FORT MEADE — The Armed Forces Network (AFN) has canceled its long-planned series “Undercover Boss: Joint Chiefs Edition" before airing a single episode today. According to multiple sources, the cancellation was primarily because almost no one was being fooled by members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff pretending to be low-ranking troops or basic trainees.
The show concept was simple: like the popular, Emmy-award winning civilian version on which it was based, senior leaders of each service tried to disguise themselves as low-ranking soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines in order to get insights into the real culture most rank-and-file troops operate in. None of the leaders seemed concerned that their age or current physical status would tip off the troops they were going to try and mingle with.
“That might have been an oversight,” admitted Capt. Dave Watterson, a program manager based out of AFN’s Riverside, California broadcast center.
“Extensive effort went into trying to make this plausible,” Watterson added. “We told the troops we were filming a public affairs video, which gave cover for the cameras and lighting. But it was quickly obvious no one was buying the story. At Lackland Air Force Base, for example, as soon as Gen. [Charles Q.] Brown was introduced as ‘a washback’ from another training flight named Airman Jones, the trainees and Military Training Instructors nearly had a collective panic attack.”
