Quote Originally Posted by Ken White View Post
Commanders are people and the Personnel system can put an aggressive risk taker at Bde and give him Bn Cdrs who are moderately or highly risk averse -- that and all the permutations in between. He can direct them to be aggressive but short of an OER Driven Relief for Cause or preferring charges (both frowned upon in this modern Yankee Army...) he cannot make them do it his way. There are many ways to ignore or divert the wishes of one's Boss.

I've seen more than one aggressive Bde Cdr sabotaged by one or more Bn Cdrs. Co Cdrs don't have as much latitude as a LTC must be given but they, too, play that game. Co Cdrs know all theiur Troops and are generally protective of them, they can oput a brake on a Bn Cdrs ideas. Consider also that Bn Cdrs know at least some of their Troops, a good one will know many of his 800 or so bods -- and may be possibly protective of them. Bde Cdrs rarely know many or even any of their 3K or so souls and they know they've got a shot at a star so they tend to be more aggressive.

Doctrinally, Cdrs at all levels have a responsibility for mission accomplishment and for force protection -- how those two factors are balanced is very much an individual decision and all the METT-TC factors can play into that as well.

It's all about mission, people and a pot-luck personnel system. Every unit, ever rotation, every war is different. There are never any singular answers...

As for Yemen, we might have been that abysmally stupid but I'd sure hope not. Iraq, even if poorly done, made a little sense; Yemen would not make an iota. Hunting would be bombers is a LE job, not a military effort...
At all levels lots boils down to what the specific officer can realistically assume is their overall potential. At the lower levels (Company grade) most have to "draw inside the lines" in order to not stick out too far in a negative way. At Field Grade, each officer should be doing an intraspective look and ask themselves, how far can I still go?

The attitude I had as a company commander in 1988-1989 was significantly different then the one I had as a Bn (2001-2004) and Group (2004-2005) CDR.

All Commanders are SUPPOSED to COMMAND. Not been my experince.

The ability to assess and approve risk is driven alot by the Army's over-emphasis on safety. Was surprised/shocked as a Bn CDR (O5) I could not approve any operations with a "residual risk" of Moderate. Those had to go to to the first O6, the Bde CDR. Tried to get him to delagate to his Bn CRs. No Go.