Hagel never shirked his duty

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has suddenly become responsible for the shellacking delivered to the Obama administration on Nov. 4.

He is the sole cabinet secretary to have lost his job at this point. At least Joe Biden had the good graces to be upset at the way the Hagel resignation was handled by the White House. Biden was said to be, “ticked off,” but having heard Biden’s comments on other occasions, I doubt he said ticked. I cannot imagine that Hagel, an infantry sergeant and combat squad leader, went quietly to the slaughter.

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The ever-present White House aides and White House officials, always speaking on the condition of anonymity, were available to reiterate how Hagel was “quiet during meetings,” or was “never really able to penetrate the inner circle of the national security team.” “He was never really up to the job,” according to one official.

Chuck Hagel never faced sniper fire in ’Nam like the fire he took in Washington.

Hagel volunteered for the draft during the Vietnam War. That means he went to his draft board and told officials to draft him right then, when it was almost certain that a U.S. Army draftee would end up in an infantry unit and see combat. Among other decorations, Hagel wears two Purple Hearts and a Combat Infantryman Badge for his service in Vietnam. Chuck Hagel has more flight time jumping off of trucks in a combat zone than the whole cluster of officials and aides in the White House.

The commander in chief who chose him for secretary of defense should have realized that if you appoint a combat infantry NCO to a responsible position and keep asking him questions about possible combat operations, sooner or later he will tell you something you don’t want to hear. He will know that any armed group who overran an area in Syria and Iraq larger than many countries is absolutely not a junior varsity basketball squad, and he will say so when asked by the press. This is referred to as “push back” by senior aides and officials. Hagel thought it was his job.

On Thanksgiving Day, Chuck Hagel had at least three things for which to be thankful: He is 68 years old, he’s alive after his tour in Vietnam and he has been freed from an administration that is only going to descend further into chaos during its closing days.

Rube Render is the Curry County Republican chairman. Contact him at:

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