I think that what Whenurhappy said will resonate with a lot of service personnel. My experience from the sharp end of the Air Force (SH Aircrew) is that the command structure didn't do much to assist me in my job and that latterly (2000 onwards) there was an increasing tendency by VSOs to burden the frontline with tasks that did little to enhance operational capability.....and often hindered it. I have no doubt that the top echelons could be significantly thinned out without detriment to operational output. There has been talk of multi-hatting but I think a root and branch review would reveal much nugatory or duplicated work. I accept the limitations of my lowly perspective but consistently had the impression that too many of my superiors were not task-focussed and as a result capability suffered.