From a military perspective, one of the major problems with the current administration is that no one in it at the senior level has any military experience. Okay, there are a couple of vets there but they clearly do not understand or stand up for our military.
When the current race for president began last year there were two vets among the dozen or so Republican candidates and one among the Democrats—all of them fell by the wayside early on. While Mr. Trump did attend military school for a while as a child, it’s pretty clear that neither he nor Mrs. Clinton could tell the difference between an M-16 rifle and and F-16 fighter.
None of the Democrats that I am aware of that are being considered for Vice President had any military exposure. Among the Republicans only Mr. Gingrich did—he grew up in a military family, but didn’t serve himself.
And then the word got out that Mr. Trump is considering retired Army Lt General Michael Flynn for the spot. All I could say was, WOW!
As I’ve mentioned many times, the vast majority of the warriors in our military have been run out or have just left on their own to avoid being a part of the downgrading of our military that is going on today. General Flynn is one of those who was fired. Here are his words about being removed as the head of the Defense Inetlligence Agency (DIA) and his opinion of why we’re not winning the war on terror. I quote the General: Two years ago, I was called into a meeting with the undersecretary of defense for intelligence and the director of national intelligence, and after some “niceties,” I was told by the secretary that I was being let go from DIA. It was definitely an uncomfortable moment (I suspect more for them than me). I asked the DNI (Gen. James Clapper) if my leadership of the agency was in question and he said it was not; had it been, he said, they would have relieved me on the spot.
I knew then it had more to do with the stand I took on radical Islamism and the expansion of al Qaeda and its associated movements. I felt the intel system was way too politicized, especially in the Defense Department. After being fired, I left the meeting thinking, “Here we are in the middle of a war, I had a significant amount of combat experience (nearly five years) against this determined enemy on the battlefield and served at senior levels, and here it was, the bureaucracy was letting me go.” Amazing.
At the time, I was working very hard to change the culture of DIA from one overly focused on Washington, DC, to a culture that focused on our forward-based war fighters and commanders. It was not an easy shift, but it was necessary and exactly the reason I was put into the job in the first place.
In the end, I was pissed but knew that I had maintained my integrity and was determined in the few months I had left to continue the changes I was instituting and to keep beating the drum about the vicious enemy we were facing (still are).
I would not change a lick how I operate. Our country has too much at stake. Endquote.
Folks, this mixture of combat experience, broad analysis of the major threat to our nation, and integrity is what our nation current lacks in the highest levels of leadership.
The general grew up in a Democratic home; no problem—because he votes smart—that is for individual candidates—not for the party. I don’t know where General Flynn stands on most other issues, but I need to keep first things first. Our nation is at war, even if Washington won’t admit it. And Flynn, who has been looking at Radical Islam for many years has designed a plan to beat them—this is something our nation desperately needs—and he’s got it.
The nickel-dime increase of forces in the Middle East is just a game—one that we can’t win. The Radical Islamists’ culture is looking for results in hundreds of years, not weeks or months like we do. They’ll keep fighting until (1) we or someone takes them out—no, we’ll never kill every one of them, but we can hit them so hard that they know what will happen should the ever again raise up and army and try to take territory. Today they do tell the world that they’re taking on the big, bad USA and beating us, because they are. The other result that will slow them down is should they beat us and dominate the world. Now that General Flynn is gone it’s unlikely that there’s any senior person in Washington who will admit that—much less act to stop it.
The security of our nation requires that we have someone in power in Washington that will lead us into winning this war. I would totally support General Flynn as Vice President or Secretary of Defense or Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I’m delighted that a real warrior is being considered for a major role in the next administration.
General Flynn rocks.
