The most alarming aspect of this event, one that strikes at the heart of the U.S. military professional ethic, is not 20 years of failed Afghanistan policy, a botched withdrawal, or one officer’s failed attempt at martyrdom, but rather the deep divide the debate that followed exposed within the ranks. When field grade officers and senior enlisted leaders publicly endorse the mutinous actions of a sitting commander because they share his pain, incredulity, or disdain for the current administration, politics has supplanted the professional ethic. How did the military fail institutionally to enforce norms in which personal political views were not shared publicly by officers?