To: 
From: "Vern Humphrey" 
Reply-To: r_catholic-l{at}yahoogroups.com

To: seanmbrook{at}aol.com [mailto:seanmbrook{at}aol.com]
> >
> > VH> One can be a loveable person, and yet fail miserably at one's
> > responsibilities.
>
>  Very sadly true.  Again, I'm not denying Medina-
>  Sidonia failed.
>
>  And simply by staying sober, being frugal, and
>  holding some kind of steady job, the elder McCourt
>  would not have entirely failed his responsibilities.

It was not in either Median-Sidonia or McCourt to live up to their
responsibilities.  They weren't BAD men, just incompetent and weak.
> >
> > VH> Yes -- but Philip didn't go far enough.  He should have
> appointed NO
> > other
> > officers of higher standing than Santa Cruz.
> > >
>  Iow, the Armada was too important for its command
>  to have been influenced by political considerations?
>  This was one time Philip II should have ignored all
>  such factors?

Not ignore them, but work around them -- put low-ranking people in ALL the
decision-making positions, and eliminate the high grandees.
> > > >
>  Correct.  One thinks of the gruesome bungling on
>  the Western Front by the French and British
>  generals.  And Russia had too many elderly gen-
>  erals who should have been put out to pasture
>  years before.

There's a lot of re-thinking going on in that area, but I have to agree,
the generals of WWI did not rise to the level of competence their positions
demanded.
> > >
> > VH> Now tell me how you do that?
> >
>  I don't know.  Professionalize the officer corps?
>  Make sure they have had at least a military training?

How do you do THAT?  What buttons do you push?

"Training" sounds like a good idea, but how do incompetents train
others to be better than they are themselves?


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