07 December 2008

General Eric Shinseki Nominated as VA Secretary

It’s nice to see that some good karma has come back to General Shinseki.  You may remember General Shinseki as the father of Army Transformation—having the foresight to re-organize the Army into a rapidly-deployable force capable of fighting in the 4th Generation battlefield.  He was also the man that suggested to then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld that the US would need several hundred thousand more troops in order to effectively secure and pacify Iraq, contrary to Rumsfeld’s original plans.  

Years later, Shinseki has been vindicated in his decisions, and it looks as if Obama is giving Shinseki, a wounded warrior from the Vietnam War, a new lease on life as the Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs.  

1 comment:

SJ said...

I was surprised that Shinseki was named, but its good to see him back in public service.

I do wonder though about his plans for the more rapidly-deployable force. The question I always had is whether or not that's really the war we want to continue fighting, the classic question of whether we're preparing for the next war or the previous one (not just the current Iraq War, but the numerous little mini-wars of the 90s).

Thought the black berets were meh. I always liked the diversity of headgear the army had. Gave units some character.