<http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/author/doctorbulldog/> Mass Exodus of Military Brass Looms Large on the Horizon<http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/2010/11/10/mass-exodus-of-military-brass-looms-large-on-the-horizon/> *doctorbulldog <http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/author/doctorbulldog/>* | 10 November, 2010 at 8:38 am | Categories: Military<http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/category/military/>, Obama Sucks <http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/category/obama-sucks/>, politics <http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/category/politics/> | URL: http://wp.me/p1NPg-6HY
*Given Our Dark Overlord's propensity for surrounding himself with commies, this can't be good:* *Openings Give Obama Chance to Shape Military* *Andrea Stone Senior Washington Correspondent* *AOL News<http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/job-openings-at-pentagon-give-president-obama-chance-to-shape-military/19707434?icid=main%7Cnetscape%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk1%7C183191> * WASHINGTON -- Here's one place with plenty of job openings: the "E" Ring<http://pentagon.afis.osd.mil/facts-navigating.html>of the Pentagon. In the next several months, the secretary of defense and four of the six uniformed members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff<http://www.jcs.mil/index.aspx>are expected to retire. This kind of mass exodus of military brass is "virtually unheard of," said John Ullyot, a Republican strategist and former spokesman for the Senate Armed Services Committee. "It's very rare to have so many service chiefs up" all at once, he said. "Even in peacetime this would be a lot of turnover, a lot of change for the biggest part of the discretionary budget. But in wartime it's even more complicated and needs to be done with great care to ensure that there's a smooth transition," Ullyot said. The changes in command come as President Barack Obama<http://www.aolnews.com/tag/president-obama/>faces major decision points in the Afghanistan war <http://www.aolnews.com/tag/afghanistan/> and prepares to joust with a new, more adversarial Congress over defense spending and his intention to lift the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays. "This is where the president makes a lasting impact upon defense policy," said retired Army Col. and military analyst Kenneth Allard, referring to the Joint Chiefs. Among the tasks they will carry out, "priorities clearly must respect the need for a leaner, meaner DOD, including the next wave of procurement reform" and winding down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan<http://www.aolnews.com/tag/afghanistan/>, Allard added. *Obama's Hand-Picked Team * Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a Republican holdover from the Bush administration, is expected to step down in early 2011, and the guessing game<http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/07/30/who_will_be_the_next_secretary_of_defense?obref=obnetwork>about Obama's choice for a successor has been a Washington pastime for months. Except for Air Force Chief of Staff Norton Schwartz<http://www.af.mil/information/bios/bio.asp?bioID=7077>, whose term is up in 2012, Obama will soon have his own hand-picked team at the Pentagon. Obama recently named a new commandant of the Marine Corps<http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2010/07/marine_amos_commandant_072010w/>, Gen. James Amos. The gruff-talking Marine is already in hot water<http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jn2ehBgzs_G12t9DQeezFEGGDhSw?docId=CNG.18e25ead919f653c1748be76101cbaf5.271>with Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, for publicly questioning the president's intention to allow gays to serve openly. Despite Amos' remarks, which are in line with the views of his predecessor<http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/nov/02/marine-leads-dont-ask-dont-tell-fight/>, the president is likely to look for senior officers who "understand that when the commander in chief says do it, you shut up and do it," said Heather Hurlburt, executive director of the National Security Network, a liberal defense think tank. Mullen, who has championed<http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/military-chiefs-call-for-end-to-dont-ask-dont-tell/19341493>an end to "don't ask, don't tell," leads the list of top military advisers who are leaving. Marine Gen. James "Hoss" Cartwright, the vice chairman, also is set to leave his post but might end up staying because he is widely viewed as the front runner for a promotion to the top spot. Cartwright was depicted in Bob Woodward's "Obama's Wars<http://www.amazon.com/Obamas-Wars-Bob-Woodward/dp/1439172498>" as the president's favorite general for his input in crafting the administration's Afghanistan policy. He had been mentioned<http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/09/obamas-favorite-general-heading-to-white-house/63599/>as a possible national security adviser. But with that job filled<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/08/barack-obama-tom-donilon>, he could get the chairman's job. Gen. David Petraeus, Obama's go-to guy to run the war in Afghanistan<http://www.aolnews.com/tag/afghanistan/>after the commander there self-destructed in Rolling Stone magazine<http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/119236>, also is mentioned as a candidate for chairman. Some observers are skeptical though, noting that Petraeus would be the third Afghanistan commander yanked from that critical battlefield since Obama became president. "He's too valuable to the president where he is now," said Ullyot, noting that the July deadline to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan is looming. Candidates to fill the vice chairman's slot include the commander of NATO, Adm. James Stavridis; Marine Gen. James Mattis<http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/blunt-spoken-gen-mattis-to-lead-us-central-command/19547032>, commander of U.S. Central Command; and Army Gen. Ray Odierno, a veteran Iraq<http://www.aolnews.com/tag/iraq/>commander who now heads Joint Forces Command. Odierno also is mentioned to replace outgoing Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey Jr. Another possible replacement: Army Vice Chief of Staff Peter Chiarelli, the point man on improving care for wounded warriors and fighting an epidemic of military suicides. Also leaving is Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations. Adm. Patrick Walsh <http://www.navy.mil/navydata/bios/navybio.asp?bioID=295>, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, is among those said to have the inside track, according to Ullyot. The next leaders of the joint chiefs "will have to be widely recognized as apolitical advisers, uninfluenced by political crosscurrents, and prepared to give their candid advice on some of the most contentious and potentially dangerous issues in foreign and defense policy," said David Barno, a retired Army three-star general who commanded U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan in 2003. They will have to do so, he added, "in a way that is both credible, persuasive and understandable *to their masters* in the White House and on the Hill *who may have little or no military experience* by which to judge the incoming message." 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