Three Rows Ought To Be Enough...

One of these generals in the photos below directed the invasions of North Africa, Sicily, Salerno, Anzio, Normandy, and Southern France, liberated western Europe, and accepted the surrenders of Italy, Germany and the Axis powers. The other is a modern four star general.

Can you tell the difference by the rows of medals? If one row of ribbons was enough for Eisenhower then three rows of ribbons and two badges ought to be more than enough for a modern officer. Serious men and women should not dress like the chorus of a Junior College production of The Student Prince.

I wrote this on the 13th. I see now I was late to the party. Andrew Sullivan of the Daily Beast and Peggy Noonan commented on the same thing, only better.

Since I got out of the Navy in the early 70's I noticed the crapification of all military uniforms. Device after device was added for recognition and morale. The Navy was getting bad but the Army and Air Force seemed to be the worst.

The crapification seemed to come from "achievement/service/good job" medals. Where the Legion of Merit was the recognition of a successful career in all assignments, the various achievement medals are so prolific now they only say "She worked here for a while and we didn't have to fire her." As achievment medals grew, medals like the air medal got pushed further and further down the orders of precedence.

There are 32 colonels on active duty for every brigadier general by my estimation. The first star is a huge jump and getting it should carry all the recognition a fellow or gal would need. Getting four stars ought to speak volumes about competence and excellence.

General Petraeus, thank you. You have been seriously injured twice in the line of duty. You went to scary places and got shot at because we asked you to go.You jump from airplanes and eat snakes in the jungle. You uprooted your family 29 times because we asked you to move. You successfully lead shooting engagements and fought to redesign the way we fight insurgencies. We are a safer people now because you, and thousands of others like you,  served when we called. You earned every honor and recognition that has been awarded to you. But frankly your uniform, and those of your peers in the USAF and the USN, make you all look like Soviet Colonels at a May Day Parade. Or is that the look you were going for?