General Mark Milley, an exceptional military chief in a difficult time

General Mark Milley is due to retire at the end of this month as chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. He has had one of the toughest periods in America's top military post, not because of wars or declining budgets but because of having to serve two very different masters, first Donad Trump who appointed him and then Joe Biden who hung on to him when he took over as president. Milley I am sure would say that being defence secretary under Trump was a harder mission than he had ever had to face in a combat situation. The Washington Post in its profile of Milley prior to his retirement described him in the headline as polarising. In fact he did his best best never to be divisive and always tried to serve Trump as his principal military adviser without sacrificing his own beliefs about what his role entailed and the importance of staying out of politics. He made one big error which really wasn't his fault when he was obliged to walk in his combat uniform alongside Trump as he marched past anti-racial protesters near the White House to a church for a PR photograph. Mark Esper, the defence secretary at the time, was also in the group with Trump. In hindsight it looked really bad and Milley apologised profusely for taking part in something which was so blatantly political. Not only did he bitterly regret that walk but he said so. So, I don't think he was remotely polarising. He did his job in an honourable way and when he disagreed with Trump he always outlined his reasons for advising against taking action that the 45th president was keen to take. It was because of his integrity and steadfastness that Biden decided to keep him in post in 2020.