Once again the Army is “revamping” their personnel so as to make the most possible of experience. In the continuing fallout from the PTSD imbroglio down the pike at Ft. Lewis, I spotted this little blurb hidden on page A4 below the fold.

The Army has a new top medical officer at JBLM. Maj. Gen. Richard Thomas took command Wednesday of the Western Medical Regional Command from Maj. Gen. Philip Volpe, who had led the unit since February 2010. (Tacoma New Tribune)

While this isn’t odd, it is rare to summarily change command without a lot of announcements, hoopla and fanfare.  Volpe’s  transfer to Fort Sam Houston as Commander of the Army Medical Department Center and School is not viewed as a promotion upwards but more a lateral one sideways. This may be in response to the uproar associated with his supervision of the Madigan psychiatric mishap. When things happen on your watch, you get blamed for it in the military. If it happens when you are President, it’s the fault of the prior inhabitant. That’s an important distinction many miss. In the military, when you shitcan a large number of troops for “personality disorders” because they’re depressed and suicidal, you cannot just say “Apparently that’s the way they’ve been doing it for years, so I just followed suit”. The proper way to approach this as a General is to convene a press conference and announce that heads are going to roll because you just found out the shrink dudes are guilty of underdiagnosing deserving enlisted mental midgets. Always seize the high ground early and blame others first. Your career will blossom and you will live long and prosper. Volpe apparently forgot this cardinal precept to his own detriment. Live and learn.