Maj Jason Watson Broke Military Rules -- and Was Right To Do So

In the Special Operations community, breaking the rules is part of the job.  Not because rules don't apply, but because mission accomplishment matters more and the community prides itself on thinking outside the box and being elite rather than being handcuffed by rules made for the lowest common denominator.  This was a value deeply held in the community and I remember every single commander call by a newly minted squadron commander including that commander telling us, "if you break the rules to accomplish the mission, I will have your back.  If you break the rules because you don't know them, I will crucify you."

Now, it takes a lot of maturity and principle and intelligence to thread this needle and it's a discussion that is absolutely rife for disagreement and claims of hypocrisy.  "Oh, you're so in love with the Constitution and yet you think it's okay to violate an FCF or a tech manual..."  It requires a serious dedication to the mission in order to square this circle.  And people won't agree.  In my view, the Air Force has a myriad of idiotic rules created by people trying to prevent stupid people from doing dumb things and I think it's perfectly fine to break those rules to accomplish the mission.

I view Maj Watson's actions in a similar light.  The ultimate mission of a military officer is to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic.  Right now, our government is almost entirely comprised of domestic enemies who are beholden to a foreign government which is a legitimate foreign enemy.

Did Maj Watson violate a military rule?  Yes.  Does that military rule make sense?  Yes, most of the time.  But given the reality today, him violating that rule was in furtherance of the mission.

We are in a bad place, our puppet government actors violate incredibly important laws on the daily while handing our nation over to a terrorist foreign government that uses child rape as just one arrow in its quiver, so I will lose no sleep over this officer breaking a rule that should be broken in order to defend the United States.