Bush and his cronies are well-known for hiring, appointing and promoting on the basis of political ideology and loyalty, rather than on the basis of ability. Eight years of controlling promotion policy would have effected many positions in the military hierarchy. I wonder how much damage this has done to the upper ranks of the U.S. military?

Whatever the real situation on the ground, I am much relieved that it is the U.S. Army and not liberal panty-wastes like Bill Sasser who make the hard decisions about who has to lead our men into battle. I consider myself progressive, but I throw up in my mouth a little bit when I hear unqualified sissy peons like your author attempt to discern what is best for our military. Perhaps there's some gas-price pressure on soccer-mom story he would be better suited for?

get them in uniform, and send them to the front.

Bill Sasser doesn't even state an opinion. Every paragraph opens with a quote from a military guy. This isn't Sasser attempting to discern what is best for the military, this is military guys describing a problem and recommending options, and Sasser reporting what the military guys said. This is reporting, not an editorial. Real reporting suggests a conclusion by reporting real facts. In this case, real live military guys complained of the consequences of the auto promotion policy. This suggests that the auto promotion policy is bad. Then the editor sensationalizes that suggestion to get more people to read it.

One more thing, the military is civilian policy maker controlled. "Liberal pantywastes" in the pentagon that control the military are CIVILIANS. The president is a CIVILIAN. Civilians are supposed to critique the military, because the military is under civilian control. If not, we would be in a dictatorship.

Gee, that's funny. I could have sworn that most of the article was composed of quotes from those military commanders you so worship, but I suppose I'm not as smart as a guy who picks such an obviously tough and manly username or uses phrases like "liberal pantywaist" while claiming to be "progressive". Why don't you go back to playing Halo with your frat buddies and leave the conversation to the grown-ups?

Are you gonna go on the new Persian excursion if McCain gets elected?

"STRAINED BY WAR , U.S. CONGRESS PROMOTES UNQUALIFIED POLITICIANS"

CONGRESS HITS 9% APPROVAL RATING .... AND SINKING FAST !!

that is all ....

It is very important we know things like this and I appreciate Salon taking an initiative on this issue. We have really forgotten about the boots on the ground and the fact that they are still on the ground everyday in places they don't want and don't need to be. Please keep these articles coming so that we can figure out a way to repay these sacrifices and make sure that they only need to be made in the most dire situations.

Where are those troops coming from? And where's Obama coming from? Between FISA and Afghanistan, it's getting hard to tell which candidate represents Bush's third term.

I know that you just want to make a grand statement, but the short answer to your question is that those troops would come from the troops that he would pull out of Iraq. While one could argue that we shouldn't be in Afghanistan either, it's pretty obtuse to equate the two. Most of the Afghan population didn't like the Taliban (considering that they were assholes that we helped put in place to fight the Soviets), and they welcomed our presence there far more than they did in Iraq.

There is some truth to this article.

Yes, troops are being promoted before they are 'trained' for the job. However, most of the MOS's where this is true are the ones there SGT's are more likely to leave for a civilian career.

Oh, and could Salon please higher somebody with at least a little bit of a military background to review articles? Little oversights can really damage the point you are trying to get across.

A Sergeant First Class is in charge of a platoon, and usually has 10 to 12 years experiance. A First Sergeant is the senior NCO in a Company.

Is that we had an actual, legitimate causus belli to invade Afghanistan. We had been attacked, and the Taliban were not only harboring the people who had done it, but had been an active participant. The problem came in when we took troops hunting for Bin Laden and otherwise consolidating victory in Afghanistan and put them into the totally unnecessary attack of Iraq.

Instead of doing one necessary mission and doing it well, we're now doing two missions, one of which is completely unnecessary, and we're doing them both badly. Afghanistan had the potential to be a major victory for the US, but Bush & Co. blew it. Now we're left to try and salvage what we can from the debacle they've created. If Obama wants to reemphasize Afghanistan after getting out of Iraq, I don't seen anything fundamentally wrong with that. It's probably too late to get the best outcome, but we'd have to see.

The FISA vote, on the other hand, was and will forever be an abomination.

"Salon investigation"

The next series will focus on the shocking news that nepotism exists in the military and politics.

The article quotes an officer stating that NCOs are the backbone of the armed forces. This cannot be overstated. I was an E-5 when I got out after 10 years. The same month I got out, SIX fellow E-5s also left the same unit (if you are wondering why they have stop-loss...).

One of the problems not mentioned in the article is the fact that, increasingly, people are being promoted to E-5 without first going to PLDC (Primary Leadership Course). I started to see this before I got out. PLDC is sergeant school, a rigorous school indoctrinates prospective Sgts with administrative, tactical, and operational aspects of leadership under stressful circumstances.

The other problem is essentially a self devouring problem: Training. Besides leading soldiers and completing the mission, a sergeant's main job is training. For example on the squad level (6-8 people)every soldier (down to the lowliest Pvt)should be able to perform everyone else's job (soldiers die). It is the E-5 squad leader who is responsible for this training. This has been increasingly neglected as Sgts who are only marginally trained themselves become NCOs.

Thanks to Mr. Sasser for this important and relevant article.