I think micromanagement is less of a problem now than it was ten years ago - largely because conducting real-world operations has forced it upon us. Prior to 9/11 we trained to fight the OPFOR and safety was more important than training. When safety - caution, timidity, and fear - is more important than training, then training suffers, skills dull, and leaders fall back upon their corporate America risk management concerns. I don't see how a force can avoid being suffocated by micromanagement in such a climate.

Either I was lucky or we're reversing that nonsense. Leaders cannot be successful in Iraq or Afghanistan unless they delegate to point that it hurts (at least, it hurts for someone who rose through the ranks in the 1990s Army). There were some bizarre cases of micromanagement that I observed in Iraq, but they arose from DIV and higher (example) in most cases and the rest from BDE - and it seemed that the BDE folks slowly learned, over the course of each deployment, to lay off the reporting requirements, stop worrying about minutia, and let us make them look good. The only way that my battalion commanders could have given us more leeway would be to have packed their bags and gone home. When those guys are in charge of the Army in 10 years, I think that training and leader development will get the focus that safety and MILES gear got in the 90s.