As a retired Army Officer, I would suggest our National Command Authority
along with State Department and USAID have clear goals for Phase IV Stability and Support Operations after major combat operations or objectives have ended/been met. Ideally these goals would be established before even beginning operations/invading Afghanistan or Iraq or sending any major combat forces into harms way. IMO, we the US of A did a terrible job of identifying, planning, and articulating those Phase IV objectives along with a clear Exit strategy. The National Leadership, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Combatant Commanders, State Department all failed over the course of Bush, Obama, Trump, and now Biden. All the blood, lives, and treasure sacrificed only to see the Taliban declare an Afghan Islamic State is a monumental failure after initially succeeding. Travesty.
FYI, I am not a Defense contractor now either. Not all retired Officers go that route. It requires a waiting period anyway thus you cannot retire from the military then immediately join Boeing, Northrup Grumman, Sikosky, etc...the very next day; doesn't work like that.
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In response to this post by One4VT)
Posted: 08/15/2021 at 11:22PM