Mr. Shaman
Seer
September 7, 2016 - "The fact that there aren't any major names on the list — that it's short — that's what's surprising. These are not big names," retired Army Col. Jack Jacobs and MSNBC military analyst told NBC News of the list.
"There's almost no name on that list that I recognized," said retired four-star Gen. Barry McCaffrey, who added he was surprised in recognizing just a handful of names despite growing up with a father who was a three-star general, and despite spending decades in the service himself.
Underscoring the candidate's competition for military backing, Hillary Clinton's campaign answered Trump's list on Wednesday with one of its own.
Clinton's list included 95 retired generals and admirals — including several four-star generals — endorsing the Democrat's candidacy, versus Trump's 88.
Trump's 88 endorsers wrote in their open letter Tuesday that the election was an "urgently needed opportunity to make a long-overdue course correction in our national security posture and policy."
While many of the signatories had more low-profile military resumes, a handful have earned headlines for controversy.
Retired Army Lt. General William G. Boykin is known for describing the war on terror as a proxy fight between a "Christian nation" and the "idol of Islam." The rhetoric earned the criticism of President George W. Bush. Boykin was also formally reprimanded for releasing classified information in a book published in 2008, according to the Washington Post."
