It´s not exactly a secret that for at least the past 50 years, among general officers, there are just two ways to rise in rank. Be an extremely competent officer, or be an exceptional butt kisser. Guess which there are more of.

What do we need over 100 full Admiral/full General ranks for?
It is the Parkinson principle writ large.
There will soon be 200, with no troops left to command.
They will push paper boats and paper planes around on paper tables.

Exactly! This all started when JFK thought warrior generals like Lemay did not understand the intricacies of international politics and we started training officers in statecraft and nation building. Generals should be warriors. The military should be like a loaded gun. Keep it ready, fire it when needed, then holster it. Leave nation building to the weenies at State. Retired Colonel.

The military should be used to kill bad people and destroy things- all when needed. Gen. P. and his ilk are the result of electing the PC crowd. This started (in my lifetime) with the Viet Nam war- we didn´t fight to win.

Star Hunters.

Like most things governmental there is a glut of middle and upper management. These bureauocrats whether civilian or military don´t have enough to do to justify their grade or salaries, so they delve into anything that will further their existence. Look at Cabinet heads who have no idea what´s going on under their watch and yet they strive for more power. Pitiful.

Where is George Patton when you need him? Oh yeah, Stormin´ Norman left the military and we were left with the narcissists.

I saw in the Navy (S-3A/B aviator) and I see it in the corporate world....too many chiefs and not enough indians.

Several years ago, i attended a Mercyhurst College-West Point ice hockey game.
The team manager for west point was a bird colonel! Seriously!
Separate from that, though, is the political environment for officers, which I believe ramped up with the Bill Clinton administration. (Remember Bill´s letter to the ROTC commander at the U. of Arkansas, about ´those who loathe the military?)
The generals and admirals of today were youngsters 20 years ago. They learned how to make rank.
And there is now a woman in the U.S. Army sporting 4 stars! And she was never much more than a supply clerk! Logistics! Wow!

Petraeus let those guys in Benghazi swing. He deserves to be gone. And he doesn´t deserve his pension.

There are no warriors among the brass, but like plane pilots they are now "system managers", subject first to building an effete America, run by preferably the effete, or women.

The same thing is going on against little boys in elementary schools. Haven´t noticed yet that a single soul gives a damn, however.

Another American Institution corrupted by the Left. Donovan nails it - Flag officers who have never seen combat. Spent more time in graduate school classrooms than commanding troops and leading them into battle.

The grunts and the NCOs are the BEST. But they are being led by a bunch of over-educated pantywaists. Hackworth had it right - "Perfumed Princes."

Excellent article. This article explains everything about our ineffectiveness in every war ("police action") beginning with the Korean War. The last victory we celebrated was WWII. Since then the military heroes have been enlisted, NCOs, and CWOs. PC-ness has even infected the NCO ranks. My father who was a disabled USAF veteran rose to the rank of MSGT, but couldn´t make Senior because he wouldn´t kiss booty and didn´t have enough friends at the top to want to promote him. Signed MM2-SS (Nuc, ERO, EWS, 7 SD Patrols - ´81 - ´87).

Hacks like Casey, Dempsey, Mullen, Allen & Petraeus at the top of the military are an unmistakable sign of America´s decline. George Marshall, Hap Arnold and Ernie King would have laughed those boobs out of town. Petraeus is a case study in how a connected (his father-in-law was a powerful general) officer gets groomed and moved through the various gates on the way to general (the author´s note of Petraeus being an aide/executive officer to senior generals is spot on). There are fighting generals; they are just few and far between.

Recall that during WWII many senior generals were "put on the shelf" to make way for junior officers. FDR may have been a socialist but he knew he was in a fight to the death and knew when to shed the "perfumed princes" of the time.

Obama is flushing out any remaining patriots from the military ranks. He needs marxist buttboys who will follow his orders, as they will violate the constitution..

Meanwhile, HHS is trying to classify all returning military personnel that were trained in weapons to be classified as mentally damaged... therefore not eligible to own a gun.

McCain better do one good thing & save the military. Although he´s a progressive, I doubt he wants servicefolks to be deemed disabled on discharge.