Marine named as Chairman of Joint chief of Staff

[madmickey]

Keep it non political this is about a Marine getting the top Job.


Bush to Name Marine To Lead Joint Chiefs
Pace Closely Aligned With Rumsfeld

By Bradley Graham
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 20, 2005; Page A22

President Bush intends to name Marine Gen. Peter Pace the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, officials said yesterday, replacing Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, whose term ends this autumn
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ar ... Apr19.html

I think this is 1st Marine named to the Job.

[DrewMatrix]

The position is relatively new (Myers is only the 15th Chairman).

Here they all are:

http://www.nndb.com/gov/236/000043107/

Yes, Pace is the first Marine Chairman

[Twotribes]

The Marine Corps was and may still only be allowed 2 4 star Generals. In the past they never wanted to lose the Commandant or assistant Commandant to a permanent position as Joint Staff Chief. I wonder if they have been granted a third 4 Star position.

[madmickey]

ORIGINAL: Twotribes

The Marine Corps was and may still only be allowed 2 4 star Generals. In the past they never wanted to lose the Commandant or assistant Commandant to a permanent position as Joint Staff Chief. I wonder if they have been granted a third 4 Star position.

stupid bureaucratic rule

[rogueusmc]

The Army would just as soon get rid of the Corps...there are alot of ways the Corps is restricted where the other services aren't.

[foliveti]

The Marine Corps was and may still only be allowed 2 4 star Generals. In the past they never wanted to lose the Commandant or assistant Commandant to a permanent position as Joint Staff Chief. I wonder if they have been granted a third 4 Star position.

I thought there currently were 3 four star marine generals. The vice chairman, the Nato Commander and the Commandant? I should double check on this.

[foliveti]

I thought there currently were 3 four star marine generals. The vice chairman, the Nato Commander and the Commandant? I should double check on this.

Apparently I was wrong about the number of four star marine generals. Currently there are five of them.

http://www.marines.mil/marinelink/image ... endocument[/link]

[rroberson]

shit we are screwed...damn jarheads.

[:D]

[sfbaytf]

"closely alligned with Rumsfelt"...pretty much sums it up.

[Twotribes]

Wouldnt doubt it, with the joint stuff being preimentant, I guess they gave the Corps more slots, but 5 is ridiculus, there are only 3 divisions 3 wings and 3 FSSG in the Corps.

Congress controls the number of officers allowed in service, I imagine they changed some wording so that , since you only hold 3 and 4 star rank if you have a billet for that rank ( 2 star is last permanent rank) any service can have the appropriate 3 or 4 star if assigned the billet. Which makes sense.

The military is always short officers. they use reserve officer and limited duty officers because those numbers arent as ingraved in stone as regular officers are. But the services aggrivate the situation by wanting WAY to many higher ranking officers. When the Congress started looking into cutting Generals from the miltary 10 15 years ago, the Airforce ( for example) had Colonols as Base commanders, as soon as Congress said they were reviewing the General positions and numbers, the Airforce changed ALL base commander slots to one Star General slots. In order to protect their flag officer billets of course.

[Ramjet]

Man, don't get me started with the Air Force...

[cassius44]

What, you have a problem with the Air Force? The world's finest paramilitary organisation? [;)] Go read Coram's new biography of John Boyd to get a real head's up!

Re Marine rank inflation. Uncle Sam's Misguided Children have been systematically inflating ranks the last decade or so. Issue was joint service requirements meant that there were/are many more cross-service assignments. But as the Corps was so much smaller, their folks would typcially be a grade or two below what the big three provided. Result was that the Marine opinions were systematically discounted by the "superior" ranks. So the Marines started upping their own guys in rank to compensate. Voila, rank inflation!

[kayjay]

The number of flag officers in each service, and the number of stars, is set by the US Congress - ie its the law of the land.

Title 10
§ 526. Authorized strength: general and flag officers on active duty

Release date: 2004-03-18

(a) Limitations.— The number of general officers on active duty in the Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, and the number of flag officers on active duty in the Navy, may not exceed the number specified for the armed force concerned as follows:
(1) For the Army, 302.
(2) For the Navy, 216.
(3) For the Air Force, 279.
(4) For the Marine Corps, 80.

It goes on to allow
(b) Limited Exclusion for Joint Duty Requirements.—
(1) The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff may designate up to 12 general officer and flag officer positions that are joint duty assignments for purposes of chapter 38 of this title for exclusion from the limitations in subsection (a). Officers in positions so designated shall not be counted for the purposes of those limitations ...

General Pace has been the Vice Chaiman for the last, hmm, 3 years ? Very sharp individual and I think will be a much more effective Chairman.

Kevin

[Twotribes]

What I find troubling is the the fact that when any thing happens on a MEU the Colonol goes. Send a company and the Colonol takes command and goes. Not the best way to train your officers and it clearly says that you either dont trust your Officers or are being pushed from higher up.

While I was in ( I retired a GySgt) my last command I was Maintenance Chief, I had a corprol for my Embark NCO, a very well trained well informed Marine NCO. We had a few meetings at Battalion for embark people so he went. My Company Commander had a fit and tried to order me to go instead, claiming I needed to be the point of contact for embark. I ask her what the point of having an NCO assigned to embark was if he wasnt going to do the job. He went and then briefed me on any changes ( almost never anything new, since he was usually ahead of Battalion on what the orders said) I basicly told the Company Commander that if she didnt trust my ability to run my area, she could replace me. We never had trouble in embark and I knew what I needed to be in oversight of it.