>>>I never understood why there is this tendency to make military leaders into heroes. They are not better and not worse than leaders in any other area. The top

>>>I never understood why there is this tendency to make military leaders into heroes. They are not better and not worse than leaders in any other area. The top leaders most likely are just very good politicians. Historically, casualties in war were far higher than they've been lately, so successful military leaders USUALLY were lauded for their ability to not bring home friendly troops in bodybags repeatedly. Now, I'm not even sure we've seen them accomplish that. With a few exceptions they are mostly energetic, charismatic, yes-men who deliver mediocre results.[1] Having worked in a 3-star headquarters....flag officers are definitely cut from a different cloth, personality-wise, even compared to many of the Colonels I've worked for directly under them. >>>If we want heroes then it should be the poor guys who have to go to battle for no payoff and often loss of life or limb. It's not like we ignore them, almost all medals for valor are awarded to junior ranks (enlisted guys and a few junior officers). As a rough estimate, look at the living Medal of Honor recipients from Iraq & Afghanistan[2]. The only exception in recent memory is maybe the field-grade Marine officer who organized the defense of Camp Bastion[3], and he was given a much lower medal (still, a Silver Star is very impressive). [1]https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/11/general-failure/309148/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/11/general... [2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_living_Medal_of_Honor_recipients#War_in_Afghanistan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_living_Medal_of_Honor_... [3]https://www.stripes.com/news/marine-awarded-silver-star-for-response-to-camp-bastion-assault-1.257138 https://www.stripes.com/news/marine-awarded-silver-star-for-...