This should pretty much seal the deal for anyone who served in the Air Force in the early ’90s.
Merrill McPeak is probably the worst Chief of Staff the Air Force ever had. He is now a Kerry supporter and advisor.
“I did support this President Bush in 2000,” McPeak said. “Turns out I made a major mistake there.”
Ah…another general turned out from his billet of prestige looks for the glory that evaded him all these years in civilian life. Secretary of Defense on his mind?
Heaven help us.
Actually McPeak wasn’t the worst, there were a couple while I served that were worse.
Comment by Bubba Bo Bob Brain — July 5, 2004 @ 9:52 am
Merrill McPeak is probably the worst Chief of Staff the Air Force ever had. ”
Yeah, he really bungled the Air War in Desert storm…
**Bunker’s Reply**
Actually, he had nothing to do with Desert Storm. If you understood the military command structure, you would know that.
Comment by Dusty — July 29, 2004 @ 9:34 am
General McPeak, USAF Ret(Thank God)was in charge when our Air Force and overall military was cut to the bare bones, losing 20 Air Force and Navy Air Wings with 2000 combat aircraft and 232 Strategic Bombers. His decisions had to be partially responsibile for Islamic Terrorist to believe they could attack us with impunity. It’s no wonder he would support that Woose Kerry, who wants to wage a “NICE” war with terrorist.
Comment by Paul Cothran — August 30, 2004 @ 7:49 am
Retired General McPeak is the LAST person who should be talking about integrity, honor, and military service. I served under McPeak during the time he practically destroyed the Strategic Air Command. Almost everyone despised him for his irrational changes to the structure of SAC, and the Air Force is still continuing to undo his marks on the Command. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize his mistakes because everyone was afraid to confront him. He is/was arrogant, snippy, unwise, and a bad commander. This guy’s words should be totally disregarded.
Comment by Ern Wyatt — September 1, 2004 @ 4:25 pm
I spent 24 years in the AF and I am ashamed that McPeak was even in the same branch of service I was in. I am a vietnam veteran and a I am still mad about Kerry’s 1971 comments on us veterans. The swift boat vets have it right. The man is a coward who is unfit for command of anythingt. He trumped up 3 unjustified purple hearts and ran from vietnam as fast as his cowardly legs could carry him
Comment by Howard Wilkerson — September 1, 2004 @ 5:10 pm
Well, sure. The Bush Bros and Cos painted Kerry in cowardly hues, so why not General Merrill McPeak?? What’s good for the goose, the gander.
But I currently work with all Marines in the private sector, and none of us can ever remember in our life-times, or in fact, recorded history, a military man of McPeak’s stature giving such a damning denunciation of a sitting (o.k., strutting) President. I don’t know my military history back to the first Republican, Abe Lincoln, but I can’t remember any General, anyone from the armed forces, slamming the war strategies of a Republican president, let alone with such intensity and vigor. He said that, as a career military man, he heard President Bush say that he couldn’t think of any mistakes he’s made thus far, any at all, and McPeak wondered if he had “any learning curve at all, or was it just flat.” Listen and see McPeak’s full statement yesterday, a video clip at truthout.org, and unless you are on board with Not So Swift Boats In Mud, you’re going to wonder how a General as mentally disciplined and logical and of such distinguished background could say such denunciatory things unless: A) he’s no longer in his right mind or B)there’s a lot of conviction of truth in what he says. That’s Exhibit A, for me.
Comment by Frank Mann — September 1, 2004 @ 11:55 pm
I suppose Kerry’s war-time combat and post-combat reactions to Vietnam can be portrayed in a variety of ways. I spoke at a Vietnam moratorium in late ’69 and told a crowd of a couple thousand, after the hippy said our troops were a disgrace and so on, that we ought to remember that that was our brothers and sisters with their lives on the line over there. What do you think they thought of comments that depicted them as cowards, on such a large scale as the protests did. No, that was shameful. But I think many people, as I, had legitimate questions about our reasons and policies of the war. Besides, such a noted author as M. Scott Peck who has done much work with the armed forces as a psychiatrist, added a long chapter to his book on the psychology of Evil, “People of the Lie” in which he tries to unravel all the chain of events and military culture that could lead to the atrocities at My Lai, and the massacre. I know other vets who have wondered about this. His book is well worth reading. Certainly, it’s easy to understand from a certain perspective, how vets and vets families, and others, would despise Kerry for what he did, but really, “cowardice”? I would have to think, hearing the bulk of the testimony of his bravery under fire, that it took more, not less courage, to go so public and denounce the war when he got back. And was it not too many months after his testimony before Congress that Kissinger and the VC worked out the initial Peace Accord that finally ended the war? No, say what you want about Kerry, but that took tremendous guts, much more guts, knowing how that could affect his future, his friendships, and his fortunes, to return and say he felt he didn’t want those medals because he thought the basic motivations and reasons for our being involved in that “police action” were not to our credit as a nation. How can anyone be so preposterous as to say he tried to drum up fake medals for himself, under VC fire, only to throw them away? Does that make sense. Nobody knows where Dubya was when Kerry was getting his ass shot. No, the people slamming Kerry and McPeak for cowardice show their true colors: long yellow stripes. It’s just too low, and typical of the preppy BS of Dubya. I mean, vote Republican if you must this time around, but you gotta start holding your noses non-stop. And if you’re questioning the shrapnel wounds of a vet as being superficial, like Bob Dole, you need to hold your noses 24/7, because you’ll be smelling yourselves otherwise. AND PS: isn’t it interesting that the only governments in the world that we have consistently warred with to force them out of communism are the only ones that still are? Viet Nam, Cambodia, China, North Korea, Cuba. The only ones that still are. That ought to tell people something about the hypocrisy and folly of our more recent wars. And how about Iraq. The way we’re going, instead of a demockracy, it’ll probably wind up commie, thanks to US.
Comment by G. Farley Truman — September 2, 2004 @ 12:15 am
Not a surpirse that McPeak has come out against the president. His comments that he could not have come up with a more stupid plan sitting around the breakfast table are quite telling. Please note he offered no alternative just baseless insults.
The word in my circle is that McPeak put out an offer to the highest bodder. SECDEF, SECAF, etc. and that Howard Dean was the first to offer, but that John Kerry came on board later.
Most that have served under Gen McPeak, as I have, do not have a high regard for his leadership. He is rememberred for arrogantly reorganizing the Air Force, from its command structure, to it’s combat structure, to its very uniform without input from formal studies or subordinants. The Air Force has essitially undone virtually all of his efforts slowly over the last 10 years
General McPeak is also the subject of many office horror stories. Virtually everyone who knows him has a story of seeing him unleash his wrath viciously on some unsuspecting junior officer or NCO who’s only shortcomming was that they did their job correctly and somehow inconvinienced the Gen. ie. asked to check his ID, or insiting he complied with flight safety regulations.
General McPeak is very much entitled to his opinion. He is entitled to make a commericial for a 527 group with connections to the Kerry campaign. He is even entitled to have a low oppinion of a war he feels he could have led better. However, one must consider the source when he makes his opinions known.
General McPeak is not a nice man, not a well thought of general, not an expert in counter insurgency operations, and not someone whos motives can be ruled out.
Comment by Stepchild — September 2, 2004 @ 4:53 pm
For those of you interested, I’ve added a piece here.
I believe he was pissed that he didn’t get the Chairman job when Powell retired. He was next in line due to the informal rotation of service chiefs into that job by service. The Air Force Chief of Staff was the next in line. Instead, the Army got the slot. I always thought it was a slap in the face, but not unexpected.
Now he’s decided to tie his future to whomever the Democrats want. I don’t know if he’s an old Clark buddy or not, but both of them are looking for a job to “suit their prestige.”
Comment by Bunker — September 2, 2004 @ 6:59 pm
you should send this to all the news station,with CBS first on your list
Comment by marvin rodish — September 12, 2004 @ 10:03 pm
I am somewhat taken back by CNN using McPeak as a credible source. Have they not done their homework on credibility? As many others had, I served under McPeak. McPeak, along with his side kick Pfingston, did more damage to the AF than any other commander. From his elitist, behavior of I don’t need your opinion, I’ll make changes the way I want, to the lack of basic human kindness where ever he went.
Comment by Donna — September 16, 2004 @ 2:37 pm
Don’t take McPeak too seriously. Remember his first act as CSAF was to tell us what kind of t-shirt to wear. The man takes over the most powerful AF in the world and his first act is to get into my underwear drawer.
He’s dumped his support for President Bush because he’s always been bitter about Bush passing him over for the job as SecAF.
Comment by Jim — September 27, 2004 @ 2:12 am
What a complete loser. MecPeak came onto Eglin AFB to view the latest and greatest in the avionics world for the F-15 Eagle. A lot of preparation was done for his visit. McPeak came in, did not say one positivie thing to any airman, NCO, officer, or civilian and left. He might have stayed 15 seconds. I was in the USAF for 30 years and never heard one good thing about the man. He is a disgrace to the uniform.
Comment by Jerry Stalnaker — October 1, 2004 @ 11:53 am
Gen McPeak supported Bush in ’00…..I served under him in the twighlight of his career, he made many improvements that the Air Force is benifiting from today.
The fact that he DID support Bush in ’00 and DOES NOT support him now show that he is bi-partisan and not one of the many close-minded fools that always support the Republicans or Democrats no matter what.
I admire General McPeak greatly for speaking his views in front of the country…..and I think the man is qualified to comment on Bush’s failed international policies, after all – he does have a masters degree in international relations!
PS, don’t buy into all the spin distractions (ie, Swift boat, Bush awol, etc) You should vote on the issues, that’s what’s really important….I just wish the media would realize that.
Comment by KB — October 15, 2004 @ 7:28 pm
KB, you must have been a zipper-suited sun god. McPeak was interested in having only fighter pilots in the Air Force, and did everything he could to drive all others away.
Fighter pilots are good pilots. But I never knew a single one who had a clue about how to do anything else. And many were good friends who could admit that. McPeak thought that the skills required to manage a fighter would transfer to any other job.
They don’t.
Comment by Bunker — October 16, 2004 @ 5:57 am
I don’t recall a single person being chased out of the Air Force during McPeak’s time as AF Chief of Staff.
I was assigned to a SAC base, which was realigned to AMC, and then finally realigned again to Space Command during that time. There were no fighters or fighter pilots there and we had all the funding/manning/support from him that we needed, and then some….
Comment by KB — October 16, 2004 @ 9:22 am
McPeak was the worst leader of the Air Force that I served under. Period. And, I served for 27 years. He did not have a clue. His number one concern was to change the uniform to look like American Air Line pilots. He agreed to cut the Air Force big time. He and Les Aspin need to spend the afterlife together.
Comment by Rich — October 16, 2004 @ 8:34 pm
The Air Force NEEDED a drawdown!!!!
There were way too many bases. Too many planes. Too many troops. Too much to maintain.
The cold war was over. There was no need to have a huge Air Force. The Air Force was redesigned to be able to support two major air wars at one time. At that, he did an excellent job.
….I’ve got to wonder what you all would have to say about him if he was still a supporter of George W Bush….most of you would be praising him for his work as I have. You didn’t like his uniform change, so what!
Comment by KB — October 17, 2004 @ 10:52 am
I grew to dislike McPeak before I’d ever heard of Dubya, when I was still active duty. The drawdown was necessary, but not in the ramshackle way it finally occurred. As an example, there was an early retirement board for majors and captains over twenty. I fell into that category and was considered even though I was up for two years below the zone promotion to major. 50% were released so that far less experienced people could be retained. Those of us who made the cut were told we would be gone the next year. I knew I’d never again get promoted as a Mustang, so felt it was time to go, and I did.
Decisions like that were arbitrary, and a clear indicator of McPeak’s “leadership” skills.
I have no doubt he was probably a good fighter wing commander. That’s a completely different world than the rest of the AF. He knew how to deal with fighter pilots, but no clue about any other career field or the enlisted force. Even my cadets at USAFA, all of whom wanted to be fighter pilots, saw through him.
Comment by Bunker — October 17, 2004 @ 1:49 pm