My guess is that the retired general had everything arranged...with the Pentagon’s rule in place of only Obama making the grand tour of the hospital. Then as arriving in Germany, and working up the final details...the retired general thought that he could push this past the point where the entourage is forbidden...and he would not be viewed as part of the entourage. The PA guy at Landstuhl...likely saw exactly what the retired general was arranging, and said “no”.
One can only speculate...but he likely has a cellphone on him...with numbers for AF generals at Stuttgart and Ramstein...so he starts calling and whining...demanding that they order the Landstuhl staff to let him escort Obama into the hospital and be part of the tour. The Landstuhl PA guy is just smiling...because his or her orders are from the Pentagon, and these generals within Germany have no influence over this entire act.
The second and third operatives of Obamas crew there...probably started to freak out because they don’t want any bad press. So they called Obama Central....halted the entire tour of Landstuhl....and that was it.
The retired general? Well...he probably is just one of fifty of these guys....either paid or doing this free in hopes having major influence on the Obama administration. He becomes a one-act wonder...with no real common sense.
That sounds about right to me, this ret. Gen Gration thought he could backdoor a minor rule suspension the way he saw it, and Lansthul was not having it.
Generals, even ret. ones, assume that rules do not apply to them, when they do, they tend to see it as disrespect for their rank or service, same in the Business World.
So instead of ret. General screws pooch, Obamao with egg on Nike’s, it is “the mean old pentagon would not bend the rules for sycophantic ex General...”
These guys were not politically astute. The safe choice was abide by the Pentagon rules for Obama to see the troops alone. They thought they could control the "spin" but they were wrong so now they come off as @sses.