Quote Originally Posted by JMA View Post

A lot of how a young officer performs in combat will depend on how he was selected and the quality of the training received. I suggest that when the initial selection is poor we start to hear things like "leaders can be created" and "courage can be developed". Really one needs the basic ingredients from the get go which can be honed and polished and whatever.

The source document to this thread suggests that officers and sergeants should receive special training on how to command during combat by reporting, issuing orders, calling in fire support and those good things while the soldiers to his left and right are returning fire. Well I suggest that should assessed and that ability proven before the person is commissioned or long before the person makes sergeant. The ability to be able to think and act under fire is IMHO a non-negotiable precondition of any infantry officer or NCO. Outside wartime to test this one needs to create conditions in training to test this ability. Not foolproof but the better armies get it right.
Are leaders born or made? Great question and impossible to answer in my opinion. I think it's both. Some innate qualities are essential. Some need to be developed or brought to the surface.

I believe the US Army (and USMC) have done decent at developing/screening for the tasks you mention above - within the NCO Corps. At times each service has resorted more to having officers plan and manage training, and neglecting the participating bit. This hurts us.

I think the US Army has brought better training to the forefront during the GWOT, out of necessity. On the flip side. personnel strength considerations have caused us to bring people along that are not well suited for the tasks of leadership.

In the future, with likely budget issues, this is going to become problematic and that's putting it lightly.

Finally, your comments about the comments we are likely to see, such as "courage can be developed" are resonating with me. I'm beginning to see a shift to that mentality. Not that I find it impossible. Truthfully I don't know. However, it's troublesome when we speak like that with constant doctrinal revisions, new initiatives, and so forth that attempt to reinvent the military. All that tells me is that something is broke and that it was broke before the current wars. If that is indeed the case, why should we believe it won't go back to being broke once we return to a peacetime footing?