@ Finest Kind
I would direct you to the work of Michael Focualt, who said (something like)
All truth is illusion, the illusory nature of which time make us forget.
@ 500n
That is, unless we pander to every left wing hippy / gay rights et al who thinks it is all a popularity contest.
In his excellent tome, On the Physcology of Military Incompetence, Dixon points out that the sexually liberated tend to do very well in military command, whilst the anally retentive are generally found getting their men to charge machine gun posts or take on numerically superior hoards of bad-tempered Indians. Quite a few famous military leaders have swung it both ways.
Also, having read the whole thread I can't find any "naysayers" of Guy Gibson. We are (me included) in awe of the achievements of this incredibly brave and skillful leader, even if he was an arrogant ar*e.