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Originally Posted by CoLawman
It is awful difficult, and takes a special person, to sacrifice one's career by butting heads with the SecDef. .
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Well actually isn't that what leadership is all about? It doesn't matter whether it is the SECDEF or the next individual above you in the chain of command. You have an obligation to your mission and your men to stand your ground and confront the issue head on. A Platoon leader who knows that an order is going to get his men killed and does not stand before the Company Commander and state his piece is wrong. If the order stands, then the only other option is to lead the platoon from the front and take the first round. Unfortunately this is not the case because the point of departure here is sacrifice of your career or the sacrifice of the men who are depending on you to do the right thing. People at the decision making level that are driving the show are not going to hear the first shot fired that is going to take out the first troop and it is hard for me to accept that anyone watching the battle unfold on HDTV shot from a drone can feel the agony of the guy on the ground if he did not have the balls to ensure that he did all he could to provide him with the right tools and mix of folks required to do the job. It doesn't take a special kind of person to do that it is expected of any commander who is supposed to look to his troops and his mission but then, for the most part, I will agree with you that it takes a special kind of person that builds his career at the expense of his subordinates regardless of the cost. Let me end this before I get wound up. Rant over.