To Resign or Not Resign... The Use of Senior Officer Retirements as a Political Tool: U.S. Military Dissent, Case Studies, General Fogleman, Shinseki, McChrystal, Disobedience to Civilian Control

Professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction, this unique book looks at current literature and models for military dissent through political retirements and then applies these to case studies of General Ronald Fogleman, General Eric Shinseki, and General Stanley McChrystal. Based on the application of these cases, the paper illustrates senior military leaders should not retire for purely political reasons; rather other forms of dissent should be utilized.

The background of civil-military relations is briefly discussed summarizing Samuel Huntington and Eliot Cohen's pre-eminent models. The subject of military dissent is then presented considering the "Traditionalist" model, Lt Col Andrew Milburn's individual moral decision model, and Don Snider's trust relationship dissent model. Using Snider's dissent model, case studies of current senior military leader retirements are analyzed using the factors of gravity of the issue, relevance to expertise, degree of sacrifice, timing of dissent, and authenticity of leader. Based on this model, a determination is made on each retirement regarding whether the actions or inactions each took were proper.

The idea that today's senior military leaders can retire quietly is an unreasonable notion. After analyzing senior military leader political retirements, this study recommends continuing the civil-military structure to promote US democratic values. Further, future leaders should utilize General Shinseki's retirement as a model to dissent within the civil-military system. Additionally, military education at all levels should teach dissent models such as Snider's to keep pace with today's military leader concerns. Finally, senior leader impact on junior leaders is often overlooked, and has more impact than most realize. Political retirements are the ultimate form of dissent, and show a clear divide between civilian and military leaders. If the U.S. wants to maintain the rich civil-military tradition, senior military leaders should not politically retire.