Thanks. Commanders have an obligation to try to protect soldiers from themselves. Sounds like that was what COL Roberts was trying to do.
Well, if nothing else, Roberts proves himself to be a man of considerable restraint. I know PLENTY of bird colonels who would have been apoplectic at such insubordination, ESPECIALLY if that insubordination was communicated through an intermediary, like the XO. That statement alone could have been a career-ender. I knew a commander who was passed over because he made the mistake of sarcastically asking the ship's captain if "he was serious" when he issued a duty-change order.
Maybe Roberts cut him some slack because he was a medical officer.