The term "local boy" is used in a variety of ways. But one common usage is by Hawaiians when referring to someone from Hawaii. Hawaiians call those from Hawaii as "local" - boys or girls. That label is reserved only for those from Hawaii, not from the mainland.
Eric Shinseki is a "local boy" that made good in the army. He is the first "local boy", for that matter any Asian-American, to attain the rank of four star general in the army and hold the office of Army Chief of Staff. Shinseki came from a family that had many of its men serve in the famous 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the most highly decorated unit of its size in the entire U.S. military. The 442nd RCT was primarily made up of "local boys," mostly Nisei, second generation Japanese-Americans, although there were Korean-American and Chinese-American members as well. Shinseki was motivated by what his relatives had accomplished, so he picked a career in the army.
Eric Shinseki was commissioned out of West Point in 1965 and began his illustrious military career by serving two combat tours in Vietnam. During his outstanding career he received numerous awards and decorations and steadily rose in rank. In 1999, he was nominated for Army Chief of Staff by President Clinton and his military career had reached its peak. The U.S. military does not have a rank above four stars. The five star rank that McArthur and Eisenhower received were war time ranks, not normal ranks in the military. So the four stars is as high as you can go, regardless of your branch of service. The only other honor that you can achieve is to become the Chief of Staff of your branch of service, which Shinseki did, and the final step is to receive an appointment as Joint Chief of Staff. But you do not get a higher rank, its just a job title, position, your pay grade stays the same.
At the pinnacle of his career as a four star general and the Army Chief of Staff, Shinseki ran into disagreement with the Secretary of Defense, but most especially with the Deputy Secretary of Defense at the time. The Pentagon was on the verge of launching its Operation Iraqi Freedom and the civilian leaders naturally wanted his views on their planned invasion. Shinseki disagreed with their plan. He insisted that the invasion should include several hundred thousand troops, troops especially prepared to handle occupation duties after the defeat of Saddam Hussein's forces. This is not what the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and especially the Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz wanted to hear. They had convinced the White House that the invasion could be carried out successfully on the cheap, so-to-speak, with much fewer troops. Shinseki agreed that it would not take many troops to defeat Saddam, but he insisted that more troops would be needed to maintain order during occupation, otherwise, he said, insurgency would arise and create major problems. He was right, of course! Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz did not want to hear that. They were trying to sell the idea of the invasion to the White House and the main selling point was that it would not cost much in dollars nor manpower!
Although it is said that he had already planned for retirement, nevertheless, Shinseki's retirement seemed a bit premature. Especially since there was talk before that he was the next man up for the position of Joint Chief. Of course that never happened and Shinseki left the army.
His bad luck was to follow him later under the next administration. He was appointed to the office of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, seemingly a perfect job for someone who was veteran! But following the scandal that broke out of the VA hospital in Phoenix, AZ, Shinseki became the scapegoat and was forced to resign. A sad ending to an otherwise outstanding career as a soldier, a true American hero who spent his entire life willingly placing it in harm's way on behalf of the country. What a sad way to treat someone like him! His problem is that he is not a politician, just a soldier!
Now there is another "local boy" who has surfaced as the administration's poster boy in the fight against ISIS. Major General Michael Nagata is another local boy who was motivated into making army his career because of relatives who were veterans of 442nd and his own father who is a retired Army Colonel. Nagata received his commission in 1982 and almost immediately joined the Special Forces. He began his career with the Special Forces on Okinawa and then continued to serve in various capacities in different Special Forces assignments. During his more than 30 years of service in the army, he has spent most of the time with the Special Forces or the Special Operations. In September of 2014 he was appointed as the Commanding General of Special Operations Command Central (the Special Operations Command Central is responsible for the Middle East) and has been tasked with training Syrian rebels to fight ISIS.
No doubt Nagata is the best qualified of all officers currently in our service for the job of leading our forces in combatting ISIS. The problem is not Nagata, his ability, or qualifications. The problem is that he has been given an impossible task, essentially a no-win situation. He is told to defeat and "degrade" ISIS capability with a handful of men and limited resources. Limited because Washington does not want to "blow up" the situation. The idea is to keep the situation under control, neatly wrapped-up, and chip away at ISIS. Additionally, with the kind of micro-managing that takes place, micro-managing by civilians with no military experience, you can count on some major blunders. Guess who is going to take the blame, take the fall for our failures in Syria?
Its too bad. From everything that one hears about Michael Nagata, he is an excellent soldier, especially well versed in the art of unconventional warfare and special operations. But given the circumstances into which he has been put, it is just a matter of time that some major mishap will take place and Washington will point a finger at him for not doing his job properly, and another scapegoat will take his place, hopefully not another "local boy"!
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