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

To: seanmbrook{at}aol.com [mailto:seanmbrook{at}aol.com]
> > >
>  True.  I'm not denying the Spanish made many
>  mistakes.  If what I recall about Medina-Sidonia's
>  personal decency was true, I was feeling sorry
>  for him.  Esp. since he tried to persuade Philip II
>  he wasn't the right choice for the job.

Read "Angela's Ashes."

Frank McCourt describes his drunken, profligate, worthless father, and the
abject poverty of the family.  Yet when asked how he felt about his father,
he said "I loved my father!"

One can be a loveable person, and yet fail miserably at one's responsibilities.
>
>
>  Sounds good to me!  It was a long ago that I read
>  about the Armada, but didn't Philip II tried exactly
>  that?  I.e., appoint a competent lower ranking officer
>  with Medina-Sidonia to back him up politically?  Jim
>  mentioned an officer named Santa Cruz.  Wasn't it
>  Santa Cruz's death which caused preparations for
>  the Armada to be so badly handled?

Yes -- but Philip didn't go far enough.  He should have appointed NO other
officers of higher standing than Santa Cruz.
>
>  I think the Hindenburg/Ludendorff association
>  during WW I was a successful example of a
>  politically well connected officer backing up a
>  lower ranking officer who supplied the brains,
>  energy, and imagination.  Mind, I know Paul
>  von Hindenburg was no fool, but he never pre-
>  tended to be a military genius.

He was, however, solidly competent.  Something many Allied generals were
not -- and certainly something few Russian generals could claim.
> >
> > SMB> And not all of OUR generals and admirals have
> > > been competent.
> > >
> > VH> True -- and, by and large, it was politics that caused that.
> >
>  And the best way to reduce the damage that
>  causes is to back up a political general/admiral
>  with a smart lower ranker.
>
Now tell me how you do that?

If you can't get a good general in the top slot, how do you get a good man
in the number 2 slot?
>


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