A transformational era naturally features swift exits for generals

Nice piece by Greg Jaffe in WAPO about how the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have lead to a return of old US political tradition of firing generals during wartime. This may seem like new stuff, but it ain't.  Go back to the Civil War and Lincoln's stretch of going through generals at high speed, or WWII when failing generals were fired at a rapid pace early in the war.

The veneration of generals in the post-Cold War era has been the anomaly--not the rule of US history.  And with the huge shift from pure Leviathan skills to those associated with SysAdmin work, there's naturally a steep learning curve--and not everybody gets to pull a Tommy Franks.

The irony:  we keep asking for more accountability and for generals to stand up to politicians when it matters, but when we get some turnover as a result, we start worrying about that too. I only wish we had more turnover, especially in politics.