First, a tribute to Chuck Martin for telling me this story. I welcome your fact checking and editing, Chuck.
From 1970-1974, I had the privilege to work at the Air Force Accounting and Finance Center in Denver, Colorado.
One of the reasons it was a privilege, was the finest small cadre of young officers that I was able to work and party with. Another reason was the much larger group of senior civilians that taught me a helluva lot about the Air Force accounting and finance systems and about life, itself.
The small cadre of military officers included one colonel, who I learned a bunch from, but who was known to be a “hard ass” by the enlisted men. (and us junior officers).
A local popular radio station was having a donation contest for charity. The Denver Zoo just acquired a baby orangutan. The contest was a “Name the Orangutan Contest”. To nominate a person, you had to make a contribution. The name with the highest amount of donations would be the winner.
In summary, the “hard ass“ colonel was the leading name. That colonel got the word and I’m told he wanted to find and punish the anonymous contributors.
Think of all the points he would have made if he came out and told the troops, “I hear I’m in the running for the orangutan’s name. Here’s ten bucks. If I don’t win it’s your butt“.
It was definitely a “lesson learned” for me about leadership. Whatta you think? Enuf