I was looking at some old military history notes today and came across this photo of Lieutenant General Hubert Reilly Harmon, known today as the father of the Air Force Academy and its first superintendent:
I love the simplicity of this photo. General Harmon is wearing four ribbons on his uniform and his pilot’s wings. He commanded an air force in the Pacific during World War II and helped to win that war.
Of course, the architect of victory for the entire U.S. military in World War II was George C. Marshall. His portrait as a five-star general is here:
A simple uniform with three rows of ribbons.
But that was then, and this is now. Generals today have far busier uniforms that are festooned with ribbons, badges, and other militaria. General Joseph Votel, currently the commanding general of Central Command, is typical:
But I don’t think any general has outdone David Petraeus in the pursuit of ribbons and badges:
What would men like Hubert Harmon and George Marshall say about today’s crop of American generals? How did Marshall win World War II without a Ranger tab, without parachute wings, and without ten rows of ribbons?
America’s citizen-soldier military of the era of the “Greatest Generation” was concerned with one measure of success: victory over Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany in a war vital not only to US security but to the survival of the free world (even if that world isn’t as “free” as they or we would like it to be). Today’s military is distracted by the pursuit of the right “tabs” and “wings” and other paraphernalia even as they wage wars without end (and without any apparent prospect of victory).
I suppose today’s generals will talk about how complex the world is today, how asymmetrical our wars are, how our enemies occupy a “grey zone” that is difficult to master, and so forth and so on. Even so, why the grade inflation? Why the over-the-top uniforms?
Perhaps America will start winning wars again (even better: avoiding them altogether) when its military leaders stop acting like crazed Boy Scouts in the pursuit of merit badges and ribbon candy.
Postscript: I’ve written about this issue before (here and here) and also here way back in 2007. But nothing seems to change; if anything, the ribbons and badges continue to proliferate, so much so that the US military now has more bling than the Kardashians.
William J. Astore is a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF). He taught history for fifteen years at military and civilian schools and blogs at Bracing Views. He can be reached at wastore@pct.edu. Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission.
“Perhaps America will start winning wars again (even better: avoiding
them altogether) when its military leaders stop acting like crazed Boy
Scouts in the pursuit of merit badges and ribbon candy.”
This is just surface level BS. The military fights the wars sanctioned by our “politicians” and their owners. I don’t give a warm runny sh*t what they stick on their uniforms since it has NOTHING to do with how they perform in the field.
The wars we fight were never designed to be won, they were designed to destroy infrastructure and intimidate entire regions for profit and geopolitical advantage in pursuit of yet more profit via exploitation.
“Even so, why the grade inflation? Why the over-the-top uniforms?”
It’s hard to sell wars and weapons to today’s public and if you aren’t a good sales person, you don’t get the defense industry golden parachute when you retire. Can you imagine making the rounds on cable with Ike’s uniform trying to demonize or victimize a country’s people in order to boost Raytheon’s stock prices ? You’d never get a board seat !
I’ve got a theory ’bout this: the decorations are not indications of ‘merit’ but rather an index of how much farther each officer’s efforts have subsumed the country (and its citizens) beneath a suffocating blanket of debt-slavery.
Actually, they’re just a symptom of award inflation.
The Marine Corps isn’t usually as bad as the others with it, but IIRC I had eleven medals and ribbons when I got out (plus multiples of some). They were all basically “participated in this or that without getting in bad trouble” decorations — Good Conduct Ribbon, National Defense Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, Kuwait Liberation Medal, Joint Meritorious Unit Citation, etc.
One time I ran into an Army private who already had five Army Achievement Medals. He got three of them in BOOT CAMP for doing well on the physical fitness test and that sort of thing.
As far as I’m concerned, unless it’s a Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Silver Star, Navy Cross, or the Medal of Honor, it’s basically the equivalent of getting a sticker for getting a C or better on your homework.
When I was in Vietnam (as a conscript) a very ignorant young private was court-martialed because he went to the PX (store) and purchased a bunch of officer’s ribbons and decorated his fatigues with them. He thought they looked cool. Looking cool is what it is all about for morons.
Our author, William J. Astore, concludes by writing:
“But nothing seems to change; if anything, the ribbons and badges continue to proliferate, so much so that the US military now has more bling than the Kardashians.”
He begins by writing : “I was looking at some old military history notes…”
He then refers to:
“…victory over Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany in a war vital not only to US security but to the survival of the free world…”
This absurd belief, promoted in military and government school histories, that, not only America’s security, but the survival of the free world, depended upon the entry of America into the second world war – is precisely the intellectual and cultural environment that gives rise to the ever-growing ribbon rows on the uniforms of the generals.
It is not surprising. It is logical that, in order for a gang of parasitic mass-murderers to sell themselves to the public, they must a) lie strenuously about history and b) decorate themselves as heroic saviors, to include ever more elaborate war-bonnets and chest ribbons.
World wars one and two would not have been world wars if America had stayed out of them – they would have been regional conflicts of minor importance to the prosperity and safety of Americans. That the American war-mongers lied us into war, took slaves to do their fighting (conscription), pretended that mass murder (collateral damage) of civilians was necessary (Dresden, Hiroshima, Nagasaki) and used extortion (taxes) and counterfeiting (Federal Reserve) to pay for it, is over-ample evidence that these festooned morons are not heroes, but merely viscously superstitious, sadistic savages.
Every war America has entered into, with the possible exception of the revolutionary war, has been utterly unnecessary and counter-productive. The American military is evil and has been since its inception. The founders warned against a standing army with good reason. Honest history supports their view.
I very highly recommend “Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace” by Harry Elmer Barnes (1953). It’s a heavy, detailed, fascinating and sumptuous meal of truth. For desert, you can read “Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace” by Gore Vidal (2002).
Government is a progressive disease. It only grows worse over time. It is government gunslingers that are wrecking the world. Perhaps someday they will add holograms and flashing LED lights to their uniforms.
Who are they wrecking it for ? Follow the money and you’ll see where the real disease resides.
The real disease resides in the philosophical premise that a gang of gunslingers has the right to force taxation on others. Did you want to shift the blame somewhere else?
Hitler wore a single Iron Cross, awarded for bravery during WW1- only one of his list of decorations.