The author has never been in the military and does not know what he’s talking about. If the CSM thinks checking his soldiers socks is important to him, then it is important to everyone else. My thoughts, based on 20 years in the Navy, is he was nipping something in the bud. Maybe everyone was getting too lax about other or all the rules. It’s called discipline and uniformity and it’s all about paying attention to detail. You get a lot of that in boot camp.
The author doesn’t claim to have been in the Military. As a matter of fact he writes that he served as a civilian in Iraq. There were many that did. He was not the only one, I am sure. Remember the time after the war started some of those terrorists blew up that bridge (I don’t remember where exactly and many of those US civilians were killed.
Yes, discipline is important, though not to a micromanaging degree, especially during active war, etc.
See my comment I just posted about socks specifics.
I’ve been in the military. And while CLEAN socks - if possible - are a good thing, the color of socks is not. Part of my time, white socks - ALL white - were the acceptable color. We had a special run made of white socks with stripes on the toes.
BTW - I ended up with both V-neck and round neck T-shirts in abundance. Seems like every other squadron required a different style. Just DUMB. Remember when one squadron switched from V-neck to round after the Sq/CC’s wife complained she could see chest hairs sticking out!