New Chairman of JCS

[Airbornelawyer]

By the way, besides the Pace appointment, did anyone notice who was named as Vice Chairman? Three things of note:

1. Adm. Giambastiani succeeds Gen. Pace, who succeeded Gen. Myers. What are Adm. Giambastiani's chances of becoming CJCS himself in a few years?

2. The admiral succeeds a Marine general, whose immediate predecessors were two USAF generals. Before them were two admirals and before them another Air Force general. That takes you back to Goldwater-Nichols. There has never been an Army officer as Vice Chairman, although during most of that period there was an Army officer as Chairman. With Myers' elevation, the Army was frozen out. With Pace's and Giambastiani's elevations, the Army continues to be frozen out.

3. Before getting his fourth star and appointment as Commander, U.S. Joint Forces Command, Adm. Giambastiani was military assistant to Donald Rumsfeld. Giambastiani's successor was Bantz Craddock, whose rapid advance I mentioned above. That is probably good news for Vice Admiral James G. Stavridis, Craddock's successor as Rumsfeld's assistant.

[tyrsnbdr]

RL this is great info. I can verify your hunches w/ ADM Giambastiani. I have a friend who was the ADM's chief of protocol. She told me the ADM was on the phone w/ Rumsfeld at least 3 times a week. She also told me she could have gotten me a job on his staff. Probably would have made my career, but not what I want to do. I want to shoot bad guys in the face more than I want to be anyone important.

I do think GEN Pace does have the potential to do good work for the Army. He should take the focus off of the “bomb the bad guy’s into the Stone Age” mentality and focus on the ground forces. Only time will tell.

[Airbornelawyer]

AL

Just sticking to the modern CINC era (and acknowledging that they aren't called CINCs anymore), it seems that rather than being a career-ender, SOUTHCOM is practically the only one with a future.

Since Goldwater-Nichols, three SOUTHCOM commanders have become SACEUR - Galvin, Joulwan and Clark - and one - Pace - became Vice Chairman of the JCS.

All CENTCOM commanders have gone into retirement after their tour in Tampa.

Pacific Command has mostly led to retirement:
- ADM William Crowe - CJCS
- ADM Ronald J. Hays - retired
- ADM Huntington Hardisty - retired
- ADM Charles R. Larson - Superintendent, USNA
- ADM Richard C. Macke - retired
- ADM Joseph W. Prueher - retired (then Ambassador to the PRC)
- ADM Dennis C. Blair - retired
- ADM Thomas B. Fargo - retired

Atlantic Command, later Joint Forces Command, has also mostly led to retirement:
- ADM Wesley L. McDonald - retired
- ADM Lee Baggett, Jr. - retired
- ADM Frank B. Kelso II - CNO
- ADM Leon A. Edney - retired
- ADM Paul D. Miller - retired
- GEN John J. Sheehan - retired
- ADM Harold W. Gehman, Jr. - retired
- GEN William F. Kernan - retired
- ADM Giambastiani - VCJCS (designate)

European Command is also SACEUR and is usually a second command. It should be noted that Atlantic Command was also SACLANT, and some of the admirals above had previous 4-star assignments.

Generally, it's the same for the thematic commands as for the regional commands. All USSOCOM commanders went into retirement except GEN Shelton (while GEN Schoomaker was recalled to active duty). GEN Fogleman is the only TRANSCOM commander I know of to have a follow-on assignment, and the same goes for GEN Myers and SPACECOM.

[tyrsnbdr]

oops I'm doing push-ups right after I type this for being dumb. Not to metion paying attention...

Still good info.