By R.W. Trewyn Ph.D. ——Bio and Archives--April 18, 2023
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"The incompetence is stunning” was a recent assessment by Marc Thiessen of the leaked classified documents alleged to have been disclosed by a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman (Fox News, April. 13, 2023). The former speech writer for President Bush II nailed it, but the same statement could have been made about innumerable outcomes since President Biden took the helm. This was hardly the first demonstration.
“The incompetence is stunning” was certainly the consensus opinion watching the withdrawal from Afghanistan in August of 2021 whether stated explicitly or not. Having served in the Army decades ago, I’m sure the military description for it would have included the word “cluster,” but the leadership incompetence exhibited there was truly mortifying … and DEADLY!
Shortly after the suicide bomber killed over 170 Afghans and 13 American troops at the Kabul airport during the Afghanistan evacuation disaster, I wrote an article entitled, “Last Rites for ‘WE’ in America—Last Rites for America?” (Canada Free Press, Aug. 31, 2021). My hope stated therein was, “perhaps the latest debacle in Afghanistan will serve as a wakeup call for Americans.” Being a patriot, my unstated wish was that it would do the same for the Biden administration.
That was before I knew “incompetence is stunning” had become the Department of Defense benchmark under Commander-in-Chief Biden. Think China balloon — maybe multiple China balloons per the recent intel leaks — and hobby balloons shot down (sometimes missed) by fighter jets.
But it makes Afghanistan a useful model for understanding how that appraisal is perpetuated — even rewarded — by the Biden cronies. Plus, it might illuminate the path forward for the classified documents leaker and those who allowed it to happen.
Since Afghanistan is a year and a half in the past, one question that should be asked is, how were those responsible for the fiasco reprimanded?
As of April 6th, 2023, we have the answer: THEY WEREN’T!
The Biden administration released its review of the 2021 Afghanistan military withdrawal that day, and the first sentence of the second paragraph laid out who they wanted to take the blame. “President Biden’s choices for how to execute a withdrawal from Afghanistan were severely constrained by conditions created by his predecessor” (Fox News, Apr. 6, 2023).
Similar excuses, all pointing the finger at Trump, were peppered throughout the worthless 12-page document. And you know which finger they directed his way.
“It wasn’t our fault. President Trump did it!”
Except he didn’t, MORONS! You did.
What ever happened to leaders accepting responsibility for their actions … positive AND negative?
Amazingly, though, the male bovine excrement was laid on so thick throughout the after-action assessment that even the Washington Post Editorial Board couldn’t swallow it (Fox News, Apr. 12, 2023). And they ingest and regurgitate pretty much ANYTHING the Biden manure spreaders feed them.
Being held accountable to an agreement made by a previous administration would have required the other party to the arrangement to have met the terms therein. As the Post Editorial Board pointed out, “the Taliban had violated its deal with Mr. Trump before Mr. Biden’s inauguration.” Thus, there was no requirement whatsoever for the U.S. to stick with any conditions delineated.
So how much were President Biden’s choices constrained by his predecessor?
ZERO … maybe less!
As I learned in combat, strength of character is illuminated quickly under fire. Weakness of character — a.k.a., cowardice under fire — is demonstrated even faster … instantaneously most often. Both are true in the midst of military battles, but they’re also true pre- and post-combat in the military as well as in the civilian and political worlds.
With the non-combat varieties, the incoming fire just tends to be less lethal. Regardless, strength or weakness of character — valor or cowardice; honor or dishonor — will shine through, particularly when those traits, good or bad, are exhibited by leadership personnel.
The glaring weakness of character — COWARDICE — demonstrated by the Biden team in the recent report was mindboggling. And his team means President Biden by extension.
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I had the good fortune of attending the Army’s Vietnam-era Noncommissioned Officer Candidate Course in 1968. It was known back then as the “Shake ‘N’ Bake” NCO school (Trewyn, R.W. “Off to Vietnam as an NCO,” ARMY Magazine, 73 (04): 57-58, Apr. 2023). That’s where I learned firsthand about the Infantry Leadership School’s motto, “Follow Me!” … a principle not exhibited in the Afghanistan evacuation or in the report about it.
To graduate from that grueling 12-week marathon, the new “Shake ‘N’ Bake” sergeants had to demonstrate a proficiency in employing “Follow Me!” leadership strategies and tactics. And most, if not all of us, had been in the Army less than a year at that point, but “Shake ‘N’ Bakes” were needed to fill the combat shortage of squad leaders and platoon sergeants in Vietnam.
Over a half century later, I’m convinced “Follow Me!” is the textbook definition of leadership — LEADERS LEAD — but it comes at a cost in war. As they told my NCO class in 1968, four of five of us would be killed or wounded in Vietnam. That’s what happens when you LEAD your troops in combat. Unquestionably, though, it served me well in Vietnam and throughout my academic career where being a staff sergeant once counted for nothing.
However, “Follow Me!” was conspicuously absent — 100% — from the Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan and the assessment thereafter. There couldn’t have been a single, genuine leader involved in either. Certainly not one I’d ever want to follow into battle or anywhere else.
A Pentagon “Follow Me!” leader — a.k.a., a REAL leader — would have resigned rather than be a party to the preventable tragedy exiting Afghanistan.
How many high-level officials and/or officers quit before, during, or after the Afghanistan evacuation in 2021? How many were relieved of command afterwards based on the dreadful outcome?
None that I’ve ever heard about. Clearly, they all put career over principles, dishonor over honor. “The incompetence is stunning.”
During my wound-shortened, three and a half months in Vietnam, all the leaders I saw in action were outstanding with one exception. That outlier was responsible for 27 WIA and 7 KIA on Groundhog Day in 1969. It should have been many, many fewer, but at least he was relieved of command a couple weeks later based on his appalling leadership.
Why didn’t something similar happen after Afghanistan?
Probably because the blame resides with the Commander-in-Chief, not just the untold numbers of bunglers beneath him. The buck stops at the top where “the incompetence is stunning.”
So, what does that tell us about the alleged classified leaker?
If found guilty, they’ll hang him out to dry and maybe an immediate superior or two, a sergeant and/or lieutenant, perhaps. And if the stink becomes too unbearable, the Air Force will sacrifice some additional officers on up the line. They’re expendable. But the big dogs — GENERALS — will be protected and the hits certainly won’t happen anywhere near the Pentagon, or DC for that matter.
When “the incompetence is stunning” describes 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, it’s hard to hammer other Washington locations for the same ineptitude. Even the woke Pentagon looks functional by comparison.
Relieved of command is the answer, but that can’t happen until the next election. And that’s assuming American voters recognize today’s reality: “THE INCOMPETENCE IS STUNNING!”
FIX IT!
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