[Tommy]

Here's another perspective on Hassan and his superiors. During my 20 years in the Air Force, there were times when the service was shrinking and the Air Force did whatever it could to force/coerce/encourage un-needed people to leave. At other times, they would bend over backwards to keep people with bonus payments, perks and lowered standard of performance. From what I've read, the Army has taken a lot of heat over the high suicide rate and is desperate for qualified psychiatrists and counsellors. Sometimes, when a service gets desperate for people with specific skills, it overlooks shortcomings that only appear obvious after the harm has been done. .... I'm not trying to condone the mistakes made by Hassan's superiors. I'm just trying to say this isn't the first time lives have been lost because a service lowered its quality standards to meet a quantity requirement.