Why? Here’s why: Because in the course of this administration the most reliable indicator has been to assume and infer the worst and most cynical motives for every action to take place in the public eye.
It’s an attitude that has been bang on the money for 2-3 years now. And with that record I’m not about to abandon it in any sort of hurry.
Agreed, however promoting him would mean that someone else didn’t get promoted for public relations reasons. That also gets to be known within the group and that’s not good either.
I find it difficult to believe that from way up high in the naval chain of command an order was sent down the line to a promotion board that this guy should be passed over for the third time. Much as I agree with your unwillingness to cut the administration any slack on anything.
I’d bet on the latter. There is strong sentiment in the military (especially since the perceived “PC” changes of the 1980s and '90s) that allowing civilian America to pass judgment on how it does its job only weakens its ability to do that job.
It may be different now, but when I was in the Army, it was a rarity for anyone to even get the Good Conduct Medal prior to separation. (In my experience, both active and reserve, I’ve only seen one awarded, either enlisted or officer.)
I hope you never saw an Officer awarded a GCM. It may be because of the fact that GCM’s are a “turn-key” type of an award (every three years),that you never saw an award ceremony. Come to think of it, I’ve never seen a ceremony for a GCM, either.
Good point. The thing is, in the overall scheme of things, I think this doesn’t really matter. The guy is going to get a nice paying job in the civilian world and he will continue representing the Gitmo detainees (according to the article I read).
The US Navy also has a “separate for twice failing to select for promotion” rule.
Or it may be because only enlisted personnel are eligible to receive the Good Conduct Medal.
And in the USN, I’ve seen many, many ceremonies for GCMs.
My experience as a Naval officer supports Sir Rhosis’s assertion, with respect to officers, anyway. (And as I stated above, commissioned officers are not eligible to receive Good Conduct Medals.)
Most Naval officers, at the conclusion of an assignment, receive what’s known as an “end-of-tour” award. The type of award depends on the rank of the officer. LTJGs and LTs typically receive the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal. LCDRs and above-average LTs typically receive the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal. Officers usually get end-of-tour awards even if they are separating from the service.
Many good Naval officers are separated every year for failure to promote. Sometimes it’s because they fall off of the promotion track. For example, my wife was a Navy Nurse Corps officer who was told that she would not promote if she didn’t complete her Master’s degree and accept an overseas assignment. This did not fit in with her career plans. She refused the overseas assignment, and two years later, she failed to promote. However, she was doing an excellent job in her last stateside assignment, and received a Commendation Medal on her last day in the Navy.
My statement was poorly worded. Officers (at least in the Army) are inelligible to receive the GCM; however, they can wear the GCM ribbon or medal if they were awarded it as an enlisted Soldier.
My “turn-key” comment was referring only to the lack of ceremonies–because it’s relatively automatic, there may be fewer ceremonies surrounding the award of the GCM. Good on the Navy for recognizing their Sailors.
It is worth noting that he was not lead counsel, nor did he do the lion’s share of the work for Hamdan. That was Neal Katyal. I think this situation is fishy, but this guy was appointed to the case (he had to take it) and he was only minorly involved in the argumentation before the Supreme Court. To me that both lessens the chance that this was political retribution and says that we don’t actually know how fine a lawyer he was (at least not from this piece of evidence).
My statement was poorly worded. Officers (at least in the Army) are inelligible to receive the GCM; however, they can wear the GCM ribbon or medal if they were awarded it as an enlisted Soldier.
My “turn-key” comment was referring only to the lack of ceremonies–because it’s relatively automatic, there may be fewer ceremonies surrounding the award of the GCM. Good on the Navy for recognizing their Sailors.
In the US Military, at least for officers, it’s bye after a certain term of service or after the third passover. Even if people get to flag rank, it’s still a waiver issue past thirty years or so.
An exception is the US PHS, where, after three passovers, you can stay, but they stop promoting you.
I vaguely recall earlier stories about the guy not being promotable because he pissed off people on a regular basis, and because he spent too much time as a litigator, and not enough time doing the generalised officer stuff that people need to do to be promotable. He may have been assigned the ugly case precisely because he was on the way out anyway, because he was a contrarian, and because he was a good litigator.
What you’ll find is more emphasis placed on progression for those with Regular Commissions, especially those with service academy credentials, with OTC/ROTC/Direct Commission people seeing a much harder road in getting past O-4.
And the rules are different for non-Line Officers … fewer slots, and different standards. While the non-Line people are important, the emphasis is on line personnel, who actually perform and supervise the actual missions.
While I think it might be interesting to see whether something shady occurred, I am disinclined to think that on a first view.
The military has not been all that supportive of the administration policies (beyond what is required by their jobs) so I would not see a strong motive for his superiors for punishing him for just doing his job.
If the administration (via Rumsfeld?) actually reached down into the system to mess with it, I would expect there to be stories from “anonymous military sources” screaming to high heaven. (We certainly have received lots of information about the fact that the Joint Chiefs were overruled on the number of troops committed to Iraq, the amount and placement of armor on vehicles and humans, and any number of other issues where the administration and the military differ.)
As noted, this guy was already on his last legs in the service. This is not his first failure to be promoted (which, as noted, seems to be consistent with JAG careers).
I’m willing to entertain information indicating that this was a screw, but I would like to see some genuine evidence before I get excited about it.
Hmm…“screw” and “get excited”? You posting to the right thread, Tom?
No, it wasn’t. Lt. Com. Charles Swift is not a member here and did not post that statement.
Ease up there, hoss. Context makes it perfectly clear that Hamlet is quoting from an appearance on Hardball by said Swift.
Then he could have used those funny little “”"" marks like everyone else. Swift did not post those remarks here.
Do you think there was some intent to deceive? About what? Shirley, you can’t mean to suggest that the perfidious Hamlet was trying to get us to believe that Lt. Cmdr. Swift is a Doper? To what end?
What’s up,** Doc**?
I am Swiftacus!