No. What they are - classically, anyway, and in the post-Vietnam culture - are extremely toughminded authoritarian followers.
Marines like to win, and sucking up has long been known to be a successful tactic when dealing with the president. Nothing else ever seems to work. Pace wanted the job as JCS. He took it as he could.
well yes, once a decision has been reached. At the command level I don’t believe they follow blindly. By that I mean officers expect to and do in fact participate in extremely frank exchanges when an operation is planned. There is no argument about the objective of the mission. However, how the mission is to be carried out is thoroughly discussed. In the one infantry company mission planning session that I had an opportunity to attend, the company commander acted as just another participant in the discussion. He did control the direction of the session by making sure that the discussion stayed on track. Out of the process came a plan that had a pro consensus at which point the Captain said, “Here’s what we’re going to do.” and at that time and not before, discussion ended. Not all were necessarily 100% convinced that it was the best plan but all thought it was workable and one they could carry out. Also, all of them seemed satisfied that they had been heard. That company commander, a West Pointer by the way, might have be exceptional but having spoken with others who had also visited infantry outfits I got the impression that it was a more or less by-the-numbers operation right out of a Field Manual.
I’m not at all sure that Pace and the other generals insisted hard enough that military action was not enough. That the Iraqi government had to create a consensus among their factions and their record up to the time the “surge” began had been dismal in that respect. Pace is a four star general, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and can go no higher, He can’t be going along to get a promotion. And as far as loyalty to the Commander in Chief, Pace’s first obligation is to the United States and he could always resign.
Maybe at first he thought the surge would work. That somehow the Iraqi army would suddenly start shaping up and the Iraqi government would get cracking on political reconciliation. However, the surge started last February and it’s clear that the Iraqis haven’t changed their mode of operation one iota. Pace must have seen that unless he has both eyes shut.