Bwah??? This has to be the weirdest backpedal I've seen in a long time. I don't think anyone ever claimed the president was responsible for issuing military paychecks except for ignorant faithers.
Like the others, jamese likes to try to muddy up the waters by claiming either everything runs all the way up and down the chain of command, or nothing does. Both ideas are ridiculous on their face.
A base commander, for example, can issue orders on his own authority for the regular operation of the base. Most of the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan continue under standing orders originated by Pres. Bush. Lakin never claimed all decisions originate with the CinC, let alone the current CinC.
The LtC is refusing to obey orders that do in fact trace all the way back up the chain and originate with an order Obama gave to increase the size of the force in Afghanistan. At least that’s my understanding.