Leadership techniques have to vary according to circumstance and audience. Mr. Ewing apparently comes from the school that believes 'one size fits all' and that enforcing Army policy trumps leaders employing common sense, military judgment, and effective techniques. My first platoon was filled with poorly-educated, drug-drenched, ambitionless thugs - back in the day when it was nearly impossible to chapter out poor performers. By the time I assumed company command, the majority of those folks were gone, replaced by brighter, better educated troops eager for promotion (God Bless Ronald Reagan). Guess what? We had to use different ways to motivate different kinds of troops.
By the time I assumed battalion command, I had an NCO Corps that had forgotten how to motive the unmotivated - the Army had made getting rid of poor soldiers so easy that working with them (or working them over) was too much trouble. I am glad, in a sense, that the NCOs have rediscovered the wonderful talent for imaginative correction.
I've always thought that the perfect punishment (for me anyways) was walking the area at West Point. It was so humiliating, painful, and utterly pointless that a dozen hours of it was more than enough to motivate me to comply with West Point standards (at least until I was eligible for room con).
Originally Posted by Norfolk
"A Sherman can give you a very nice... edge."- Oddball, 
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