To get those people we need military top brass, the Republican elder statesmen and the hunters and the fishermen etc... out there speaking on global warming. (dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com)
Over the winter of 1982 — 3 there were frequent rumours that military top brass were lobbying against his appointment, strongly denied to the press by Willie Whitelaw (Home Secretary and de facto Deputy Prime Minister) and Chief of Defence Staff Edwin Bramall. (en.wikipedia.org)
Instead he opted for a Philip Hammond, mostly because he had a decent working relationship with the military top brass. (politics.co.uk)