline.

If you have general officers at the top of the chain of command acting in an undisciplined fashion, the cohesiveness of the entire unit is damaged. Discipline is the difference between life or death for conventional military units.

[ltmurnau.livejournal.com]

I guess I thought that angle was implicit in what I said but you're right, the discipline aspect is far more important than the (air hooks on) "ethics deficit" (air hooks off, and you can break my fingers if I do that again today).

[r1vethead.livejournal.com]

I think it was implicit to anyone familiar with the military.

[ltmurnau.livejournal.com]

Yes, and Mme. Bovary is a camp-follower from way back!