I have suspected that the Admiral was prepared to go public about the Clinton Administration.
Hackworth was all wound up, because there'd been a glut of phoney's claiming medalions and rank but have never seen action. He incorrectly lumped the Admiral into this crowd.
Hack has admitted his own failure, given the Admiral's otherwise excellent standing, to make sure he had all the details, first.
Hack is not crazy.
He's frustrated by the continual lack of care for the man in the trenches; "you would think that the brass would have learned by now," kind of reaction to the cockled marionettes.
Admiral Boorda was not able to dismiss the lack of regard by the Clntonistas for our men and women in uniform and all our veterans, not to mention our national memorials. He'd "just about had it!" that having to live the Clinton's lies, keep things going in spite of the leftists' wreckles social engineering.
The irony being that the Admiral and the Lt. Col. were actually in agreement on the Clinton Administration's lack of concern for our military.
Well, the Admiral spoke volumes for the pain of living in what he knew was a hopeless situation that could not be endured by the country.
Is what happened. IMHO.
I agree with you completely.
One of the reasons I eventually left the Marines was I couldn't afford to stay in. Sure, nobody joins the military to get rich. But it got pretty bad.
I was single and had no children and I still could barely pay the few bills I had.
In 1996 my unit was notified it was being deployed to the gulf. One day later I drove out to town to pay my insurance. I'll never forget this as long as I live. There in a church parking lot was one of my young Marines, whom I knew was married and had a young child, standing in a food line. He couldn't pay rent and feed in a sky rocketing economy and buy food.
And we were about to send this Marine overseas to possibly die in another Persian Excursion. "Okay proud warriors we're going to the gulf to kick that paper hanging son of B**ch's butt once and for all. Some of you elite warriors may not come back. But it's important for your country. Now go stand in that hand-out line and beg for food."
It breaks my heart to this day.
That was the state of my Marine unit. And I think it wasn't much better for anybody else either. I remember there was a case in Kadena Air Force Base of a Maintenance Chief committing suicide because he stated clearly that a part on an aircraft needed to be replaced. His professional judgement was over-ridden due to lack of funding. The plane went up and the Pilot and Co-pilot were killed on the very next flight due to failure in the part that crew chief wanted replaced.
Jeez, sorry for the rant.
I think Admiral Boorda cared too deeply and felt too much for the Sailors and Marines who followed him... He believed strongly in his nation and saw the military a noble calling.
I think he had far more important things on his mind than ribbons. I think he was thinking about how to "turn this ship around".
And maybe may have let slip a few good ideas as to exactly how he would do it...