I have a little real life experience with following a bad idea to its end......its very hard to get away from bad orders or bad leaders. Remember that although it is an officers duty to point out any problems or defficencies in a plan to superiors, he is expected to follow in the end. Poor old pilots, with no comms its a bit hard to convince the lead otherwise. Its screwed up, but most leaders get to their position not by ability, but by their ability to keep emotionally cool while everyone else goes nuts.
Some lucky followers get a real warrior like MVR or McCudden who balance the emotion with the ability, too many get leaders blinded by there own sense of greatness.