Thank You Mr. Secretary
July 1, 2011 Leave a Comment
Gates at 9/11 Pentagon Memorial, 2010, US Army
As the Fourth of July approaches, and we prepare to celebrate our independence, it’s not a bad idea to remember the many brave men and women who continue to fight and die to maintain that independence. Though we may generally think about our brave men and women in uniform when we think of those who defend us, we should also consider the people who write their orders, specifically: Robert Gates.
As of today, Robert Gates is no longer our Secretary of Defense. After five years of distinguished service in that position, and a career in public service in the intelligence and defense fields, Gates is retiring as he announced last year.
Not many people are familiar with Robert Gates, but he deserves a place among the great statesmen of the last half century, right up there with Kissinger, McNamara, and all the others. Why? Because not only has he demonstrated clear-sighted leadership in a difficult job in difficult times, but in his retirement he demonstrates the ideal of the American system: Civil servants serving faithfully, then handing off the baton and going back to their private lives. It is because of people like Gates that we have a military that truly serves the citizenry of this country.
It should also be noted that Gates inherited two messy wars and an equally messy bureaucracy from his predecessor Donald Rumsfield. So intent was Rummy on mishandling two wars that things became cluttered at home too as was evidenced by the 2007 scandal of poor treatment of soldiers at the Walter Reed Medical Center. Gates calmly and sincerely addressed the needs of soldiers and their families here, while simultaneously implementing the “surge” policy in Iraq and later Afghanistan, perhaps the policy he’ll be most known for.
In adopting the “surge” policy, Gates committed America to not just ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (troops were scheduled to be out by 2011), but ending it well. It would have been easier to just hold position and wait it out, but Gates knew what soldiers desired: honorable victory, a job well done, and he went for that.
Reading through his biography on Wikipedia, or on the DoD’s website one is impressed with the man’s singular focus on keeping America safe, but in a manner befitting our highest ideals.
His short farewell speech early this week was both humble and distinguished. We need more like him.
