General perspective

Gen.  George Casey, the Army’s chief of staff, has a perspective problem. At least it seems so after an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday in which Casey talked about the Fort Hood massacre that claimed 13 lives. The general got to talking about the effect of the shootings on the Army’s efforts to maintain a diverse fighting force, and clearly years and years of military indoctrination on diversity as a societal virtue have affected Casey’s thinking. “Our diversity, not only in our Army but in our country is a strength,” Casey said. No problem, general. But he went on: “And as horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that’s worse.” Americans get the diversity message, but you can’t compare that with the loss of soldiers’ lives at Fort Hood. You just can’t.