‘The Generals’

In 2006, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Thomas E. Ricks came out with an account of the Iraq war in his book “Fiasco.” It was a New York Times bestseller as well as a Pulitzer Prize finalist. The title itself suggests what many have long suspected about America’s “adventure” in Iraq: It was a preemptive war based on false intelligence and carried out with incompetence and arrogance resulting in the deaths of thousands of US troops and countless Iraqis.

Ricks’ latest book is “The Generals”—a history of American military leadership from World War II to Afghanistan. The author’s dedication reads, “For those who died following poor leaders.”

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Two generals

Among Filipinos, Gen. George Catlett Marshall is not as well known as Generals Douglas MacArthur or Dwight Eisenhower. But he was the senior American general of World War II and is recognized as the founding father of the modern US Armed Forces. Some historians have described him as a “cold, impersonal” man, one who insisted on remaining socially and emotionally distant from colleagues and even his commander-in-chief. He left no memoirs of his service and turned down a lucrative offer from Saturday Evening Post to tell his story. There is no weapon or installation named after Marshall, but it would be difficult to appreciate the US Army today without knowing about the man and particularly his sense of duty and honor.

Marshall was not a product of the US military academy at West Point. He graduated in 1901 from the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), a state-supported military college in Lexington, Virginia. It is sometimes referred to as the “West Point of the South” since many of the Confederate officers during the US Civil War were products of VMI.

Marshall came to the attention of his superiors because he was not afraid to speak his mind although he believed in the respectful and confidential expression of dissent.

In 1938, when Adolf Hitler was beginning to flex his muscles at European leaders, US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) called for his senior advisers, including Marshall, who was not yet chief of staff. The issue at hand was the construction of 10,000 warplanes for the looming war against Germany. When FDR polled the room, all were agreeable except for Marshall who kept quiet. When asked by FDR what he thought, Marshall replied, “I am sorry, Mr. President, but I don’t agree with that at all.” He then proceeded to express the need for a more balanced preparation rather than a huge aircraft construction program. The next day, the president asked him to come up with the attendant requirements as he had suggested.

On Sept. 1, 1939, Brig. Gen. George Marshall was appointed US Army chief of staff, jumping over 21 major generals and 11 senior brigadier generals. First, he took his oath before the adjutant general as a permanent major general. After a pause, he again raised his right hand and took an oath as a temporary four-star general and US Army chief of staff. He then proceeded to the White House to report to the president and preside over his first conference as the senior member of the US high command. On the same day, just a few hours earlier, German Army units crossed the Polish border, signaling the start of World War II.

When Marshall became chief of staff, he realized that one of his problems was how to rid the Armed Forces of so many mediocre and incompetent leaders. On his initiative, some 31 colonels, 117 lieutenant colonels, 31 majors, and 16 captains were forced into retirement or discharged from active duty.

Scholars may disagree whether or not Marshall kept a little black book with the names of promising officers for future promotion. But he had a clear idea of the qualities he looked for in an officer. On top of his list was “good common sense” that worked to prevent gross errors due to rapid decisions and actions. He emphasized character over intellect and sought steady, level-headed team players.

General Marshall has been dubbed the “Architect of Victory” in World War II. He is the only career military officer to win the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the implementation of the Marshall Plan that led to Europe’s economic recovery after the war.

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One of Marshall’s protégés was Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower, who graduated from West Point with the Class of 1915. Eisenhower did not have a reputation for aggressiveness and he lacked combat experience, but Marshall recognized that Eisenhower had a talent for implementing strategy.

A week after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Eisenhower was directed to report to the office of General Marshall. Immediately he was presented with the problem: We are faced with war in Europe and the Pacific. Where do we begin to fight? And do we abandon our men in the Philippines?

“Give me a few hours,” Eisenhower requested. When Marshall returned in the afternoon after making a round of visits, Eisenhower gave him a three-page typed memo on what he thought the American strategy should be. Eisenhower wrote, in essence, “the Philippines were beyond hope…. The focus should be on Australia as the launching platform for a counter-offensive.” Marshall read the memo, looked at Eisenhower, and said: “I agree with you. Now tell me how to implement this.” Ike outlined three primary goals: security of England, retention of Russia in the war, and the defense of the Middle East. These all meant that Europe had precedence over the Pacific. There was no long supply convoy being planned to relieve the defenders of Bataan and Corregidor.

Eisenhower would go on to become supreme commander of the Allied Forces in Europe, US Army chief of staff, president of Columbia University, and later the 34th president of the United States.

What was the secret of Eisenhower’s success? A military historian offered the view that “this was largely due to his great human qualities, his sense of humor, his common sense, and his essential honesty and integrity.”

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This year, the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ “revolving door” will be in full swing. It will involve not just the AFP chief of staff. The Army commander retires on Feb. 7 (it could be earlier), the Air Force chief leaves on April 30, and the Navy flag-officer-in-command retires on May 1. The Philippine Military Academy superintendent also bids farewell to the cadets by the middle of next month after less than a year on the job.

I continue to hope that one day our military commanders will have a decent time in office. It will require difficult and possibly controversial decisions. But it is the difficult situations that test the character and decisiveness of our leaders.