Of course.
But if your "number one priority is the safety and lives of your men", then pack them up and send them home - it's a heck of a lot safer here than out there with all that icky mud and noise and fighting and stuff.
Your first comment was that Allen used a poor choice of words and that “his number one priority should be the successful conclusion of the mission”.
Now you say he should pack up his troops and send them home. Pray tell how would our military have the successful conclusion of the mission if they packed up and came home before the job was done?
That is exactly what the man in the White House wants to do. Leave before the enemy is defeated!