Glad to see this post generated some discussion.

Two issues come to mind:

1. The core issue of this incident (in my opinion) is not whether or not Capt. Honors deserves to lose his job. Rather, the core issue is hypocrisy. In one sense, Capt. Honors is a victim of his own success, as well as the hypocrisy of his former leaders (many of whom are no doubt flag officers at present).

These leaders, who apparently think that these videos are an offense worthy of firing, did nothing to correct the situation four years ago when the videos were produced and shown. It is only now, when they are public, that Capt. Honors is being punished. Back then, Honors could have been given a reprimand that would not have ended his career. Today, he is relieved of command. His career is done.

The leaders who let Capt. Honors slide back in the day (probably because he was a high performer in mission-related work) weren't doing him any favors. It is their hypocrisy and failure to make a correction on a subordinate which bears as much of the blame for this as does Capt. Honors himself.

2. Second issue, and not quite as large. I've seen many comments that read something to the effect of "I'd rather have a good leader who is tactically sound and but offensive from time to time, than a poor leader who can't fight but who gets promoted because his is so politically correct."

This is a false dichotomy. There is no reason that a leader can't be tactically sound while at the same time acting in a professional manner.