The Price of Liberty

We are generally conditioned to think that purging of military – especially the Army – is a common feature of dictatorships. After all, that is what Stalin did (which almost cost him and Soviet Russia victory in the Great Patriotic War). And Hitler did that after the failed assassination attempt, no?

So it comes as a surprise that The Donald isn’t being attacked even more strongly by his political opponents and the mainstream media for letting appointees blather on about getting rid of a bunch of flag officers (Generals and Admirals) and dragging others into courts-martial for their actions of the soon-to-be lamented Uncle Joe regime. (A regime aided greatly in its corruption of the military by the actions of both Obummer and Bush II – and also Trump 1.0.)

It has to be more than just getting rid of Austin and the service Secretaries and a few other bureaucrats. Though that is a good start: if just a very small step.

I suspect that few company-grade (O-1 to O-3 lieutenants and captains/ensigns and lieutenants) or field-grade (O-4 to O-6 majors and colonels/commanders and captains) officers will be disappointed to have Austin go away. And many (but far from all) flag officers (O-7 and up: generals and admirals). Too many political officers: brass hats of the worst kind). The enlisted personnel of the services will be more divided, due to the quality of training and experience, but I think a majority will be happy to see him gone. As will at least some civilian DoD employees. Even a few politically-appointed and Senior Executive Service (high-level bureaucrats) will welcome the change. If it really is a change.

Hegseth may be one of those field-grade officers: we can hope he is. Better than the usual politicians or tainted flag officers. And hopefully, is own appointments will also have the guts to fix things.

Of course, the evidence is strong that both Obama and now Biden also purged the military and its civilian bureaucracy. They just didn’t make a big deal of it, and the GOP and other groups were frankly too stupid to see what was going on. And so let the current crop of Woke brass hats and career bureaucrats get power, and keep it. And Trump was too gullible in his first term to respond properly.

But maybe we have a chance to get rid of not just the apples that are rotten to the core, but also those apples that have started going bad. The pruning may need to go down well below the O-7 level (Brigadier General and the lower half of the Rear Admirals. A lot of O-6s are also corrupted and contaminated by DEI and worse: colonels and Navy captains. And a fair number of the senior NCO corps is also in need of careful examination: corruption is always a problem but there is at least some evidence that is a significant problem.

But the purge is far from enough. What is really needed is massive reform: perhaps the kind that the DOGE will recommend, together with a DefSec Hegseth. What could be included?

1. Bringing the troops Home, and not replacing them with allies and mercenaries. American troops belong on American land – the Navy and Marines can protect the sea lanes and the really critical naval bases needed for that mission. Ditto for the USAF and USSF.
2. Transferring a majority of troops, airmen, Guardians, Marines, and sailors into the Reserve Forces. Mostly National Guard, though there is no reason why a big slice of reserve Naval forces could not be converted to State-controlled units of the coastal and Great Lakes States.
3. Eliminating divisions as tactical units, making brigades (4-5,000 troops) the primary combined arms combat units, and redistributing them across a larger number of installations.
4. Changing the current policies of allowing transgender and other marginally-medically-handicapped people into the service. If they want to “serve” they can do so as civilians.
5. Ending the broad sexual integration of combat and combat support units: enforce the same physical standards for both men and women for infantry, armor, artillery, aviation, and engineer assignments. If a woman can meet the strength and other physical requirements without waivers then by all means, but make sexual relations with anyone but their own spouse a court-martial offense. And enforce it.
6. Stop the DEI nonsense training and replace it with real training on the skills needed for their duty. Together with that, again make discrimination against a fellow military member (or for that matter, a civilian employee of the service) a court-martial offense. And enforce it!
7. Stop the rotation of retiring senior officers, NCOs, and civilians into the defense industries and others. If retired and departing military want to continue to be involved, let them compete for and serve as civilian employees, or as retired service members still subject to military regulations and the UCMJ.

These are just a few ideas thrown out to ponder – and hopefully get feedback. There are problems with all of them, and many other ideas worth considering. And the reform or replacement of the military establishment is just a start on dealing with the insanity called the Federal government. But it is that: a start.

PS: Just to make it clear for the record: we at TPOL do not think that Hegseth is a very moral man: three marriages and his admitted fornication and drunkenness demonstrate that is the case. But we point out that just as Lincoln saw US Grant as worth serving despite his boozing, cigars, and owning slaves, and that in the same way Ike was an effective leader despite his adultery. That doesn’t make it right, of course. But we take what we can, and to quote a friend, “spit out the bones.”