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McRaven was high-level brass. Those folks get where they are by having shiny, wonderful performance reports (appraisals, fit-reps, whatever term you like) written on them extolling their virtues of leadership, management, and command. They are in charge of a large group of mostly young people. Any mistake by one of the younger folks makes a black mark on the performance report and can keep these ladder-climbing brass types from their next promotion, or delay it an unacceptable amount. So, the ones who climb up high are the ones who learn how to squash potential trouble...and since they are military, they often have great latitude in how to accomplish that because they can simply order people to either do things or not do things. Don't think for one second that mindset goes away just because they take the uniform off.

Note: this is not intended to disparage officers in general, McRaven's service, or anything of that nature. Just one former NCO's opinion formed over 21 years of service.