Link to MIlitary.com story
Basically, SecDef Austin had some "elective" surgery done on 12/22/2023 (no word on what kind of surgery this was), & had turned over his authority to AsstSecDef Hicks. When he was readmitted for undisclosed complications on 1/1/2024, he supposedly turned over temporary authority to Hicks again...except that Hicks was on vacation in Puerto Rico, & most likely wasn't informed of the reason for the handoff. Worse, not only was Austin's chief of staff out with the flu, so the JCS couldn't follow up with anyone, it's unclear if the JCS even knew of the initial surgical visit (which included an overnight stay), let alone that authority had been temporarily transferred to Hicks.
Major issue here. It would be one thing for Hicks to get the message, "Hey, I'm out of the office & unavailable today, but it's nothing major, just letting you know to hold down the fort while I'm unavailable". It's another thing to not say, "Hey, I'm being taken to the hospital, this is something major, you're in charge until I get back on my feet, & I don't know when that's going to be". The former would be a "ok, I'll keep my phone/laptop handy to check for messages", the latter would be, "Hmm, maybe I'd better cut off my vacation since we have military assets currently deployed & engaged in intermittent hostile actions in the Red Sea & Middle East".
Basically, SecDef Austin had some "elective" surgery done on 12/22/2023 (no word on what kind of surgery this was), & had turned over his authority to AsstSecDef Hicks. When he was readmitted for undisclosed complications on 1/1/2024, he supposedly turned over temporary authority to Hicks again...except that Hicks was on vacation in Puerto Rico, & most likely wasn't informed of the reason for the handoff. Worse, not only was Austin's chief of staff out with the flu, so the JCS couldn't follow up with anyone, it's unclear if the JCS even knew of the initial surgical visit (which included an overnight stay), let alone that authority had been temporarily transferred to Hicks.
Major issue here. It would be one thing for Hicks to get the message, "Hey, I'm out of the office & unavailable today, but it's nothing major, just letting you know to hold down the fort while I'm unavailable". It's another thing to not say, "Hey, I'm being taken to the hospital, this is something major, you're in charge until I get back on my feet, & I don't know when that's going to be". The former would be a "ok, I'll keep my phone/laptop handy to check for messages", the latter would be, "Hmm, maybe I'd better cut off my vacation since we have military assets currently deployed & engaged in intermittent hostile actions in the Red Sea & Middle East".
statistics: Posted by Whipped4073 — 3:12 PM - 1 day ago — Replies 3 — Views 77