Wouldn't it be great to know what Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell has to say about the whole Rolling Stone controversy that caused President Barack Obama to fire Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, former commander of all U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan?
Last year, The Pitch published a feature about Caldwell's efforts, as head of the Army's Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth,
Kansas, to mandate officers to complete media-training exercises before
they graduate. Blogging was one of Caldwell's requirements. Caldwell
was so well-versed in dealing with the media that he must have a strong
opinion on the dismissal and retirement of McChrystal.
Unfortunately (for us), Caldwell is no longer at the CGSC. He is now in Afghanistan,
leading NATO training missions and security-transition operations.
However, Caldwell's replacement, LTG Robert L. Caslen Jr., is carrying on his predecessor's
mission where blogging is concerned. He acknowledged the McChrystal
issue in an entry he posted on the Command Arms Center Blog:
It is not our intent to criticize any of the behavior that has been highlighted in the news recently. But through this, there are quite a few lessons to be learned about our Profession of Arms, and inherent in our profession is civilian control over the military.In his post, Caslen Jr. encouraged the students and staff at the CGSC to post their own reactions. So far, there have been several responses. Yesterday, LTC Gary Dangerfield wrote:
The relationship between the media and the military will continue toRead the other reactions to the Rolling Stone story from Ft. Leavenworth here.take care of itself. The media still has an obligation to report and
inform the general public on military operations in Afghanistan and
Iraq. If we fail to communicate with the media, then we are allowing
someone else to tell our story and highlight the success of the armed
services. The recent article from Rolling Stone, involving General
Stanley McCrystal should not keep our leaders from engaging the press.
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