by The quote of the day comes from Lt. Col. William Swenson. Swenson, then a captain in the 10th Mountain Division, was award the Medal of Honor for his courageous actions in Afghanistan during the Battle of Ganjgal. During the battle Swenson continually requested both artillery and air support which was denied by higher ups.
In an after battle investigation, Swenson criticized superiors for denying artillery and air support saying it was a political decision on their part. Investigators agreed with him and reprimands were issued to two officers. It was then that the Medal of Honor recommendation for Swenson vanished from Army records for over two years. It was only after a US Marine general forced the case to be reopened that Swenson received the Medal of Honor in 2013 which was four years after the battle.
Remarking on this this, Swenson said:
“Behind every single institutional failure,” Swenson said, “there’s a name.”
Swenson is correct. We often blame bureaucracy in both government and the private sector. It should be recognized that someone somewhere made a decision or a series of decisions that led to the failure that we blame on bureaucratic policies or procedures.
