Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics

While I know that these numbers I'm about to spew aren't really stats...I felt that the Mark Twain quote was appropriate to this situation.

Currently there is a lot of thrashing around and general breathless reporting of the fact that 6 count them 6 former retired General Officers have come out of the closet demanding that the POTUS fire the SECDEF.

Do any of you have any idea of how many General Officers are now serving on active duty? I don't so I started surfing around the INTERNET and found the answer HERE. For those who don't want to go there and are willing to take my word for it the answer is 881 yeah you read it correctly eight hundred and eighty one officers ranging in rank from Brigadier General all the way to General (Four Star). SO if one was to imagine how many retired generals there are...well, that would probably be more than 881.

So is it unusual that 6 of these guys might have issue with a guy who doesn't suffer fools gladly, who has developed an idea about how he want to fundamentally change the military, who has (by all reports) a gruff leadership style.

What is unusual is that these former retired Generals might actually think that they are doing some good by getting on the news and demanding that the SECDEF resign. Do you actually think it will happen now? How can someone who is supposed to be politically attuned (how else do you get to that rank anymore) be so tone deaf? If they are in fact that tin eared it's no wonder they and the SECDEF aren't on good terms. Go sell your books elsewhere cry babies, your comments definitely aren't helpful to what's going on...and I've yet to read in any of these whining critiques of the SECDEF anything that remotely resembles constructive criticism.