Fresh off his Fox News jabfest, Veteran Defense Reporter and author of the book "The Generals," Tom Ricks, appeared on PBS Newshour and said American generals are "well-trained, but ill-prepared" for the rigors of combat.
He goes on to say, "In today's Army, being a general is like being a university professor. You have tenure. And you can do a lousy job as long as you keep your pants on. If you embarrass the institution, they will bounce you. But you can do a lousy job and just meander on with no criticism."
He also said that there isn't enough criticism of today's Army, since criticism is considered equivalent with lack of patriotism — case in point, he said, was recently defaced General David Petraeus. Ricks explained that Lincoln went through several generals during the Civil War, and that today's Army espouses a certain element of status quo when it comes to appointment and deployment of generals.
He summed up his interview by saying that if "you want to support the troops, give them good leadership. And one way to do that is to ask tough questions of generals."
The whole interview can be seen below:
Watch Today's Generals Are Well-Trained, Ill-Prepared for Battle on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.
Please follow Military & Defense on Twitter and Facebook.