Having worked for my fair share of idiots...lol

Rik has a good point right after his first sentence(and maybe further down too.). I do think the FS thrives on a vast array of independant thinkers and amazing personalities. If we didn't have that particular trait we would never come up with half the tools we need(mental and physical) to get a job done. However, I WILL go along with what the FS is starving for is discipline. Not the standing in a row with all our shirts the same and blahblahblah... people who are mission focused and able to carry out a job and maintain in-house relationships because of self-control and vision.

The problem with the following less-than-ideal leaders will forever be that we put people in thise positions that do not belong there. Maybe they are whip-ass firefighters or paramedics or a desired minority (another touchy argument for later after our first round of margaritas). Maybe they scored the highest on a 100 question test prepared by the Civil Service Commission who are comprised of....no firefighters or officers. None of the aforementioned traits culls out idiots and instills people that are a)good tacticians b)excellent people managers c)comprehnsive and foresightful thinkers.

We all know that almost nobody gets dinged for being mistakes of the fireground. We are all good at following orders and that should be easy to fix. Where officers get into trouble is dealing with the subordinates. Many have no idea how to manage day to day operations of firefighters with diverse needs and personalities yet we spend a fourth (or a third depending on your shiftwork) with these people. They are regularly rude, violate the law, are inflexible, and act like it is just a giant slumber party everynight. Now, that being said.... those types are fortunately in the minority. I think. I hope.

So... I didn't provide any solutions though we can also debate the neccessity of an Assessment Board (OoOoOOooooooOoO!) later.

Independent thinking is CRITICAL to safe firefighting, and paradoxically can be detrimental to the same. I have worked for 3 of my 5 seasons for the same captain, who knows I am an independent thinker, and is one himself. When he receives orders from his supervisor, he goes through a process of figuring out how he can best accomplish the objectives he has been given. Sure, they may have said that they want line from A to B, or lighting done from C to D, but is he going to put Guse on lookout, Ryan on a torch, and what to do with Behr? He has to decide how his resources will best be put to use, and also think of his crew's morale. Maybe Guse has been on lookout for the past ten days and it's worked out the best so far, but wouldn't he like to do some lighting or cut a little line by now? There's a balance between who's best suited for which job and keeping your crew happy. They are humans, after all, and they have goals and feelings and maybe so and so needs to work on his squadie taskbook, etc., etc. There's dozens of considerations for thousands of different situations and dynamics and for those dynamic situations you need someone who can think on their feet, not a robot that carries out the latest commands you've plugged into it. You need someone who can occasionally envision a better plan or an adaptation of the current one.

Now, you don't want naysayers. Someone who bitches and moans about every assignment because "this is stupid" and hurts the productivity of everyone, including the poor supervisor that has take time to deal with it. That's not an independent thinker, that's a whiner. Anyone can be a whiner, and most people ARE at some point or other during the season. The thing is to not make it a constant habit, because that's just annoying.

Chain of Command to me means you are responsible to your immediate supervisor and responsible for your immediate subordinates (or "peons" as Guse likes to call them). This means you are justified in submitting your ideas if they will help your supervisor achieve the objectives more efficiently. Most of the time, new ideas are not justifiable. We've been doing this a long time, and chances are your supervisor has been doing it longer than you, so shut up put your head down and keep cuttin'. Every once in a while a situation arises where you might have a piece of information that will be helpful: "I saw a big log that crosses this stream about 2 chains back, it'd probably be better than going almost up to our knees here."
Some say nay to such helpful remarks as that. Pretty hardcore, the "do as I say when I say" school. Which I can advocate, because it lets people know where they stand and prevents insubordination. But I also think it keeps people from speaking their mind about most anything, which includes safety issues. The more information, the more minds, the better. Yes, we need to understand that when it comes down to it we follow one person, but we also need to understand that these are humans and the more brainpower we have the better off we are.
I have been lucky to work on the crews I have worked on, they have all been excellent in terms of fire safety and knowledge. My captains and squadies have all been responsible, independent thinkers and each and every one has given me experiences and information that has and will continue to help me in and outside of fire.