Outgoing Army chief's plans unclear
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
The next month or so is an important time for Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, a Stryker Brigade in Hawai'i, and the Army as a whole.
Advertiser library photo • Feb. 25, 2003
Shinseki, 60, a Kaua'i native and the first Asian American to wear four stars as a general, is stepping down as the top uniformed official within the U.S. Army, a post he has held for the past four years.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric K. Shinseki was nominated to West Point by Hawai'i U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye.
A retirement ceremony expected to be attended by hundreds is scheduled for 10 a.m. June 11 at Fort Myer about three miles from the Pentagon, where Shinseki and his wife, Patricia, reside and where Army chiefs traditionally bid farewell.
A stop in Hawai'i is also planned as he meets one last time with Army commands, but even some of his friends here don't know what Shinseki — never one to command the spotlight — plans to do next.
Shinseki's military legacy is one in which the word "transformation" figures prominently — a term used to describe the evolution to a lighter, faster fighting force, and a concept that the 34th chief of staff embraced to move the Army from the obsolete Cold War expectation of heavy tank battles on the plains of Europe to new "asymmetric" threats such as the war on terrorism.
Shinseki's tenure at the top also has been marked by controversy with the selection of black berets for soldiers and feuds with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld over the canceled Crusader artillery system and the numbers of soldiers needed in the Army.
But defense experts say the Vietnam veteran will be remembered most for the development of Stryker Brigade Combat Teams — units of more than 3,000 soldiers who arrive at the battlefield in eight-wheeled armored vehicles that offer far greater protection than a Humvee.
"I think (his legacy) will be very good, and I think it will focus primarily on the Stryker Brigade concept, and making the Army more deployable in general," said Michael O'Hanlon, a defense analyst at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.
"He'll be one of these people who'll leave Washington with a little bit of a mixed legacy in the immediate way in which he's seen," he said, "but I think he'll have in the longer term a very positive legacy, and very positive role in Army history."
Shinseki's departure comes at a time when the Defense Department also will decide whether Hawai'i needs one of the $1.5 billion brigades that he advocates as an interim step to future combat systems that have yet to be designed.
Six of the brigades with more than 300 Stryker vehicles apiece are planned, and money has been appropriated for four. Brigade No. 5 is slated for Hawai'i. But Rumsfeld initiated a review of the latter two brigades to see if other assets should be added or if the money should be spent on the first four.
A Stryker Brigade would mean $693 million in construction in Hawai'i, and redefine the role of the 25th Infantry Division (Light). An Army report is due next month, and Rumsfeld is expected to make a decision by July 8.
The vacancy left by Shinseki is one of three Rumsfeld will have to fill. Army Secretary Thomas E. White recently resigned, and Vice Chief of Staff Gen. John Keane is retiring. President Bush has picked Secretary of the Air Force James Roche for Army secretary. Gen. Tommy Franks is rumored to be in the running for Shinseki's job.
Shinseki, who was nominated to West Point by Hawai'i U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye, graduated in 1965 and holds a Masters of Arts in English literature from Duke University.
He served two combat tours with the 9th and 25th Divisions in Vietnam. He was wounded in a helicopter crash, and later stepped on a land mine, losing his right foot. For two years he was the top Army general in Europe and commanded NATO peacekeepers in Bosnia.
David A. Bramlett, a retired Army four-star general who commanded U.S. Forces Command and now lives on the North Shore, said Shinseki is a "very perceptive, a very patient, a very insightful, and frankly, a very innovative thinker."
"I think he was open to different ways of doing things, and when he became chief of staff he brought a lot of the ideas he had seen about how to make the Army more agile, more flexible," Bramlett said.
Shinseki, a Clinton appointee, has been criticized for instituting black berets — which Army Rangers had previously worn as a badge of accomplishment.
Rumsfeld, an advocate of change but critical of Shinseki for not transforming the Army enough, named Kean as his replacement more than a year ago, effectively rendering Shinseki a lame duck. Keane more recently decided to retire.
"No one outside the Army appreciates how much Ric Shinseki has done to transform the Army," Bramlett said. In addition to Strykers, Shinseki brought to the Army a lot of sophisticated digital communications equipment that made a big difference in Iraq, he said.
Those who know him say Shinseki has never been a showman. On his official Army Web site, among headings for biography, speeches and testimony, the "interviews" section remains blank.
Shinseki's plans after retirement seem sketchy as well. A daughter lives in the Washington area, and the Shinsekis may stay nearby. Shinseki could not be reached for comment.
Childhood friend James Kuroiwa, a representative of Laborers International Union of North America Local 368 who went to grade school and Kaua'i High School with Shinseki and still keeps in contact, said he "has been very quiet" about the future.
"About three months ago, he and I just had a brief conversation, and it surprised the hell out of me when I said, 'Eric, you and I gotta have a discussion about your future,' and he looked at me and said, 'What are you talking about?' " said Kuroiwa, who lives in Kahalu'u. "I said, you're going to be retiring pretty soon. What are you going to do after that? He said, 'Let's discuss that a little bit more.' I know he wasn't thinking about it."
Shinseki has been mentioned as a possible candidate for Inouye's seat when he retires, or as a possible gubernatorial candidate.
Jim Loomis, an advertising and public relations expert who has worked for political candidates for years, said making the switch to politics would be a difficult transition.
"To go from a high-ranking military position to a political candidate ... you know what it's like in the military, you express the vague thought that a cup of coffee would be nice and five or six people rush to get it," Loomis said. "In the world of politics, anybody with a 40 IQ or more feels free to stand up and call you an idiot."
"Assuming that he could keep that (change) in perspective, and make that transition, I think he'd be a very attractive candidate."
