The American Spectator

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p> GENERALLY WRONG br> Re: Lawrence Henry's Rumsfeld and the Generals : /p> p>A most thorough and accurate discussion of the "old Navy"! Thank you, keep it up. br> -- WWII Combat Vet , Retired CPO USN /p>

Excellent article on the whole. I do, however, have a comment.

Military officers cannot retire until they have at least 20 years commissioned service, so those officers who, at the rank of O-3, look around and see no place to go, cannot retire. They have not served the requisite 20 years, unless they had prior enlisted service. They can choose to resign from the service, because they realize they don't like the military life, and do something else for a living. If they truly want to stay in, they must work for promotion. Failure to achieve promotion to the rank of O-4 results in separation through the vehicle of having twice failed selection to the next higher rank.

The military promotion system allows O-4's and above to serve at least 20 years, and earn a retirement, even if they fail selection to O-5. If an officer is lacking in military or those interpersonal skills necessary to function in a hierarchal organization such as the military, they are not promoted to the next higher rank by the annual meeting of the selection board.

Competition becomes sharper the higher one goes on the pyramid. In a perfect world, this would result in the best qualified always rising to the top levels of command. I agree with your premise that politics become ever more important in the journey to the top of the pyramid, so rough-around-the-edges warfighters like Schwarzkopf, Halsey, Patton, et al., never make it to the very top of the pyramid.

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