It is a truism that the Generals always fight the last war, but this is the first time I have thought about the promotion system self selecting for the values of the last war, well done.

I beg to differ with the writer's conclusion that Gates does not have time to do anything about it. In hospitals (also very complex turf protecting organizations) I have observed that if a new CEO does not make necessary changes in the first two years, change will probably not happen. A new boss brings an expectation of change so Gates should pick his targets carefully and go for it. He will then be able to get out before the heat gets too high.

I think the changes necessary to make the military able to meet the challenges in the next century would require concerted effort over several administrations, probably the course of 20 years worth of effort. One of the things that needs to happen is to get rid of some of those generals. We have one of the most top heavy chain of commands in the history of militaries. What does this bring us? red tape and lack of accountability. In addition, ensure that we are accurately judging those officers that are still in the ranks. I was in the 101st and as a company clerk, overheard the CO and XO discussing a platoon leader as totally incompetent and couldn't be relied on to do anything right unless he was babysat. Then they said in the course of the discussion that "they didn't want to ruin his career." and wound up giving him an OER with flying colors that made him look like he walked on water (their summation of his leadership skills was basically correct.) Another problem, there's no glory in allocating money for training. We have a military that has the fiscal discipline of a drunken sailor in a strip club and prefers the buying of big expensive weapons systems that usually aren't any dang good in the field. Ran out of time. misplaced priorities says it all. Buy the big with no idea how to integrate with the squad and ignore the vital little details that win the wars.

At least a generation is correct. We are twenty years into the last great reorganization of the US military. The emphasis then was on ‘Joint’ operations. An effort to reduce the inter-service rivalries and redundancies that plagued the military throughout its history.

The entire command structure was re-organized into the regional system we have now where the regional commander controls all forces in his area (from all branches) and can draw whatever mix of forces he deems necessary to complete the mission. In addition there was a shift in promotion standards towards officers who served on ‘joint’ operations or had more cross-service experience.

After twenty years we are seeing the benefits of this approach, both in first gulf war, and now in Iraq and Afghanistan where coordination between the different branches of the military is better than it has ever been.

But even now, with all those changes, problems still remain. The Air Force wants to kill the A-10 Warthog, acknowledge by almost everyone not an Air Force General to be the best ground support aircraft ever built, because it doesn’t fit into their ‘high-tech’ fighter and bomber mix. Fights over budget dollars still exist.

A generation may not be enough time for what Gates is talking about. Unfortunately world events will most likely not give us five years, let alone 20-30 years to make these changes.