By Rand Paul
Obama acts as though we no longer have a Constitution
If Ulysses Grant was the prototypical Dwight Eisenhower, and if William T. Sherman foreshadowed Omar Bradley, then it is not too much of a stretch to call Philip Sheridan the George Patton of the Union armies of the Civil War -- minus the ego-driven tantrums.
In a recent Washington Post story about the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan with an attack on Camp Bastion in Helmand province, defense analyst Joshua Foust commented that the Taliban are fighting politically while the American generals are fighting tactically. That is one of the main points made by Thomas Ricks in his new book, "The Generals," a scathing critique of modern general officer leadership.
The U.S. Army entered World War II with distinct assets and liabilities. On the debit side, it was small in terms of personnel. Much of its equipment was inferior to the Germans' in both quality and quantity. And its senior officers had no combat experience to compare with that of the enemy.
He's become known in Italy as "General Bradley," "the midfield sergeant" and "the American Marine."
Even 24,471 days later, D-Day remains a strong presence in the American mindset. Monday is the 67th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, and will be marked by a dozen U.S. lawmakers and 40 World War II veterans who gather at Cricqueville-en-Bessin, France, to rededicate the Pointe du Hoc Ranger Monument.
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar Bradley and George S. Patton were the three standout American generals in the war against Nazi Germany, and they have been the subject of an infinite number of histories over the past 65 years.
Who becomes a general — and why — tells us a lot about whether our military is on the right or wrong track.
Omar Bradley, a hero of World War II and a postwar chairman the Joint Chiefs, said "the Army of 1948 couldn't fight its way out of a paper bag."
