I’ve gone through multiple dozens of audits and inspections in both the Army and in business. Passing is the minimum expectation. Failing an inspection due to even a minor finding was taken very badly. It sounds like your group had the same expectation.
I never saw it as rocket science. But the elements I had no view of...was the travel/temp duty budget and spending. Maybe that was a more reckless area.i spoke once to a navy guy managing an exercise budget....getting up into tens of millions over a month. That would have been stressful.