This quote from The Atlantic online article “Two Young Officers on How the Country Let the Military Down, and Vice Versa” really struck a chord with me:
Military leaders often (privately) complain about congressional visits as a waste of time and an insult to their competence. They would prefer to be taken at their word and be left alone. But I have witnessed professional HASC [House Armed Services Committee] staff incisively tear apart the rosy picture that generals and their staffers try to paint.
So here’s my sea story.
Shortly after 9/11, as I’ve previously written about, I was re-assigned from my billet as Administrative Officer to be the Force Protection Officer (FPO) at Naval Station Everett (Wash.). There was no actual FPO job, but the commanding officer (CO) felt the revised circumstances called for having someone fairly senior overseeing security and anti-terrorism operations.