As a Navy brat who's spent much of his life on the periphery of the culture described in this article, I find it utterly familiar and darkly amusing. I don't en

As a Navy brat who's spent much of his life on the periphery of the culture described in this article, I find it utterly familiar and darkly amusing. I don't envy the people who will eventually be tasked with changing that culture; there are real security concerns with opening up as the writer describes is necessary. Yet, it is necessary, and the effort will face powerful headwinds from officials who are in no way prepared to separate legitimate concerns from their own obstinacy and bias (e.g., in my brief stint as a contractor [again, admittedly on the periphery], I saw at least two egregious examples of wholly qualified individuals being passed over for promotions, robbing the service of their expertise). The military demands so much from servicepeople, one's center has to be "set", which often means a disconnect between current leaders (who are not to be questioned) and would-be future leaders (who must know when to question anyway), and that's before "politics" come into play.