U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has accomplished something America’s adversaries could only hope to achieve: the elimination of some of our military’s most experienced leaders.
By blocking the promotions of dozens of senior officers selected through one of the most rigorous and competitive personnel systems in government, Hegseth has overridden the recommendations of professional promotion boards charged with evaluating merit, performance and leadership potential. Most of those forced into retirement without explanation are women and members of minority groups. Most recently, a highly respected Army general with an exemplary combat record and potential for the nation’s highest commands was inexplicably denied advancement.
In what appears to be an ideologically driven campaign against diversity initiatives, the U.S. Department of Defense is discarding decades of hard-earned operational experience and leadership expertise. The resulting loss of leadership and institutional knowledge is no less damaging to our national defense than losing key military leaders during a war.
Promotion to senior military rank has long depended on demonstrated competence, leadership and performance under demanding conditions. Decisions affecting the nation’s military leadership should be guided by those standards rather than political ideology. At a time of growing international instability, weakening the pool of proven military leaders serves neither the armed forces nor the country’s national security interests.
TED MCCOY
Greenville
Deprived of vote
I read with interest the June 28 commentary by editorial page editor Cindi Ross Scoppe titled “Tuesday highlighted a real problem in SC elections.”
She discussed the fact that ballots cast in the runoff election were embarrassingly low. While her commentary primarily dealt with those who chose not to vote in the June 23 election, I want to highlight another point she made.
As an absentee voter, I received and returned my ballot in the June 9 election in a timely manner. However, my runoff ballot was postmarked June 17 and arrived on June 23 — Election Day.
The runoff elections, by design, are a lesson in failure. Two weeks is simply not enough time to print new ballots, have them reach absentee voters and be returned by Election Day. Many people, myself included, complained about this in the last election to no avail.
In a state such as ours, Ms. Scoppe points out, the Republican primary is tantamount to victory. This only increases the serious ramifications of such an ill-conceived process. This is not only a waste of taxpayer money, but it also deprives me of my vote.
LLEWELLYN K. MOORE
Summerville
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