I wanted to hold judgement on his performance, but after only 9-months on the job, my evaluation is clear, I like him. He actually listens to his Chain of Command rather than dictate.

One of the first notable stand up actions he did was address the poor state of medical facilities for our wounded soldiers. God Bless him. He was straightforward about the conditions and was honest about the costs and policies necessary to give our heroes the treatment they deserve. No happy talk. More importantly he is following through on his policies. Ooorah!

2nd of all, he is following up on recommendations from tactics, military to equipment readiness. Our soldiers are now engaging with the insurgents by mingling with the populace. His "clear and hold" strategy will work folks. For example, in the past our soldiers would go out on patrol from compounds and then go back to their isolated fortress. That’s no way to fight a war. This time Gen. Petreaus has his troops setting up mini-camps throughout Iraq – in the field, house by house, sector by sector. Ooorah!

3rd on the issue of equipment readiness Gates is working on the nuts and bolts. He has already scraped the fiasco of the design-build concept for US Navy procurement of new ships. Contractors were building faulty non-seaworthy ships with costly overruns. Gone.

He approved the development and procurement of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs). See attached article. He did not just wait for congressional funding he went ahead deleting unwanted and unnecessary programs and allocated money for the MRAP. He also initiated funding for the development of carbon-fiber composite armor and vehicles. Ooorah!

He is a man of action. However, after six-years of Secretary Rumsfeld, I reserve caution. During the Rumsfeld years the US Army was receiving only 20-24 percent of the total Defense Department budget though our soldiers were receiving the most military orders and casualties.  Secretary Gates understands that given the new realities of war, that allotment has to increase and he his doing it. OOOORAH!!

Now if he could just get rid of the media i.e. ABC, FOX including the embedded correspondents in Iraq, we be closer to winning the war in Iraq.


-- Modified on 7/19/2007 6:48:50 PM