Originally Posted by
Red Line Entry
Bob, you surprise me. You are normally a man of sage consideration, rather than hackneyed tropes. CAS is not the warfighter, that’s the job of DCom Ops. CAS is there to provide the strategic guidance for the whole organisaton. In a future that will be driven by cyber, uncrewed aircraft, autonomous lethality and (as ever) politics, I really don’t care whether our CAS has previously put his own pink body into an aircraft to fly in a previous conflict.
…and don’t start me on the fact that most aircrew only get to command significant numbers of people when they get to wg cdr. Engineers do that from day one!
...and that seems to me exactly where any respect for the candidate is won or lost.
There is no doubt that when an individual has demonstrably done the job, fulfilled the task, and knows what it is to serve in subordinate roles, they will garner the respect of their current subordinates and peers.
Not only that, they will have carried that respect throughout the time that they climb the greasy pole. In my experience, they, who through their diligence, ethics, skill, man management and leadership, become the "go to" person when things go pear shaped, tend to exhibit a firm, confident and inspiring hand on the tiller.
In todays world, as ever, we are war fighting, if someone is to lead from the front, then they need to be a war fighter, strategically, tactically and with a massive understanding of what is needed to win.
IG
I have no claim to fame in this regard but I always cared about the guys I lead.