I want you all to Just picture this for one moment- the combined military experience in this room full of 800 of the top leaders of the American military would be around 28,000 years or so. All these leaders, each an authority in their respective field - had to sit through a
pointless dressing down by a self-important braggart dressed up in a monkey suit who's military career ended at the grand rank of
Major in the National Guard...
"A MAJOR"!
@Panzerkiel
Don't take this as a defense of the current SecDef (or SecWar) but he's not the only one to have never achieved flag rank. Others include:
- Mark Esper - Lt.Col., US Army
- Patrick Shanahan - never served
- Ash Carter - never served
- Chuck Hagel - Sergeant, US Army
- Leon Panetta - 1st. Lieutenant, US Army
- Don Rumsfeld - Captain, USN, so that would make him an O-6
- William Cohen - never served
- William J. Perry - 2nd Lieutenant, US Army
- Les Aspin - Captain, US Army
- Dick Cheney - never served. 5 draft deferrals during the Vietnam War
- Clark Clifford - Captain, US Navy
- Robert McNamara - Lt. Col., US Air Force
That is just a sampling of 12. A full 1/3 never served. None rose higher than O-6. The most recent SecDefs who were flag officers were Mattis and then Austin.