Both can be true. Incompetence AND malice.
"Sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice."
https://archive.org/details/simplesabotagefi26184gut/page/n1...
It helped the allies win WWII. It contains lots of good advice (and the white collar chapter should be required reading in corporate training).
end of the day, his experience as a private meant nothing towards the job. perhaps he was slightly more able to relate to the needs of the troops.
now we have a reserve captain. who was pushed out of the service for extremest views and body art. his experience means he hates the army, and his selection to the post means his political views have been vindicated.
a master of strategy? leader of men in battle? CEO of the worlds biggest institution? nope. he doesn't even understand those roles.