Has military leadership become too risk adverse?

I read this article a while back and I thought it was spot on about how at the company grade level you're more of an innovator, risk taker and you shed that as you move up the chain. I think there are many reasons for this and depending on where you are, when you are, and what you are doing there is going to be variance in the amount/type of risk adverseness you see.

Many of us can recall flying combat missions in theater, being shot at only to return and be verbally treated like a child when we didn't have on our reflective belt at night while walking to the DFAC.

Some of this is our culture, our political climate, financial constraints, box checking promotion system, individual personalities, civilian oversight and so on influencing this perception of risk adverseness - which I agree that we do have and often times it is misplaced (and sometimes it is in the right place at the right time).

I certainly can't speak to the other brnches, but the majority of field grade officers in the Air Force are startingly risk averse...in my opinion of course.

We have to be able to take riskbir we won't get anywhere when it really matters. But we have to also know when to take a risk and welhen to just let it go that's what makes a good leader