(CNN) While we respect former Secretary Robert Gates for his service to his country, we disagree fundamentally with respect to his criticism of Donald Trump in a recent editorial in the Wall Street Journal. His incorrect assertion on matters of foreign policy undermines both the significance of this election and Trump's proven track record of leadership. This is a change election with the opportunity for a true reset by a presidential candidate who is unbound by the policies of the recent past. This same past has given us over a decade of war without conclusion, a past that has allowed a fundamentalist radical Islamist terrorist group to grow and metastasize internationally, a past that has contributed to failed states, a past that has allowed our military to atrophy and a past that has our allies questioning our true resolve. A past whose lack of coherent policy has granted 3 million refugees a home in the United States since 1975 and left close to 500,000 dead in Syria in the last five years alone.Keith Kellogg and Michael T. Flynn: This election is an opportunity to elect a president not bound by the policies of the recent pastGiven his ability to learn and willingness to hold others accountable, Donald Trump is that president.
Implicit in Gates' attack on _ is either that a nation at war cannot afford for a president to learn on the job or that a potential commander in chief should enter the office with some sort of explicit military or defense experience. Lt. Gen. (retired) Keith Kellogg is a national security adviser to _.