Toward the end of my military career, US Air Force Chief of Staff General Merrill McPeak instituted a host of changes. He was one of those egomaniacs who, put into a position of great power, are compelled to change everything.
He killed Strategic Air Command. He made us rewrite every USAF regulation because he didn’t like the word “regulation.” He forced a bullshit business school fad called Total Quality Management upon us. He redesigned our uniforms and made us wear US Navy rank insignia. He realigned bases to host both fast-moving fighters and slow-moving transports, with at least one spectacular accident to show for it. He even got into our underwear, for Christ’s sake (we had to wear V-neck T shirts, not crew necks). Skeletor, as he was known, ate not, neither did he drink. Who can trust a man like that?
We thought he was crazy. Although he retired in 1994, his changes (save for the US Navy rank) live on.
And now, as a member of a Rolling Stone panel convened to critique the Iraq war, he has this to say:
This is a dark chapter in our history. Whatever else happens, our country’s international standing has been frittered away by people who don’t have the foggiest understanding of how the hell the world works. America has been conducting an experiment for the past six years, trying to validate the proposition that it really doesn’t make any difference who you elect president. Now we know the result of that experiment [laughs]. If a guy is stupid, it makes a big difference.
You might think this would prompt me to revise my opinion of Merrill McPeak. Nope. He was crazy then, and he’s crazy now. But even crazy people make sense once in a while.