Quote Originally Posted by Ken White View Post
In that last paragraph, you synthesized what some in the Army refer to as "On the spot corrections" (one of the biggest leadership errors ever...) and of which others have said "I see a problem, I own it and must fix it." That gets carried forward to the old 'Pottery Barn rule' fallacy.
Back during Shy Meyer's "Hollow Army" days we had a small pocket-sized handbook called something like the Commander's Guide for Maintenance. It had such useful indicators and tips as the following:

-- "Are the tires flat?"

-- "Does radiator coolant and oil leak out of the vehicle and make puddles on the pavement of the motor pool?"

-- "Do flames and smoke come out of the engine compartment when the engine is running?"

That's from the same U.S. Army that was 30 miles from Berlin on V-E Day in May 1945.