UPIJ,
I did not question his flying abilities, I agree he is a good stick, but as a captain and a check airman, he should set the standard for the company, he did the opposite. You can't tell me that he did not know what he was doing when he tried to smuggle wine in a thermos into Jeddah. The problem is that he got away with it, if anyone else did the same thing, they would have had their visa revoked on the spot and sent home, but the company backed him up, JL sent everyone a memo describing how no one else would get away with it, and it just pissed others off when others got fired for less severe issues without second chances.
If you want to call that a chip on my shoulder, then that is how it will be, but it is a matter of what is right and what is wrong and for the company to do the right thing.
All I will say is that at a previous company, we fired one captain who violated a law in a foreign country, unlike this incident, no second chance, he also knew what he was doing and took his chance. The outcome should have been the same here, it would have set an example of what happens when you smuggle alcohol into Saudi. When he did what he did, it made it worse off for all NAS/NJME crews with extra checks at customs, fines, etc... one extra hassle we can all do without