You have no idea how right you are. I was considered to be a "fast burner," a "fire-breathing" maintenance officer...then I went to a munitions depot unit, commanded by a guy whose prior assignment was the Pentagon, who was followed by another Pentagon flunkie. Two people, both at least 3 years away from the REAL Air Force...who were used to saying "I'm from General So-and-so's office..." and would get their way, ALWAYS.
They were not pleased with my emphasis on "Our Mission First, Our People ALWAYS," to the point that I was continuously demeaned in front of our people, followed by less-than-glowing evaluations.
Needless to say, I did NOT make my next rank, and suddenly became a complete pariah, getting awful assignment offers...leading me to leave active duty for the Reserves, even though I had been offered to stay in until retirement. BAD move...I didn't get promoted in the Reserves either (remember I still had the awful evals written by people who had worked for big GOs in the Pentagon...) and now I am completely out of the Air Force.
Contrast my situation with that of a few guys I knew in my Year Group (1992) who were caught sleeping with the enlisted girls or driving drunk, and are now entering the promotion zone for Lieutenant Colonel.
I’m at a NAF now. Trying to get someone to make a decision is like pulling teeth. I can’t get someone to take responsibility to order a chair or software, let alone make any real decisions. The attitude seems to be, “If you don’t decide, you can’t be blamed!”
However, I’ve spent enough time with the Army to know they can be just as bad. One of my last meetings in Afghanistan was 2 hours long, discussing when the next BDE staff meeting should be held.