Army's Next Crop of Generals Forged in Counterinsurgency by Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post.
An Army board headed by Gen. David H. Petraeus has selected several combat-tested counterinsurgency experts for promotion to the rank of brigadier general, sifting through more than 1,000 colonels to identify a handful of innovative leaders who will shape the future Army, according to current and former senior Army officers.
The choices suggest that the unusual decision to put the top U.S. officer in Iraq in charge of the promotions board has generated new thinking on the qualities of a successful Army officer -- and also deepened Petraeus's imprint on the Army. Petraeus, who spent nearly four of the past five years in Iraq and has seen many of the colonels in action there, faces confirmation hearings next week to take charge of Central Command, which oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East and Central Asia...
They include Special Forces Col. Ken Tovo, a veteran of multiple Iraq tours who recently led a Special Operations task force there; Col. H.R. McMaster, a senior Petraeus adviser known for leading a successful counterinsurgency effort in the Iraqi city of Tall Afar, and Col. Sean MacFarland, who created a network of patrol bases in Ramadi that helped curb violence in the capital of Anbar Province, according to the officers...
More:
Proper Promotions - Max Boot, Contentions
McMaster Promoted, Finally... - Abu Muqawama, Abu Muqawama
This is Promising News - David Betz, Kings of War
The New Generalship - Mark Safranski, ZenPundit
Comments
I would hesitate to label that group of selectees as "combat-tested counterinsurgency experts" as Ms. Tyson did. Being deployed to a theater does not make one an expert in that theater nor an expert at the label we put on what we were doing there. The Army would look very different if the truly knowledgeable people were at the top.