Below is a copy of the Officer Evaluation Report received by LTC Daly for his performance from May 31, 1990 to March 18, 1991 (the day Thunder Squadron departed from the Persian Gulf to return to Fort Bliss, Texas). He was evaluated by both Colonel Douglas H. Starr, the Regimental Commander, and Lieutenant General Gary E. Luck, the Commanding General of the XVIII Airborne Corps. This evaluation includes his performance during the Umm Hajul fratricide.
Many of the glowing superlatives heaped upon LTC Daly are the opinions of COL Starr and General Luck, and as such, not subject to the litmus test of truth. Some of the facts stated in the narrative of this evaluation however, are blatantly false. COL Starr’s statement, capturing during one night attack an important airfield, is obviously a fabrication based upon the fratricide incident. Similarly, General Luck’s statement that LTC Daly performed the critical mission of screening the Corps flank with VII Corps … in a magnificent fashion is also very questionable, given that a proper screening action would have detected the engineers at Umm Hajul and prevented the fratricide. These two statements are the meat of LTC Daly’s performance assessment. They are the only combat actions referenced, and thus the most critical indicators of his performance. Both are also false. Undoubtedly, they played a critical role in his selection for promotion to colonel a year later.
The performance evaluation portion of the evaluation is, of course, the sole opinion of the rater and does not contain any statement that can be proven as false. However, several high ratings in this area are questionable in light of the events at Umm Hajul. They are:
- Encourages forthrightness
- Impeccable judgement
- An excellent communicator
- Loyal to his Troopers
- Unquestioned integrity
- Unimpeachable moral standard
In terms of potential, both COL Starr and General Luck considered Daly to be “general officer material.” In other words, they both believed that he possessed the qualifications to rise to the rank of general, a position limited to less than one percent of all army officers.
Finally, the senior rater, General Luck, gave Daly a “top block” rating. This indicates that General Luck perceived Lieutenant Colonel Daly to be in the top 10% of all officers he rated. Of course, General Luck gave the same rating to 141 out of 183 officers he rated … about 77%. Either many extremely talented officers worked for General Luck, or he had some problems figuring out percentages. Still, this is probably the single most discriminating factor in selecting officers for promotion. This also placed Lieutenant Colonel Daly well on his way to a promotion to full colonel.
The rest … I will leave up to you.
