As I mentioned last week, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama has refused to lift his hold on military promotions unless the Pentagon cancels a policy ensuring that service members have access to abortion.
Per the NY Times today, the problem will be on sharp display in coming weeks when General Milley retires. In May, President Biden nominated Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. of the Air Force to become the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. But the vice chairman, Adm. Christopher Grady of the Navy, will serve as acting chairman until the blockade is lifted. Many of the other senior positions will also be filled on an “acting” basis. But acting officials are transition figures — like substitute teachers in grade school. They cannot hire people to staff their new positions. They cannot move into the quarters that come with the job. They cannot impose any long-term vision on the military.
The holds are cutting deep at a time when the military is struggling to meet recruiting goals that would keep the number of active-duty service members at 1.4 million, the strength that planners say is necessary to protect Americans at home and American national security interests abroad. The Pentagon had hoped to offset lackluster recruiting by retaining more people. Mr. Tuberville’s holds make that almost impossible. If promotions are denied, one frustrated senior officer said in an interview, what is the point of staying if you already qualify for your pension? The most talented will leave first, the officer said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly.
Moreover, the holds on senior jobs mean the junior jobs that accompany them will remain unfilled too, leaving thousands of military families in limbo, unsure when they will have to move or where they will live in the foreseeable future. “These are middle-class, working-class families who are saying, ‘We can’t enroll our child in school because we don’t know when we’re going to move,’” said Kathy Roth-Douquet, the chief executive of Blue Star Families, a nonprofit organization founded in 2009 by military spouses. Those families may be in purgatory for some time.
How the Senate with their archaic rules allows one person to have so much power is beyond me. Someone in the Senate needs to step up, even if they have to bring each promotion one at a time to the senate floor for a vote.
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As I continue to read about the Mel Tucker situation at MSU, I ran across this guest article today in the Detroit News from Matt Friedman co-founder of metro Detroit-based Tanner Friedman Strategic Communications. Based on my experience it is good advice.
So the latest news from MSU seems like just another instance of leaders, even those with the best of intentions, failing to grasp reality. Reality is too often ignored, even scoffed at, by organizations of all sizes, in all lines of work.
Here’s fantasy: With good policies and good luck, the news that you hope (maybe even pray) will stay private stays private, until you decide you want it to be public.
Here’s reality: The “forward” button exists. Copy and paste exists. Phones with cameras and texting exist. Frustrated, discouraged employees exist. Insiders (even board members) with agendas exist. Journalists answer their calls and emails. Private information inherently in the public interest inevitably won’t stay private for as long as you want it to.
According to news reports, MSU representatives confirm that top officials (including some, but not all, of the members of the elected governance board), learned about Tracy’s Title IX complaint in December. The investigation, conducted by an outside attorney, was complete in July.
Did they really think the story — this particular story about this particular coach at this particular university ― wouldn’t leak, over more than two months before a hearing set for the team’s off week?
The answer is simple to articulate here, but very hard, in real life, to actually do: Tell your audiences what they expect to know, as soon as you can, with your framing and messaging. It’s called “getting in front of the story.” In other words, tell the story so the would-be leakers don’t have to.
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Per many sources, U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, who was born and raised in southeastern Michigan, became governor of Massachusetts and ran an unsuccessful race for president before winning a Senate seat, said Wednesday he won’t run for a second six-year term. Although I didn’t appreciate his running for the Senate in Utah after serving as governor of Massachusetts, I always believed Romney was a voice of reason who will be missed.
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Quote of the Day: “U.S. troops are the noncombatants in the culture war, and they’re getting slaughtered. We have to develop a new norm where we give the uniformed military noncombatant immunity in the culture wars, and that means we have to stop targeting them, which is what Senator Tuberville is doing over culture war issues,” said Professor Feaver, the author of “Thanks for Your Service: The Causes and Consequences of Public Confidence In The U.S. Military.”
Orchid of the Day: Northern Michigan on a day like today. Sunny and cool. Lots of outdoor time with no sweating.
Onion of the Day: Kevin Porter, Houston Rocket point guard. Former Michigan Miss Basketball and Benton Harbor standout Kysre Gondrezick was taken to the hospital on Monday after an alleged assault by her boyfriend, NBA player Kevin Porter Jr. Gondrezick was taken to a New York City hospital to treat a fractured vertebra and a cut above her right eye according to prosecutors during Porter’s arraignment. Porter, who plays for the Houston Rockets, allegedly struck her multiple times in the face and forcefully squeezed her neck during an incident at a New York hotel room early in the morning. The assault reportedly didn’t stop until Gondrezick ran out of the room covered in blood. Porter was arrested and charged with felony counts of assault and strangulation.
Question of the Day: The UAW workers at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan went on strike today. Will the UAW at Ford, GM, or Stellantis follow suit.
Video of the Day: One of the great storytellers with his music, John Mellencamp doing Cherry Bomb live.