The Army Chief of Staff is looking hard at the quality of Army leadership in the force today, and in my view he's doing the right thing. In the past year, for example, we read about brigade and battalion commanders being relieved...some for performance, some for questionable judgement. We also see very high percentage rates of officers being promoted...much higher than in the past...a sign of the Army perhaps being more concerned with filling slots than with having the best at the top.
Then today, I read in the Army Times online about three brigade commanders in Korea who "performed a skit" at a social event, that was definitely edgy and perhaps crossed the line in relation to the Army's "don't ask, don't tell" policy elimination. Why a brigade commander feels they have to try to be edgy or funny in front of an audience made up of other senior leaders is beyond me. Each was reprimanded and of course their careers are over...and that's not to say these guys did not have a future ahead of them in the Army, given they were all combat veterans with excellent performance records.
I'm not saying senior leaders in the Army have not done "edgy" things before, nor am I saying that it's all necessarily bad. I am saying that there is a place and a time to be edgy, and it's probably good advice to ask yourself first, how close to the line am I, and if the answer is "close", then maybe it's better to stop before you cross the line, by design or by accident.
