Quote Originally Posted by Ken White View Post
I think "the source of the order is less than totally transparent" fact bothered me more than anything...)
Additionally, what was the educational objective? It doesn't sound like there really was one. The problem as I see it is relevancy. The order appears irrelevant to the course material, hence people are left to speculate as to the order's purpose. Since it was a political speech, it's inevitable that people are going to connect the dots and ask questions about politicization. FWIW, I seriously doubt there was any political motive in the order. I believe it was lawful and everyone had a duty to obey it, but I agree with Ken that it was ill-advised.

SPECULATION ALERT: I've been around long enough to see subordinates to GO's take their often off-the-cuff remarks and run with them. A GO throws out an idea to elicit feedback, suggests it might be worth looking into and someone down the line (usually field grades - sorry, but there it is) turns it into a GO-directed order for his/her subordinates. It sounds to me like this might be such a case.