A classic example of bias. One sided assertions masquerading as "fair and balanced". This kind of approach seems to dominate news organizations and politicians. It is one of the reasons we are so polarized and why I distrust the MSM and politicians. Having spent time in the military, I can attest to the inherant failures of the promotion system. Like any large organization, nothing is perfect. This inabilty to fairly look at all possibilities is a dangerous loss of critical analysis, decision making and problem solving so desperately needed.

Lt. Cmdr Swift's most public acccomplishment was so extraordinary, it's just hard for the layperson to see why he wouldn't have been among the few who get promoted. There is also a pattern in the Administration, not that that means that everyone who chooses principle over the party line and is subsequently dismissed (in one way or another) is evidence of intentionality.

I, for one, look forward to any book he might choose to write. I suppose then we'll find out what his direct supervisors were telling him -- in general and about his defense of Salim Hamdan.

I've met Lt. Cmdr Swift a couple of times, and been favorably impressed. A bigger man than the current occupant of the WH would call him in on his retirement, and make something of a deal of his courage and steadiness. But then a bigger man than the current occupant would do a lot of things.

What people don't understand, however, is that promotions don't necessarily work that way. First, I suspect that LCDR Swift's work on Hamdan wasn't even seen by the board, because by the time the court ruling came out his record was already being reviewed by the board. Actually, I don't suspect that, I know that, because the Hamdan decision was released in late June and the board met before that. Second, the board isn't just looking for legal acumen; it's looking for officers who have demonstrated the ability to work in various parts of the JAG. Looking at LCDR Swift's career, he didn't do that. That's his choice, but it was guaranteed to make him less competitive for promotion, and that appears to be what happened.

Just saying hi to see if your comment software works.

I'd also pass on this link to "Karen Kwiatkowski, Ph.D., Lt. Col. USAF (ret.)" that is really really shrill, but suggests that the first passing over was when he was appointed as Hamdan's attorney. I wonder if it is possible that someone with the possibility of promotion dangling in front of them was chosen with that in mind.

That's pretty shrill, all right.

Look, there's no way to prove, short of someone coming out and admitting it, that LCDR Swift's promotion was in any way affected by Hamdan. Is it possible he was selected because he was up for promotion? Sure. But the facts are that the selection rate for Navy JAG lawyers is low to begin with, and that LCDR Swift's career did not follow the normal path of a JAG lawyer. That is a recipe for being passed over; the board has to choose between a number of deserving candidates knowing that roughly half must go. That means that anything that might make a record unusual tends to hurt an officer; if the board has two officers, each of whom have excellent OERs, one of whom has a standard career path and one of whom has an unusual career path, the guy with the normal path is likely to be selected. (Which bodes ill for yours truly as well, but that's another story.)

As Sigmund Freud once observed, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

There were so many people saying that he was passed over that I assumed it was true. Your piece actually made me include the option that it was just the militairy way. I'm not convinced yet (is there a way to see what the ones that HAVE been promoted have as a career path?) but I can see that it is a possibility.

Unfortunately this case is preceded by a number of cases were promotions were much more influenced by politics than by skills, so I've reached the point where "when in case of doubt assume ill-will" seems an appropriate motto.

and the comment actually went through....

:)

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