I'd Like A McChystal with Extra Catch-Up Please

"Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off."  - Gen. Colin Powell

So General McChystal talked badly about his boss and his bosses people.  Groundbreaking. 

I cancelled my subscription to Rolling Stone years ago because they represent the bubble headed sector of pop culture that makes a thinking girl squirm, much like anytime Kim Kardashian speaks.  At what point did they think "Hey, we should give Rolling Stone unprecedented access to the commander when he's in the war zone!  Later we can comment on his feelings about Lindsay Lohan and talk Tomahawks!"  I can see Newsweek there.  I can see Time there.  Hell, Playboy makes sense given they still have some of the best writers around and all men can claim temporary titty-insanity. (seriously, I think it's Number 11 in the Bill of Rights)  But Rolling Stone? 

Put me in a room with a reporter during an extremely stressful time in my job. Then give me a boss who has never worked in my field and knows nothing of what I endure to get my job done. I'd probably lob a few shots at him too.  Then later I'd remember someone not in the trenches of the job is listening. 

This country has gotten too sensitive and soft.  Many people believe they are entitled to do anything and no one has the right to criticize their performance.  If someone does criticize their performance then the critic is called on the carpet for what they "said".  But the sensitive one isn't called out for the mediocre performance that caused the critic to make those statements in the first place.

We must stop glossing over mediocrity. It allows everything to continue in precisely the same avenue it was before - mediocre.  This is especially true in the face of war.  A war that is 9 years long and can hardly be described as successful.  To expect soliders in the war zone to not make a critical comment is dangerous.  If they are thinking about the words that are coming out of their mouths then they are not thinking about the more important things, like how to survive and the reasons they are there in the first place.

If the adminstration doesn't want to hear negative comments and take them for the truth they may reveal then the armed forces need to stop letting their soliders be shadowed while on the front lines.  When I worked on intense projects for my company you didn't see me letting the in-house newsletter writer sit around recording  every time I said someone was being an idiot at 3am.  Get real, get a thicker skin, and get over it.

On to more important topics, when is McDonalds going to come out with the McChystal that features extra Catch-Up and comes between two slice of shoe leather?