Odierno: I did great, mission accomplished, and all that jazz...make me Army Chief of Staff!!!

"Also, did I mention that, unlike GEN Casey, I think DADT should be repealed. Did I mention that?," Odierno said.
BLUF: Ray wants is to be named Army Chief of Staff after he leaves Iraq...

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Specializing in ad hominem attacks on GEN Odierno since 2008, this masthead maintains that flag officers who royally screw up once while in combat command shouldn't be give a second chance. GEN Odierno's career should have ended after his command of 4th Infantry Division. Instead, he will most likely be named Army Vice Chief or CSA.

Let me be clear: I'm really happy Iraq is shakily moving forward. My problem is that GEN Odierno should have been forced into retirement already. My fellow Georgetown Army ROTC alumnus, current Army CSA GEN George Casey, should have been relieved of command in Iraq after his first screw-up. I care about leadership failures because lives are at stake. Generals should be ready to command and produce immediately - without learning on the job and spilling the blood of our nation's best.

Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of Odierno posts:

Nomination of LTG Odierno as MNF-I Commander (June 3, 2008)


Is Odierno ready? (September 16, 2008)


Odierno takes charge (September 16, 2008)


Odierno delivers… already! (September 16, 2008)


Everybody Loves Raymond (September 17, 2008)


For U.S. and Sunni Allies, a Turning Point (September 30, 2008)


Odierno believes troops will be out of Iraq by 2011 (April 13, 2009)


Why We Should Get Rid of West Point (April 20, 2009)



Odierno speaks in a full sentence… (February 26, 2010)

Odierno speaks in a full sentence...

A svelte Ray modeling the new Army Service Uniform. He is still a leg...

...and requests more combat forces in Iraq past the deadline. As you can tell from previous posts, I'm not a huge fan of GEN Odierno. However, at least he is speaking up. I do question the timing of this though...

On another note, I love how after GEN Casey recommended to take it slowly on the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," GEN Odierno immediately piped up and said, "Oh, I favor repealing it." GEN Odierno is undoubtedly positioning himself to replace GEN Casey as Army Chief of Staff, which he most likely will get when GEN Casey finally retires. My crystal ball also predicts a GEN Petraeus nomination for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, once Admiral Mullen finally retires.

Army wants to save pieces of Future Combat Systems

Secretary Gates' (pbuh) laying the smack down on GEN Casey face

My question is, if the Army wants to save pieces of the FCS, why can't the Army just use their budget money to buy the patents to said technology? Then they could do whatever they want with the technology. Too bad not many lawyers read this blog to chime in...

Also, showing that his screw-ups were not limited to his time as MNF-I commander, here is an excerpt quoting GEN Casey saying that, "Boy I thought I could convince my boss to buy a Bugatti Veyron, even though he only wanted a Ford Fusion."

“I ultimately could not convince him that we had taken enough of the lessons that we learned from the current fight and incorporate them into that vehicle program,” said Gen. George Casey, the Army’s chief of staff, who was unusually frank about the service’s disagreement with Gates. “I thought we had, but he thought we hadn’t,” and so Gates proposed cutting $87 billion that was to fund a new generation of light armored vehicles.

Stuck in the Iraq Loop

The key passage is on page 39:

Gen. George Casey, who presided over the downward spiral between 2004 to 2006, was rewarded by being made Army chief of staff. By contrast, Gen. George Marshall, in his first year as Army chief of staff under FDR in the run-up to World War II, fired 34 generals and 445 colonels from an Army half the size of today's force. After war came in December 1941, he further relieved 17 division commanders. So why no comparable purge during the Iraq War, which has already lasted longer than World War II? More was at stake during 1941 to 1945, of course, but it is also true that the commanders in Iraq were following the policy decreed by Bush and Rumsfeld. The failure of imagination started at the top. True, more officers should have challenged their civilian bosses, but that is rarely the way in a U.S. military obedient to civilian control.

Nomination of LTG Odierno for MNF-I commander

Petraeus says by fall he may seek Iraq troop cuts

Once again, the military is rewarding failure. Some prior examples:

1. LTG Chiarelli to MNC-I commander after mixed results as 1st Cavalry Division commander in Baghdad.

2. GEN Casey to Army Chief of Staff after a numbing performance as MNF-I commander.

3. LTG Odierno to MNC-I commander after using heavy handed tactics and overflooding the prisons at Abu Gharib when he was commander of 4th Infantry Division.

Now, once again, LTG Odierno and LTG Chiarelli have been nominated for promotions. LTG Odierno has been nominated for promotion to general and to become MNF-I commander, meanwhile LTG Chiarelli has been nominated for promotion to general and to Army Vice Chief of Staff. How much does one have to fail at the top levels in the Army in order to be forced to retire? LTG Odierno and GEN Casey are lauded as counterinsurgency converts, but where were they before counterinsurgency became the term de jour in military parlance? They were flooding prisons and getting mixed results as commanders. Wouldn't one expect a career Army officer to recognize an insurgency when he sees one instead of taking years and thousands of American lives? GEN Casey, LTG Odierno, and LTG Chiarelli's wives must run a mean officers' wives club.

GEN Petraeus and LTG Odierno were division commanders under the Peter Principle proving LTG Sanchez when our overarching strategy in Iraq was to kill and capture bandits and denying there was an insurgency... Odierno did exactly what Sanchez wanted - kill and capture bandits. Odierno excelled at the capture part and overflooded Abu Gharib (remember that?), while GEN Petraeus did his own thing up north (think back to the often-mocked "winning hearts and minds" mantra). Then Odierno was promoted to lieutenant general and suddenly became a counterinsurgency convert under his former peer Petraeus after a career as a "big guns go boom" artillery officer. On a side note to those who hate "legs," how is Odierno non-airborne qualified after spending years at Ft. Bragg? Meanwhile, a PhD holding, Tal-Afar saving, counterinsurgency expert like COL McMaster was passed over for brigadier general twice (H.R. McMaster Passed Over - Reverse Peter Principle?), and a career green beret like LTG McChrystal is not given MNC-I or MNF-I command. GEN Petraeus can only do so much with a sloppy joe officer corps above the rank of the few good captains that stayed in the Army. I wonder what maneuver Odierno, the inadaptable artillery officer, will make after MNF-I command? I wonder how many hours a day he will pull GEN Petraeus away from his strategic tasks (e.g. drug trade, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, etc.) as CENTCOM commander asking him exactly what to do every step of the way as MNF-I commander?

**NOTE: This piece was written prior to COL McMaster being picked up for brigadier general (See H.R. McMaster Leads New Crop of Generals) and immediately after it was leaked that LTG Odierno was being nominated for MNF-I command