In the weeks since his election, Donald Trump has behaved like a giddy child on Christmas morning, arranging his toy soldiers on the carpet.

All things considered, it’s not too surprising that Trump seems determined to surround himself with generals, his campaign rhetoric questioning the competence of American officers notwithstanding. Military men, after all, are used to serving at the pleasure of the president. They are nothing if not loyal, steadfast; bellicose on the battlefield and compliant in the boardroom.

For a notoriously insecure president-elect who has trouble mustering support even from the upper echelons of his own party, a military man’s allegiance probably strokes all the right muscles.