Originally Posted by
SASless
For you clueless....since you cannot grasp the obvious....or at least claim to not be able to for some reason.
If you have to pass muster by a popular vote of 100 Senators after being chosen by a President in order to achieve either Rank or Position.....one must make one's self acceptable to obtain that selection and majority vote.
That is one side of the passage to Stardom....the other is you must curry favor with your superiors in uniform to obtain a good evaluation and thus advance in that. pathway.
Standing up to either a Superior or any of the powers that be is not the favored path to success and it takes a rare Bird (think rank insignia here) that did or will do that that makes it to the top of the food chain.
Staff pukes and ring kissers and not warriors are the most likely to prosper and see the most senior ranks and positions.
The "system" is the problem and what you see in the highest levels of command in the US Military are those that know how to game the system and have won the prize..
When one average eval can scuttle you....and it takes a President to pick your name out of the hat and the Senate to vote on that pick......figure it out who wins that selection process.
There....spelled it out for you.....can you now grasp that it requires a military politician belonging to the current "correct" school of thought to ascend to the very top end of the Totem Pole.
Politics plays a role in the military.....perhaps not pure rank partisan politics in the conventional definition but politics none the less.