(02-16-2020 08:27 PM)JRsec Wrote:  Generals are appointed by Congress as are Admirals. End of Story. Of course they can be part of the Deep State. Anyone whose advancement is political should be suspect and their conduct is the only evidence to the contrary. It is why at the outbreak of every war the Pentagon has to be cleaned out. We just haven't had a big enough war since WWII to merit the house cleaning and we are paying the price for it.

Generals and admirals actually go through selection boards that are instructed as to what qualities to emphasize, and the results of the boards are then voted on by congress.

There has been a lot of speculation, in professional military circles with which I still maintain contact, that under Obama, political correctness was emphasized far more for promotions than tactical or strategic competence. Those who speculate in such manner believe that this skewing of the process is at least partially to blame for the Fitzgerald and McCain collisions, as well as at least some of the failings for the Fords and Zumwalts and LCSs. Although those projects were started before Obama, under the idiot Rumsfeld, there have certainly been multiple corners cut and mistakes made along the way.

LTC Vindman, for one, certainly makes sense as a product of that process.