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HardeeHo's avatar

Every war the US has engaged in exposes poor leaders. The new leaders of the DoD are wise by jettisoning top folk who went woke.

The current chest salad (ribbons) are because of near trivial awards. Being in a war zone overnight hardly makes one a warrior. Senior officers have the opportunity to add those ribbons. BTW the WW2 bunch of generals had many fewer ribbons. Didn’t hold back the big boys. Eisenhower had 10 ribbons ~3 rows covering 34 years of service. Many were multiple shown by ribbon devices. The chest salad implies little. Cold War troops might have 3-4 rows given no location awards. Still seeing some of the top officers with a full chest of ribbons makes one think.

Christian Whiton's avatar

A friend pointed out Gen Milley had so many that he looked like a North Korean general.

HardeeHo's avatar

Indeed. Troops understand how that happens. Gains no respect from them.

Interesting that WW2 stars would only wear a few of their ribbons. Since then that minimization is not allowed by regs.

Christian Whiton's avatar

That’s interesting they can’t minimize today. Read somewhere (maybe “American Caesar”) that MacArthur still wore his until he saw that Ike wore none and that this was more powerful. Separately, I seem to recall reading Col. (later general) Donovan (“Wild Bill”) of OSS fame had a few from WWI when back in uniform for WWII but only wore the one that senior officers with whom he had to contend mostly didn’t have: the Medal of Honor. Not sure if true.

gatochapinmuertodehambre's avatar

He always had a set that would go well with his eye shadow.

BeadleBlog's avatar

You have me regretting I didn't watch The Simpsons.

Christian Whiton's avatar

It’s never too late! One of the reasons I have Disney + subscription. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fXU2vZTTeMU

BeadleBlog's avatar

I'm going to bite on that. I need some humor in these crazy times. Thank you!

Mark Gordon's avatar

For a guy who never bothered to wear the uniform, Whitton has a lot of thoughts about the military. He even quotes another brave warrior, Rush Limbaugh. Well, birds of a feather, you know, and in this case the bird is "chickenhawk."

Dave Coleman's avatar

You don’t have to be a chicken to recognize when an egg is rotten.

Mark Gordon's avatar

You dont even recognize the term ‘chickenhawk.’ Apparently, you think it refers to chickens. Another never served jag.

JDDrouin's avatar

You fail to understand that chickenhawks, even the hypocritical ones, lay eggs all the time.

JDDrouin's avatar

Yet you're not a published author and feel free to comment on those who are. To paraphrase your own words:

"Well, birds of a feather, you know, and in this case the bird is "hypocrite".

Gene Frenkle's avatar

Trump was manipulated by McMaster to escalate Afghanistan in 2017…then Trump finally grew a pair of 🥜 and stood up to the Military Industrial Complex and surrendered to the Taliban. I will always be thankful to Trump for doing what Obama failed to do and end the just war that Bush lost!

JDDrouin's avatar

Change of subject by brain-dead democrats when their noses are being rubbed into the facts is not allowed!!!

Yet you're not a published author and feel free to comment on those who are. To paraphrase your own words:

"Well, birds of a feather, you know, and in this case the bird is "hypocrite".

JDDrouin's avatar

Besides all of the above, anything that makes democrats squeal like 12-year-old girls in a fright house is, by definition, a good thing.

Bryan L.'s avatar

The Democrats got involved in Korea, but it was not war. It was a police action. Maybe President Trump should use that term as an explanation of why federal troops are in shit hole states.

Rav Sean Gorman's avatar

Whatever else is right or wrong in this article, it is either disingenuous or ignorant to compare the ribbon racks. General Patton's wikipedia page shows three rows of ribbons received from foreign governments. As well, there are ribbons that Admiral Kirby has that did not exist at General Patton's time. The article shows General Patton's official portrait. It is unlikely to be his final list of decorations. There would have been others. At least two were awarded posthumously.

On the other side, RDML Kirby has not commanded. His job description did not allow for that. He would not be the only officer to achieve flag rank without commanding. The staff corps (JAG, Chaplain Corps, Medical Corps, Supply Corps) can rise to two stars.

Last, the middle ribbon on General Patton's top row has two clusters in it. Those clusters are placed on the original decoration in lieu of an identical ribbon multiple times. He has thus received that ribbon three times. There are several repeats in RDML Kirby's ribbon rack also.

Please learn about your decorations before making inaccurate comparisons.