Shortage of Majors behind Hasan's promotion?

Who can forget the images of that day as news reports came out that there was mass murder at Fort Hood? Can we forget the images of the days following it? Can we forget the shock felt when it was discovered a Major, a psychiatrists sworn to help soldiers, was the one found to be pulling the trigger?

As we were left speechless, reports came out about how Major Hasan was not a good student and was under performing leaving his superiors actions called into question. How could they let this man do what he did before the shootings? We may finally have the answer. There were just not enough Majors to go around.

Hasan was promoted from captain to major in May, military records show. Because of a shortage of majors in the medical corps, the promotion board was given the authority to promote captains who otherwise would not have been considered for a promotion, according to a U.S. military official who asked not to be identified in connection with discussing personnel matters possibly related to the Hasan investigation.

We make a lot of assumptions when it comes to the military. We assume the leadership roles are filled by the best and the brightest considering they have the lives of the lower ranks in their hands. Bad training leads to bad decisions and those bad decisions can produce a lot of dead soldiers. In the case of Hasan it looks like they just needed an increase in the numbers enough so that someone like Hasan was promoted up the food chain no matter what he was doing, what he was saying or how he felt about the soldiers he was supposed to be serving with.

All of this was not bad enough. In a time when suicides and PTSD rates increased, they wanted someone like Hasan acting as a psychiatrist? The report claims Hasan did not see many patients. What about the patients he did see? What was he telling them? Did he give them medications so they could heal or did he give them medications to make their condition worse? What does this say about the fact the troops find it very hard to trust anyone at all when they are dealing with PTSD and want to stay in the military but end up being sent to someone like Hasan? How many others are like Hasan out there unqualified, under-performing and possibly doing more damage than healing? If they did this with Hasan, we need to be asking how many others they promoted to fill the need no matter if they were worthy of it or not.

This was not bad enough. Hasan was also spouting off about his radical religious views at the same time the troops were risking their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan acting as if the people trying to kill the troops were doing the right thing.

Hassan was also disciplined for inappropriate conversations with patients about religion.

What Hasan did was worse than any action from any enemy because this enemy came from within.

Military review: Troubling signals from Fort Hood suspect missed
By Mike Mount, CNN
January 13, 2010 1:29 a.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Defense Department review to be released Thursday; official gives details to CNN
Review: Maj. Nidal Hasan promoted despite his extremist views on Islam, odd behavior
Hasan also had long record of lackluster performance on the job
Review will suggest military focus on looking internally for potential threats

Washington (CNN) -- An upcoming military review of the Fort Hood, Texas, shootings finds that the alleged shooter, Maj. Nidal Hasan, was promoted despite supervisors' concerns about his extremist views on Islam and odd behavior.

The review also says that a lack of communication between the U.S. military and a terrorism task force did not allow the sharing of information to determine whether he was a terrorist threat months before the shooting.

CNN was told details of the Pentagon review by a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the report. The official did not want to be identified because the report, requested by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, will not be officially released until Thursday.

read more here

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/01/12/fort.hood.suspect/