ROLLING STONES AND THE SENTIMENTAL SOLDIER

Author: TWI


The Unsentimental Warrior by Lucian K. Truscott IV (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/24/opinion/24truscott.html?_r=0) is an interesting, and to me, inciting read. I would have let Gen McChrysthal’s (Top US Commander in Afghanistan) sacking by President Obama pass as there-goes-another-one, martyr in the ever existent tussle between civil and military kind of issue. A la Fonseka, if you will. But Lucian K. Truscott IV, celebrated author of a few Army centric books and articles, makes me sit up and take notice. While others are raving about McChrythal’s naivety and impudence, Mr Lucian chose to concentrate on something lesser mortals overlooked. McChrysthal’s apparent attempt to drive home a Three Muskeeter-esque – One for All, All for One- feel of camaraderie and bonhomie within Team America, his clutch of advisers (sidekicks?), is what Mr Lucian finds most revolting and he makes that (“All these men, I’d die for them. And they’d die for me”, he reportedly commented gesturing towards his Team) the subject of his ire. And in seeking to break the monotony and compose an unconventional piece, Mr Lucian sputters, gasps and wheezes his way through an entirely forgettable tirade.



To put this impression in the right perspective, I would like to comment on three issues – the nature of the original Rolling Stones article and McChrysthal’s character as brought out therein and of course, more on my friend, Mr Lucian, and his avant-garde take on the McChrythal controversy.

Before I even start on the lengthy and now historical, thanks to Obama’s sacking of McChrysthal, report by Michael Hastings in the Rolling Stones Magazine take a look at the cover of the issue which carried the piece.



Yeah, I too love the guns Lady Gaga is sporting. Now, that’s surely a befitting forum for serious politico-military thought. And Obama probably didn’t have to go beyond the Topic and the introductory line to cement his decision of removing the General. It reads –

“The Runaway General

Stanley McChrystal, Obama's top commander in Afghanistan, has seized control of the war by never taking his eye off the real enemy: The wimps in the White House…”

With dwindling approval ratings on his handling of the Afghan War, Obama’s really not perceived as an Iron Man in the public eye and this twerp seems to be rubbing it in. Sonomabeetch! In the dumpster you go.

The narrative has a focal point around which it revolves. McChrysthal is a bad-ass commander, in-charge of the military operations in Afghanistan, with no or incoherent support from the diplomatic corps who, at best, are shackles he’s having to deal with. US Ambassador Karl Eikenberry and Special Representative to Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke receive special attention that they could have done without (Only Hillary Clinton is spared because as an aide recounts her dictum 'If Stan wants it, give him what he needs'). I don’t have to be a genius to know what they think of the General and his tangled ways. In a fair presumption, that’s probably what they convey to Obama in their diplomatic dialect. That coupled with McChrysthal’s reported arm-twisting of Obama into releasing him more troops, Obama was primed. And so the cat lies in wait.

Hastings, who did not fail to see the best-selling opportunity in his girlfriend’s untimely demise in an IED explosion (I Lost My Love In Baghdad), writes in a manner of a tell-as-is scoop. He’s keen to convey the real feel and so obscene gestures and profanities form part of his story. McChrysthal is the die-hard soldier who sleeps four hours and eats once a day, runs seven miles and rubs shoulders with the common Joe. British troops are quoted rejoicing the General’s likable persona, giving him a pan-national face. He hates ‘gucci’ settings and events and is portrayed as uncomfortable in a suit and tie environment. He’s build up to a point of silly machismo. Sample this: At 55, he is gaunt and lean, not unlike an older version of Christian Bale in Rescue Dawn. His slate-blue eyes have the unsettling ability to drill down when they lock on you. If you've fucked up or disappointed him, they can destroy your soul without the need for him to raise his voice. Oh puhleease stop! I am so scared. Surprisingly, despite this, Obama and Co. took the quoted ramblings seriously.

OK, some were a bit off the hook, especially, coming from a man Obama appointed himself. But most were laughable and attributable to his aides, even though, being an Army-man, he has to take responsibility for them shooting their mouth off. What’s disturbing however, is this unsettling, disagreeable Hooah, Bring-it-on demeanour which one would associate more with a bunch of rookies on out-pass from the Academy. This attempt at playing to the galleries and giving the journalist a peek at the innards of their anti-establishment psyche is so utterly his undoing. McChrysthal was looking to carve a deeper niche for himself as this brilliant but cocky commander and over-stepped into an abyss. Oh, well. The cat couldn’t have waited forever. Not when the mouse was growing sharper teeth to bite it with.

Could Obama have handled it a bit differently? Laughed it off, let the General off with a stern warning and a last-chance-mate press statement? Possibly. But probably the White House and their Net Assessment think-tanks thought otherwise. Many (refer the leaked Eikenberry report – a vicious attack on McChrysthal’s strategy and it’s ominous aftermath) were in plain disagreement with his COIN (Counter Insurgency) strategy and this provides an opportunity to revisit their exit policy and the current handling of the war. Obama’s opted for a less pushy guy who has been magnanimous in accepting a lower profile job. Karzai’s not playing ball though and is critical of the American decision to oust McChrysthal who he perceived as an ally in an increasingly disapproving Western presence.

And now for the raison de etre of this write-up. Lucian K. Truscott IV’s comments on the dispensability of sentiments as a pre-requisite for successful command. He writes, “General McChrystal got it entirely backward: generals definitely don’t die for their soldiers, and soldiers don’t die for generals. They die because generals order them into battle to accomplish a mission, and some are killed carrying out those orders. General McChrystal’s statement is that of a man who is sentimental about his job, and who has confused sentimentality with command. For too long, the Army has been led by sentimental men, by peacocks in starched fatigues and strutting ascetics surrounded by public relations teams. But the Army doesn’t need sentimental generals; it needs generals who can give the kind of difficult and deadly orders that win wars.” And then he offers as justification of this judgement an incident involving his Grandfather, Gen. Lucian K. Truscott Jr. and a Life magazine Journalist Will Lang. Apparently, post orders for battle, his Grandfather impressed upon Will Lang how each subtle move of a pin on the map to indicate progress of battle implied several lives lost till the mission was accomplished. Lucian is enthralled by his father’s unsentimental and matter-of-fact attitude while placing mission accomplishment over anything else.

Who is this guy calling McChrysthal a sentimental man, a peacock in starched fatigues and strutting ascetics surrounded by a public relations team? In fact he stereotypes it to include all generals. Well, Google be blessed, he (Lucian) graduated from West Point in 1969 but resigned from the army 13 months later and became a journalist and screenwriter. He wrote the books Dress Gray , Heart of War, Army Blue and Full Dress Gray . In 2003, he was a journalist with the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq. Lucian K. Truscott IV came out as gay and is a member of Knights Out, an organization that supports gay cadets and graduates of West Point.

Apparently, 13 months in uniform, a few books under his belt and his Knights Out membership (not to forget the martial genes inherited from his grandfather) have allowed him to sit in judgement on a career soldier. He’s down anyway so I could get away with a quick kick to his face. McChrysthal’s achievements as a soldier are numerous and accessible on the web and his lineage includes a father who fought in Korea and Vietnam, retiring as a two-star general, and his four brothers all of whom joined the armed services. Obviously, insufficient. The Americans aren’t winning the war and not enough soldiers are dying to reflect hard decision-making. This General sucks man! No match for my Grandpa. Thus inspired, he concludes, ” Unless we put generals in command who aren’t sentimental, generals who are willing and able to give the deadly serious orders to accomplish the mission they are given, who know that men die for a cause and not for them, we will get no respect from friend or foe in Afghanistan, and we may as well pack up our stuff and go home.” I am a soldier and I have been in battle and so let me tell you Mr Lucian K. Truscott IV that you are wrong. In the face of certain death, men fight for self-esteem, shaped and honed through regimentation and discipline with an over-riding sense of pride in the ethos and history of their colours. And sentiments don’t weaken a General, they bolster him. Empathy not indifference. The role of a leader in war can’t be overstated. And men do die because they believe in their leader. He is the cause and the inspiration for sterling, disproportionate achievements against fearful odds. Up with a Rommel and down with a Montgomery. Always.

And let me also tell you something about your grandfather, Gen. Lucian K. Truscott Jr., God bless his soul. Truscott was respected by those who served under him. A medical officer in the Seventh Army related stories he'd heard from the men who served under Truscott earlier. Unlike some commanders, Truscott was not noted for self-aggrandizement, nor did he suffer such from his superiors. Others noted he was humbled by the sacrifices those under him had made. Bill Mauldin described the time Truscott gave the address on Memorial Day, May 31, 1945, in the military cemetery at Nettuno, outside Anzio: "He turned his back on the assembled windbags and sparklers and talked to the crosses in the cemetery, quietly, apologizing, and then walked away without looking around." Not quite the hardboiled soldier Lucian would have us believe.

So, here’s some advice Mr Lucian. Next time you write, don’t trespass. Stick to your comfort zone. And that certainly isn't about sitting in judgement on leadership.