Via Small Wars Journal, a fantastic Boston Globe piece about the institutional obstacles to cultivating exceptional military officers:

For an officer rising through the ranks, the right experiences are critical. A Marine friend of mine faced a situation a few years ago in which a phenomenal opportunity lay right in front of him, but he felt pressured not to accept it. He had an offer to work directly for General Petraeus–but he knew that his current commander would see the job as veering off the standard career track, and would deny the transfer. So he had to wait for the commander to rotate out of his unit before accepting the job.

To someone outside the military, a chance to work for General Petraeus in 2005 might not seem ”off track” at all–it would seem undeniably valuable to serve so close to the officer then in charge of training and equipping all Iraqi forces. To military service members, however, this would need no explanation. Military personnel are accustomed to a system in which young officers are dependent on their commanders to recognize the value of alternative experiences, and they wouldn’t be surprised that a young Marine officer who wanted to cross service lines to work for an Army general would expect serious resistance. That friend, a much decorated and respected Marine, has since left the Corps and is now at graduate school with me.

I’m kicking myself for not writing this first. Anyone who’s spent the time reporting on young and midcareer officers has heard endless permutations on that theme. For booklength explorations, I recommend The Fourth Star.