I gotta disagree with y’all with regards to Cain’s leadership style, at least prior to her popping her XO.
Evidently, none of you guys have ever served in the military. The way Cain reacted to Shaw’s tardiness was very mild compared to the reaming she would have gotten from any number of my former COs. And the fact that the rest of the CIC crew was in on the joke tells me that everyone knew Cain was just giving the FNG a hard way to go. It is like that in the military; life is tough, wear a cup.
As to her choice of revenge as her motivation, and by default, the crew’s, is she really that much different than Adama or Tigh? Remember Roslin and Lee having to beg for disaster pods at Ragnar? Adama was planning on doing exactly what Cain did… going out and sticking it to the Cylons… probably dying in the process, but by Gods go down with their flags flying and not quitting. Mission before all else. Hooah?
Mission. Adama’s concept of mission changed after being confronted with the stand of the President. He came to see that his first duty, was to see to the safety of those civilians. Mission tasking change. It is now no longer imperative to fight the Cylons to the death. There are 50,000 +/- people left in the universe, and they depend on Galactica, her guns and her pilots to protect them from annihilation. Adama came to understand this.
Cain did not. Then again, as Adama stated, she did not have any type of counterweight to balance the concept of making the Cylons remember who gave them a good shellacking. Mission before all. That is a concept that is sometimes difficult for those who haven’t served to actually grasp at its root level. Everything and everyone is expendable; the mission is sacred. When Cain made revenge their mission, she started down a path that only had one way to go, and there was no turning back after she terminated her XO. Should Fisk have back-shot her? I likely would have. But it is also just as likely that a Marine would have gunned me down for murdering my superior officer. Ye pays yer money and ye takes yer chances.
Comparisons were also made as to crew composition. I might be wrong, but as the Galactica was due to be decommissioned, she held a scratch crew, and likely might have beeen a mix of odds and sods who needed to be placed for a tour. The Pegasus, being a ship-of-the-line, would have had a top notch crew. Am I saying that Galactica had the dregs? Not by any stretch, but she was heading in and not expecting combat. Her crew wouldn’t necessarily have been of the same quality as Pegasus’ crew. I have often wondered at the ratio on Galactica of reserve service versus active duty crew. I would imagine that the ratio would be entirely different on Pegasus, with a MUCH higher active:reserve ratio.
Sorry for the longwinded post. Do I think Cain went round the twist? Abso-bloody-lutely. Was she always that way? I don’t think so. She seemed awfully young to make Rear Admiral. She had to have had some excellent fitreps from her former COs, especially regarding her command ability and potential. It is not normal procedure to place homicidal maniacs in charge of capital ships, give them a flag, and have the possibility of detached service, due to comm distances. It would be like putting Hannibal Lechter in charge of organ donations… not smart. Cain had to have had something positive going for her prior to the attack… and then snapped afterwards.
I’ll go back to lurk mode now. 
