Overboard on Generals?

Generals and admirals do get a lot of perks. They also have tremendous responsibilities. Like other Americans, personalities vary. Since they are on a pedestal, reactions by them are different. There are men and women in the military ranks who fall short of admiration of the brass, but most depend on the officers for leadership and recognize that fact. No- where in life is example more important than in the military. The good leaders lead by example.

A critic of generals, Lucian Truscott, wrote this in The New York Times and which was in the magazine: “Generals used to be hard-bitten, bloodthirsty warriors. In recent decades, they’ve grown soft and pampered, with out-of-control egos. Petraeus, who failed to pacify Afghanistan and had middling results in Iraq, was typical of the breed — vain, preening, publicity-hungry figures who festoon their chests with dozens of medals and then celebrate their own faux greatness on talk shows and photo spreads.”

That indictment should not be attached to all of our generals because it’s way too wide of a spread. As the magazine pointed out, most of our high ranking officers have made many sacrifices along the way in serving our country with distinction

Petraeus was one of the generals who did like the high life due to his rank and his responsibilities. He once was escorted by 28 police motorcycles to a lavish party in Florida! That was ridiculous!

Ten generals were elected president. That’s an indication of how Americans have felt about generals. What has been revealed about Petraeus’ style as a general is not typical of all of our high ranking officers in the military.