Sunday, January 14, 2007

An embarrassment to NCOs everywhere...

As a former Marine Corps noncommissioned officer, I'm thoroughly appalled by Staff Sergeant Michelle Manhart, USAF posing in Playboy magazine. (Hat tip to Rob at Say Anything Blog.)

The NCO is a rated link in the chain of command, and is almost always the most important one. The NCO's authority is legally derived from the authority of the chain of command, but that's not the actual source. In reality, an NCO's authority is a product of their subordinates' respect for the NCO's technical knowledge, self-discipline, and overall moral character. Those NCOs entrusted with recruit training (as SSgt Manhart was before the USAF suspended her duty assignment) must be the best of the best in these measures.

Once SSgt Manhart's subordinates have seen her without her clothes on--or, for that matter, even heard that she has posed nude--that respect is going to disappear. The men will look at her as a sex object; the woman will simply view her as a slut. Neither will take her seriously.

It's hard to get respect for your AUTH-OR-I-TAH! when you've willfully flushed it down the toilet.

1 comment:

SallyVee said...

I'm glad a man brought this up. And I agree with you.

I peeked at the photos, natch. Nice bod, huge boobs that must be awful to drag around the field, and really really bad mall bangs. Could Playboy not have done something about the hair? Enough caddiness.

I'd be worried about the aggressive narcissism (which seems also like extreme insecurity) required to pose and yuck it up for such layouts. Doesn't seem like a leadership/team quality to me... seems more like a dangerous, possibly self destructive form of indulgence. Plus, it must make the shy types (male and female) pretty uncomfortable and distracted around her.