Just read in LBN that Lloyd Austin might be the Sec. of Defense

[Yeehah]

When I was a young Army captain in 10th Mountain, General Austin (then LTC Austin) was the brigade XO. I remember him very fondly and with great respect. He was extremely kind, funny and competent. I was deployed on very short notice once and set up my car payments on auto-pay from my bank account, but for some reason it didn't work. My bank contacted the brigade after some payments weren't made, and I recall LTC Austin called my mom to help get it straightened out (I was almost completely out of touch). My mom told me about it later and how nice it had been to talk to LTC Austin. She was really delighted with the conversation and his helpfulness. General Ausin is a great man and would be a great Sec. of Defense.

[elleng]

1. Thanks for the info,

good to hear 'Up close and personal' things about 'higher-ups.'

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

2. Thanks for this information!

I would like to see a soldier, an honorable General who is loyal to the Constitution, with years of diverse military experience and leadership, as Secretary of Defense. It doesn't make sense to me for a desk jockey from the privatized defense industry to be appointed to the position of Secretary of Defense. From what I have read, and from what you wrote in the OP, General Austin seems like a great choice for the position.

[OAITW r.2.0]

3. Thanks for sharing your 1st hand knowledge of Austin!

[tavernier]

4. Nice!

[BGBD]

5. He's probably a great pick

but it doesn't escape me that before Trump he would not have been considered because of the rule to not appoint anyone who had been out of the military less than 5 years to SecDef.

There were some really good reasons for civilian leadership of the military and I'm not sure we should also ignore those traditions.

Also, he's on the board of Raytheon. Just seems a little too cozy with defense contractors to go straight from that to being the person in charge of those contracts.

[exboyfil]

6. Being on the board as an independent is a bit different

than being on the board as an insider or equity holder or part of interlinked board memberships (I vote on your executive compensation and you vote on mine).

You are right about the five years. That is why I had a problem with Mathis who actually was one of the few decent Cabinet picks Trump made. I don't know what the solution is though. Biden really needs this pick. He did retire in 2016 so he is really close to the five years as well.

[Victor_c3]

7. There's a man that goes the extra step to help take care of those under his charge

One of the things that excites me most about the Biden administration is the team he is building. Biden, by himself, doesn’t excite me much but he keeps surrounding himself with people who are undeniably competent and who do excite me. General Austin is one of those people.

I’m so looking forward to at least 4 years of Biden.

[Yeehah]

9. It's like a new dawn after the darkness of Trump's evil and corruption

I hope the light will keep shining on the USA.

[exboyfil]

10. I don't think any other person could have gotten elected this cycle

And at that it was still a near thing. I would love if he was ten years younger, but we take what he can get. You has a pretty youthful VP and he is picking folks with great experience but also relatively young for the most part.

This is the next generation going into the Cabinet (my generation). We got to see it in part with Obama, but now it is fully into very late boomer and the subsequent generations. Many are now younger than me (57) - thank God.

[Celerity]

11. a close-run thing indeed, 44,000 votes in 3 states (WI, AZ, GA)

[Laelth]

8. Let's face it.

The Biden team is doing a great job.

This is a good pick, if it happens, and I have been generally supportive of every single pick that Biden has made so far ... much to my amazement.

I can not say the same for either the Clinton or the Obama administrations.

-Laelth