Stand Down – A Book Review

By Garland Davis

This book, written by an ex-Army Officer explains how Social Scientists have degraded the readiness of our Armed Forces to fight a war. He explores actions taken by political appointees and bureaucrats forcing their views on the military leaders that led to a reduction in readiness.

Those of us who were on active duty in the seventies, eighties, and into the nineties experienced the beginning of a change that culminated during the Obama administration. The author of Stand Down tells of Army training where vehicles weren’t used because there was no money to effect repairs in the event of breakdowns. He tells of Obama’s Secretary of the Navy who concentrated on shipbuilding to the point where there were no funds to repair or update ships. And there was a marked lack of trained personnel to operate the ships. This same SecNav approved untested technology in the building of USS George H. W. Bush and then after the Elections had the temerity to publicly blame the Trump administration for his own actions.

An excerpt from the book: A General recounted interaction with Pentagon civilian appointees that took place when he was in a senior command position:

“They asked us what we thought the impact of the new transgender policy would be. And we completely, all the leadership said, “it’s a major readiness issue and it’s going to detract from readiness… And they told us in closed-door sessions, ‘Hey, look. This is going to happen, you have got to figure out how to have it make the least impact you possibly can but this is going to happen. We can’t stop it. You can’t stop it.’”

The author explores the growing number of civilian instructors from academia, with leftist ideas, in the military academies, leading to a lapse in Military Discipline among the cadets and midshipmen and its impact on future leadership.

here are many more examples of how Obama appointees have done irreparable damage to our armed forces. Many senior officers have left the service or been retired because they couldn’t or wouldn’t follow the leader. President Trump has winnowed the ranks of the go along to get along sycophant senior officers and political appointees. Unfortunately, the Civil Service civilians in the Department of Defense who believe in and facilitate the Obama party line are still in place.

A thoroughly informative book that explains the what, why, and how our armed services are in a poor readiness condition. Should be required reading by all cadets, midshipmen, and attendees of the various Officer Candidate Schools.  Not a pleasant read…but I highly recommend it.