After following the debate between Carl and American Pride, I wanted to offer this piece of anecdotal evidence about the composition of the US Army, posted on 4 April at War Council:
For what it is worth, the composition of his platoon is not that dissimilar from the one I led back when the US Army was, arguably, at or very near its post-Viet Nam nadir.Originally Posted by First Lieutenant Scott Ginther
A lot of graphs displaying quantitative data are all well and good. Equally nice is the appeal to emotion found in a You Tube extract from a Hollywood production.
1Lt Ginther has things to say about both these techniques too:
At then end of the day, perhaps the best take away from the LT is the following:Since when did Microsoft Xcel become a leadership tool? – This is a huge pet peeve of mine. When I was a cadet, I saw way too many kids immediately go to computers, spreadsheets and power point to solve problems. Yes, these are skills you will use at nausea when you’re a lieutenant, but get outside of your own head and go work with your Soldiers.
Band of Brothers, Black Hawk Down, The Unforgiving Minute and other sources – Just because you read these books and saw these movies doesn’t make you an expert on warfare or the next Chris Kyle or Mike Murphy. Furthermore, these sources are not the benchmarks for which you should measure the fallibility of tactical or technical opinions and TTPs of others around you. These are personal accounts and reflections on leadership, personal challenges and demons, and should supplement your development as a leader, Soldier and as a person.
I suspect that if Lind's critique has any real value, then it is as a criticism of American society as a whole, not just its military.Your parents probably did a better job prepping you for leadership than anyone – If your parents taught you to get along with everybody as a kid, work in school, made you clean your room, be home by curfew and they trusted you, you’ll be alright. Being a good, honest person has gotten me much farther in my relationships in the Army than I ever expected.
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