Pegasus: Bad Leadership

Spoilage below - you have been warned.

Here is what I can say about yesterday's episode of Galactica: disturbing. Poor Sharon almost got raped :O I must say I actually cheered when Helo and Chief stormed the interrogation crew. I think the bald guy deserved to have his head smashed against the wall. How dares he to put hands on poor little Sharon. And she is pregnant for god's sake! Disturbing!

Personally I think every single Pegasus crew member is an asshole. I don't think it's their fault though. I think they are simply acting out because of the strict discipline aboard that ship. Here is what I think:

What is the difference between a good leader and a bad leader? A good leader leads by example, a bad one leads by discipline and fear. Adama is a good leader, Ms. Admiral is a shitty one. How old is she anyway? 30 something maybe? She doesn't look really experienced. She either is some kind of golden child, military genius or she was installed at this high rank due to her connections high up. She probably came from some rich family, and she got her own battlestar straight out of military school. And then her daddy made some phone calls, she schmoozed with the right crowd and she became admiral before hitting 30. She probably has very little real battle experience.

Now I might be wrong, but if I came to this conclusion, then probably 80% of the Pegasus crew did to. Even if she is a great military strategists, being an attractive woman does not help her in the authority area. Her crew simply does not respect her. Adama is a born leader - and he looks the part. Admiral whatshername looks like a stuck up floozie.

To make up for the lack of natural leadership qualities she uses crazy discipline to keep the soldiers in line. Apparently she even executed an officer on the spot for insubordination. Obviously such a thing is not good for the crew morale. You could see that when these soldiers were partying on Galactica. They were like animals who were just released from their leashes.

Adama always had to account for the civilian government, and the public opinion. Even if he didn't always agree with them, in the end he had to make some compromises to keep the fleet from breaking up, and prevent armed conflict within the fleet. He always had civilians counter-balancing the military rule. They provided the much needed reality check for the officers and commanders leading the fleet.

Pegasus had no such thing. They were a battleship, with an insecure, power crazy commander, and an intelligence office who likes to rape the subjects of his interrogations. They had no booze, no downtime and if they were disobedient they got executed via angry head shot. This is what happens when you leave military to itself without popper leadership in place. With a good, experienced commander in charge Pegasus could have been ok. But crazy Ms. Admiral simply brought out the worst in the soldiers under her command.

I think Adama is the man! Screw the bitch! Is she crazy enough to open fire on Galactica with the whole civilian fleet watching? I think if it came to open combat, Galactica has an edge. First, they have more experienced commander in charge. Second, they have the fleet behind them. Sure, most of these ships are unarmed - but few can probably do some damage.

I can't wait to see how this will turn out. The bitch is crazy, but I don't think her crew will not fight against the newly found survivors. I think she will be facing a mutiny on her ship. But that's just my guess...

Tags: battlestar, galactica, battlestar galactica, battlestar gallactica pegasus, pegasus, admiral, adama, sharon, interrogation, bad leadership, pegasus crew