Rather than some sort of blanket "my chain of command is always right and must be followed" logic, the armed forces need firebrands and risk-takers to shake up the ossified leadership and to eliminate rigidity of thinking.
Sometimes we need tough articles in the military gazettes, sometimes we need men willing to risk their careers to speak out to the public "skylining" stupidity and failure ("Skylining" refers to holding offenders up above the skyline to make them targets).
The author of this piece is clearly one of the problems - he is a member of an establishment that sees dissent as injurious to "good order and discipline" as if this were still the Royal Navy. Dissent is the lifeblood of the revolutionary change all successful military organizations must undergo as war and warfare change.
Free Stuart and jail Milley!
Rather than some sort of blanket “my chain of command is always right and must be followed” logic, the armed forces need firebrands and risk-takers to shake up the ossified leadership and to eliminate rigidity of thinking.
That’s my main issue. Every officer in Scheller’s chain of command rubber stamped throwing him in the brig. OTOH, every officer in Vindman’s chain of command rubber stamped using an army officer as a pawn in a hoax impeachment of a sitting POTUS. Clearly, this is a problem that goes way beyond “Obama” generals.
There is a real sickness in our military institutions that is reflective of similar issues in society at large. It seems many do not want to face that ugly truth. We can’t fix this problem unless we acknowledge it.