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WaPo article on Bannon in the military, 1976-83: Ambitious, obnoxious, uppity Reagan fan
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-bannons-navy-service-during-the-iran-hostage-crisis-shaped-his-views/2017/02/09/99f1e58a-e991-11e6-bf6f-301b6b443624_story.htmlBannon’s ship, the USS Paul F. Foster, trailed the Nimitz, which carried helicopters that would try to retrieve the hostages. But before the mission launched, Bannon’s ship was ordered to sail to Pearl Harbor, and he learned while at sea that the rescue had failed. A U.S. helicopter crashed into another aircraft in the Iranian desert, killing eight service members and dooming the plan to liberate the hostages.
“I have the perfect word” for how the crew felt upon learning that the mission failed, said Andrew Green, one of Bannon’s shipmates. “Defeated. We felt defeated.”
As Bannon has told it, the failed hostage rescue is one of the defining moments of his life, providing a searing example of failed military and presidential leadership — one that he carries with him as he serves as President Trump’s chief strategist. He has said he wasn’t interested in politics until he concluded that then-President Jimmy Carter had undercut the Navy and blown the rescue mission.
-snip-
A review by The Washington Post of Bannon’s naval career, based on interviews with more than 25 shipmates and an examination of deck logs stored at the National Archives, found that his service was steady but unremarkable. Bannon’s naval service is the least-known part of his career, and many details have not been previously reported. The records show that his deployments never involved warfare, and the closest he came to conflict may have been his brief experience at the edge of the hostage-rescue fiasco.
Still, the experience shaped his thinking. He saw the military buildup under President Ronald Reagan, and the hostage-taking in Tehran continues to inform his view about that region of the world, as well as the role of U.S. military power and its commander in chief.
-snip-
“He wasn’t the best engineer we had, but he wasn’t bad. He was basically an above-average officer,” said Robin Mickle, a retired Navy captain.
Mickle said he did not get along personally with Bannon and found him “obnoxious” at times.
“His only problem was that he wasn’t in it for the long run. He never really wanted to stay. He told us it would look good on his résumé if he went into politics. The politics part didn’t impress any of us.”
-snip-
Greg Garrison, who served as an engineer on the Foster, said: “What I remember was he was kind of uppity; he didn’t get along with enlisted men. He just kind of stuck his nose up at us.”
-snip-
In October 1980, with the Foster in port at Long Beach, Bannon went to Masso’s home to watch a Carter-Reagan debate. “He watched that debate like a prizefight,” Masso said.
Three months later, after Reagan won the election, Bannon was working for the new president, serving as an assistant in the office of the chief of naval operations at the Pentagon. He watched with satisfaction as Reagan increased the military budget and strengthened the Navy, with most of the focus on combating the Soviet Union. He served for three years and simultaneously studied national security and earned a master’s degree at Georgetown University.
-snip-
Patrick McKim, who also served with Bannon at the Pentagon and has remained a close friend and sometimes writes for Breitbart, said that the period is crucial to understanding Bannon’s development. When Bannon arrived at the dawn of the Reagan era, McKim said, the military was still trying to emerge from the post-Vietnam era and the failed hostage rescue.
“People made you ashamed to be an officer,” McKim said in an interview arranged by a Bannon associate. Reagan’s arrival and the military buildup changed that view, and Bannon idolized the new president. Two years before Bannon left the military in 1983 and headed to Harvard Business School, he told McKim that he had a vision of his future.
“He mentioned that he’d go to Harvard and come back and be secretary of defense,” McKim recalled.
-snip-
“I have the perfect word” for how the crew felt upon learning that the mission failed, said Andrew Green, one of Bannon’s shipmates. “Defeated. We felt defeated.”
As Bannon has told it, the failed hostage rescue is one of the defining moments of his life, providing a searing example of failed military and presidential leadership — one that he carries with him as he serves as President Trump’s chief strategist. He has said he wasn’t interested in politics until he concluded that then-President Jimmy Carter had undercut the Navy and blown the rescue mission.
-snip-
A review by The Washington Post of Bannon’s naval career, based on interviews with more than 25 shipmates and an examination of deck logs stored at the National Archives, found that his service was steady but unremarkable. Bannon’s naval service is the least-known part of his career, and many details have not been previously reported. The records show that his deployments never involved warfare, and the closest he came to conflict may have been his brief experience at the edge of the hostage-rescue fiasco.
Still, the experience shaped his thinking. He saw the military buildup under President Ronald Reagan, and the hostage-taking in Tehran continues to inform his view about that region of the world, as well as the role of U.S. military power and its commander in chief.
-snip-
“He wasn’t the best engineer we had, but he wasn’t bad. He was basically an above-average officer,” said Robin Mickle, a retired Navy captain.
Mickle said he did not get along personally with Bannon and found him “obnoxious” at times.
“His only problem was that he wasn’t in it for the long run. He never really wanted to stay. He told us it would look good on his résumé if he went into politics. The politics part didn’t impress any of us.”
-snip-
Greg Garrison, who served as an engineer on the Foster, said: “What I remember was he was kind of uppity; he didn’t get along with enlisted men. He just kind of stuck his nose up at us.”
-snip-
In October 1980, with the Foster in port at Long Beach, Bannon went to Masso’s home to watch a Carter-Reagan debate. “He watched that debate like a prizefight,” Masso said.
Three months later, after Reagan won the election, Bannon was working for the new president, serving as an assistant in the office of the chief of naval operations at the Pentagon. He watched with satisfaction as Reagan increased the military budget and strengthened the Navy, with most of the focus on combating the Soviet Union. He served for three years and simultaneously studied national security and earned a master’s degree at Georgetown University.
-snip-
Patrick McKim, who also served with Bannon at the Pentagon and has remained a close friend and sometimes writes for Breitbart, said that the period is crucial to understanding Bannon’s development. When Bannon arrived at the dawn of the Reagan era, McKim said, the military was still trying to emerge from the post-Vietnam era and the failed hostage rescue.
“People made you ashamed to be an officer,” McKim said in an interview arranged by a Bannon associate. Reagan’s arrival and the military buildup changed that view, and Bannon idolized the new president. Two years before Bannon left the military in 1983 and headed to Harvard Business School, he told McKim that he had a vision of his future.
“He mentioned that he’d go to Harvard and come back and be secretary of defense,” McKim recalled.
-snip-
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