USMCFLYER--

That anti-commander attitude has been fostered by the very tip-top of leadership in the USAF heavy world. Easy to understand why guys feel that way. I'm not trying to excuse it--and I certainly don't subscribe to it--but I understand why some have that point of view.

Dial back the clock (recent past) to the C17 that landed half-on the runway at the same airfield. The independent investigation determined that the #1 factor in the mishap was fatigue. On briefing this to the then-AMC commander (general X), he threw a fit and ordered that the board release that the #1 factor was crew error.

C17 Commanders at base Y have been caught upgrading themselves to instructors and getting themselves in mishaps.

I had a commander on a previous aircraft who took down a crew for "checklist discipline" although there was no evidence for such other than maintenance said so. I believe his ultimate reason was to make maintenance trust him, but at the same time he made his operators distrust him.

I have a positive attitude about most commanders, but there are some that set some very poor examples. Sadly, those are the examples that some remember most.