Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, the Department of Defense surprised me once again—this time involved General Austin in his role as Secretary of Defense. He checked himself into Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he was placed in the Intensive Care Unit for a week and never told anyone, while his staff lied about it.
What is troubling no one seemed to care.
It’s not like there is nothing going on in the world that would require his attention. Even his deputy was on vacation. He and his deputy took themselves out of the decision-making process. A great opportunity for our enemies to take advantage. This is truly bizarre behavior. For those of us who have served at senior levels within the military, we realize that something else is going on, that the normal operation of the chain of command appears not to be functioning, at least not as it should and certainly not in this case.
The foundation of the Armed Forces rests on a firm platform of Values and Morals. This is something instilled into every 2nd Lieutenant from the day they are commissioned—values like character, integrity, and honesty. You are also taught to find senior officers to serve as role models. Officers who, at the end of the day, will always do the right thing and will set an example regardless of the situation. Former Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall was my role model. Those who compromise these values normally are weeded out of the system.
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So why mislead and lie about being hospitalized? The answer, I believe, is that General Austin did not view his Commander-in-Chief as being an active participant in the Chain of Command nor in the decision-making process at the highest level of our government. He may even feel insecure in his position as SecDef. Both thoughts are troubling for the nation. I can’t recall any similar example of this dysfunction at such a senior level. Did General Austin tell his staff that, if asked, inform people he was working from home, or did he or his staff decide that outright lying was the best option?
We are now faced with a failure in individual character as well as in personal integrity and honesty. How can we trust anything that the SecDef and his staff tell us in the future or the guidance they provide in any future conflict? This also points to a deeper dysfunction in the Department of Defense that needs to be corrected. Subordinate officers would have suffered severe consequences had they done the same (Lying). To deflect from his shortcomings, General Austin’s only comment was, “I should have been more transparent.” I can think of a lot of words “transparency” is not one of them. Time to take responsibility for placing the nation at risk and failing to set an example for those under you.
