Rummy's Woes, and the Military Establishment

What with all the brouhaha surrounding the "coup de Rummy" I thought I would weigh in with a little perspective of military organization, and why you seldom hear dissent from the military. Famously, and unconfirmedly every person is only seven steps away from any other person. Why the steps are more numerous, in the military they are more concrete from the lowest ranking officer to the halls of policy. Even a platoon leader is only seven direct steps from the Secretary of the Army, and nine direct steps from the President is he goes directly through his chain of command.

Being in such a heirarchical system may seem restrictive but it is also very empowering. Every officer in the Army knows exactly whom he must convince to bring about a policy change. Now truthfully, most officers will never be concered about anything other than the tactical level. It is only as generals that strategic decisions get made. Those generals do rely upon the input of tactical level commanders to develop the situation. As a result, every military policy is the sum total of the input of basically every officer, directly or indirectly

However, when general officers leave the military, they suddenly loose all of their explicit power. To be sure the connections that they maintain and their knowledge gives them considerable influence. However they are deprived of direct and regular input.

A very wise an experienced politician once sat me down in the legislative chamber and told me, "The press is the weapon of the weak. If you have power you will use it to get what you want, if you don't you go to the press." This is never more true than in the military. Those who are still in power still have the influence, and they use it. Some of them may feel like they are not listened to and resign rather than continue with a policy that they disagree with, but other than that, most go along, until something better comes along. Occaisionally, some will have a chance to reassert their influence, to a diminished degree through the press. This is why you don't hear opposition from generals much, and occaisionally from retired generals.