You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
“declaration of war” aroused far too little interest among the public and intelligence<br />
circles, those who were in the Khobar Towers on June 25, 1996, and were exposed<br />
to the savage violence of terrorism knew the road ahead had just become far<br />
darker.<br />
5<br />
UNFORTUNATELY, THE 1990S GAVE RISE TO SCORES OF CAREERISTS who filled all the<br />
squares, went to the correct staffs and knew all the right people. The problem was<br />
that they couldn’t fight their way out of a wet paper bag. Our own squadron<br />
commander, who bravely ran away from the Khobar fence, had never held any<br />
field-grade squadron leadership positions prior to being given a command. And it<br />
showed. There are guys who fly fighters and there are fighter pilots. This guy was<br />
definitely not a fighter pilot.<br />
Some of these men were on decoration quests—either for vanity or career<br />
enhancement. Personally, I think most decorations are absurd. Even some of the<br />
respected ones can be given away for horseshit reasons. I knew of a major (now,<br />
unbelievably, a major general) who put together PowerPoint briefings for generals<br />
during Desert Storm and got a Bronze Star for it. He would always say that he’d<br />
gotten it during Desert Storm, which was true but disingenuous. Someone would<br />
inevitably ask which squadron he’d been with or how many combat missions he’d<br />
flown and this guy would always manage to change the subject. The Air Force also<br />
permits combat flying time to be logged if you are physically in a designated<br />
combat zone, even if there is no fighting going on. This is how some men, like<br />
Schwalier, are able to log combat time without ever actually fighting. Again, to me,<br />
disingenuous.<br />
My point is not to necessarily pick on men like Schwalier but to illustrate the<br />
weaknesses of the system that created them. Loyalty is a fine thing and one of the<br />
cornerstones of any combat profession—but so is accountability. I’ve seen officers<br />
fired because their subordinates were having affairs, or had drinking problems or<br />
for a score of other things completely beyond a commander’s control. It is wildly<br />
hypocritical and inconsistent to then permit a commander to be exonerated for loss<br />
of life that may well have been preventable.<br />
Anyway, as the 1990s waffled on, we saw more and more of this. Kosovo and<br />
Operation Allied Force seem to have been wholly fought to deflect national<br />
attention away from Bill Clinton’s perennially open pants. That, and General<br />
Wesley Clark’s narcissistic dream of being considered a latter-day Eisenhower. In
Change language