Hmmm, no actually I disagree with your Shipman analogy.
That would suggest that the CDS was mad, or his judgement was in question. Neither of these seem to be the case, he is just a little portly.
Torpy was always very keen with regards to the RAFFT, but was probably the poorest CAS in a generation. Are we saying that Torpy was a good leader because he was up to date RAFFT?
I am not disagreeing with you, just merely pointing out that there is more to running a branch of the armed forces than just the ability to trot up and down a gym, especially when you reach CGS and are of advancing years.
The Chief Tech analogy works no better. One would hope that the General was unlikely to be supervising an engine change in the desert.