Why Senior Military Leaders Fail...

[The Reaper]

My understanding was that with Walter Reed on the BRAC list, they had cut the funding for maintenance to the bone.

IMHO, the hospital CO took one for the team.

TR

[troy2k]

... from my understanding, had an institutional issue, borne of a mentality I can only call "wrong."
My friend, a double amputee still on a team (just so you can base the type of person I am talking about), was there. Recovering from his surgeries, bed-ridden, he was ordered to formation the next day, lest he be called AWOL. This was the norm for daily business, not the exception.
The idea that this was an institutional issue is further borne out by the fact that after the MD (a general officer of course) in charge of WR was fired, he was replaced by the first Non-MD GO to command WR in its history. They wanted to change the paradigm.

Speaking to Afghanistan:

The replacement of McKiernan reminds us that senior leaders have prerogative to build the team they feel is best suited to execute the selected strategy.

How troubling is it then that the replacement for McKiernan was fired as well? What must have gone through Petraus's head when he got that phone call? In my mind this speaks to more than just the book answers for why these GOs were relieved of duty.