'The Darker Side of Cohesion': A military problem I'd like to read more about

During the summer, the Best Defense is in
re-runs. Here are some favorites that ran in late 2012 and in 2013. This item originally
ran on April 4, 2013.

You don't see much
discussion of the downside of cohesion, so I was interested to see this
comment by Pete Kilner on page 70 of the April issue
of ARMY:

A team is too
cohesive if its Soldiers prioritize their loyalty to each other above their
loyalty to Army values. Such a team risks covering up unethical behavior and
dealing with it solely ‘in house.' Leaders must ensure that cohesive teams are
as loyal to our professional values as they are to each other.

Tom again: This made
me wonder. We had very cohesive small units in Iraq and Afghanistan. How did
this change the conduct of the war? Has anyone examined abuses in the context
of high- and low-cohesion units? I know, it might be impossible, because if
Kilner is correct, then abuse by high-cohesion units disproportionately won't
be reported.

My bet is that one of
the signs of real trouble is when the cohesion is at odds with the chain of
command. I remember seeing a Marine platoon in Somalia where the platoon leader
was out of it, almost shoved aside by a charismatic NCO -- who turned out to be
a natural-born criminal.