Red Mosquito

tragabigzanda wrote:

epilogue wrote:

tragabigzanda wrote:

epilogue wrote:

tragabigzanda wrote:

dimejinky99 wrote:NBC reporting Hegseth is said to be firing a lot of top brass generals next week.
Trump clearing the decks to stay on indefinitely?

it has nothing to do with that, and everything to do with moving on from the entrenched relationships between the military and the big four prime contractors, so that a modern military can be fast and nimble with their acquisitions processes, and venture capitalists can deploy into smaller startups without Lockheed Martin keeping competitors at bay because of their stranglehold on archaic compliance mechanisms and preferred relationships.

Yeah, dime! The indefinite president thing is just a happy bonus!

I'm not arguing that Trump's not trying to consolidate power, of course he is. But the firing of military top brass has nothing to do with it. He already made that play with the courts.

I was agreeing with you!

tragabigzanda wrote:

dimejinky99 wrote:

tragabigzanda wrote:

epilogue wrote:

tragabigzanda wrote:

epilogue wrote:

tragabigzanda wrote:

dimejinky99 wrote:NBC reporting Hegseth is said to be firing a lot of top brass generals next week.
Trump clearing the decks to stay on indefinitely?

it has nothing to do with that, and everything to do with moving on from the entrenched relationships between the military and the big four prime contractors, so that a modern military can be fast and nimble with their acquisitions processes, and venture capitalists can deploy into smaller startups without Lockheed Martin keeping competitors at bay because of their stranglehold on archaic compliance mechanisms and preferred relationships.

Yeah, dime! The indefinite president thing is just a happy bonus!

I'm not arguing that Trump's not trying to consolidate power, of course he is. But the firing of military top brass has nothing to do with it. He already made that play with the courts.

I was agreeing with you!

You surely aren’t that naive.

you're the one who believes your boyfriend is at the white lotus alone

tragabigzanda wrote:

epilogue wrote:

tragabigzanda wrote:

epilogue wrote:

tragabigzanda wrote:

dimejinky99 wrote:NBC reporting Hegseth is said to be firing a lot of top brass generals next week.
Trump clearing the decks to stay on indefinitely?

it has nothing to do with that, and everything to do with moving on from the entrenched relationships between the military and the big four prime contractors, so that a modern military can be fast and nimble with their acquisitions processes, and venture capitalists can deploy into smaller startups without Lockheed Martin keeping competitors at bay because of their stranglehold on archaic compliance mechanisms and preferred relationships.

Yeah, dime! The indefinite president thing is just a happy bonus!

I'm not arguing that Trump's not trying to consolidate power, of course he is. But the firing of military top brass has nothing to do with it. He already made that play with the courts.

I was agreeing with you!

dimejinky99 wrote:There were reports only a few weeks ago saying Trump wanted to [is] clear[ing] out all military top brass that weren’t [aren't] loyal to him. The thrust of them was reminding readers the military’s oath is to the constitution, not the president and Trump doesn’t seem aware of that or doesn’t care.

I wouldn’t say this is clearing them out for business dealings with Lockheed etc.
he’s bullying most NATO countries to buy more US military hardware. And taken in tandem with *gestures round at everything else that’s happening* including the threat to pull all US troops out of Europe, (he and hesgeth are deeply unpopular with overseas military and their families it seems) now would be a good time to get rid of any top brass that won’t do his bidding. He’ll probably retire /fire all those 100,000 troops that are in Europe once they get home.

tragabigzanda wrote:

dimejinky99 wrote:There were reports only a few weeks ago saying Trump wanted to clear out all military top brass that weren’t loyal to him. The thrust of them was reminding readers the military’s oath is to the constitution, not the president and Trump doesn’t seem aware of that or doesn’t care.

I wouldn’t say this is clearing them out for business dealings with Lockheed etc.
he’s bullying most NATO countries to buy more US military hardware. And taken in tandem with *gestures round at everything else that’s happening* including the threat to pull all US troops out of Europe, (he and hesgeth are deeply unpopular with overseas military and their families it seems) now would be a good time to get rid of any top brass that won’t do his bidding. He’ll probably retire /fire all those 100,000 troops that are in Europe once they get home.

Don't confuse oath with chain of command; top brass reports to the Commander in Chief, and while yes, some of them may feel a conflict between the two should they find themselves in the sort of situation you're imagining, he could just as effectively remove them at that time rather than now.

And also bear in mind that the military had a ~36K enrollment shortfall a couple years ago, and enrollment goals continue to be in decline. The firing of military personnel -- despite the general sledgehammer approach they're taking with the rest of the government -- will be very surgical so that combat dominance is retained in an evolving environment, and so that companies like Palantir can reap the financial benefits.

I am so confident of this that I don't even know why I'm arguing with you about it.

E.H. Ruddock wrote:

tragabigzanda wrote:

dimejinky99 wrote:There were reports only a few weeks ago saying Trump wanted to clear out all military top brass that weren’t loyal to him. The thrust of them was reminding readers the military’s oath is to the constitution, not the president and Trump doesn’t seem aware of that or doesn’t care.

I wouldn’t say this is clearing them out for business dealings with Lockheed etc.
he’s bullying most NATO countries to buy more US military hardware. And taken in tandem with *gestures round at everything else that’s happening* including the threat to pull all US troops out of Europe, (he and hesgeth are deeply unpopular with overseas military and their families it seems) now would be a good time to get rid of any top brass that won’t do his bidding. He’ll probably retire /fire all those 100,000 troops that are in Europe once they get home.

Don't confuse oath with chain of command; top brass reports to the Commander in Chief, and while yes, some of them may feel a conflict between the two should they find themselves in the sort of situation you're imagining, he could just as effectively remove them at that time rather than now.

And also bear in mind that the military had a ~36K enrollment shortfall a couple years ago, and enrollment goals continue to be in decline. The firing of military personnel -- despite the general sledgehammer approach they're taking with the rest of the government -- will be very surgical so that combat dominance is retained in an evolving environment, and so that companies like Palantir can reap the financial benefits.

I am so confident of this that I don't even know why I'm arguing with you about it.

Maintaining combat dominance in low enlistment numbers isn’t easy though. And generally when enlistment is down, skill quality and ability is down as well

lennytheweedwhacker wrote:

E.H. Ruddock wrote:

tragabigzanda wrote:

dimejinky99 wrote:There were reports only a few weeks ago saying Trump wanted to clear out all military top brass that weren’t loyal to him. The thrust of them was reminding readers the military’s oath is to the constitution, not the president and Trump doesn’t seem aware of that or doesn’t care.

I wouldn’t say this is clearing them out for business dealings with Lockheed etc.
he’s bullying most NATO countries to buy more US military hardware. And taken in tandem with *gestures round at everything else that’s happening* including the threat to pull all US troops out of Europe, (he and hesgeth are deeply unpopular with overseas military and their families it seems) now would be a good time to get rid of any top brass that won’t do his bidding. He’ll probably retire /fire all those 100,000 troops that are in Europe once they get home.

Don't confuse oath with chain of command; top brass reports to the Commander in Chief, and while yes, some of them may feel a conflict between the two should they find themselves in the sort of situation you're imagining, he could just as effectively remove them at that time rather than now.

And also bear in mind that the military had a ~36K enrollment shortfall a couple years ago, and enrollment goals continue to be in decline. The firing of military personnel -- despite the general sledgehammer approach they're taking with the rest of the government -- will be very surgical so that combat dominance is retained in an evolving environment, and so that companies like Palantir can reap the financial benefits.

I am so confident of this that I don't even know why I'm arguing with you about it.

Maintaining combat dominance in low enlistment numbers isn’t easy though. And generally when enlistment is down, skill quality and ability is down as well

Let's give them Bammer

tragabigzanda wrote:

dimejinky99 wrote:There were reports only a few weeks ago saying Trump wanted to clear out all military top brass that weren’t loyal to him. The thrust of them was reminding readers the military’s oath is to the constitution, not the president and Trump doesn’t seem aware of that or doesn’t care.

I wouldn’t say this is clearing them out for business dealings with Lockheed etc.
he’s bullying most NATO countries to buy more US military hardware. And taken in tandem with *gestures round at everything else that’s happening* including the threat to pull all US troops out of Europe, (he and hesgeth are deeply unpopular with overseas military and their families it seems) now would be a good time to get rid of any top brass that won’t do his bidding. He’ll probably retire /fire all those 100,000 troops that are in Europe once they get home.

Don't confuse oath with chain of command; top brass reports to the Commander in Chief, and while yes, some of them may feel a conflict between the two should they find themselves in the sort of situation you're imagining, he could just as effectively remove them at that time rather than now.

And also bear in mind that the military had a ~36K enrollment shortfall a couple years ago, and enrollment goals continue to be in decline. The firing of military personnel -- despite the general sledgehammer approach they're taking with the rest of the government -- will be very surgical so that combat dominance is retained in an evolving environment, and so that companies like Palantir can reap the financial benefits.

I am so confident of this that I don't even know why I'm arguing with you about it.

Ello Sailor wrote:Burt and Bi have been awfully meek the last few days. Wonder why that is.