Highest U.S. Military Rank... Ever?

General of the Armies
("six-star" general)

What is the highest U.S. military rank, ever?

At first glance, a civilian might say, "Four-star general or admiral."

But they'd be wrong.

A Veteran might answer with, "Five-star general or admiral," but they'd be wrong too. During WW II, there were five Generals of the Army. But there's a higher rank.

The true answer is a "six-star general," called General of the Armies. And there have been a few of them.

Even if you google for six-star generals, the Internet will get it wrong. 

There have been three U.S. Army soldiers who've been awarded the rank of General of the Armies, but only one person has actually worn it in uniform: John J. Pershing. The other two are George Washington who was promoted to the rank of General of the Armies on July 4, 1976 and Ulysses S. Grant who was promoted on April 19, 2024.

This makes George Washington the most senior and highest ranking member of the United States Armed Forces.

Department of War/Department of Defense Trivia

If you've ever watched Band of Brothers, you'll hear the term "War Department" mentioned several times.

You might think this is referring to what was later named the Department of Defense, but you'd be wrong. The War Department did not become the Defense Department.  

Prior to 1947, the Secretaries of the Army and the Navy were cabinet-level positions that oversaw the Department of War and the Department of the Navy, respectively. The U.S. Army was the first military department created for war, so it made sense to name it the Department of War (called the War Office in the early years). This is similar to West Point which was formally established as the United States Military Academy (USMA) in 1802 and later followed by the United States Naval Academy (USNA) in 1845.

The National Security Act of 1947 restructured the military. First, the Department of War was renamed to the Department of the Army. Then, the newly established Department of the Air Force along with the Departments of the Army and Navy were merged into the National Military Establishment (NME), headed by the Secretary of Defense.

The National Military Establishment is an awkward name. So, two years later, in 1949, it was renamed to the Department of Defense. 

Of course, today, there's a dust-up over what to call it. Perhaps Congress should simply rename it the Department of the Military since the military certainly wages war and it engages in peacekeeping missions.

Ultimately, I think of the U.S. military as a logistics organization that occasionally dabbles in combat. 

Amateurs think tactics. Professionals think logistics.   

Foreign Intelligence Gathering Through Facebook

There’s an old joke that the CIA set up Facebook for human intelligence gathering since it’s far easier to have people willingly share the details of their lives rather than expend the energy themselves to collect it through surveillance.

Obviously, the CIA has nothing to do with the origins of Facebook, but foreign governments do use it for gathering intelligence, especially through government and military affiliated Facebook groups. 

Here’s a Facebook group purporting to be an official U.S. Marine Corps group which has over 19,000 members.  

On the surface, this group seems legitimate and many former Marines, like myself, have joined it. But I became suspicious when I saw posts like the following. (An MOS is a military member’s job that they were formally trained for.)  

These two names are South Asian Muslim and Indonesian, respectively, which is far from the typical Marine Corps demographic. Sakib has locked his own Facebook profile, a sign that is a red flag indicating a scammer. Kristin’s Facebook profile is a advertising agency that was created last month with five posts and eight followers with no connection to the Marine Corps. 

Let’s take a look at this Facebook group’s admin: 

Rubel Miah, the group’s admin, is a long way from having any connection with an official U.S. Marine Corps page.

Creating a Facebook group with nearly 20,000 members takes work; and it doesn’t take long to realize that the creators of this group have nothing to do with the Marine Corps. So why go through all this trouble? Someone’s harvesting intel and AI certainly makes it much easier to collect.

Intel collection through social media has been around since day one. I’m surprised how little effort this Facebook group put into this endeavor, but thanks to mindless doom scrolling, it’s working. 

I reached out to Meta (Facebook’s parent company) for comment but haven’t heard back. 

Anatomy of a Sabotage: Planting Explosives in Hezbollah’s Pagers

I’m fascinated by how Hezbollah’s pagers were compromised. This is the most technically creative and innovative attack I can think of since Stuxnet in 2010. A trojan horse of cyberwarfare. 

It seems that explosives were planted in the pagers and two-way radios – it wasn’t merely an exploding battery. This means that the attacker had to gain physical access to the pagers in order to plant both the explosives and the electronic circuitry that triggered it.

Once that was accomplished, the attacker needed access to the pager network in order to send a message to all of the pagers at once, followed, seconds later, by the detonation signal.

It’s astonishing that none of these explosives appear to have been detected by any measures, including airport screening equipment. Obviously, TSA will be looking at this vector.

How Would I Do It?

Rather than intercept the pagers along the supply chain, I would look for an easier way. Specifically, I’d find a consumer electronics manufacturer who’d be willing to license to me both their brand and rights to manufacture the pagers. From there, it would be much simpler to mass manufacture and distribute the exploding pagers.

Veterans Day for Marines

Every Marine knows the date, 10th of November, which makes the following day, Veterans Day, a bit different.

Veterans have Veterans Day to commemorate their military service on the 11th of November. And the Marines have the Marine Corps Birthday to commemorate their roots, one day earlier. All active duty and former Marines will wish each other a happy birthday on the Marine Corps Birthday. Marines will also tell you that the timing of these two back-to-back American holidays is ideal since it gives Marines a day off after their Birthday Ball celebrations and festivities.

America’s military is a unique breed of people who are called to serve, not only to protect their country, but, more importantly, they’re called to serve through their oath: to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. The distinction between country and Constitution is vital because it prioritizes the principles spelled out in the Constitution ahead of the desires of our citizens or the values we codify in laws.

A Unique Breed

U.S. Marines are a unique breed of America’s military. While each of the military branches have different missions and specialties, one key fact that makes Marines different from the rest of the U.S. Armed Forces is that all Marines are combatants. They are all basic riflemen trained to locate, close with, and destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver, or repel the enemy's assault by fire and close combat. More specifically, the Marine Corps does not have doctors, dentists, chaplains, etc. However, since the Marines work so closely with the U.S. Navy (a separate military branch) they receive health and spiritual services from Navy doctors, medics (called corpsmen), chaplains, etc.

Additionally, the Marines are a small, tightly integrated military corps with both tactical fixed-wing (fighter jets) and rotary-wing (helicopters) to support their ground troops. The U.S. Army only has tactical helicopters to support their ground troops. If the Army needs fixed-wing combat support, they’d call on the U.S. Air Force.

Celebrations and Observances

Veterans Day is officially observed with two minutes of silence at 11:11 AM PST to commemorate the ending of WW I on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918. (It’s celebrated at 11:11 AM PST instead of EST so that all time zones in the United States can celebrate it simultaneously.) Additionally, dozens of parades and ceremonies are held, throughout the country, along with deals, discounts, and freebies, to honor our Veterans.

While Veterans Day is marked with two minutes of silence, the Marine Corps Birthday is observed with two hours of pageantry, throughout the world, at Marine Corps Birthday Balls. The highlight of the Marine Corps Ball is the cake cutting ceremony which follows a basic script where the first piece of cake is presented to the guest of honor. The second piece of cake is given to the oldest Marine present who then presents the youngest Marine with the third piece of cake to symbolize the passing of experience, knowledge, and tradition from the old to the young.

Even though active duty Marines aren’t yet veterans, they greatly appreciate having the next day, Veterans Day, off from work to rest up from the previous night’s celebrations. 

Semper Fi and thank you for your service. 

Happy Birthday, Marines

Circa Feburary 1987

Today is the Marine Corps Birthday. It's kind of a big deal.

On 10 November 1775, the Second Continental Congress resolved to raise two battalions of Marines. The birthplace of the Marine Corps was Tun Tavern, in Philadelphia, where the first recruiting drive was held.

The Marine Corps birthday is recognized with a cake cutting ceremony. While standing before a formation of Marines, three pieces of cake are cut. The first piece of cake is given to the guest of honor. The second piece of cake is given to the oldest Marine present. Upon receiving the second piece of cake, the oldest Marine will pass it on to the youngest Marine present, without eating it, signifying the passing of experience and knowledge from the old to the young of our Corps. The oldest Marine will then receive the third piece of cake further emphasizing the fact that we care for our young Marines before we look to our own needs.

"And so it must be."

Semper Fidelis. 

It Can Always Be Worse

Noon meal formation at the US Naval Academy.

Plebe Summer, at the Naval Academy, is about sacrifice. It's about learning how to deal with failure as a team. Even though I knew it was a training environment, it didn't make it any less stressful. We were constantly tested on more knowledge than anyone could learn. That was the point – learning how to deal with failure while being part of a team. Sometimes... many times... that meant sacrificing your comfort, enjoyment, or pleasure in order to help someone else suffering worse than you. As Plebes, we were all in it together.

We learned what it meant to have honor. We learned to never sacrifice others for our own well being, even when we thought we'd never get caught. This isn't something you do sometimes or most of the time, it's something you do all the time. It only takes one dishonorable act to forever taint your honor. We were taught a lot, at the Academy, even when it's okay to lie.

Squash Practice

The Naval Academy challenges all of us in three key areas: military discipline, academics, and sports (all Midshipmen are required to play a sport).

During Plebe Summer, I was playing squash. Every afternoon, we went to our sport. Our squash practice consisted only of Plebes, and an old, retired, Navy captain who was our coach.

One Plebe, who was struggling to learn his required knowledge, didn't practice squash; instead, he'd sit up against the wall of a squash court and study his handbook. I could tell, by looking at him, he was stressed out.

After a couple days in a row, the squash coach told him to put down his book and play squash, which he reluctantly did. The next day, he was back at studying instead of playing squash. The squash coach snapped at him to put down his book and practice.

"Put down your damn Reef Points, pick up a racquet and get on the court," said the coach to the overstressed Plebe.

The Plebe appealed to the coach, thinking that this gentle old man would understand his predicament since he had once been a Plebe in the 1950s.

"Sorry, sir, I'm very stressed out," said the Plebe as a group of us watched the exchange. 

The squash coach's patience had run out and he shot back, "Try spending six years in a POW camp and see how that stresses you out." Then he walked off.

Our eyes were as wide as saucers. This old squash coach had been a pilot, who was shot down in Vietnam, and spent six years as a POW. We scattered like roaches, onto the squash courts, and resumed playing squash. In that one sentence, we realized the indelible lesson that it can always be worse.

No Nonsense Marketing

The Marines are excellent at no-nonsense marketing. It's about being direct and setting the expectation. 


In June 1985, there was a TWA terrorist hijacking which was my Pearl Harbor moment. That was the moment when I pledged to join the Marines. I knew nothing about the military; not even the difference between the enlisted and officer ranks. But I wanted to do my part to make a difference. 

The local recruiting office housed all four military services. The Marines' office was in the back, so I had to pass by the Army, Navy, and Air Force offices on my way. As soon as I walked in the front door, a soldier stopped to offer me help.

"I'm looking to join the Marines or something," I said, shrugging my shoulders as I said the last word.

"Or something? Have you considered the Army?" he asked as he guided me into his office. He could tell I was looking for a challenge so he fired up a 12" LaserDisc to show me exciting clips of Ranger and Airborne training. For about two hours, that afternoon, this Army recruiter told me about what the Army could be. He convinced me take the ASVAB military entrance exam, later that week.

After we finished, I left the Army office and headed to the Marines' recruiting office where I met SSgt Meehan; a Marine I remained in touch with to this very day. The SSgt, who, at 27 years of age seemed to have the wisdom and experience of a senior citizen. He sat me down next to his desk, lit his pipe, and said, "I don't have any fancy LaserDiscs to show you videos. At this point, I have no idea what you're qualified to do, so I can't make any promises. First you need to take the ASVAB. Before you do that, you have to take my 30 minute practice exam."

SSgt Meehan led me to a small room where a couple other potential recruits were taking exams. I don't recall the details of the exam, but it wasn't too difficult. When I completed it, the SSgt reviewed my answers and told me that we could proceed to official ASVAB as soon as he could schedule it.

"Can the same ASVAB exam results be used for all the military services?" I asked the SSgt.

"Yes."

I explained to him about my soft commitment with the Army.

"If you want to be a Marine then I would like you to schedule that test with me," replied SSgt Meehan.

As I headed out of the building, I stopped by the Army's office and gently backed out of my ASVAB commitment.

"I can tell," said the soldier I had spent two hours with, earlier that day. "You're gonna be a Marine."

In my mind, I was committed to joining the Marines and the SSgt's direct and practical approach was the icing on the cake.

Sodomy, the UCMJ, and Jury Nullification

Summary: My experience with the crime of sodomy in the military and jury nullification.

There are a lot of similarities between civilian courts and arbitration in the U.S. compared to the U.S. military courts system.

Civilian vs. Military Courts (roughly speaking)

• Criminal trial = Military court-martial
• Jury = Members (of the court-martial)
• Jury foreperson = President (of the court-martial)
• Grand jury (Preliminary hearing) = Article 32 hearing
• "Judge Judy" =  Non-judicial punishment, Article 15 
• Misdemeanor = Summary court-martial
• State court = Special court-martial
• Federal court = General court-martial
• Civilian court (suing) = No military equivalent

There isn't a perfect equivalent between civilian and military courts. The determination regarding which court-martial level is appropriate is made by the convening authority who factors in what level of punishment is appropriate. A key point is that the military courts-martial system does not handle civilian cases (only criminal). Military members can pursue civil cases in civil court.

Jury Nullification and Sodomy 

Jury nullification is a concept where members of a trial jury can vote a defendant not guilty if they do not support a government's law, do not believe it is constitutional or humane, or do not support a possible punishment for breaking a government's law.

In 1996, I was the president of a special court-martial where a married Marine sergeant in my battalion was charged with adultery and a lesser specification of sodomy (specifically, oral sex). Adultery and oral sex were both criminal military offenses under the UCMJ, even if the latter was performed between a married, heterosexual, couple.

As we, the members of the court-martial (jury), deliberated, we effectively ignored the sodomy charge since it was consensual. At the time, I had no idea we had implicitly invoked jury nullification. Looking back, I'm sure we all would have felt a bit hypocritical had we found the sergeant guilty of the crime of consensual oral sex, even though his lover (a married civilian woman), has testified against him through her confession.

We found the sergeant guilty of adultery. We thought we'd be dismissed at that point, but then the judge ordered us to return the next day so we, the members, could determine the punishment and pass the sentence. I don't recall the specifics of the sentencing other than we were given a list of appropriate punishments and we voted on them, from the least to the most severe, until enough of us agreed. The beauty of the courts and Constitution is that their objective is to favor the defendant as much as possible.

Consensual Sodomy Today

"Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) was the official military policy from 1994 – 2011 whereby closeted gay military members were allowed to serve in the Armed Forces. The irony, before and after DADT, is that consensual sodomy, even between married, heterosexual, couples, was illegal.

Fortunately, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 decriminalized consensual oral sex and sodomy. 

How Not to Answer a Press Question

Erik Prince: Founder of Blackwater

This morning, I heard an NPR interview, "Blackwater Founder Backs Outsourcing Afghan War-Fighting to Contractors," with Erik Prince. Although Prince quit the Naval Academy, I completely respect his reason: He loved the Navy but disliked the Academy. I also had thoughts about quitting the Academy to return to the Fleet as a corporal. It's an oppressive place where we joked that all of your human rights were taken away and slowly returned to you over the course of four years, and called privileges. The fact that Prince went on to earn a commission, became a Navy SEAL, and is now a multi-billionaire earns my respect as a professional.

In this morning's interview he sounded like he had a well-thought-out solution to the U.S. presence in Afghanistan. He wasn't the most eloquent speaker, but that's OK since eloquence can sometimes be fluff that makes a bad idea sound good.

Prince's solution to the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan seemed viable until the last question, "Does your company... want any part of this business?" It was a simple yes or no question and he tried to be deceitful while speaking the truth in his convoluted answer (answered in a style that he probably would not accept from one of his operators). He wasn't deceitful on his facts or opinions, rather he was deceitful as to the motivation for his idea. There are times when it's OK to lie or be deceitful, but this wasn't one of them. His answer sounded more like a politician. Great politicians are some of the the smartest people, in the context in which they operate. A typical politician will take the question they are asked and not directly answer it – instead, they answer the question which they wished they had been asked. This is called spin, which, at it's most extreme, is the ability to highlight the truth in a lie, or the lie in a truth.

The problem with Prince's answer to the final NPR question was that he was caught off guard, without a prepared answer, and threw out some distractions; all of which were facts describing what kind of work his company, Frontier Resource Group, does and what he wants for his sons. His first response to the question was so off-topic that the NPR interviewer had to re-ask the question, specifically pinning him down and making him appear to lose credibility on this topic. The last word he spoke was, "Absolutely." That should have been the first word he spoke.

This is how the final question should have been answered...
NPR: "Does your company... want any part of this business [in Afghanistan]?"
Prince: Absolutely! I want our company, Frontier Resource Group, which excels at the logistical support needed in Afghanistan, to be a part of a better and cheaper solution to save money and lives. Especially as a taxpayer and as a father of sons, I don't want my sons going abroad into what has been a poorly conducted war, so far.

Sure, it's easy for me write this blog post after I've had time to think about it and tweak my words to say exactly what I want to convey. However, his answer might go deeper into the personality of a person, whom I've never met; it might be a tell that he'll dodge an unpleasant truth by burying it under facts and emotions. But, I could be wrong.

Advice to USNA Class of 2017

Today's USNA '17 Graduation: Those covers (hats) fly high.

Advice to USNA Class of 2015
Advice to USNA Class of 2016

Today, the US Naval Academy Class of 2017 graduated. What would I tell these eager second lieutenants and ensigns? So many things. I learned some key leadership tricks while at the Academy. Some were hard to do in real-life, like Damn XO. Others were simple like the advice that General Krulak told us: when checking into a new unit, get the record books of all of those in your charge and read through them. They'll be impressed when you talk to them, for the first time, about their past, civilian or military. This would simply be a gimmick, though, if you don't stay on top of what's going on in the lives of your Marines. Take the time to know your Marines, even if you need to take notes to remind yourself of their details.

Management vs Leadership

As a new 2nd Lt or ENS, you will be face new and unfamiliar leadership challenges as you move from being an individual contributor to a leader. As an officer, you're more than a manager. In some cases, there are similarities between managers and leaders and in other cases these roles are completely different. An example of where a manager, in a civilian corporation, isn't a leader is an account manager which might be the job title for a sales person with no direct reports.

So, what about the similarities? What's the difference between a leader and a manager of people? The key thing to remember is that leadership transcends levels of an organization. When I worked at Apple, my manager's name was Tony. Since Steve Jobs was four levels above me, he was not my manager, but he was most certainly my leader.

As a new leader, you'll have to learn to take recommendations from your Marines and then decide what to do. Sometimes your subordinates will give you great advice and sometimes they'll give you some not-so-great advice. You'll learn; many times, you'll learn from your mistakes. Just don't repeat them.

My last piece of advice is don't take yourself too seriously. One way to do this is by subordinating your ego which is harder than you think. Here's one way to do it: when telling others about your personnel, refer to the Marines under you by saying "us" or "we" instead of "my Marines." In other words, don't say, "My Marines inventoried the warehouse," rather, say, "We inventoried the warehouse." It's a minor issue, but unless you're the CO then you're part of a the team, not the commander, and your Marines will follow your example.

Military Misconceptions

I had two misconceptions about military retirement when I was a young buck, probably because I’m not a military retiree.

My first misconception was that my four years attending a federal Service Academy (Annapolis, West Point, Air Force Academy) would be applied to my retirement when I reached 20 years of active service. It turns out that’s not the case. However, my four years on active duty at Annapolis would apply to retirement from a civilian federal job.

My second misconception was that I could retire at 20 years. Although retiring at 20 years (or a lesser amount for medical reasons) is effectively how it works for nearly all veterans, there’s a small nuance that’s often overlooked. The military (especially the Navy and USMC) technically calls “retirement” a paid retainer for a period of time, which means that they can still call you back to active duty, involuntarily. What happens if you don’t return to active duty for the call up? Well… the federal government knows where you live since they’re sending you a “retirement” check so they can simply stop paying you.

As we used to joke at Annapolis, NAVY stands for Never Again Volunteer Yourself.

Puppy Leadership: Advice to USNA Class of '16

Those hats fly high at graduation.

Today, the US Naval Academy Class of 2016 graduated. A year ago, I gave my tidbit of advice to the Class of 2015. In keeping with that tradition, I am offering a piece of advice to the Class of 2016 on leadership that comes from experience. This advice touches on a pet peeve of mine I call Puppy Leadership.

Puppy Leadership is where we all start when we first have direct reports in our charge. When we were new people managers we were overly excited like a young puppy. The key is to learn quickly from your leadership mistakes. Since leaving the military, I've taken for granted the experiences I had. Unfortunately, in Corporate America, I'm too frequently reminded that not everyone has had the same opportunities I had in my 20s to lead many dozens of direct reports. Specifically, I'm referring to being a calm, thoughtful, and, most importantly, an outwardly focused leader.

Several times, I have been a manager's first direct report. This has been especially painful for me when my new manager has spent more than a decade as a career individual contributor. Individual contributors are the people in the trenches. They're the ones doing the real work such as software engineers, copywriters, graphic artists, sales account managers, etc. Individual contributors are knowledge workers who need quiet working conditions to create and get things done. Individual contributors need to focus inward, on their work, which is great for what they do. However, in my experience, it becomes a problem when a long time individual contributor moves up into people management without proper training. Proper training starts with the dos and don'ts of good leadership practices. Leaders set the example, more so by their actions than their words. My list of dos and don'ts focuses more on the don'ts, as in don't do this or don't do that. Over the years, I've complied this list of bad leadership practices I've experienced and I've made some of these mistakes, myself. There are many more traits of a bad leader that you can add to this list, in the comments section. In the mean time, read and learn quickly, young grasshopper. Do not make the same mistake twice.

A poor leader will frequently...

0. Not supervise, which is the most important leadership step.

1. Tell a direct report to do something urgent, and then interrupt with either other tasks or asking for unnecessary status updates that impede progress.

2. Micromange, meaning they will tell a direct report how to do their job. Save the how for training sessions and don't confuse supervision with micromanagement.

3. Not inspect subordinate's work before passing it along and then blame the subordinate when their work is rejected. A leader must inspect what they expect.

4. Send an e-mail on a non-pressing issue and then immediately followup with an interruptive text or phone call asking, "Did you receive my e-mail?" Equally annoying is sending multiple messages as a stream of consciousness instead of taking a minute or two to think things through.

5. Fail to keep track of both their own tasks and of the tasks they've delegated. Since they're not tracking delegated tasks, they can't effectively supervise to ensure that tasks are completed.

6. Dump tasks on subordinates, instead of delegating. The poor leader will task subordinates when items pop into their head, regardless if it's in the hallway, lunch room, or at the bar over a beer. Set your subordinates up for success by delegating to them when they're best poised to receive and write down your tasks.

7. Fail to clearly define and prioritize tasks they've delegated with deadlines. It's best to get confirmation from a subordinate that a deadline is reasonable.

8. Make busy work when stressed and mistaken activity for progress.

9. Go first when leading a staff meeting. When a leader runs a staff meeting, they should hear from all of their subordinates before delegating tasks since the work of a staff member may already address an issue.

10. Show up first to eat free food at a corporate event and do very little to contribute to the event.

11. Think a subordinate's on-call, day and night, to be tasked at any moment, regardless of a task's urgency. A poor leader does this because they're afraid of forgetting the task and they want to get it off their plate.

12. Explain the same thing repeatedly, over and over again, frequently, time and time again; both in e-mail and when speaking. It's redundant and wastes people's time, needlessly. (Yes, there is an intentional redundant pun in this item.)

13. Make a plan. Tell it to you. Then change the plan for a non-obvious, trivia reason and not relay the changes.

14. Interrupts productivity by calling for meetings at the last minute, with little notice and no agenda.

15. Delegate tasks while borrowing a senior manager’s authority (Damn XO), then they fail to see why their own tasks aren’t carried out by direct reports.

16. Speak negatively about others, behind their back, rather than addressing the problem with a real solution.

17. Increase assignments without adjusting timelines. Something's "gotta give," either the deadline or the work quality. You can have it good, fast, or cheap. Pick only two.

18. Be overly concerned with using their subordinates to make themselves look good, especially by taking credit for their subordinate's accomplishments while dodging responsibility for their shortcomings.

The bottom line for all leaders is: Do you inspire people to go out of their way for you? If you don't then adjust your leadership style before assuming it's due to poor subordinate performance. You're the leader, so lead. At the end of the day, you're responsible for everything your team does and fails to do. Don't be that overly excited puppy, bouncing off the walls and yelping at everyone.