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Plain talk

When Navy Adm. Michael Mullen becomes chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — he is expected to receive Senate consent — will he give serious advice to President Bush and to Defense Secretary Robert Gates?

For that matter, will Mullen have regular access to Bush?

As the third chairman of the post-9/11 era, Mullen follows two officers who were neither able nor willing to tell leaders what our officer corps is thinking and how our troops feel.

Air Force Gen. Richard Myers (2001-2005) and Marine Gen. Peter Pace (2005-2007) were often shut out of top policymaking sessions. Gates made a difficult decision not to nominate Pace for a second two-year stint as chairman. As a lieutenant, Pace was a brilliant and courageous platoon leader in Vietnam, but, as a four-star, he had no effect visible to the public. He wanted to be reappointed. When he wasn’t, it was a firing in everything but name.

Mullen is viewed as a no-nonsense pragmatist. He is more likely than his predecessors to give good advice, even if it’s unpopular. And Gates appears more likely to listen than was his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld.

In 1938, shortly before he became Army chief of staff, Gen. George C. Marshall sat in on a White House meeting about U.S. war preparations. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and high-ranking officials, including Secretary of War Harry H. Woodring and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Malin Craig, agreed unanimously on a strategy that would emphasize air power at the expense of the foot soldier. The meeting appeared finished when Roosevelt unexpectedly turned to Marshall and asked, “Don’t you think so, George?”

Marshall told everyone in the room they were wrong.

Marshall replaced Craig in 1939 and almost single-handedly oversaw formation of the powerful U.S. ground forces that won World War II. As Army chief, he was nominally an equal to the chief of naval operations. In reality, he was the nation’s most powerful and influential officer — his era’s equivalent to today’s chairman.

Although usually self-effacing and soft-spoken, Marshall’s willingness to talk plainly to his bosses is often cited as a reason for his greatness.

Another reason I admire Marshall: A man of modest means, Marshall turned down offers in retirement to sit on corporate boards. Myers is on the board at Northrop Grumman.

The role of the nation’s top military officer has changed over the years. What hasn’t changed is the need for someone in uniform who can give unpopular advice.

Discontent is festering among America’s military officers today. Many think the military is poorly led and has not adjusted to 21st-century realities. Among troops in Iraq, many say they are experiencing a humorless version of the movie “Groundhog Day,” in which actor Bill Murray is doomed to relive the same experience, over and over.

The nation’s top officer can do only what the president and defense secretary allow him to do. That said, I hope Mullen turns out to be less like Pace and Myers and more like Marshall.

The writer, an Air Force veteran, lives in Oakton, Va. He is the author of “Air Combat,” a history of fighter pilots. His e-mail address is robert.f.dorr@cox.net.