I reckognize some of those officers names from recent reports of improper conduct, namely in the Navy. I reckognize at least two in the marines which had made deragitory remarks to our civilian leadership, in both towards the president AND congress. The West Point officer that I saw was either asked to "retire" or face discplinary hearing charges on the officers inability to reign in hazing and sexual assault cases.
Reason why an officer is fired or asked to "retire early":
Failure to respect the chain of command. (this includes the president of the united states, joint chiefs of staff, and the senate. One of those officers listed was at a hearing of the military oversite committee and called one of the sitting senators a "moron" to his face.)
Failure to reign in subordinates. (Each commanding officer is the end of the line for any action taken by a subordinate.)
Failure to follow protocol or orders. (Pretty damn self explanatory)
Training Exercise death. (This one can ruin the career of an officer that was in charge of the base in question that the death occured, at no fault of their own. )
Sexual harrasment/assault. (Failure to keep control of subordinates or themselves)
Physical altercation. (Officers get over fights for even the most stupidest things, just like any private.)
Drug or alcohol abuse. (Can't follow a man whose orders are slurred speach, and napping during award ceremonies)
That list is a small thimble of water compared to the number of officers that were "dismissed" under George Bush Jr. This doesn't even include the number of officers that were sacked under Bill Clinton during the army base closures.
Plus Einstein, this doesn't even come close to half of what needs to be done during the "Sequestrian". During the sequestrian, the armed forces must draw down all forces. That includes base closures and shutdowns. Fleet mothballs, where serving Naval officers have rank, but no commands at all. Some of those naval officers aren't even being fired, their losing their command because they will no longer have a fleet command due to draw down. So some of those names on that list doesn't mean their being fired, their just losing their Fleet or Base command. In other words, their being transitioned to civil works. That means lots of travel, overseeing closures and shutdowns, and being placed in advisory positions.
Now for decades when an officer "screwed up", the chain of command usually kept it on the down low. I was present during the sacking of my unit captain in South Korea back in 91'. Now you can sack anyone in the armed forces for any reason.
During Bill Clintons base closures, they used the PT draw dawn method. Physical Training Tests. If an officer OR subordinate, failed their PT test three times in a row...they were disqualified for service in the armed forces. And there were a LOT of officers of higher rank, Colonal and above who were unable to meet the physical needs of the armed forces they served. They got sacked, mostly because they were couch potatoes who ate and drank to much at military functions. And it cost them their status.
So when I look at those names...that's a drop of officers in a big great lakes worth and number of officers. There's any amount of reasons that those ass hats got canned.
And personally as a Grunt, I really don't care. I met a few of those high ranking officers, and most of them had achieved such levels of snobbery that If I was president, I would have canned their ass BEFORE they reached higher rank.
=^o.o^= When I'm cute I can be cute. And when I'm mean, I can be very very mean. I'm a cat. Expect me to be fickle.