Cody

What does it mean to be a “General”? Historically, it meant being generally in charge of everything. That’s why U.S. generals remove their branch insignia when they pin a star. You may have been infantry once, but now you’d better know how to run it all. Here’s the problem: We promote officers who aren’t fluent in the roles they command. Combat proficiency has been outsourced, just like too much else in America. A general must understand the jobs of everyone beneath them. That takes time, not briefings. And unless you’ve spent a career mastering the fundamentals, you can’t call BS on a flawed intel assessment or broken fires plan. I wish every officer had to lock themselves in a room and build an entire warfighting order alone, no staff. Long division before the calculator. “But Dort, they’ve done that earlier in their career,” some will say. Maybe. But warfighting is a perishable skill. So test it. Drop them into a simulation with a live staff and a thinking enemy. Make them fight. If they win, they move forward. If not, they don’t. Now let’s crunch the numbers. Across an Infantry officer’s career: •IBOLC: 1 OPORD brief. No live enemy. •CCC: Same. No enemy. •CGSC: One staff-level brief. No enemy. •War College: Unclear, but likely no enemy. •Actual tactical time over 20 years? •PL: ~6 months •CO: ~3–6 months •MAJ: ~3 months •BN CDR: ~2 months •BDE CDR: ~2 months •Total: ~2 years, maybe Two years of REAL tactical reps in a 20+ year career. That’s insane. Our promotion system values paper proficiency over battlefield reality. That must change, now. Do you see the problem? If we select generals for anything but warfighting, don’t be shocked when they can’t win wars.