MAJOR GENERAL ANTONIO M. TAGUBA, US Army, CF

1234567891011121314151617181920212223Novatny’s guys had done a lot of the work and he didn’t think Farrellappreciated it. Thought that Farrell was a prim Dona. But theyworked it, they sorted it out, recognized their own differences butNovatny was a good Battalion Commander. Strong, solid, knew thedirection he was taking. Monterras, a whiner and a complainer and hehad an easy mission down there in the MEF region with the multinationals.They had a DFAC, they had at least electricity withmoving air and he continued to whine. He had more REFRADs than anyother Battalion because he thought that if he got down under sixtypercent strength, he would have to send-- we’d have to send theBattalion home. And we stopped that drain when I told him, “We’llbreak up the Battalion, and you will come up here to my staff andyour staff will either go out to fill vacancies, but I will break upthe Battalion.” And suddenly, the REFRAD requirements droppedconsiderably. And I said, “You have an easy mission there, you’regonna establish a training facility.” And they did, and they did itwell, but Monterra is a whiner. McGlone is something else. He’ssomewhere in-between. He’s conscientious, but he complains about alot of things. He doesn’t have the resources to do the HVD mission,he doesn’t want to go downtown. He had the mission at Talil first.And I-- I, sir, I said to him, “You whine about everything. Here youare in Talil. Your average strength in your compound is three. Andyou have all these MPs to do this mission. And yet, you’re still109