Last nite as I was sitting in my living room I debated on what I should watch - - - Golden Globes? 60 Minutes? Planet Earth?
After five minutes of watching the Globes my focus wandered and I flipped to 60 Minutes. I'm glad I did - they had a 12 minute plus piece on the new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The piece profiled Admiral Mike Mullen as he gears up to take orders from the new President. Mullen talks about his first encounter with President-elect Barack Obama and his thoughts on the war in Afghanistan.
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As a military brat I was glad I had the opportunity to tune in. Mullen was great during the interview - calm, relaxed, and real. Mullen stated that when he was promoted to Admiral someone told him that "from now on you will always eat well and you'll never hear the truth again.'" Mullen said that the statement stayed with him and the piece showed him visiting troops on the ground and asking them for feedback . . . "breaking through the chain of command" as he called it, to get honesty.
I find that refreshing. The piece had several great highlights including great shots of Mullen's most recent journey to Iraq and Afghanistan (just before Christmas)and his take on where we are in the war against terrorism. Mullen also gave us a preview on the increase of troops he feels we need in Afghanistan. Overall, I'm so very impressed with the Admiral. He seems very focused, clear headed and determined to get the job done right. I was also impressed with 60 Minutes - a fair and balanced segment.
1 comment:
You know, I wasn't in for very long, but I did pick up on a pretty interesting trend. New wing cc/ group cc/ squadron cc/whatevs comes in and tells everyone that they want to break through the bs and really know what the airmen are thinking and how they can make changes for the better. Airmen speak up with their thoughts and as soon as they get behind closed doors are berated by their supervisors for an action that they feel made them look bad. I guess it's one of those things that is easy to say, but difficult to put into practice? Either way, I wish him luck in what is no doubt an incredibly challenging position!
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