If Eric Shinseki was CEO of a Fortune 500 company and had the record of repeated failure that he has accumulated as Army Chief of Staff, he would have been fired a long time ago.

But Bill Clintonâs ãpolitically-correctä choice to lead the U.S. Army into the new century, continues in power. However, with the Senate giving final approval to Thomas White as the next Army Secretary, Shinseki may finally be ãshown the door.ä

Next came the loony advertising campaign - the ãArmy of One.ä

Ever since the first drill instructor donned a Smokey Bear hat, recruits and soldiers have been trained to operate as a ãteam.ä You need ãteamwork,ä to be able to depend on your buddy, especially in combat.

But in the ãfeel goodä Army of Eric Shinseki, all that is out the window. We must make the military ãmore appealingä and create an environment where soldiers want to become the Lone Ranger. DIâs used to snarl at boot camp trainees: ãWho do you think you are, an individual?ä Well, now the trainees can respond, ãYes, indeed.ä

The biggest blunder of all has been the ãBlack Beretä fiasco.

Shinsekiâs dictate that all Army personnel - from cooks to company clerks - don the sacred black beret, until now a symbol of excellence only available to Army Rangers who earned the right to wear it, was billed as a ãmorale booster.ä Instead, it turned into an unmitigated disaster.

ãThe beret thing was a creation of the White House,ä said a now-retired senior officer, who was willing to cut the chief of staff a little slack. ãClinton was winding up his last term in office and wanted to throw a little business to some friends of his. Eric was just following orders. He never expected the uproar that resulted.ä

Shinseki wasnât the only one out of touch with reality. After news stories appeared about widespread opposition to the uniform change, the chief of staffâs spokesman, LTC Lew Boone said with a straight face: ãWE ARE NOT SERIOUSLY INVESTIGATING THAT THERE IS A MORALE PROBLEM, BECAUSE WE DONâT BELIEVE THERE IS ONE.ä

THE ARROGANCE OF POWER

When Ranger associations expressed concern about the black beret policy, Shinseki declined to meet with them.

His solution to addressing widespread outrage over the denigration of the black beret was to issue a ãgag orderä to the Special Operations Command, forbidding the Rangers from publicly discussing the issue.

Arrogant and isolated, Shinseki refused to rethink the order or admit he may have been wrong.

Even more ridiculous, the Pentagon announced troops would have to pass a ãhistory testä before being able to wear the berets. When that stunt blew up in their faces, Shinsekiâs damage-control crew ditched the ãtestä all-together.

OPPOSITION IN CONGRESS

But a storm was brewing in Congress. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman, Sen. John Warner of Virginia led the way in asking the chief of staff to hold up on implementing the order.

Numerous Congressmen asked what justification Sinseki had to squander millions of defense budget dollars on a ãcosmetic changeä such as the color of berets, while thousands of soldiers are still on food stamps?

Rep. Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland introduced a bill prohibiting the ãpurchasing, issuing or wearing of berets as standard Army head gear - except for certain units like Rangers, Special Forces or Airborne troopsä - until the GAO-reported $3 billion Army ammunition shortfall has been eliminated.

ãBullets are more important than berets,ä Bartlett said.

Another Congressional critic was Rep. Walter B. Jones of North Carolina.

ãWe have trouble without adequate ammunition stocks, our pilots canât fly because of a lack of funds, so why in the world should the Army spend $23 million to change the color of a beret on some generalâs whim?ä

The ultimate clash with Congress came when Rep. Donald Manzullo had to threaten Shinseki with a subpoena to make him testify before a congressional committee.

Someone needs to tell the chief of staff his ãprotector,ä - the most notorious draft-dodger to ever disgrace the Presidency - is out of office and a new President and administration is in charge.

Then it is up to the new administration to exert its authority and ãclean house.ä They owe it to our men and women in uniform, whose lives have been adversely affected by the idiotic policies of men like Eric Shinseki.

What kind of planning and leadership is exhibited when the general tries to skirt ãThe Berry Amendment,ä - a Federal statute passed by Congress requiring the Pentagon buy clothing made by U.S. manufacturers, made only from U.S. components - except in the case of emergency?

And what was Shinsekiâs ãemergency?ä Why, he wanted all the troops to be outfitted with black berets by June 14, the ãbirthdayä of the U.S. Army.

Isnât it interesting that the one U.S. manufacturer to land a multi-million dollar contract to make the black berets just so happens to be located in Bill Clintonâs Arkansas? An added insult was factories in Communist China got a big slice of the contract too. All this while holding the crew (since released) of a U.S. Navy spy plane and refusing (to date) to return the aircraft itself.

Itâs public record that bigwigs in the Communist Chinese ãPeopleâs Liberation Armyä got away with making illegal campaign contributions to President Clintonâs 1996 re-election campaign. But of course, no ãquid pro quoä was involved. Certainly not! Not as long as Attorney General Janet Reno held the reins at the Justice Department.

WHAT ABOUT THE ENLISTED TROOPS?

The job of sergeant major of the Army is not to be the chief of staffâs ãyes man.ä He already has a coterie of sycophants for that. SMA Jack Tilley is supposed to be Shinsekiâs ãeyes and earsä as to what the enlisted troops are concerned about.

It is incredible that Tilley (apparently) was not consulted or given a ãheads upä about the beret scheme. If he had been told early enough, a savvy long-time NCO like him, would surely have detected the devastating impact on morale and passed the word on to his boss.

But he didnât, and we can only think that he was left out of the loop.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

On May 2, Shinseki said U.S. Army troops wonât have to wear Chinese-made berets after all. And later on last month, the Defense Logistics Agency pulled the plug on distribution on black berets by the Bancroft Cap Company.

It seems the Arkansas firm was using foreign-made materials that would have violated the Berry Amendmentâs ãbuy Americanä provisions.

A WORKABLE SOLUTION

Then Congress needs to take whatever steps are necessary to put an end to the black beret scam. Cancel the contracts. Do whatever must be done. Cut your losses. Make sure defense dollars are used for ãrealä needs, not some public-relations stunt or pork barrel project.