A Tale of Four Generals
WARNING: Reading this commentary may be injurious to your perception of the United States Army, its traditions and command structure.
General Kevin P. Byrnes, Commander of the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe, Virginia has been relieved of his command by order of the Chief of Staff. An Army spokesman said there was no record in modern times of a four-star general being relieved, so we’re seeing some history here, albeit probably a brief history as the story appeared in my yesterday’s newspaper and was gone today.
You may recall that General Douglas MacArthur was famously relieved of command by President Harry Truman during the Korean War for disobeying a direct Presidential order. That circumstance was a history-making reinforcement of the constitutional prerogative of civilian dominance over the military. An eye-popping event that garnered worldwide attention and further established our government as one that brooks no political interference by our military.
So, t…