Gen. David H. Petraeus — “King David,” the man behind the surge, the author of the new counter-insurgency strategy, the savior of Iraq, the photogenic Washington star — has been nominated to be the top U.S. commander in the Middle East. It is the expected and only sensible choice for the Pentagon: Petraeus had already been in line for a reward and promotion and there really isn’t anyone else who would want to take the job as head of Central Command.
Petraeus as the new Middle East commander is neither good news nor bad. I hope he is smart enough to get working on a “plan” for withdrawal for the new president. And I hope he will understand the folly of picking a fight with Iran (or Pakistan) at the end of an extremely unsuccessful administration.
But the truth is we never really know what these generals really think because to become a four-star and to become a regional commander, one has to be pretty polished and careful. And after 9/11, the power and role of the regional commanders has been weakened. It will be interesting to see whether King David changes that.
For those who don’t know, the regional combatant commanders, as they are called in the military, are supposed to be the supreme commanders with great power. In the Gulf War in 1991, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, the CENTCOM commander at the time, was so hands-on he directly took on the role as the ground forces commander, brushing aside his subordinates. In Iraq in 2003, Gen. Tommy Franks did the same.
The point here is that the president and the secretary of defense might ultimately approve a war plan, but the theater commander is the ultimate decider of tactics, strategy, force size, etc.
Franks and Schwarzkopf might have had great old-boy qualities as leaders (well, at least Schwarzkopf did) but neither was a genius. That’s not necessarily a bad thing: sometimes the genius commander (e.g., Wesley Clarke in Kosovo) can believe he knows better than his civilian masters, an equally troublesome state of affairs.

blog.washingtonpost.com

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — Refusal to take the anthrax vaccine has cost many Marines their careers during the Pentagon’s on-, then off-, then on-again mandatory vaccination program.
Exactly how many Marines rejected the vaccine and were subsequently discharged throughout the six-year mandatory program is unknown. But a request from Congress, which is seeking statistics on the number of Marines discharged for refusing the six-shot regimen, is changing that.
In April, Marine administrative message 223/08 announced the Corps’ plans to track each case where a Marine was discharged for refusing the vaccine.
“In order to accurately track these discharges, we are establishing codes directly relating to these discharges,” the message states.
There are nine specific discharge codes. They track discharges or dismissals as a result of court-martial convictions, misconduct resignations allowed in lieu of administrative separation proceedings, and involuntary separations and resignations on grounds of misconduct and unacceptable conduct.
Anthrax is a potentially fatal disease spread by dust-like spores that can be inhaled. The Pentagon, saying the vaccinations are necessary to protect troops from weaponized versions of the disease, instituted a mandatory anthrax inoculation program in 1998.
During the mandatory program, which temporarily ceased in 2004, dozens of service members were court-martialed for refusing the vaccine, and hundreds more were administratively punished. More than 100 service members from all branches were court-martialed two years after the program began, according to 2000 federal court records.
Lance Cpl. Jared Schwartz became the first of five Marines based at Twentynine Palms, Calif., court-martialed in 1999 for refusing to take the vaccine. He was sentenced to 30 days in the brig and a bad-conduct discharge. His conviction was followed by those of Lance Cpl. Michael Metzig, Lance Cpl. Michael McIntyre, Lance Cpl. Jared Johnston and Lance Cpl. Jason Austin, all sentenced to 25 to 30 days confinement and bad-conduct discharges.

marinecorpstimes.com