What’s the hurry? The lieutenant colonels of 9/11 begin to pin on 2 stars

I was looking at the Army’s list of brigadier generals nominated for two stars, released yesterday, and was struck by how many of them I knew as battalion commanders during the first days of the response to 9/11. I am glad to see this happening. But it does seem to me that a decade is an awful long time for battalion commanders to move to division commander during wartime. Maybe it is a good thing, but it certainly is a departure from big wars of our past that I’ve been studying.

This looks like the next bounce for the BGs picked by the board led by General Petraeus a couple of years ago. Which makes it all the more puzzling to see a big hole in this list. As two friends, and several commenters on the Dempsey item yesterday, pointed out: Where is “probably-our-best” Brig. Gen. H.R. McMaster on this list? What up with that?

Here’s the list:

Army Brig. Gen. Ralph O. Baker has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general. Baker is currently serving as director for operational plans and joint force development, J-7, The Joint Staff, Washington, D.C.

Army Brig. Gen. Allen W. Batschelet has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general. Batschelet is currently serving as deputy chief of staff, G-3, U.S. Army Europe and Seventh Army, Germany.

Army Brig. Gen. Heidi V. Brown has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Brown is currently serving as director of integration, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-8, U.S. Army, Washington, D.C.

Army Brig. Gen. John A. Davis has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Davis is currently serving as director, current operations, J-33, U.S. Cyber Command, Fort Meade, Md.

Army Brig. Gen. Patrick J. Donahue II has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Donahue is currently serving as director, concept development and learning, Army Capabilities Integration Center, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, Fort Monroe, Va.

Army Brig. Gen. Robert S. Ferrell has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Ferrell is currently serving as director for command, control, communications and computer systems, U.S. Africa Command, Germany.

Army Brig. Gen. Stephen G. Fogarty has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Fogarty is currently serving as deputy chief of staff, intelligence, International Security Assistance Force, Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan.

Army Brig. Gen. Charles W. Hooper has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Hooper most recently served as deputy director for strategic planning and policy, J-5, U.S. Pacific Command, Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii.

Army Brig. Gen. Paul J. LaCamera has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  LaCamera is currently serving as deputy commanding general (operations), 25th Infantry Division, U.S. Division-Center, Operation New Dawn, Iraq.

Army Brig. Gen. Sean B. MacFarland has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  MacFarland is currently serving as deputy commandant, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

Army Brig. Gen. Kevin W. Mangum has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Mangum is currently serving as commanding general, U.S. Army Special Operations Aviation Command, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Army Brig. Gen. Roger F. Mathews has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Mathews is currently serving as deputy commanding general, U.S. Army Pacific, Fort Shafter, Hawaii.

Army Brig. Gen. Austin S. Miller has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Miller most recently served as commander, Combined Forces Special Operations Component Command – Afghanistan, Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan.

Army Brig. Gen. Camille M. Nichols has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Nichols is currently serving as program executive officer, soldier, Fort Belvoir, Va.

Army Brig. Gen. John R. O’Connor has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  O’Connor is currently serving as deputy chief of staff, G-4, U.S. Army Forces Command, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Army Brig. Gen. Gustave F. Perna has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Perna is currently serving as commanding general, joint munitions lethality, Life Cycle Management Command/Joint Munitions Command, Rock Island, Ill.

Army Brig. Gen. Warren E. Phipps Jr. has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Phipps is currently serving as deputy director for regional operations, J-3, The Joint Staff, Washington, D.C.

Army Brig. Gen. Gregg C. Potter has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Potter is currently serving as commanding general/commandant, U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence and Fort Huachuca, Fort Huachuca, Ariz.

Army Brig. Gen. N. Lee S. Price has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Price is currently serving as program executive officer, command, control, and communications (tactical), Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.

Army Brig. Gen. Edward M. Reeder Jr. has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Reeder is currently serving as commanding general, U.S. Army Special Forces Command (Airborne), Fort Bragg, N.C.

Army Brig. Gen. Jefforey A. Smith has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Smith is currently serving as assistant commanding general for police development, North Atlantic Treaty Organization Training Mission – Afghanistan/Combined Security Transition Command – Afghanistan, Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan.

Army Brig. Gen. Jeffrey J. Snow has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Snow is currently serving as director, J-5, U.S. Forces-Iraq, Operation New Dawn, Iraq.

Army Brig. Gen. Kenneth E. Tovo has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Tovo most recently served as deputy commanding general (support), 1st Armored Division, Germany.

Army Brig. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Townsend is currently serving as director, Pakistan/Afghanistan Coordination Cell, The Joint Staff, Washington, D.C.

Army Brig. Gen. Thomas S. Vandal has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Vandal is currently serving as commandant, U.S. Army Field Artillery School, U.S. Army Fires Center of Excellence, Fort Sill, Okla.

Army Brig. Gen. Mark W. Yenter has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Yenter is currently serving as director, Joint Engineering Directorate, U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan.