I have known columnist, and retired U.S.Army Colonel, David Hackworth since 1968 when we both served a short tour in the Pentagon as relatively junior field grade officers. We both departed that assignment to return for another combat tour in Vietnam. Our paths have not crossed since that time as our careers took different directions. Dave Hackworth left Vietnam under a dark cloud of pending multiple criminal charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Those charges were not drawn up lightly, however the senior officer handling the charges was reluctant to press the issues because of Hackworth's superb combat record. The Army leadership at the time allowed Hackworth to retire in lieu of charges. Hackworth retired from the Army and moved to Australia for the next 18 or so years. On his departure from active duty he publicly blasted the country's Senior leadership from the president on down, and was especially hard on the Army's military leaders concerning their handling of the war. This got wide spread news and TV coverage at the time. As we have learned in recent years, based on several outstanding books, many of our senior leaders were truly derelict in their duty. Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, and retired General Maxwell Taylor are just a few of the key players in this sordid era of poor American leadership. In 1989, after the statue of limitations on the charges against him had run out, Hackworth returned to the USA and wrote a best selling book and later became widely acclaimed columnist. He also has a well known web-site on the internet that cast a wide net over our military forces of all ranks. He is well wired, to say the least, with the junior military. Senior officers deal with him at their own risk, usually sad and sorry afterwards.

In his recent column, "TROOPS DON'T HAVE FAITH IN BIG BRASS", which was published on 26 Jan 2000 [HTML Editors Note: The date varies by which paper publishes the article, Hackworths date is different], he finally tripped my trigger with his broad damnation of our military leadership. He collectively damns all Generals and Admirals with a broad brush of gross incompetence and self promotion. In his own way, he breeds a lack of trust in our nation's most respected institution, our military forces. He does a great disservice to the American public, your readers and to our military.

He needs to zero in on the few bad folks with a sniper's rifle and quit using area fire on everyone.

There are a few poor leaders in our military hierarchy, but in the main, they are as fine a bunch of men and women as you can find anywhere. For 30 years I was a soldier, and during my last 6 years I was a General Officer. Many of my best friends are serving and retired General Officers. 40 members of my West Point class (1956) are retired General Officers, to include Norm Schwarzkopf. I do not know a more honorable group of men. I maintain contact with a wide circle of senior and junior officers serving our country today, from Lieutenant to General Officer.

The Army, and our other services, have problems, some major problems, but there is no gross lack of professional competence, or reluctance to stand and be counted on the tough issues by the senior leaders.

Hackworth's suggestion that senior officers should retire when they do not like the orders they are given, contradicts the very essence of military discipline. Officers, and all leaders, are taught to argue and discuss until the decision has been made, then to execute the order as if it were their own. During my day I had junior officers argue vehemently for a specific course of action only to be told at decision time to get on with it. At all grades, I believed it was my duty to present alternative ideas and thoughts to my seniors. But when the decision was made, I moved out smartly.

When commissioned, an officer swears "that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic". The Constitution clearly states that our President is our Commander in Chief. Military leaders follow the orders of the people appointed by the Commander in Chief whether they like them, or the orders they give them. There no room for quibbling, or slack, in this basic American document regarding military discipline.

An officer has the option at any given time of resigning his/her commission should they disagree strongly with a senior's decision. This option is rarely used and is easily uttered by those who do not have to take the action. Recently, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General Ron Fogelman, took this action because he had a major disagreement with his civilian bosses regarding actions taken against one of his officers. There are many other less publicly well known instances where this has taken place over matters of conscience and principle.

Public disagreement with your superiors while on active duty is not conducive to good order and discipline. It is often done by our senior officers under questioning by our congressional leadership. Quite often the congressional leaders are tipped off by their staffs regarding the right questions to ask the military. One does not routinely question the orders of ones superiors, and certainly not in a public forum. It is called loyalty. Not blind loyalty, but following orders when the decision has been made.

Today there is much unhappiness in our military about the lack of integrity of our serving President. There is little enthusiasm for the multitude of peacekeeping missions they perform. Yet the military leaders continue to perform their duties and follow the orders given. No one liked the missions in Haiti, Somalia, Bosnia, and most recently Kosovo. The military leaders argued their case, lost the argument and were told to execute. They have done what they were told to do in good spirit and with dedication to duty. Anything less is disloyal.

Dave Hackworth never made it to General Officer rank. There are many reasons for this, in spite of his many combat decorations. His gross lack of integrity during his last days in Vietnam and in the Army was not his finest hour. Since that time he has achieved more than his 15 minutes of fame and has a wide reading audience across America. Quite often he performs a great service to our military and the public with factual columns. His personal hang up on the poor quality of all Senior Military leaders is totally wrong headed. It sells to the movie and TV folks, a lot of junior soldiers, and the masses of unknowing readers, but it is absolutely wrong.

I, and most of my friends, could routinely take up pen and contest his bad assertions weekly. It would not change his direction of writing and he would love the controversy. He pushed me too far this week and he may do it again. Until next time, take it from a well decorated retired Army General Officer and life long soldier-------Hackworth needs to be believed about 50% of the time and highly suspected the other 50% of the time.