In the Marines, you are held responsible for failure.
The commandant, Gen. James F. Amos, said the two generals did not deploy enough troops to guard the base and take other measures to prepare for a ground attack by the Taliban. The two, Maj. Gen. Charles M. Gurganus, the top Marine commander in southern Afghanistan at the time, and Maj. Gen. Gregg A. Sturdevant, the senior Marine aviation officer in the area, "failed to exercise the level of judgment expected of commanders of their rank," Amos said."It was unrealistic to think that a determined enemy would not be able to penetrate the perimeter fence," Amos said.
But then, "What differerence, in the end, does it make?"
"British commanders had assigned the task of manning the towers to troops from Tonga, which has sent 55 soldiers to Afghanistan."
Tonga (pop 103,000) spends less than 1% of its $800 million GDP on the military.
AFAIK Tongans are great people but not known for military ability.
That's because the marines are responsible adults and 'command has responsibility'; the higher the rank the greater the responsibility and accountability.
Contrast that to politicians where the higher you are in the power structure the less you can be blamed for and the more underlings you can throw under the bus, such as those 'rogue IRS agents' in the Cincinnati office who decided on their own initiative to delay and deny tax exempt status to tea party groups opposing Obama.
The sad reality is as "western" society advances there are fewer individuals at the higher levels of responsibility who accept the concept of honour and therefore remain in their position.
This means the less honourable continue to advance and perpetuate and indeed add to the corruption of accountability. Cue in the next President of the U.S.A. Cheers;
With proper training and leadership, a Tongan soldier should have been as effective a sentry in a watchtower as any other nationality. IF the Tongan in charge of Tongans left a tower unmanned, it should have been noticed sooner by a British officer. Apparently no British officer noticed it, so I hope the British removed their base commander, too.
In the dysfunctional western democracies we have militarized police who goon you for political masters and we have politicized military where the top brass act like politicians finger pointing and blame shifting - we're a GD mess that stronger cultures/militaries are about to correct.
I'll lay odds the two fired generals were not registered Democrats... The decapitation of the U.S. Armed Forces continues apace.
It has happened before.
TheTooner, exactly. This has been proven countless times during human history.
"With proper training and leadership"
toner, with a pop. of 100k, U probably identified one of several problems. 100k leaves pretty slim pickins for qualified!!!!
"...there are fewer individuals at the higher levels of responsibility who accept the concept of honour ..."
Ain't that the truth!
Damn! Why does the name Fantino keep coming to mind?
I do hope that the Marines bring back fragging.
Do you see how quickly they respond when they can kick the military? If only they could have reacted with as much haste and resolve when it came to Benghazi.
Jamie, Fantino is small potatoes. How about Clinton?
So you think disgruntled soldiers should murder their officers? What kind of a moron are you? Suggest such a lack of discipline to a Marine and then kiss your cretinous a$$ good bye
"...Jamie, Fantino is small potatoes. How about Clinton?..."
I'll have you know sir, that Willy J. may have back-tracked on a couple of occasions, but once he had his weapon in his hand, he never retreated. When it came down the confusing, dirty, thrust and parry of slit-trench warfare, Slick Willy stood, ahem, proud in front of his surrendering opponents.
Well of course he had to. Shillary was up his butt. And what can you say about a guy(?) that has to use a cigar,instead of his penis?
Agreed, and well said.
Both officers where more concerned about ferreting out Islamophobia.
"Inclusiveness projects before guns". "Tolerance" before safeguards.