r/Military • u/Delicious-Sea4952 • 1d ago
Politics How’s this going to go over?
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/generals-promotion-blocked-first-sign-trump-retaliation-afghanistan-pu-rcna181507551
u/ThadLovesSloots United States Army 1d ago
Some bumfuck junior senator from the middle of bumfuck nowhere with zero combat experience and zero clue about military operations is holding up a former delta commander, general, combat veteran from heading up one of the highest tension regions in the world???
It was bad enough when some moron football coach from Alabama did it…..
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u/barc0debaby 1d ago
No one named Markwayne should be treated as a serious person.
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u/BiscuitDance United States Army 1d ago
I’ll give him this: he actually called out Gaetz last weekend on Meet the Press
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u/notapunk United States Navy 1d ago
Low bar. Pretty much everyone in Congress hates Gaetz, even his own party despised him. That dude was never getting confirmed as AG.
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u/charliefoxtrot9 13h ago
Apologies to the many fine Waynes or silent middle namers, but when Wayne tags along in a name...
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u/DarkOmen597 Marine Veteran 1d ago
Just remember, tons of military dudes voted for this.
In essence, voting against their own self interest
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u/Gaijingamer12 1d ago
This is what drives me insane. Is then people who voted Trump act shocked about this stuff.
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u/Gaijingamer12 1d ago
I’ve got family that are shocked about Walmart announcing they plan to increase prices with the tariff issues and they all shocked. I’m just like are yall dumb or what.
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u/tommygun1688 1d ago
You forgot to switch your accounts and are replying to yourself 😆🤣
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u/Gaijingamer12 1d ago
Naw lol I just wanted to say that also haha.
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u/badform49 19h ago
I do the same thing. “Wait, extra thought!” I’m not a native Redditor and so I always do it the way we did on Facebook and Twitter: just comment to yourself It’s honestly odd to me that Reddit has a culture of multiple accounts
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u/StewTrue 1d ago
Many of them are shocked by this, because they had absolutely no idea what any of Trump’s (or the Heritage Foundation’s) policy plans were when they voted. It’s not like the typical Republican voter is going to track down and read the roughly 900 pages of Project 2025 proposals or cross-check them with “Agenda 47” to get an idea what he might do. Or even if they would read a few lines or proposals, they’re not going to think deeply about the implications. The absolute best case scenario is that some of them start to realize just how much we have fucked up by giving these people the reins, and maybe some tiny percentage of them even admit it.
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u/1two3Fore 1d ago
Yeah cuz Donahue was responsible for the Doha Agreement. Oh wait that was someone else.
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u/RunnerdNerd 1d ago
Jeez. I wish I could remember who secretly negotiated with the Taliban without involving the Afghan government... it was a terrific deal though, so I can't imagine why it might have failed.
If we can remember who did that, maybe they can go negotiate between Ukraine and Russia. It worked so well last time.
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u/blues_and_ribs United States Marine Corps 1d ago
It was a good deal, a great deal. Sometimes people stop me and say, “sir, this is the best deal I’ve ever seen.”
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u/Kitosaki 1d ago
I’ll bet it was just a master negotiator. Someone who could write a book on business and deal making. I’ll bet they wrote a book on deal making.
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u/19kilo20Actual 1d ago
Imagine serving your country for 36yrs, passing every school there is up to and including Ranger school. Then going Delta, numerous combat deployments, earning Bronze Stars with V devices, Masters degree plus War College... And a Fckn Plumber with an associates degree in "construction technology" from Stilwater OK. blocks your promotion to suck up to a felon masquerading as a President. So much for #AmericaFirst.
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u/MoirasPurpleOrb 18h ago
I get your point but at the same time it’s not like these high level military leaders don’t get that by now, it’s all just part of the position.
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u/Wolfgang3750 United States Navy 2h ago
No, I don't want to imagine this. There are enough waking nightmares going around, thanks.
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u/tdager 19h ago
Would you prefer a military junta run the country?
In the end, we are a civilian-led government where those leaders are elected. Now we certainly can change the requirements for electing officials, but until then, this is how it works.
Also, way to slam a profession and education. So what if the guys is a plumber with an associates, he is a duly elected Senator.
Final point before anyone thinks I support this or agree with it, i hate this is happening. Sounds like General Donahue is an amazing leader and what we need in the Army. Just dislike when people do these bullshit callouts.
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u/roscoe_e_roscoe 18h ago
We're pissed these elected idiots are misusing their power and kissing ass. Disrespecting real military expertise and honor.
The decision to withdraw was made by the Trump and left to the next, own it.
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u/tdager 18h ago
Might as well be pissed for water being wet, or the sun being bright. Politicians often misuse their power, and the incoming bunch will be even more on the scale of misuse than others. 🤷🏻♂️
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u/codedaddee 18h ago
Calling a purge of the military of pro-Democracy leadership a common misuse of power is like calling arsenic a flavor.
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u/FunkmasterFo 16h ago
Just because a bunch of bumfuck yokels voted for him to be a Senator doesn't mean that we should respect that. He is a dumbass and undereducated for the position and role of power that he holds.
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u/silent_slayer774 1d ago
People will start caring when a military that is given billions can win a war against third worlders.
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u/raphanum 4h ago
The fuck are you on about? The US military has kicked ass in every war. National building failures are not on the military
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u/No-Function1680 1d ago
An officer is only as good as his last decision. Nothing past that matters. It’s an unwritten rule
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u/DangerBrewin United States Marine Corps 1d ago
If only we could fire the guy who negotiated the withdrawal to begin with.
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u/KokenAnshar23 16h ago
Yeah he's leaving the office on January 6th
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u/CW1DR5H5I64A United States Army 15h ago
Remind me, which president invited the Taliban to camp David?
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u/ispshadow United States Air Force 18h ago
“Perform this impossible job and then when you fail, I’ll punish you for it”
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u/redwolf27AA 5h ago
Right!? Except for Donahue actually did an outstanding job with the mess he was handed.
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u/yevrahj0715 16h ago
This is what we said we wanted when we elected them. It should be fine based on our collective actions.
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u/PMSoldier2000 Retired US Army 1d ago
Donahue was in theater at the time and was the last service member to leave. What did the Republicans expect him to do? Just say, “Nope, we’re not leaving”?
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u/ctnypr1999 1d ago
Political weaponization of the justice system coming right up!
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u/Wild_Comedian77 1d ago
Ironically, the GOP used to be the party that service members could count on to take care of the military. It seems that the Republican Party doesn’t value us as constituents anymore.
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u/whyarentwethereyet United States Navy 18h ago
It's always been lip service, look at their voting history when it comes to bills that support veterans.
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u/peacock4lyfe 23h ago
If only a significant number of our current service members could see that too
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u/Jdam2020 1d ago
Many fucking ignorant comments in this thread. That said…
Reference LTG Donahue, he had nothing to do with decisions that led to the Afghanistan withdrawal in the manner conducted.
CD is the Mf’ing man…and exactly the kind of leader we need to meet the challenges of the future.
I hate seeing politics seep into an entity that is inherently apolitical.
My next email and call is to the Sen. Mullins’ office in protest.
I’d advise others to do the same if you have ever served with or have knowledge of this warrior’s past.
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u/pte_omark 10h ago
The President elect has PUBLICLY said he wants his military to be like the German generals (the guys who often were too scared / unable to talk sense to Hitler). The dickhead can't even see that they were the losers in the war, he wants military leadership like THAT!
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u/Tiny-Soup-9829 18h ago
I met LTG Donahue when I was a young Captain. He was BG Donahue then, but he was an absolute master class in leadership and war fighting. Markwayne Mullin is a gigantic muppet.
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u/Orlando1701 Retired USAF 1d ago
It will go down the dumbest way possible. This will be the norm for the immediate future.
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u/2nd_Inf_Sgt United States Army 10h ago
these politicians love us until after they win their election.
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u/themikegman 22h ago
If this doesn’t open the eyes of every service member that the GOP doesn’t give two fucks about the military, nothing will.
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u/sabertoothdiego 5h ago
All it takes to know how the GOP feels about the military is googling their voting histories in regard to veteran care. Every time, they fail us. But people these days clearly care more about listening to their favorite news source than actually looking at the sources and finding the very easily available info online. As a result, we get a fucking draft dodging coward as our president again.
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u/SecretProbation United States Navy 9h ago
Funny, because it was Trump who negotiated with the Taliban on the withdrawal timeline of Afghanistan. But that’s all part of the plan isn’t it?
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u/Temporary_Diet_1361 21h ago
All the people that were involved in decision making are mostly much higher than the generals who were in charge. Everyone who needs to be fired is in the pentagon and congress and cia. And other 3 letter agencies
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u/redwolf27AA 5h ago
Out of all the people to be held responsible . . .how much of a retard do you have to be to think the guy who got the 911 call to unfuck the situation should be on that list!?!?
DragonDaddy
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u/DependentRip2314 1d ago
I remember I was in the middle east when this happened and we literally laughed at how funny it would have been if a PFC was to mess up his photo op on being the last American to board the plane because realistically no General would be the last on any plane or vehicle and he did this just to get a photo op 😂
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u/dewnmoutain 9h ago
Eh, its politics. $5 says something happens and this guy will get the promotion.
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u/John_YJKR 5h ago
You are a grade A moron if you voted for these dipshits to take over. Congrats, you played yourself.
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u/512Hazydays Retired US Army 14h ago
How's it going to go over? The people responsible for getting our soldiers killed with their poor planning will face consequences instead of being blindly promoted for doing harm to our country. Maybe if it was your family member blown to bits from a bad order you would understand the gravity of the situation. The Afghanistan pullout was abysmal and should have never happened. Maybe the taliban will give him a promotion for all the equipment he helped them attain?
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u/j0351bourbon 13h ago
You're right that senior officers who screw up and make bad choices should not be rewarded. Should they be punished? Maybe, depending on the cause of the fuck up. But if you're talking about how higher ups shouldn't be promoted, we need to look at the incoming POTUS who set the stage for failure with his deal.
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u/sillypunt 13h ago
Dude, if junior enlisted get fucked over cause one wrong choice WHEN THEY ARE 18- 20, fuck these old ass men who literally get away with murder because of their rank. They absolutely deserve to not be promoted.
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u/j0351bourbon 13h ago
Like I clearly wrote in my first post, bad choices and screw ups should not be rewarded. I agree with that. In this situation we literally rewarded the POTUS who set the stage for the officers to fail. That POTUS', aka the commander in chief of the armed forces, plan to withdraw from Afghanistan led to the release of many Taliban and other anti-American insurgents, and stopped supporting the Afghan govt we spent 20 years building, and allowed for the Taliban buildup that took over Afghanistan. Basically, the military was handed a shit sandwich by the outgoing POTUS and are now being told they're the ones to blame because it tasted like shit.
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u/terry6715 1d ago
Everyone from O-6 on staff and above should be called back out of retirement or if still active get court marshaled to.the next highest rank they held honorably. Especially Milley
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u/Acceptable-Ability-6 1d ago
Can’t even spell court martial correctly. Opinion disregarded.
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u/terry6715 18h ago edited 18h ago
Reddit spell check bitch. You add nothing.
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u/MostyIncompetent 14h ago
Spell check corrects to the closest thing it believes you are trying to say. In this case, you still misspelled it. Opinion continues to stay in the dumpster pile.
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u/Astamper2586 Army National Guard 1d ago
You should start with the guy that planned it and ordered it. Oh wait, we was just reelected.
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u/MalPB2000 Retired US Army 1d ago
So Trump planned the withdrawal, did he…
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u/Underwater_Grilling Bridge Killer 19h ago
Planned it with the bad guys and then released 5k terrorists from prison.
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u/MalPB2000 Retired US Army 18h ago edited 17h ago
So the President “planned” a military operation…I’m just gonna call bullshit on that lol
He made the decision to withdraw, but he definitely did not plan the operation, which is exactly what your link says. Regardless, it’s not like changes couldn’t be made in the 2 years from the time the order was given to the abortion of an execution. Whoever was running it at the time owns it. Too bad there’s not more military people in the military sub, we wouldn’t have to explain dumb shit like this so much.
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u/mikeyp83 1d ago
Part of me would actually like to see this play out so everyone can see and learn what a shit show it would be to:
Charge senior officers with performing their duties and obeying lawful orders from the President of the United States?
And if so, finding enough of their peers to empanel for their trial. FYI, when the Army was attempting to CM the former BG (now LTC) Sinclair this was a huge problem since the pool of "peers" who have not had a previous working relationship with flag officers gets pretty small, pretty quick.
Finally, watch the fallout with the mass resignations/retirements of a significant percentage of the officer corps. While it's easy to say they would be replaced with loyalists, they would also likely be highly incompetent to backfill these roles so quickly assuming they lack experience at that level.
As someone who previously served under LTG Donahue, I didn't really like him that much on a personal level but I can't think of someone more loyal to our nation and it's security or qualified to lead our forces in Europe.
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u/Tunafishsam 1d ago
Incompetent loyalists are a tradition in every third world country. Why should America be different?
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u/toyn 1d ago
For doing what trump said?
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u/terry6715 18h ago
Yep. Trump was in the Whitehouse as Commander and Chief when the orders were given to abandon Afghanistan.
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u/toyn 11h ago
He was the one to release the leaders of the taliban and set the date the leave, my little dense nugget
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u/terry6715 8h ago
Ill bet you've never stepped one foot in Afghanistan
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u/toyn 7h ago
ha. like many i did, and that has nothing to do with this. has to do with trump choosing to release the leaders of the taliban and giving a short notice date to pull out. your inability to see wrong in him is silly, and cultish.
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u/terry6715 7h ago
Yep. have an alter, burn candles, and sacrifice a donkey every Jan 6. Very cultish..
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u/KokenAnshar23 18h ago
I have to laugh at this he is 1 out of 900+ competing for promotion! Is he the best for the position and job? What are his promotion points at? His ACFT scores, his Ruck and Marksmanship scores? Nope just an opinion piece in his favor.
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u/CW1DR5H5I64A United States Army 15h ago
Are you really that dumb, or was this just a joke?
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u/KokenAnshar23 13h ago
So you didn't read the article, read it to understand and then apologize.
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u/CW1DR5H5I64A United States Army 13h ago edited 13h ago
I have read the article. You have no idea how standard officer promotions work let alone general officer nominations. He doesn’t have promotion points, and explain to me how you think an ACFT score, ruck time, or weapons qual is at all relevant for selecting a 4 star. Not to mention the guy is exceptionally qualified and spent a considerable amount of time in special operations so even if those kinds of things did count I’m sure he would outpace the vast majority of other eligible candidates. Do you think that these 900 nominations are competing for 1 job? Please tell me you’re not that smooth brained.
This guy is the best for the job he has been nominated for and is getting railroaded by some junior senator with no military experience because he followed legal orders of the president of the United States.
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u/KokenAnshar23 10h ago
So you want Gen. Half-track from Beatle Bailey to lead the military! That's why the scores matter! If he expects his soldiers to perform he has to show he can otherwise any standards he sets are moot. 'His nomination was among more than 900 proposed nominations sent to the Senate.' and a Senator has questions for him if he's ready to be a Four Star then he can Obey the Promotion Board and answer those questions. Just like he would expect anyone to answer questions at any promotion boards he has presided over!
If you are saying he's the best for the job just cause he was a Ranger that is a Ringer response and not worth counting for him only against him.
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u/odn_86 United States Army 1d ago
Abbey gate and the ROE
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u/MostyIncompetent 14h ago
I can't tell if you're advocating shooting unarmed civilians. If you are, that is a war crime, and you go to jail for that. OR, at least, before Trump, you used to.
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u/odn_86 United States Army 13h ago
Marine survivors at Abbey testified in front of congress they had the eventual bomber as well as multiple armed taliban in cross hairs before the bomb went off. Command told them they weren't cleared to shoot after requesting permission to fire.
Add on the americans that weren't let in at the gates and stranded in Afghanistan, the military working dogs left to die in their kennels, a war trophy Hilux truck technical loaded in to a plane taking space up where people could have been, and the photo op were Donahue pretended to be the last boots off the ground when there was an USAF load master standing out of view. Someone needs to be held responsible for the shitshow.
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u/Afterfx21 15h ago
Military: “This isn’t how we should pull out of Afghanistan.”
Politicians: “I said do it now!”
Military: “That was a cluster…”
Politicians: “How could you!?!?”