No doubt...I know, personally, a lot of folks not this way at all...However, many times their hands are tied. I am guessing its why you share the frustration with me? This is not a one person thing I ascribe it to though I did say McPeaks name....I should more appropriately said the McPeak era. From even the words of our regulations today we get this kind of mealy-mouthed sense of what command is and is not anymore. Navy has one thing over us as aviators...The aircraft commander is fully in charge...The USAF, through its changes over the years, has gone far more into a mode of telling you what you can do at the same time what you can’t do. So refined is this at times that it limits the response options for folks in some instances. In other words, we have trended towards a paralysis on many things instead of an effectual force that can adapt to any given situation. Oh, were good as an Air Force, but at ridiculous cost and effort.
It does not have to be this way. This General did not have to lose his career over such an idiotic thing. Yet, I have seen him and others over this and less, lose a career of distinguished service while others seemingly get a pass.
Agreed re all - and McPeak is a particular “dis-favorite” of mine as well, as he was 12 AF/CC when I was in Panama and made life miserable for everybody around him. That, and the “hey, let’s make everybody look like airline pilots!” bravo sierra he institute (reversed by Fogelman as soon as he sat down in the chair, thank God). I will say that I saw cowardice in decision-making at the Pentagon during my 3 years as a reservist in DC that just turned my stomach.