Talk:John Kirby (admiral)

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Since Spokesperson for the United States Department of State is by far his most prominent position (watched by the world), and a current one, would there be any objection to moving this to the opening line? --OJ (talk) 11:33, 28 March 2016 (UTC)
 * No objection at all. Seems to make sense per WP:LEAD, and also for conciseness. GabeIglesia (talk) 11:48, 28 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Thanks for vote of confidence, I'll go ahead with it and see what happens. US politicians is slightly outside my editing zones so I wasn't sure if practices were different among regulars. --OJ (talk) 11:53, 28 March 2016 (UTC)
 * No objection, however as a retired member of the U.S. Military, I strongly object to using the current term "admiral" to describe John Kirby. He never attained a third or 4th star.  It is only acceptable to refer to a one or two star generals or admirals as "general" or "admiral" in verbal communication, not written.  Thus, his current title is quite objectionable...  inflated! Further, it does a disservice to 3 and 4 star admirals who earned their stars.  TruthandIntegrity (talk) 13:20, 3 November 2023 (UTC)

Would it be fair to describe Kirby as a partisan Democrat inasmuch as he seems only to work as a spindoctor for Democrat politicians? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.49.27.38 (talk) 21:17, 22 May 2022 (UTC)

Pic of Two Star Real Admiral Rank Incorrect
Hello. There is no evidence provided on this site nor in the accompanying links to suggest that Kirby was a Rear Admiral (Upper Half) in the US Navy, otherwise known as a "two star" admiral. In fact, the accompanying link from congressional records supporting the claim that he was promoted to Real Admiral, is that of "lh" (which means "lower half", or one star admiral). Yet the illustration you use as shoulder boards for his rank is that of a Real Admiral "uh", or Upper Half (i.e. two star admiral), which is misleading.

The two "real admiral" ranks are not equivalent, obviously. Kirby achieved the lower, one star rank (his picture clearly shows this rank as well), not the two star rank. Might one registered here change this rank in the shoulder board illustration back to the position he actually achieved at the height of his service, that of Real Admiral, Lower Half (One Star Admiral)? Let's keep it real! Thanks. 153.172.27.193 (talk) 10:37, 2 May 2023 (UTC)


 * John Kirby *is* a 2-star Admiral, which is quite easy to verify if you are as familiar with the ranks as you present you are. First of all, in the references, multiple references refer to him as a 2-star, (e.g. see Ref. 7 & 9). You are certainly correct that the image this article currently uses in the Military Career section is that of a 1-star Admiral, you can tell that by the single fat bar on the sleeve. If you had done a simple image search on any of the various web search engines, you'd find numerous examples of him in a 2-star uniform (with the second gold bar on the wrist of the sleeve).
 * Both my grandfathers were the most recent in my family to serve IN the military; but both my folks and myself have served significant amounts of time WITH the military, and hold extremely high regard for those who serve honorably in uniform. This article currently is "real" and "let's keep it" that way. Don't limit your understanding to someone's service by what you find in their Wikipedia article, you should never trust anyone's Wikipedia article as an authoritative source of their service record, but when you find a real mistake *not an assumed one like here, update the article to improve its accuracy. Fortunately, Wikipedia already accurately reflects Admiral Kirby's achievement of a 2-star Rear Admiral rank in the United States Navy. 71.56.126.143 (talk) 21:06, 9 June 2023 (UTC)


 * Here's an article and a pic that indicates that Kirby is a 2 STAR rear admiral. Quoting source, the same one that mentions McCain calling Kirby an idiot, I think: "Kirby, always sporting his two stars and service ribbons, is the most visible face of the Pentagon in years and its first active-duty military press secretary. Most of his predecessors were political appointees or loyal staffers who followed their defense secretaries..." The photo, which for which the licensing doesn't allow use by Wikipedia, shows what IP user mentions, a very thick gold bar on Kirby's sleeve as well as a second, thinner gold bar on the same sleeve, about an inch up from there. Date is November 2014, so he has been 2 stars for awhile.--FeralOink (talk) 13:27, 30 June 2023 (UTC)