Quote Originally Posted by CR6 View Post
I'm not sure if A Message to Garcia teaches young leaders the right lessons. Especially if they are going to be directing tactical operations with strategic consequences, leaders need to know it's okay to ask questions, know the environment in which they are operating and gain an appreciation for the enemy situation before executing. MtG just sends the message to take the initiative blindly, without knowing what you are getting into.
I see where you're coming from on this, but I'm going to stand my ground for the following reason.

Obviously the story was written in a very different era with much different circumstances. The important points I'd like to highlight are the fact that the young lieutenant was selected due to his abilities. His leadership trusted him to get the message to Garcia. We all have the "go-to" specialist in our organizations that we call upon when it comes down to it. I'm not just talking about the orderly room either.

Perhaps it's dawning on me that my experience is perilously different from others. I had young E5s and senior corporals in charge of towns and individual AOs within my troop AO. There were certain areas I just didn't need to go to often since they had the handle on it. They had the relationships with the local leadership. They interacted with the muktar, imam, mayor, and police everyday. They made progress. I resourced them with what they needed for success. I didn't have to get involved because they were innovative junior leaders who took a commander's intent, key tasks, and end state and ran with it. Picking out the ones that understand 2nd and 3rd order effects helps too.

In that respect, I would submit that the impact of second and third order effects is much more understood at the smaller tactical level than it is at higher levels. Strategic implications oftentimes circle back around and hit a unit in the throat tactically. For this reason, many junior leaders are cognizant and sensitive to the fact that Newton's Law of Motion has real consequences in the COIN environment and that the reaction usually has dynamic and real impacts on their day to day operations.

In the context of MTG, the young LT fulfilled the desired endstate, which is really all I was attempting to highlight.