I think we all know and acknowledge that Olivier Armstrong respects Riza, but a thing that gets overlooked is that she mentions Jean Havoc in the same breath (in the manga: ”I know of Hawkeye and Havoc. It would be a shame to lose them.”)

it seems pretty obvious why Olivier likes Riza – her work ethic, her competence, and most importantly, her ability to keep Colonel Mustang in line (Havoc has like one of these going on for him) – which begs the question: Why Does General Armstrong Like Jean Havoc?

realistically, the purpose of this dialogue is to establish that Olivier hates Roy (or more accurately, she thinks he’s a squirrelly upstart), but doesn’t have a problem with his subordinates. that’s kind of boring, though. here are some more creative reasons I’ve come up with:

• he put up a good fight in arm wrestling
• he somehow had the good sense not to hit on her
• he can and has defeated a bear in hand to hand combat
• she actually likes his earnest country boy demeanor
• he employs a groundbreakingly efficient file organization system