"Military Command in the 21st Century Through the ..." Topic

…Eyes of Two Generals.

"David Richards and Stanley McChrystal, who both commanded the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, are among the most celebrated living army generals of their respective countries, Britain and America. They also led parallel lives. Both were born in the early 1950s. The sons of Army colonels, they joined up in the early 1970s and served in elite forces: Richards with the Commandos, McChrystal with the Rangers. They retired in 2013 and 2010 respectively, although McChrystal left the Army under controversial circumstances.

Their memoirs provide some useful insights into the post-1970s evolution of the British and American armed forces during and after the Cold War, the professional life of an officer, and the 9/11 campaigns. Their main interest, however, lies in what they say about command; these twin works can be read together as a treatise on military command in the 21st century. Military command has become an emotive subject in the last decade, as British and American generals seem to have failed in their duty to advise their political masters and to plan and execute coherent campaigns. Tom Ricks has been a prominent critic here, exposing the failures of modern U.S. commanders in contrast to the putative ideal of the Second World War. In the United Kingdom, the crisis of command has engendered ferocious debate. It is widely accepted that British strategic and operational command failed in the last decade in both Iraq and Afghanistan…"
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Amicalement
Armand

Military command has become an emotive subject in the last decade, as British and American generals seem to have failed in their duty to advise their political masters and to plan and execute coherent campaigns.

My take … "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink." … In both the US and UK, the military follows the [lawful] orders of the elected temporary civilain leadership … in some cases regardless how "wrong" those orders from the civilian leaders are from a tactical combat battlefield, etc., POV… However, that paradigm has generally worked in the US since the AWI … But as time has passed fewer and fewer members of the elected leadship have served in the military. So there may be some affect on decisions made at the top ?