What strikes me about Baggers is that he's is the only Air Ranking Officer in the current mainstream that speaks to his people in plain english, without the usual on-message management speak and this comment is typical of that style.
I don't think that anyone should bemoan him for the last paragraph; I've been impressed on the 2 or 3 occasions that I've met him that we still have someone on high that connect with people of all ranks. If he's been reigned in by the management, then so be it; perhaps that speaks more of their weakness, rather than of this man and his principles.