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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Armed Forces Officer, by U. S. Department
+of Defense
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Armed Forces Officer
+       Department of the Army Pamphlet 600-2
+
+
+Author: U. S. Department of Defense
+
+
+
+Release Date: May 15, 2008  [eBook #25482]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ARMED FORCES OFFICER***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Audrey Longhurst, Chris Logan, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
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+      See 25482-h.htm or 25482-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/4/8/25482/25482-h/25482-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/4/8/25482/25482-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+THE ARMED FORCES OFFICER
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Department of Defense
+
+United States
+Government Printing Office
+Washington: 1950
+
+
+
+
+OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
+
+WASHINGTON
+
+
+                                                       _November 1950_
+
+_This manual on leadership has been prepared for use by the Department
+of Army, the Department of Navy, and the Department of Air Force, and
+is published for the information and guidance of all concerned._
+
+                            [Illustration: (Signature) G. C. Marshall]
+
+
+
+
+                                                DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
+                                  WASHINGTON 25, D. C., _20 June 1956_
+
+Department of the Army Pamphlet 600-2, The Armed Forces Officer, is
+issued for the use of all concerned.
+
+By Order of _Wilber M. Brucker_, Secretary of the Army:
+
+                                                    MAXWELL D. TAYLOR,
+                                         _General, United States Army,
+                                                      Chief of Staff._
+
+Official:
+
+    JOHN A. KLEIN,
+    _Major General, United States Army,
+    The Adjutant General._
+
+
+
+
+THE
+ARMED FORCES
+OFFICER
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+    CHAPTER                                                       PAGE
+
+         I. THE MEANING OF YOUR COMMISSION                           1
+
+        II. FORMING MILITARY IDEALS                                 14
+
+       III. RESPONSIBILITY AND PRIVILEGE                            25
+
+        IV. PLANNING YOUR CAREER                                    32
+
+         V. RANK AND PRECEDENCE                                     41
+
+        VI. CUSTOMS AND COURTESIES                                  50
+
+       VII. KEEPING YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER                             63
+
+      VIII. GETTING ALONG WITH PEOPLE                               69
+
+        IX. LEADERS AND LEADERSHIP                                  79
+
+         X. MAINSPRINGS OF LEADERSHIP                               93
+
+        XI. HUMAN NATURE                                            99
+
+       XII. GROUP NATURE                                           110
+
+      XIII. ENVIRONMENT                                            121
+
+       XIV. THE MISSION                                            131
+
+        XV. DISCIPLINE                                             139
+
+       XVI. MORALE                                                 147
+
+      XVII. ESPRIT                                                 158
+
+     XVIII. KNOWING YOUR JOB                                       166
+
+       XIX. KNOWLEDGE OF YOUR MEN                                  176
+
+        XX. WRITING AND SPEAKING                                   182
+
+       XXI. THE ART OF INSTRUCTION                                 196
+
+      XXII. YOUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH YOUR MEN                       206
+
+     XXIII. YOUR MEN'S MORAL AND PHYSICAL WELFARE                  213
+
+      XXIV. KEEPING YOUR MEN INFORMED                              222
+
+       XXV. COUNSELING YOUR MEN                                    228
+
+      XXVI. USING REWARD AND PUNISHMENT                            240
+
+     XXVII. FITTING MEN TO JOBS                                    246
+
+    XXVIII. AMERICANS IN COMBAT                                    255
+
+   APPENDIX
+
+         I. RECOMMENDED READING                                    264
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE
+
+THE MEANING OF YOUR COMMISSION
+
+
+Upon being commissioned in the Armed Services of the United States, a
+man incurs a lasting obligation to cherish and protect his country and
+to develop within himself that capacity and reserve strength which
+will enable him to serve its arms and the welfare of his fellow
+Americans with increasing wisdom, diligence, and patriotic conviction.
+
+This is the meaning of his commission. It is not modified by any
+reason of assignment while in the service, nor is the obligation
+lessened on the day an officer puts the uniform aside and returns to
+civil life. Having been specially chosen by the United States to
+sustain the dignity and integrity of its sovereign power, an officer
+is expected so to maintain himself, and so to exert his influence for
+so long as he may live, that he will be recognized as a worthy symbol
+of all that is best in the national character.
+
+In this sense the trust imposed in the highest military commander in
+the land is not more than what is encharged the newest ensign or
+second lieutenant. Nor is it less. It is the fact of commission which
+gives special distinction to the man and in turn requires that the
+measure of his devotion to the service of his country be distinctive,
+as compared with the charge laid upon the average citizen.
+
+In the beginning, a man takes an oath to uphold his country's
+Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic, to bear true
+faith and allegiance, and to discharge well and faithfully the duties
+of office. He does this without any mental reservation.
+
+Thereafter he is given a paper which says that because the President
+as a representative of the people of this country reposes "special
+trust and confidence" in his "patriotism, valor, fidelity, and
+abilities," he is forthwith commissioned.
+
+By these tokens, the Nation also becomes a party to the contract, and
+will faithfully keep its bond with the man. While he continues to
+serve honorably, it will sustain him and will clothe him with its
+dignity. That it has vouched for him gives him a felicitous status in
+our society. The device he wears, his insignia, and even his garments
+identify him directly with the power of the United States. The living
+standards of himself and of his family are underwritten by Federal
+statute. Should he become ill, the Nation will care for him. Should he
+be disabled, it will stand as his guardian through life. Should he
+seek to advance himself through higher studies, it will open the way.
+
+Other than the officer corps, there is no group within our society
+toward which the obligation of the Nation is more fully expressed.
+Even so, other Americans regard this fact with pride, rather than with
+envy. They accept the principle that some unusual advantage should
+attend exceptional and unremitting responsibility. Whatever path an
+American officer may walk, he enjoys prestige. Though little is known
+of his intrinsic merit, he will be given the respect of his fellow
+citizens, unless he proves himself utterly undeserving.
+
+This national esteem for the corps is one of the priceless assets of
+American security. The services themselves so recognize it. That they
+place such strong emphasis upon the importance of personal honor among
+officers is because they know that the future of our arms and the
+well-being of our people depend upon a constant renewing and
+strengthening of public faith in the virtue of the corps. Were this to
+languish, the Nation would be loath to commit its sons to any military
+endeavor, no matter how grave the emergency.
+
+The works of goodwill by which those who lead the national military
+forces endeavor to win the unreserved trust of the American people is
+one of the chief preservatives of the American system of freedoms. The
+character of the corps is in a most direct sense a final safeguard of
+the character of the Nation.
+
+To these thoughts any officer who is morally deserving of his
+commission would freely subscribe. He will look beyond the letter of
+his obligation and will accept in his own heart the total implications
+of his new responsibility.
+
+So doing, he still might see fit to ask: "But to what do I turn my
+thoughts? How do I hold myself so that while following the line of
+duty, I will also exemplify those ideals which may inspire other men
+to make their best effort?"
+
+It is suggested that there is a one-word key to the answer among the
+four lofty qualities which are cited on every man's commission.
+
+That word is _Fidelity_.
+
+As for patriotism, either a man loves his country or else he would not
+seek commission at its hands, unless he be completely the rascal,
+pretending to serve in order to destroy.
+
+Valor, on the other hand, can not be fully vouchsafed, since it is not
+given to any man to know the nature and depth of his personal courage.
+
+Abilities vary from man to man, and are partly what heredity and
+environment have made them. If nature had not imposed a ceiling, mere
+striving would make every man a genius.
+
+But Fidelity is the derivative of personal decision. It is the jewel
+within reach of every man who has the will to possess it.
+
+Given an officer corps composed throughout of men who would make the
+eternal try toward bettering their professional capacities and
+furthering the working efficiency and harmony within all forces, the
+United States would become thrice-armed though not producing one new
+weapon in its arsenals.
+
+Great faith, rightness of mind, influence over other men, and finally,
+personal success and satisfaction come of service to the ideals of the
+profession. Were these strengths reflected throughout the officer
+body, it could well happen that because of the shining example, the
+American people would become more deeply conscious of the need to keep
+their own fibers strong than has been their disposition throughout
+history.
+
+Accepting these truths as valid, a man still must know where he stands
+before making a true reckoning of his line of advance. This entails
+some consideration of himself (_a_) as to the personal standard which
+is required of him because of his position in relation to all others
+(_b_) as to the reasons in common sense which make this requirement,
+and (_c_) as to the principles and philosophy which will enable him to
+play his part well.
+
+The military officer is considered a gentleman, not because Congress
+wills it, nor because it has been the custom of people in all times to
+afford him that courtesy, but specifically because nothing less than a
+gentleman is truly suited for his particular set of responsibilities.
+
+This is not simply a bit of self-adulation; it is distinctly the
+American tradition in the matter. The Nation has never attempted to
+draw its officers from a particular class. During World War II,
+thousands of men were commissioned in our forces who had enjoyed
+little opportunity in their earlier environments. They were sound men
+by nature. They had courage. They could set a good example. They could
+rally other men around them. In the eyes of the services, these things
+count more than any man's blood lines. We say with Voltaire, "Whoever
+serves his country well has no need of ancestors."
+
+On the other hand, from the time of the Colonies, this country has
+despised press gangs, floggings, martinetism, and all of the other Old
+World military practices which demeaned the rank and file. Its
+military system was founded on the dignity of man, just as was its
+Constitution. The system has sought ever since to advance itself by
+appealing to the higher nature of the individual. That is why its
+officers need to be gentlemen. To call forth great loyalty in other
+people and to harness it to any noble undertaking, one must first be
+sensible of their finer instincts and feelings. Certainly these things
+at least are among the gentle qualities which are desired in every
+military officer of the United States:
+
+    1. Strong belief in human rights.
+
+    2. Respect for the dignity of every other person.
+
+    3. The Golden Rule attitude toward one's daily associates.
+
+    4. An abiding interest in all aspects of human welfare.
+
+    5. A willingness to deal with every man as considerately as if he
+    were a blood relative.
+
+These qualities are the epitome of strength, not of softness. They
+mark the man who is capable of pursuing a great purpose consistently
+in spite of temptations. He who possesses them will all the more
+surely be regarded as a "man among men." Take any crowd of new
+recruits! The greater number of them during their first few days in
+service will use more profanity and obscenity, talk more about women
+and boast more about drinking than they have ever done in their lives,
+because of the mistaken idea that this is the quick way to get a
+reputation for being hard-boiled. But at the same time, the one or two
+men among them who stay decent, talk moderately and walk the line of
+duty will uniquely receive the infinite respect of the others. It
+never fails to happen!
+
+There is the other matter about how a man should feel toward his own
+profession. Simply to accept the fact that the bearing of arms is a
+highly honorable calling because the book says so should not suffice
+one's own interest in the matter, when a little personal reflection
+will reveal wherein the honor resides.
+
+To every officer who has thought earnestly about the business, it is
+at once apparent that civilization, as men have known it since the
+time of the Greek City States, has rested as a pyramid upon a base of
+organized military power. Moreover, the general possibility of world
+cultural progress in the foreseeable future has no other conceivable
+foundation. For any military man to deny, on any ground whatever, the
+role which his profession has played in the establishment of
+everything which is well-ordered in our society, shows only a faulty
+understanding of history. It made possible the birth of the American
+system of freedoms. Later, it gave the nation a new birth and
+vouchsafed a more perfect union.
+
+Likewise, we need to see the case in its present terms. One may abhor
+war fully, despise militarism absolutely, deplore all of the impulses
+in human nature which make armed force necessary, and still agree that
+for the world as we know it, the main hope is that "peace-loving
+nations can be made obviously capable of defeating nations which are
+willing to wage aggressive war." Those words, by the way, were not
+said by a warrior, but by the eminent pacifist, Bertrand Russell. It
+does not make the military man any less the humanitarian that he
+accepts this reality, that he faces toward the chance forthrightly,
+and that he believes that if all military power were stricken
+tomorrow, men would revert to a state of anarchy and there would ensue
+the total defeat of the forces which are trying to establish peace and
+brotherly love in our lives.
+
+The complete identity of American military forces with the character
+of the people comes of this indivisibility of interest. To think of
+the military as a guardian class apart, like Lynkeus "born for vision,
+ordained for watching," rather than as a strong right arm, corporately
+joined to the body and sharing its every function, is historically
+false and politically inaccurate. It is not unusual, however, for
+those whose task it is to interpret the trend of opinion to take the
+line that "the military" are thinking one way and "the people" quite
+another on some particular issue, as if to imply that the two are
+quite separate and of different nature. This is usually false in
+detail, and always false in general. It not only discounts the objects
+of their unity but overlooks the truth of its origins.
+
+Maybe they should be invited to go to the root of the word. The true
+meaning of "populus," from which we get the word "people," was in the
+time of ancient Rome the "armed body." The pure-blooded Roman in the
+days of the Republic could not conceive of a citizen who was not a
+warrior. It was the arms which a Roman's possession of land enabled
+him to get that qualified him to participate in the affairs of state.
+He had no political rights until he had fought. _He was not of the
+people; they were of him!_ Nor is this concept alien to the ideals on
+which the Founding Fathers built the American system, since they
+stated it as the right and duty of every able-bodied citizen to bear
+arms.
+
+These propositions should mean much to every American who has chosen
+the military profession. A main point is that on becoming an officer a
+man does not renounce any part of his fundamental character as an
+American citizen. He has simply signed on for the post graduate course
+where one learns how to exercise authority in accordance with the
+spirit of liberty. The nature of his trusteeship has been subtly
+expressed by an Admiral in our service: "The American philosophy
+places the individual above the state. It distrusts personal power and
+coercion. It denies the existence of indispensable men. It asserts the
+supremacy of principle."
+
+An understanding of American principles of life and growth, and
+personal zeal in upholding them, is the bedrock of sound leading in
+our services. Moral and emotional stability are expected of an
+American officer; he can usually satisfy his superiors if he attains
+to this equilibrium. But he is not likely to satisfy himself unless he
+can also achieve that maturity of character which expresses itself in
+the ability to make decisions in detachment of spirit from that which
+is pleasant or unpleasant to him personally, in the desire to hold
+onto things not by grasping them but by understanding them and
+remembering them, and in learning to covet only that which may be
+rightfully possessed.
+
+An occasional man has become wealthy while in the services by making
+wise investments, through writings, by skill at invention, or through
+some other means. But he is the exception. The majority have no such
+prospect. Indeed, if love of money were the mainspring of all American
+action, the officer corps long since would have disintegrated. But it
+is well said that the only truly happy people on earth are those who
+are indifferent to money because they have some positive purpose which
+forecloses it. Than the service, there is no other environment which
+is more conducive to the leading of the full life by the individual
+who is ready to accept the word of the philosopher that the only
+security on earth is the willingness to accept insecurity as an
+inevitable part of living. Once an officer has made this passage into
+maturity, and is at peace with himself because the service means more
+to him than all else, he will find kinship with the great body of his
+brothers-in-arms. The highest possible consequence can develop from
+the feelings of men mutually inspired by some great endeavor and
+moving forward together according to the principle that only those who
+are willing to serve are fit to lead. Completely immersed in action,
+they have no time for smallness in speech, thought or deed. It is for
+these reasons that those who in times past have excelled in the
+leadership of American forces have invariably been great Americans
+first and superior officers second. The rule applies at all levels.
+The lieutenant who is not moved at the thought that he is serving his
+country is unlikely to do an intelligent job of directing other men.
+He will come apart at the seams whenever the going grows tough. Until
+men accept this thought freely, and apply it to their personal action,
+it is not possible for them to go forward together strongly. In the
+words of Lionel Curtis: "The only force that unites men is conscience,
+a varying capacity in most of them to put the interests of other
+people before their own."
+
+The services are accustomed to being hammered. Like other human
+institutions, they are imperfect. Therefore the criticisms are not
+always unjust. Further, there is no more reason why the services
+should be immune to attack than any other organic part of our society
+and government.
+
+The service officer is charged only to take a lively interest in all
+such discussions. He has no more right to condemn the service unfairly
+than has any other American. On the other hand he is not expected to
+be an intellectual eunuch, oblivious to all of the faults in the
+institution to which he gives his loyalty. To the contrary, the nature
+of that loyalty requires that he will use his force toward the
+righting of those things which reason convinces him are going wrong,
+though making certain that his action will not do more damage than
+repair.
+
+His ultimate commanding loyalty at all times is to his country, and
+not to his service or his superior. He owes it to his country to speak
+the truth as he sees it. This implies a steadying judgment as to when
+it should be spoken, and to whom it should be addressed. A truth need
+not only be well-rounded, but the utterance of it should be cognizant
+of the stresses and objectives of the hour. Truth becomes falsehood
+unless it has the strength of perspective. The presentation of facts
+is self-justifying only when the facts are developed in their true
+proportion.
+
+Where there is public criticism of the services, in matters both large
+and small, the service officer has the right and the duty of
+intervention only toward the end of making possible that all criticism
+will be well-informed. That right can not be properly exercised when
+there is nothing behind it but a defense of professional pride. The
+duty can be well performed when the officer knows not only his
+subject--the mechanism itself--but the history and philosophy of the
+armed services in their relation to the development of the American
+system. Criticism from the outside is essential to service well-being,
+for as Confucius said, oftentimes men in the game are blind to what
+the lookers on see clearly.
+
+The value of any officer's opinion of any military question can never
+be any greater than the extent and accuracy of his information. His
+ability to dispose public thought favorably toward the service will
+depend upon the wisdom of his words rather than upon his military rank
+and other credentials. A false idea will come upon a bad fate even
+though it has the backing of the highest authority.
+
+Only men of informed mind and unprejudiced expression can strengthen
+the claim of the services on the affections of the American people.
+
+This is, of itself, a major objective for the officer corps, since our
+public has little studious interest in military affairs, tends ever to
+discount the vitality of the military role in the progress and
+prosperity of the nation and regards the security problem as one of
+the less pleasant and abnormal burdens on an otherwise orderly
+existence.
+
+It is an explicable contradiction of the American birthright that to
+some of our people the military establishment is at best a necessary
+evil, and military service is an extraordinary hardship rather than an
+inherent obligation. Yet these illusions are rooted deep in the
+American tradition, though it is a fact to be noted not without hope
+that we are growing wiser as we move along. In the years which
+followed the American Revolution, the new union of States tried to
+eliminate military forces altogether. There was vast confusion of
+thought as to what freedom required for its own survival. Thomas
+Jefferson, one of the great architects of democracy, and still
+renowned for his "isolationist" sentiments, wrote the warning: "We
+must train and classify the whole of our male citizens, and make
+military instruction a regular part of collegiate education. We can
+never be safe until this is done."
+
+None the less, the hour came when the standing Army was reduced to 80
+men. None the less, the quaint notion has survived that an enlightened
+interest in military affairs is somehow undemocratic. And none the
+less, recurring war has invariably found the United States
+inadequately prepared for the defense of its own territory.
+
+Because there has been a holdover of these mistaken sentiments right
+down to the present, there persists in many military officers a
+defensive attitude toward their own profession which has no practical
+relation to the strength of the ground on which they are enabled to
+stand. Toward any unfair and flippant criticism of the "military mind"
+they react with resentment, instead of with buoyant proof that their
+own minds are more plastic and more receptive to national ideals than
+those of any other profession. Where they should approach all problems
+of the national security with the zeal of the missionary, seeking and
+giving light, they treat this subject as if it were a private game
+preserve.
+
+It suffices to say of this minority that they are a barnacle on the
+hull of an otherwise staunch vessel. From such limited concepts of
+personal responsibility, there can not fail to develop a foreshortened
+view of the dignity of the task at hand. The note of apology is
+injected at the wrong time; the tone of belligerency is used when it
+serves no purpose. When someone arises within the halls of government
+to say that the military establishment is "uneconomic" because it cuts
+no bricks, bales no hay and produces nothing which can be vended in
+the market places, it is not unusual to hear some military men concur
+in this strange notion. That acquiescence is wholly unbecoming.
+
+The physician is not slurred as belonging to a nonproductive
+profession because he contributes only to the care and healing of the
+body, and through these things to the general well-being of society.
+Respect for formal education, organized religion and all of the
+enterprises built up around the dissemination of ideas is not the less
+because the resultant benefit to society is not always tangible and
+saleable. Hence to say that that without which society could not
+endure in its present form is "uneconomic" is to make the word itself
+altogether meaningless.
+
+In that inner power of courage and conviction which stems from the
+spiritual integrity of the individual, lies the strength of democracy.
+As to their ability to produce toward these ends, the military
+services can stand on the record. When shortly after World War II, a
+census was taken among the returned men, 60 percent said that they had
+been _morally strengthened_ by their military service in the American
+uniform. About 30 percent had no opinion or felt that military life
+had not changed them one way or the other. An insignificant minority
+considered themselves damaged. This is an amazing testimony in light
+of the fact that only a small fraction of American youth is schooled
+to believe that any spiritual good can come of military service. As to
+what it signifies, those who take a wholly materialistic view of the
+objects of the Republic are entitled to call the military
+establishment "uneconomic." The services will continue to hold with
+the idea that strong nationhood comes not of the making of gadgets but
+of the building of character.
+
+Men beget goodwill in other men by giving it. They develop courage in
+their following mainly as a reflection of the courage which they show
+in their own action. These two qualities of mind and heart are of the
+essence of sound officership. One is of little avail without the
+other, and either helps to sustain the other. As to which is the
+stronger force in its impact upon the masses of men, no truth is more
+certain than the words once written by William James: "Evident though
+the shortcomings of a man may be, if he is ready to give up his life
+for a cause, we forgive him everything. However inferior he may be to
+ourselves in other respects, if we cling to life while he throws it
+away like a flower, we bow to his superiority."
+
+Theodore Roosevelt once said that if he had a son who refrained from
+any worthwhile action because of the fear of hurt to himself, he would
+disown him. Soon after his return to civilian life, Gen. Dwight D.
+Eisenhower spoke of the worthwhileness of "living dangerously." An
+officer of the United States armed forces can not go far wrong if he
+holds with these ideas. It is not the suitable profession for those
+who believe only in digging-in and nursing a soft snap until death
+comes at a ripe old age. Who risks nothing gains nothing.
+
+Nor should there be any room in it for professional smugness, small
+jealousies, and undue concern about privilege.
+
+The regular recognizes as his peer and comrade the officer from any of
+the civilian components. That he is a professional does not give him
+an especial eminence, but simply a greater measure of responsibility
+for the success of the total establishment. Moreover, he can not
+afford to be patronizing, without risking self-embarrassment, such is
+the vast experience which many reservists have had on the active field
+of war.
+
+Toward services other than his own, any officer is expected to have
+both a comradely feeling and an imaginative interest. Any Army officer
+is a better man for having studied the works of Admiral Mahan and
+familiarized himself with the modern Navy from first-hand experience.
+Those who lead sea-going forces can enlarge their own capacities by
+knowing more, rather than less, about the nature of the air and ground
+establishments. The submariner can always learn something useful to
+his own work by mingling with airmen; the airman becomes a better
+officer as he grows in qualified knowledge of ground and sea fighting.
+
+But the fact remains that the services are not alike, that no wit of
+man can make them alike, and that the retention by each of its
+separate character, customs and confidence is essential to the
+conserving of our national military power. Unification has not altered
+this basic proposition. The first requirement of a unified
+establishment is moral soundness in each of the integral parts,
+without which there can be no soundness at all. And on the question of
+fundamental loyalty, the officer who loves every other service just as
+much as his own will have just as much active virtue as the man who
+loves other women as much as his own wife.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO
+
+FORMING MILITARY IDEALS
+
+
+Any stranger making a survey of what Americans are and how they get
+that way would probably see it as a paradox that within the armed
+establishment the inculcation of ideals is considered the most vital
+of all teaching, while in our gentler and less rigid institutions,
+there is steadily less emphasis on this subject.
+
+He would be entitled to the explanation that it is not so done because
+this has always been the way of Armies, Navies, and other fighting
+forces, or because it is universal in the military establishments of
+the twentieth century, but because nothing else would better suffice
+the American military system under present conditions.
+
+There are two main reasons why.
+
+The first is that we are an altogether unregimented people, with a
+strong belief in the virtues of rugged individualism and in the right
+of the average man to go along about as he pleases, so long as he does
+not do actual injury to society. Voluntary group cooperation rather
+than absolute group loyalty, developing from a strong spiritual bond,
+is the basic technic of Americans in their average rounds. It is
+enough to satisfy the social, political and economic needs of a
+democracy, but in its military parts, it would be fatally weak. There
+would be no possibility of achieving an all-compelling unity under
+conditions of utmost pressure if no man felt any higher call to action
+than what was put upon him by purely material considerations.
+
+Military ideals are therefore, as related to this purpose, mainly an
+instrument of national survival. But not altogether so, since in the
+measure that they influence the personal life and conduct of millions
+of men who move in and out of the services, they have a regenerative
+effect upon the spiritual fiber of the Nation as a whole.
+
+There is the second and equally important reason that, whereas wars
+have sometimes been fought for ideal causes, as witness the American
+Revolution and Civil War, war itself is never ideal, and the character
+of our people is such as to insist that from our side, its brutalities
+be minimized. The barbarian who kills for killing's sake and who
+scorns the laws of war at any point is repugnant to the instincts of
+our people, under whatever flag he fights. If we did not have some men
+of this type among us, our penitentiaries would not be filled. The
+ravages which they might commit when all of the barriers are down on
+the battlefield can be prevented only when forces as a whole believe
+that armed power, while not ideal in itself, must be made to serve
+ideal ends.
+
+To speak of ethics in the same breath with war may seem like sheer
+cant and hypocrisy. But in the possibility that those who best
+understand the use and nature of armed power may excel all others in
+stimulating that higher morality which may some day restrain war lies
+a main chance for the future. The Armed Services of the United States
+do not simply do lip service to such institutions as United Nations.
+They encourage their people to take a deep personal interest in every
+legitimate activity aimed to bulwark world peace. But while doing
+this, they keep their powder dry.
+
+Military ideals are not different than the ideals which make any man
+sound in himself, and in his relation to others. They are called
+military ideals only because the proving ground is a little more
+rugged in the service than elsewhere. But they are all founded in hard
+military experience; they did not find expression because some Admiral
+got it in his head one day to set an unattainable goal for his men, or
+because some General wished to turn a pious face toward the public,
+professing that his men were aspiring to greater virtue than anything
+the public knew.
+
+The military way is a long, hard road, and it makes extraordinary
+requirements of every individual. In war, particularly, it puts
+stresses upon men such as they have not known elsewhere, and the
+temptation to "get out from under" would be irresistible if their
+spirits had not been tempered to the ordeal. If nothing but fear of
+punishments were depended upon to hold men to the line during extreme
+trial, the result would be wholesale mutiny and a situation altogether
+beyond the control of leadership. So it must be true that _it is out
+of the impact of ideals mainly that men develop the strength to face
+situations from which it would be normal to run away_.
+
+Also, during the normal routine of peace, members of the Armed
+Services are expected to respond to situations that are more
+extensive, more complex, and take longer to reach fulfillment than the
+situations to which the majority of men instinctively respond. Even
+the length of the enlistment period looks like a slow march up a
+60-mile grade. Promotion is slow, duty frequently monotonous. It is
+all too easy for the individual to worry about his own insignificance
+and to feel that he has become lost in the crowd. Under these
+conditions a man may go altogether bad, or simply get lazy and rock
+with the grain. But nothing except a strong belief in the ideals he is
+serving will make him respond to the larger situation and give it his
+best effort. Ideals have the intensely practical end of strengthening
+men for the better discharge of duties which devolve upon them in
+their day-to-day affairs.
+
+What is the main test of human character? Probably it is this: that a
+man will know how to be patient in the midst of hard circumstance, and
+can continue to be personally effective while living through whatever
+discouragements beset him and his companions. Moreover, that is what
+every truly civilized man would want in himself during the calmer
+moments when he compares critically what he is inside with what he
+would like to be. That is specifically the reason why the promulgation
+of military ideals is initially a problem in the first person,
+singular. The Armed Services have in one sense a narrow motive in
+turning the thoughts of younger leaders toward a belief in ideals.
+They know that this is a lubricant in the machinery of organization
+and the best way to sweeten the lives of men working together in a
+group toward some worthwhile purpose. But there is also a higher
+object. All experience has taught that it is likewise the best way to
+give the individual man a solid foundation for living successfully
+amid the facts of existence, irrespective of his situation. The
+military system of the United States is not committed to grinding out
+warriors _per se_, but to the training of men in such manner that they
+will be able to play a better part anywhere, and will find greater
+satisfactions in what they do. All the time, when the service seeks to
+emphasize to its ranks what is the "right thing to do," it is speaking
+of that course of conduct which in the long run is most necessary and
+useful to the individual.
+
+As to what one man should seek in himself, in order to be four-square
+with his own life and all others who are related to his personal
+situation, it is simple enough to formulate it, and to describe what
+constitutes maturity of character. In fact, that can be done without
+mentioning the words "patriotism" and "courage", which traditionally
+and rightly are viewed as the very highest of the military virtues.
+
+No man is truly fit for officership unless in the inner recess of his
+being he can go along with the toast known to every American
+schoolboy: "My country, in her intercourse with other nations may she
+always be in the right! But right or wrong, my country!" And he will
+never do a really good job of supporting her standards if, when the
+clutch comes, he is lacking in intestinal fortitude.
+
+But there is this to be said about the nature of courage and
+patriotism, in the same breath that we agree they are essential in an
+officer of the fighting establishment--neither of these qualities of
+itself carries sufficient conviction, except as it is the product of
+those homelier attributes which give dignity to all action, in things
+both large and small, during the course of any average work day.
+
+When Dr. Johnson remarked that patriotism is the last refuge of a
+scoundrel he was not belittling the value of love of country as a
+force in the lives of men, but to the contrary, was pointing out that
+a profession of patriotism, unaccompanied by good works, was the mark
+of a man not to be trusted. In no other institution in the land will
+flag-waving fall as flat as in the Armed Services when the ranks know
+that it is just an act, with no sincere commitment to service backing
+it up. But the uniformed forces will still respond to the real
+article with the same emotion that they felt at Bunker Hill and Manila
+Bay.
+
+There is a Civil War story from one of the campaigns against Stonewall
+Jackson in the Valley. A Confederate who had had his leg shot away
+turned on his pallet to regard a Union private who had just lost an
+arm, and said to him, "For what reason did you invade us and make all
+this trouble?" The boy replied simply: "For the old flag." That may
+sound like sentiment from a distant past. But turn to the story of
+Major Devereux and the Marine defense of Wake Island. He wrote that
+the "music" had always gone sour, and had invariably broken down when
+he tried to play "The Colors." But on the morning of Pearl Harbor,
+when the flag was raised, the garrison already knew that the war was
+on. And for some reason which no man could account for, the bugler
+rose to the occasion, and for the first time, every note came straight
+and true. Devereux said that every throat tightened and every head
+went higher. Yet Devereux was a remarkably unmelodramatic fighting
+man.
+
+But to get back to those simpler virtues which provide a firm
+foundation for patriotism and may become the fount of courage, at
+least these few things would have to be put among the fundamentals:
+
+    1. A man has honor if he holds himself to a course of conduct,
+    because of a conviction that it is in the general interest, even
+    though he is well aware that it may lead to inconvenience,
+    personal loss, humiliation or grave physical risk.
+
+    2. He has veracity if, having studied a question to the limit of
+    his ability, he says and believes what he thinks to be true, even
+    though it would be the path of least resistance to deceive others
+    and himself.
+
+    3. He has justice if he acknowledges the interests of all
+    concerned in any particular transaction rather than serving his
+    own apparent interest.
+
+    4. He has graciousness if he acts and speaks forthrightly, agrees
+    warmly, disagrees fairly and respectfully, participates
+    enthusiastically, refrains from harboring grudges, takes his
+    reverses in stride, and does not complain or ask for help in the
+    face of trifling calamities.
+
+    5. He has integrity if his interest in the good of the service is
+    at all times greater than his personal pride, and when he holds
+    himself to the same line of duty when unobserved as he would
+    follow if all of his superiors were present.
+
+The list could be longer, but for the moment, we can let it go at
+that. These standards are not counsels of perfection; thousands of
+officers have adhered to them. But it should be said as well that if
+all leaders at the lower levels in all of the services were to conform
+in the same way, the task of higher command would be simplicity
+itself. The cause of much of the friction in the administrative
+machinery is that at all levels there are individuals who insist on
+standing in their own light. They believe that there is some special
+magic, some quick springboard to success; they mistakenly think that
+it can be won by bootlicking, apple-polishing, yessing higher
+authority, playing office politics, throwing weight around, ducking
+the issues, striving for cheap popularity, courting publicity or
+seeking any and all means of grabbing the spotlight.
+
+Any one of this set of tricks may enable a man to carry the ball
+forward a yard or two in some special situation. But at least this
+comment can be made without qualification: Of the men who have risen
+to supreme heights in the fighting establishment of the United States,
+and have had their greatness proclaimed by their fellow countrymen,
+there is not one career which provides any warrant for the conclusion
+that there is a special shortcut known only to the smart operators.
+True enough, a few men have gained fairly high rank by dint of what
+the late Mr. Justice Holmes called "the instinct for the jugular"--a
+feeling for when to jump, where to press and how to slash in order to
+achieve somewhat predatory personal ends. That will occasionally
+happen in any walk of life. But from Washington, Wayne, and Jones down
+to Eisenhower, Vandegrift, and Nimitz, the men best loved by the
+American people for their military successes were also men with
+greatness of soul. In short, they were idealists, though they likely
+would have disclaimed that label, since it somehow connotes the
+visionary rather than the intensely practical man.
+
+But it isn't necessary to look at the upper brackets of history to
+find the object lesson. The things that any man remembers about his
+own father with love and reverence have to do with his forbearance,
+his charity toward other men, his strength and rightness of will and
+his readiness to contribute of his force to the good of other people.
+Or if not his father, then it may be an uncle, a neighbor or one of
+his schoolmasters.
+
+In one way, however, it illuminates but half the subject to reflect
+that a man has to find purpose in himself before he can seek purpose
+in any of the undertakings of which he is a part or in the society of
+which he is a member. No man is wholly sufficient unto himself even
+though he has been schooled from infancy to live according to
+principles. His character and the moral strength from which he gains
+peace of mind need constantly to be replenished by the force of other
+individuals who think and act more or less in tune with him. His
+ability to remain whole, and to bound back from any depression of the
+spirit, depends in some measure on the chance that they will be
+upgrading when he is on the downswing. To read what the wisest of the
+philosophers have written about the formation of human character is
+always a stimulating experience; but it is better yet to live next to
+the man who already possesses what the philosophers are talking about.
+During World War II, there were quite a few higher commanders relieved
+in our forces because it was judged, for one reason or another, that
+they had failed in battle. Of the total number, there were a few who
+took a reduction in rank, went willingly to a lower post in a fighting
+command, uttered no complaint, kept their chins up, worked
+courageously and sympathetically with their commands, and provided an
+example of manhood that all who saw them will never forget. Though
+their names need not be mentioned, they were imprinted with the real
+virtue of the services even more deeply than many of their colleagues
+who had no blemishes on their records. Their character had met the
+ultimate test. The men who had the privilege of working close to them
+realized this and the sublime effect of this personal influence helped
+strengthen the resolve of many others.
+
+Because there is so much at stake in the matter, the services cannot
+depend solely upon such influence as would be exerted on their affairs
+by the occasional idealist, but must work for that chain reaction
+which comes of making the inculcation of military ideals one of the
+cardinal points of a strong, uniting inner doctrine. It is altogether
+necessary that as a body, the power of their thought be shaped along
+ideal lines. The ideal object must be held high at all times, even
+though it is recognized that men are not perfect, and that no matter
+how greatly they may aspire, they will occasionally fail. Nor is the
+effort to lead other men to believe in the transcendent importance of
+goodwill made less effective because the leader has a conscience about
+his own weakness, _provided he has the good sense not to flaunt it_.
+He need not be a paragon of all the virtues to set an example which
+will convince other men that his ideas are worth following. No man
+alive possesses perfect virtue, which fact is generally understood.
+Many an otherwise ideal commander is ruthless in his exactions upon
+his staff; many a petty officer, who has won the absolute love of all
+men with whom he served, has found himself in the middle because he
+couldn't think straight about his debts. But these things do not
+lessen the impact upon men of thinking together about common ideals
+and working together toward the fulfillment of some high obligation.
+The pursuit of ideals culminates in the experience of mutual growth.
+If that were not so, men who have served the arms of the United States
+would not continue to have a special respect for the uniform, and an
+extra reverence for the flag, for years after they have passed from
+the service. These emotions are not the consequence of habit, but come
+of having known the comradeship of other men whom they loved and
+respected, who shared these same thoughts, and believed in the same
+body of ideals.
+
+Any normal man loves his country and it is natural in him to regard
+highly the symbols through which this affection is expressed. An
+American child of kindergarten age already feels an emotional
+attachment for the national emblem. The recruit who has just entered
+upon service can begin to understand that his regard for his uniform
+must be a far different thing than what he felt about his civilian
+dress, since it is identified with the dignity of the Nation. His
+training in military ideals starts at this point, and for the main
+part is carried forward subtly, by transfer of this same feeling to
+all other objects associated with his military life. His perseverance
+in the care of weapons, in keeping his living quarters orderly and in
+doing his full share of work is best insured, not through fear of
+punishments, but by stimulating his belief that any other way of going
+is unworthy of a member of a fighting service.
+
+Precision in personal habits, precision in drill and precision in
+daily living are the high road to that kind of discipline which best
+insures cool and collected thought and unity of action on the field of
+battle. When men, working together, successfully attain to a high
+standard of orderliness, deportment and response, each to the other,
+they develop the cohesive strength which will carry them through any
+great crisis. For this reason mainly, military life is far more
+exacting than civil life. But the services hold that what is best for
+the many can be achieved without cramping the personal life or
+blighting individuality and initiative. Within the frame of our
+system, we can achieve obedience and discipline without destroying
+independence and impulse.
+
+This is idealism, though we seldom think about it in that light.
+Further, it is all the better that in the beginning these impressions
+are developed obliquely, rather than through the direct approach of
+reading a lecture on ideals and ethics, since it means that the man is
+assisted to reach certain conclusions by himself, and as Kant has
+said, those things which a man learns pretty much on his own become
+the ideas that he is least likely to forget.
+
+Looking at this subject in its largest aspect, it should be perfectly
+clear that any institution must know what its ideals are before it can
+become coherent and confident, and that there must be present in the
+form of clearly available ideas an imaginative conception of the good
+at which the institution aims.
+
+This is fully recognized in the American armed establishment. For many
+years, the program of indoctrinating military ideals has been
+inseparably linked with instruction in democratic ideals, teaching as
+to the American way of life and clear statement of the policies and
+purposes of the Government of the United States in its relations with
+all others powers and peoples.
+
+Moreover, it is an accepted principle in all services that this
+mission can not be carried forward competently except by those
+officers who are directly in charge of forces. It is not a job for
+chaplains or orientation specialists, because it cannot flourish
+unless it is in the hands of those leaders whom men know well and in
+whom they place their confidence. When men are well led, they become
+fully receptive to the whole body of ideas which their leaders see fit
+to put before them.
+
+There are two points which follow, as a matter of course.
+
+An officer's ability to talk effectively on these or other subjects to
+his men can be no better than his information, irrespective of his
+zeal or of his own firm belief in the ideals of his country and
+service.
+
+All other things being equal, his effectiveness will depend on the
+extent to which he participates in all of the other affairs of
+organization. If he is remote from the spirit of his own unit, and
+indifferent to the varying activities which enter into the building of
+that spirit, he will not have a sympathetic audience when he talks to
+men about the grand objectives of organization. There is something
+terribly incongruous about a man talking to troops on the ideal
+purposes of the military service if all they see of him convinces them
+that he is loyal only to his own rank and his pay check. It can be
+said without any qualification that when an officer's interest in the
+unit is limited strictly to those things which _have to be done_ in
+line of duty, even though he attends to them truly and well, he will
+never have a strong hold on the sympathy and imagination of his men.
+When he takes an enthusiastic part in the sports program of the ship,
+the company, the squadron or the battalion, even though he has no
+natural talent for sport, when he voluntarily helps in furthering all
+activities within the unit which are designed to make leisure more
+enjoyable, and when he is seen by his men attending religious
+exercises, his magnetism is increased. It was noteworthy during World
+War II that church attendance among enlisted personnel took a
+tremendous bound forward when it was seen that their officers were
+present at church services. This provided tremendous support to those
+chaplains who were intent not only on praising the Lord but on passing
+moral ammunition to all ranks so that they would be better prepared
+for the ordeal ahead.
+
+Recognizing that instruction in the duties of citizenship, and
+providing information which will enable Americans to have a better
+understanding of their national affairs, is part of the arch of morale
+and of a strong uniting comradeship, the Armed Services nevertheless
+hold that _the keystone of the arch, among fighting forces, is the
+inculcation of military ideals and the stimulation of principles of
+military action_. Unless orientation within the services is balanced
+in this direction, the military spirit of all ranks will suffer, and
+the forces will deteriorate into an assembly of Americans who,
+whatever their enthusiasms for the nation, will lack an organized
+capacity to serve it efficiently along the main line of resistance.
+
+To round out any discussion of how military ideals are formed, much
+more needs to be said about the nature of courage on the battlefield
+and, in preparation for it, about the winning and meaning of loyalty
+within the Armed Services and how instruction on these points and all
+related matters is best advanced within the organization.
+
+But the object of this chapter is to define certain governing
+principles. The substantive parts of the subject can be more clearly
+presented further along in the book.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE
+
+RESPONSIBILITY AND PRIVILEGE
+
+
+There is a common saying in the services, and elsewhere, that greater
+privileges grow out of larger responsibilities, and that the latter
+justifies the former. This is part truth and part fable.
+
+In military organization, as in industry, business, and political
+life, the more important a man's position, the more lavish he is
+likely to be in his office appointments and living arrangements, and
+the greater the care that is apt to be taken in freeing him of
+trifling annoyances.
+
+But that is only partly because of the need for him to conserve his
+time and energy. When men are successful, they like the good things of
+life. Why deny it? Not one individual in 10,000 would aspire to power
+and authority if it meant living like a hermit.
+
+There is no way that the military establishment can denature human
+nature, and change this determining condition. Nor is there any reason
+why it should wish to do so. Its men, like all others, develop a sense
+of well-being from those advantages, many of them minor, which attend,
+and build prestige, both in private and in official life. The
+incentive system by which our country has prospered has always
+recognized that privilege is a reward for effort and enterprise. The
+American people have always accepted that reasonable, harmless
+privileges should attend merit. It is by enhancing the prestige of
+leaders and by making their positions attractive that the Armed Forces
+get better officers and men.
+
+One of the keenest-minded Americans of our time has said:
+"Responsibilities are what devolve upon a person, and privileges are
+what he ought not to have, but takes." In a perfect universe, that
+would be a perfect truth. But men being as they are, prideful and
+desirous of any mark of recognition, privileges are the natural
+accompaniment of rank and station, and when not wilfully misused, may
+contribute to the general welfare. At all levels, men will aspire
+more, and their ambition will be firmer, if getting ahead will mean
+for them an increase in the visible tokens of deference from the
+majority, rather than simply a boost in the paycheck. To complain
+about this quality in human nature is as futile as regretting that the
+sun goes down.
+
+However, since it is out of the abuse of privilege that much of the
+friction between authority and the rank-and-file arises, the subject
+can't be dropped at that point. What puts most of the grit into the
+machinery isn't that privileges exist, but that they are exercised too
+often by persons who are not motivated by a passionate sense of duty.
+For it is an almost inviolable rule of human behavior that the man who
+is concerned most of all with his responsibilities will be fretted
+least about the matter of his privileges, and that his exercise of any
+rightful privilege will not be resented by his subordinates, because
+they are conscious of his merit.
+
+We can take two officers. Lieutenant "A" enters the service with one
+main question in mind: "Where does my duty lie?" So long as he remains
+on that beam, he will never injure the morale of the service by using
+such privileges as are rightfully his as an officer. But in the mind
+of Lieutenant "B" the other idea is uppermost: "What kudos do I get
+out of my position?" Unless that man changes his ways, he will be a
+troublemaker while he remains in the service, a headache to his fellow
+officers and a despoiler of those who are under him.
+
+In recent years, we have learned a lot about American manpower. We
+have seen enough of the raw material under testing conditions to know
+that, with the exception of the occasional malcontent who was
+irreparably spoiled before he left home, American young men when
+brought into military organization do not resent rank, and are
+amenable to authority. Indeed, they expect that higher authority will
+have certain advantages not common to the rank-and-file, because that
+is normal in our society in all of its workday relationships.
+
+But they do not like to have their noses rubbed in it by officers who,
+having no real moral claim on authority, try to exhibit it by pushing
+other people around. And when that happens, our men get their backs
+up. And they wouldn't be worth a hoot in hades if they didn't.
+
+Even as privilege attends rank and station, it is confirmed by custom,
+and modified by time and environment. What was all right yesterday may
+be all wrong tomorrow, and what is proper in one set of circumstances
+may be wholly wrong in another.
+
+Take one example. In Washington's Continental Army, a first lieutenant
+was court-martialed and jailed because he demeaned himself by doing
+manual labor with a working detail of his men. Yet in that same
+season, Major General von Steuben, then trainer and inspector of all
+the forces, created a great scandal and almost terminated his
+usefulness by trying to rank a relatively junior officer out of his
+quarters. Today both of these usages seem out of joint. Any officer
+has the _privilege_ of working with his men, if he needs exercise,
+wishes to see for himself how the thing is done, or feels that an
+extra hand is needed on the job at a critical moment. As for any
+notion that his quarters are his permanent castle no matter who comes,
+he had best not make an issue of the point!
+
+But to emphasize it once again, duty is the great regulator of the
+proper exercise of one's rights. Here we speak of duty as it was meant
+by Giuseppe Mazzini, Italy's great patriot of the early Nineteenth
+Century, when he said: "Every mission constitutes a pledge of duty.
+Every man is bound to consecrate his every effort to its fulfillment.
+He will derive his rule of action from the profound conviction of that
+duty." For finally the key lies in this, that out of high regard for
+duty comes as a natural flow that sense of proportion which we call
+common sense.
+
+Adjustment and dignity in any situation are impossible when minds are
+bent only on a code of conduct rather than on action which is
+consistent with the far objectives. In the early stages of World War
+II, it was not unusual to see a junior officer walking on the public
+sidewalk, hands free, and looking important, while his wife tagged
+along, trying to keep step, though laden like a pack mule. This was
+because someone had told him that it was not in keeping with an
+officer's dignity to be seen heavily burdened. In the nature of
+things, anyone so lacking in gallantry as that would stimulate very
+little respect for the officer corps.
+
+Actually, in these times, there are relatively few special privileges
+which attend officership, and though the war brought perhaps a few
+excesses, the post war trend has been in the other direction.
+
+Normally, an officer is not expected to buck a chow line, or any other
+queue in line of duty, if he is sensibly in a rush. The presumption is
+that his time is more valuable to the service than that of an enlisted
+man. Normally, an officer is not expected to pitch a tent or spend his
+energy on any hand labor incidental to housekeeping. Normally, he has
+greater freedom of action and is less bound by minor restrictions than
+the ranks.
+
+But the accent in these things is decidedly on the word _normally_. If
+a mess line were in an area under general fire, so that added waiting
+meant extra danger, then only a poltroon would insist on being fed
+first. And while an officer wouldn't be expected to pitch a tent, he
+would dig his own foxhole, unless he was well up in grade. At that,
+there were a few high commanders in World War II who made it a point
+of pride to do their own digging from first to last. Greater "freedom
+of action," too, can go out the window, for conditions arise,
+particularly in war, when freedom of action can not be permitted
+anyone except the very top authority. When a general restriction is
+clamped down, the officer caught violating it is in more serious
+jeopardy than the enlisted offender.
+
+As the entire body of this book is directed toward the consideration
+of the fundamental responsibilities in officership, the special
+comments in this chapter will relate mainly to propositions not stated
+elsewhere.
+
+Though it has been said before, even so, it can be said again: It is a
+paramount and overriding responsibility of every officer to take care
+of his men before caring for himself. From the frequent and gross
+violation of this principle by badly informed or meanly selfish
+individuals comes more embarrassment to officer-man relationships than
+perhaps from all other causes put together. _It is a cardinal
+principle!_ Yet many junior officers do not seem to understand that
+steadfast fidelity to it is required, not lip service. "And of this,"
+as Admiral Mahan would say, "comes much evil." The loyalty of men
+simply cannot be commanded when they become embittered by selfish
+action.
+
+Then how deeply does this rule cut? In line of duty, it applies right
+down to the hilt! When a command is worn, bruised, and hungry,
+officers attend to their men's creature comforts and make sure that
+all is going well, before looking to their own needs. If an officer is
+on a tour with an enlisted man, he takes care that the man is
+accommodated as to food, shelter, medical treatment or other prime
+needs, before satisfying his own wants; if that means that the last
+meal or the last bed is gone, his duty is to get along the hard way.
+If a command is so located that recreational facilities are extremely
+limited, and there are not enough to go around, the welfare of the
+ranks takes priority over the interests of their commissioned leaders;
+in fact, it would be more correct to say that the welfare of men _is_
+the prior interest of the officer.
+
+These few concrete illustrations show, in general, what is expected.
+Once the main idea is grasped, the way of its total application
+becomes clear. Officers do not go around playing pigtail to enlisted
+men. But they build loyalty by serving the men first, when all
+concerned are following a general line of duty together.
+
+It is an incumbent responsibility on all officers to maintain the
+dignity of the uniform and prevent anyone from sullying it. This means
+not only the dress of person, but the uniform wherever it is worn
+publicly by any man of the United States forces. Where the offense is
+committed by a member of some other service and the disgrace to the
+uniform is obvious, it is the duty of the officer to intervene, or to
+bring about intervention, rather than to walk out on the situation.
+This calls for judgment, tact, nerve. The offense must be real, and
+not simply an offense against one's private sensibilities. But
+indecencies, exhibitionism and bawdiness of such a nature that if done
+on a reservation would warrant trial of the individual for unbecoming
+conduct will justify intervention by the officer under public
+circumstances.
+
+Similarly, any officer has a responsibility to any enlisted man who is
+in personal distress, with no other means of ready help. Suppose they
+just happen to meet in a strange community. The enlisted man's
+credentials are shown to be _bona fide_. But he has had his pocket
+picked, or has lost his wallet, or has just missed the train that
+would have carried him back from his leave on time, and he doesn't
+know what to do. For any officer to brush-off a forthright request for
+aid or advice under such circumstances is an unofficerly act.
+Likewise, if one suspects, just from appearances, that the man is in
+trouble and somewhat beyond his depths, it will be found that, far
+from resenting a kindly inquiry, he will mark it to the credit of the
+whole fighting system.
+
+To say that an officer owes a fellow officer no less consideration
+than this is to state the obvious. Officers meeting in transit usually
+get into conversation; it is a habit that adds much to one's
+professional education. When an officer is getting into a strange
+town, or arriving at a new post, anything done by a fellow officer to
+help him get oriented, or to make things friendly and easy for him,
+furthers the comity of the corps. Between officers of differing
+services these small courtesies are particularly appreciated. Nor does
+the matter end there. Within Unit A, the officers have the
+responsibility of continuing support to the officers of Unit C, Unit
+B, and so on. Though they are in a sense competing, each trying to
+build higher than the other, they must never forget that the basic
+technique of organization is cooperation. What "A" knows that has
+helped his unit, or whatever he can do to assist "B" and "C" without
+materially depriving himself, it becomes his official and moral
+obligation to transmit. An officer can never understand his own
+command problem very well unless he knows, at least a little, of how
+things are going in other units. And the statement can be reversed. He
+cannot judge the problems of other people unless he tries passionately
+to understand his own people.
+
+There are many other minor articles within what is sometimes called
+the "unwritten code" which help to regulate life in the services, and
+to sweeten it.
+
+But what counts most is not the knowing of the rule but the sharing of
+the spirit which gives it meaning and makes its proper administration
+possible.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR
+
+PLANNING YOUR CAREER
+
+
+The main purpose of this book is to stimulate thought and to encourage
+the average young officer to seek truth for, and in, himself. It is
+never a good idea to attempt a precise formula about matters which are
+by nature indefinite and subject to all number of variable factors.
+
+Thus with respect to career planning, despite all of the emphasis put
+upon that subject in modern America, it would be plain error to infer
+that any man can become all-wise, as to the direction which he should
+take with his own life, simply by steeping himself in all of the
+information which is to be had on this subject.
+
+That might qualify him to give top-lofty advice to all others on how
+to make the start up the right ladder, and he would win a reputation
+as a personnel expert, which in itself is no mean assignment. But in
+all probability, he would still be doing better by himself than by any
+other individual.
+
+American library shelves are stacked with such books as "Planning Your
+Future," "New Careers for Youth," and "The Problem of Vocational
+Guidance." The pages are laden with sage counsel and bromidic
+expressions. But their chief public value is that they enabled a
+writer, his publisher and the bookseller to get a little further ahead
+in life.
+
+Reflecting the trend elsewhere in the national life, the Armed
+Services are equipped to give their forces the advantage of career
+management principles, and to assist their men to plan their
+professional careers. The opportunities and the job qualifications can
+be described. Also, somewhat more thoroughly than is done in civil
+life, the establishment's system of record-keeping throws a partial
+light on the aptitudes of the individual. The qualified man is soon
+known by his "spec number" or maybe two numbers. It might seem
+therefore that things are so well-regulated that the prospect of
+every man finding his niche is better than even.
+
+The fact remains that the majority of individuals spend the greater
+part of their lives doing something other than that which would bring
+out their best quality and give them the greatest satisfaction, mainly
+because accident, in one form or another, put them into a particular
+channel, and inertia kept them there.
+
+A boy builds model airplanes. His hobby being a force in his youthful
+years, he becomes a pilot, and then discovers to his shocked amazement
+that he does not have his heart in machines but in the management of
+men. A man who has lived his life among guns, and who enjoys the feel
+and the working of them, enters the service and permits himself to be
+made a food procurement specialist, having run that kind of business
+in civil life only because he had inherited it from his father. An
+officer assigned to a weapons detail finds it hard going. And the fact
+that he takes a delight in writing a good paper still does not signal
+to him that this is his main field and he should exploit it to the
+fullest!
+
+To what do these things point? In particular, to this, that despite
+all of the help which may be provided by outside agencies, finding the
+straight thoroughfare in work is mainly a problem of searching
+self-examination and personal decision. The impression which any other
+person may have of our talents and possibilities is largely formed by
+what we say, think and feel about ourselves.
+
+This does not require that constant introspection which is found in
+Cecil Forester's nervous hero, "Captain Horatio Hornblower." That man
+doubtless would have died of stomach ulcers before winning his second
+stripe. It is not a matter of, "How do I look to someone else?" but
+of, "What do I know about myself?" The kind of work which one likes
+best and does with the greatest facility, the avocational study which
+is pursued because it provides greater delight than an encharged
+responsibility, the talent which one had as a youth but was dropped
+because of the press of making a living, the task which looks alluring
+though one has lacked either the chance, or the courage, to try a
+hand at it--these are among the more fertile points of inquiry.
+
+Weighing it out, the service officer has an unrivaled opportunity for
+fruitful experiment.
+
+In the first place, he has made the fundamental decision to serve his
+country in the profession of arms. The meaning of that decision should
+not be lost on him. It is by nature patriotic. But if he regards his
+inheritance simply as a snug berth and the best way to provide "three
+squares" to himself and family throughout a lifetime, he is neither
+soundly patriotic nor intelligently selfish.
+
+After signing on the line for his country, the individual's duty to
+himself is to strive by every honorable means to move ahead of his
+competition by growing more knowledgeable and better qualified. _It is
+the inherent right of every officer to request such service as he
+believes will further his advancement_, and far from discouraging the
+ambitious man, higher authority will invariably try to favor him. In
+no other mode of life are older men so ready to encourage the willing
+junior.
+
+Gen. H. H. Arnold, the great air leader of World War II, is an
+inspiring case study with respect to several of these points. He wrote
+in "Global Mission" how he considered quitting the Army in disgust
+upon being commissioned in infantry, following graduation, so deeply
+was his heart set upon service in cavalry. But something held him to
+the assignment. Some years later he tried to transfer to ordnance
+because the prospect for advancement looked better. While still
+ruminating on this change, he was offered a detail to the newly
+forming aviation section of the signal corps, and took it, not because
+he had a clear vision of the future, but because it looked like a
+chance to get ahead. Thus, almost inadvertently, he met the
+opportunity of which came his world fame.
+
+This emphasizes another peculiar advantage belonging to the young
+officer who is trying to orient himself toward the line of greatest
+opportunity. In civil life, the man who flits from job to job is soon
+regarded as a drifter and unstable. In the military establishment an
+ability to adjust from job to job and to achieve greater all-around
+qualification by making a successful record in a diversified
+experience becomes a major asset in a career. Generalship, in its real
+sense, requires a wider knowledge of human affairs, supported by
+specialized knowledge of professional techniques, than any other great
+responsibility. Those who get to the top have to be many-sided men,
+with skill in the control and guidance of a multifarious variety of
+activities. Therefore even the young specialist, who has his eyes on a
+narrow track because his talents seem to lie in that direction, is
+well advised to raise his sights and extend his interest to the far
+horizons of the profession, even while directing the greater part of
+his force to a particular field.
+
+After all, variety is the spice of life, as well as a high road toward
+perfection. Of Princeton's 1932 class, 161, or 59 percent, were in the
+armed services during World War II. Questioned after the war 70
+percent of the total number replied that military service was
+interesting, broadening, and profitable. But the main point was that
+they said in overwhelming number that its great lure was that _they
+were doing something new_. They liked it because it gave them a
+legitimate excuse to quit their jobs and attempt something different.
+In the services, a man may give vent to this natural desire without
+impairing his record, and if he is young and not at all certain what
+is his favorite dish, the more he broadens his experience, the more
+likely it becomes that he will sharpen his view of his own
+capabilities.
+
+The possible hard consequence of looking at service opportunity
+through any one lens is epitomized in one paragraph of a
+reclassification proceedings on an officer relieved during World War
+II while serving as assistant division commander:
+
+    "Through no fault of his own, General Blank has never served with
+    troops since he was a captain during World War I. He has been
+    unable to keep pace with the problems of a commander on the
+    battlefield of today. He is unqualified for command of troops due
+    to lack of practical experience."
+
+It is hard to imagine a more dismal ending for a career than that of
+the man who aspires to rank, without having any honest concept of its
+proportionate moral responsibilities, particularly when the lives of
+others are at stake.
+
+So when we say that "career planning" is a springboard to personal
+success within the military establishment, it is not with the narrow
+meaning that any officer should proceed to limit his field of
+interest, decide quickly and arbitrarily where he will put his plow
+and run his furrow, and then sit down and plot a schedule of how he
+proposes to mount the success ladder rung by rung. That might suit a
+plumber, or tickle the fancy of an interior decorator, but it will not
+conserve the strength of the officer corps. Its consequence would be
+to stereotype the thinking faculties of a professional whose inner
+power flows from the questing imagination, eager curiosity and
+versatility of its individuals. Intense specialization, to the
+exclusion of all peripheral areas of knowledge, warps the mind and
+limits the useful action and influence of its owner. Dr. Vannevar Bush
+was a greater scientist on the day he made his decision to explore the
+sphere of military knowledge, and greater still when he applied
+himself to literature.
+
+There are few men of great talent who initially have an unswerving
+inner conviction that they possess the final answer, as to themselves.
+They may feel reasonably sure about what they would like to do, though
+still reserving an honest doubt about the validity of their instincts
+and of their power to compete. Even long and successful experience
+does not always allay this doubt. Said Washington, on being appointed
+Commander-in-Chief: "I beg it may be remembered by every man in this
+room that I this day declare with the utmost sincerity, I do not think
+myself equal to the command I am honored with." Assurance, or by its
+other name, self-confidence, is only a continuing willingness to keep
+coming back and trying, without fear of coming a cropper, but with a
+care to the constant strengthening of one's own resources. The motto
+of Admiral Robert E. Peary: "I will find a way or make one," is not
+over-bold; any officer can afford to paste the words inside his own
+hat. But in the hard game with which Peary's fame is forever linked,
+there were countless errors, an occasional hit, and at last a run.
+
+The health and progressive spirit of the services come of the
+many-sided officer who can make not one career for himself but three
+or four. Had officers from all services been unwilling to go into the
+industrial workshops and scientific laboratories of the Nation to try
+their hands at wholly new lines of work, had successful cavalrymen
+been unable to evolve as leaders of armored forces, had ship captains
+and ensigns disdained taking to the air, had foot soldiers refused the
+risks of parachuting and naval officers not participated as observers
+with the infantry line to further SFC (ship fire control) we would
+have run out of wind before winning World War II.
+
+Some months after the war ended, the Secretary of the Navy,
+recognizing the dilemma which confronted thousands of men who were
+asking whether the wave of the future would be to the specialist or to
+the all-around man, sent a message which applied not less to the
+officers of every service:
+
+    It is intended that the highest posts will be filled by officers
+    of the highest attainments, regardless of specialty. Be assured,
+    whatever may be your field of endeavor, that your future as an
+    officer rests, as it always has, in your hands. The outstanding
+    officer will continue to be he who attacks with all of his energy
+    and enthusiasm the tasks to which he is assigned and who grows in
+    stature and understanding with his years and with his experience.
+    Responsibility comes to him who seeks responsibility. It is this
+    officer, regardless of his field of effort, who will be called to
+    high command.
+
+There is not a chief of service who would shade the general tone of
+this paragraph if asked to put before his own officers the one rule
+which, most closely followed, would most surely bring success. Nothing
+need be added to it and nothing should be taken away; it states the
+case.
+
+At the same time, and as the message itself implies, specialization,
+like sex and the automobile, is here to stay. In the service,
+perforce, even the balanced, all-around man has his specialty. In the
+beginning, true enough, he may aspire only to being a soldier, marine,
+sailor or airman. That is good enough in the cocoon stage. But
+ultimately he emerges with the definite coloring of a ground fighter,
+a gunner, an engineer officer, a signals man, a submariner, a weapons
+man, a navigator, an observer, a transport officer or something else.
+If his tact, bearing and quick pick-up suggest to his superiors that
+he may be good staff material, and he takes that route, there are
+again branch lines, leading out in roughly parallel directions, and
+embracing activities in the fields of personnel, intelligence,
+operations, supply and military government. And each one of these main
+stems has smaller branches, greatly diversified. The man with a love
+for logistics (and few have it) might some day find himself running
+railroads or managing a port. The engineer could become a salvage
+officer working a crew of deep sea divers, or as easily a demolitions
+expert running a company of dynamiters. The expert in communications?
+His next task might be setting up a radio station near the North Pole
+or helping perfect radio control of troops over a 50-mile area.
+
+It is in these things that the privilege of free choice arises, for
+despite the popular theory that in the services you take what you are
+given and like it, the placement of officers according to their main
+aptitudes and desires is a controlling principle of personnel policy.
+It is recognized throughout the military establishment that, in
+general, men will do their best service in that field where they think
+their natural talents are being most usefully employed.
+
+Among the combat line commanders in World War II there were doctors,
+dentists and even a few ministers. They could have had places in their
+regular corps, but they were permitted to continue with the duty of
+their own choice.
+
+Concerning the main problem of the officer, in fitting himself for
+higher command, the controlling principle is well expressed in the
+words of a distinguished educator, Wallace B. Donham: "The hope of the
+wisdom essential to the general direction of men's affairs lies not so
+much in wealth of specialized knowledge as in the habits and skills
+required to handle problems involving very diverse viewpoints which
+must be related to new concrete situations. Wisdom is based on broad
+understanding in perspective. It is common sense on a large canvas. It
+is never the product of scientific, technological, or other
+specializations, though men so trained may, of course, acquire it."
+
+This puts just the right light on the subject. The military officer
+specializes strictly to qualify himself more highly in his main
+calling--the management of men in the practice of arms. Becoming a
+specialist does not _ipso facto_ make him a better officer, or win him
+preferment. It is part of the mechanism, though not the main wheel. As
+Admiral Forrest P. Sherman has so well said: "We are not pushed
+willy-nilly into specialization; there is never an excess of the
+all-around, highly competent combat officer."
+
+Concerning his choice, all general advice is gratuitous. Whatever
+might be written here would be worth far less than the counsel or
+suggestion of any superior, or for that matter, a colleague, who has
+observed his work closely over a long period, who has some critical
+faculty, and whose good will is beyond question.
+
+Particularly, the _voluntary_ advice of such a person is worth notice.
+That which is spontaneous usually has shrewd reason behind it. When
+counsel is deliberately sought, it may catch the consultant unaware,
+and in lieu of saying that which is well-considered, he may offer a
+half-baked opinion, rather than be disappointing. But when another
+person having one's trust, says: "Your natural line is to do
+thus-and-so," it is time to ask him why, and check his reasoning with
+one's own. Worth just as much earnest consideration is his negative
+opinion, his strong feeling that what one is about to undertake is not
+particularly suitable.
+
+As for the man himself, it remains to survey thoughtfully the whole
+range of possibilities, to keep the mind open and receptive to
+impressions, to experiment but take firm hold in so doing, to tackle
+each new task with as much enthusiasm as if it were to be his life
+work, to ask for difficult assignments rather than soft snaps and to
+be calmly deliberate, rather than rashly hasteful, in appraising his
+own capabilities.
+
+Self-study is a lifetime job. A great many engineers didn't realize
+that they were born to make nuclear fission possible until there was
+a three-way wedding between science, industry and the military in
+1940. Many officers who have had a late blooming as experts in the
+field of electronics and supersonic speeds had lived out successful
+careers before these subjects first saw daylight.
+
+As Elbert Hubbard said of it, the only way to get away from
+opportunity is to lie down and die.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE
+
+RANK AND PRECEDENCE
+
+
+The regulations that govern precedence among officers of the same
+service and among the services in relation to each other have a very
+real utility not only in determining succession to command and as
+reminders of the authority to which all persons in the Armed Services
+are subject but in providing precedent for all official or ceremonial
+occasions in which officers or organizations of the several services
+may find themselves cooperating. It is easy to imagine the confusion
+that would result without such rules, especially if a junior commander
+of a senior service had to defend the right of his organization to
+occupy the place of honor ahead of a very senior commander with a
+detachment from a junior service. These regulations are also the
+arbiter in disputes arising between officers of equal rank who aspire
+to command of the same unit.
+
+The legislation which separated the Air Force from the Army again
+raised the question of precedence in parades and ceremonies. Since the
+Air Force is the junior service, as to date of recognition, the change
+indicated the following parade order: (Reference, _Federal Register_,
+Volume 14, Number 160, August 19, 1949, page 5203)
+
+    1. Cadets, United States Military Academy.
+
+    2. Midshipmen, United States Naval Academy.
+
+    3. Cadets, United States Coast Guard Academy.
+
+    4. United States Army.
+
+    5. United States Marines.
+
+    6. United States Navy.
+
+    7. United States Air Force.
+
+    8. United States Coast Guard.
+
+    9. National Guard of the United States.
+
+    10. Organized Reserve Corps of the Army.
+
+    11. Marine Corps Reserve.
+
+    12. Naval Reserve.
+
+    13. Air Force National Guard of the United States.
+
+    14. United States Air Force Reserve.
+
+    15. Coast Guard Reserve.
+
+    16. Other training organizations of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy,
+    Air Force, and Coast Guard, in that order, respectively.
+
+During any period when the United States Coast Guard shall operate as
+a part of the United States Navy, the Cadets, United States Coast
+Guard Academy, the United States Coast Guard, and the Coast Guard
+Reserve, shall take precedence, respectively, next after the
+Midshipmen, United States Naval Academy, the United States Navy, and
+the Naval Reserve.
+
+In any ceremony in which any or all of these components act together,
+the table of precedence in appropriate regulations determines their
+location in the column.
+
+The ranks and insignia in the Armed Services have been substantially
+the same since 1883. During World War II there were newly established
+the five star ranks of general of the army and fleet admiral. After
+the first World War the rank of general-of-the-armies was created to
+honor General Pershing, who was permitted to choose the number of
+stars he would wear. He chose four. After the Spanish-American War the
+rank of admiral-of-the-navy was established for Admiral Dewey. No one
+has held this rank since.
+
+On November 15, 1776, Congress established the ranks of admiral,
+vice-admiral, rear admiral and commodore corresponding to general,
+lieutenant general, major general, and brigadier general. It also
+established three grades of naval captains--captain of a 40-gun ship
+and upward to rank with colonel, captain of a 20 to 40-gun ship to
+rank with lieutenant colonel, captain of a 10 to 20-gun ship to rank
+with major, and lieutenant to rank with captain in the Army.
+
+Although the top naval ranks were provided, the only two officers ever
+to attain a higher rank than captain prior to 1862 were Ezekiel
+Hopkins, whom Congress on December 22, 1775, commissioned with the
+rank of _C-in-C of the Fleet_, and Charles Stewart who was
+commissioned _Senior Flag Officer_ by Congress in 1859. Hopkins and
+Stewart were called "commodore" as was any other captain who commanded
+more than one ship.
+
+During our War of Independence, the Army had the rank of ensign and
+the Navy did not. The several Army ranks were then distinguishable by
+the color of the cockade, green for lieutenant, buff for captain, and
+pink or red for a field officer. As early as 1780 major generals wore
+two stars on their epaulettes and brigadier generals one. During our
+quasi-war with France, toward the end of the eighteenth century,
+Washington was commissioned lieutenant general, our first, and three
+stars were prescribed to be worn by him.
+
+In the Army Register for 1813 the rank of ensign had disappeared but
+there were third lieutenants (as in the Soviet Army today) and
+coronets. In 1832 the eagle was adopted as the insignia of colonel in
+the Army and in 1857 the lieutenant colonel, captain, and first
+lieutenant wore the same insignia as today. These insignia were
+adopted some time in the interval between 1847 and 1857. The gold bar,
+insigne of the second lieutenant, was authorized just prior to World
+War I.
+
+The Navy has used the same shoulder insignia as the Army since the
+Civil War. However, shoulder insignia on blues were discontinued by
+the Navy in 1911 but the insignia were still prescribed on epaulettes.
+The Navy adopted the eagle for captain in 1852, twenty years after it
+had been approved by the Army for colonels.
+
+In the first half of the last century the Navy List contained officers
+of four grades only. A captain wore three stripes, a master
+commandant, two (master commandant, established in 1806, was changed
+to commander in 1837;) and a lieutenant, one. A master had no stripe
+but three buttons instead. There were midshipmen too, but they were
+warrant officers and _aspirants_ for commissioned rank as the present
+French term designates them.
+
+Our first full general was U. S. Grant and our first full admiral,
+David D. Porter; both won their rank in the Civil War. In that war
+there was a large increase in the Navy and more naval ranks were
+established. In 1862 ensign was provided in the Navy to correspond to
+second lieutenant; and the term lieutenant commanding became
+lieutenant commander. An ensign wore one stripe as now; an additional
+stripe was added for each rank till the rear admiral had eight. Since
+1869 the senior officers have worn the same stripes as now prescribed.
+In 1883 the rank "master" was changed to lieutenant, junior grade.
+
+The rank of commodore, which had been abolished, was temporarily
+revived during World War II. The rank of passed-midshipman was
+abolished about 1910; thereafter graduates of the Naval Academy were
+commissioned ensign. The rank of ensign had previously been attained
+by passed-midshipmen after 2 years at sea and a successful examination
+at the end of that cruise. The only permanent change in recent years
+was the addition of aviation cadet to both the Air Force and Navy
+listings. The warrant rank of flight officer in the Air Force, which
+was created during the war, has now been abandoned, all the flight
+officers then holding warrants either being commissioned second
+lieutenants or separated. The naval rank of commodore was likewise
+dropped, and brigadier generals of the Army and Air Force now rank
+with admirals of the lower half.
+
+The following are the present corresponding ranks in the Armed
+Services:
+
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+        NAVY     |   MARINE    |    ARMY     |  AIR FORCE  |    COAST
+                 |   CORPS     |             |             |    GUARD
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Fleet Admiral|             |General of   |General of   |
+                 |             |the Army     |the Air      |
+                 |             |             |Force        |
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Admiral      |General      |General      |General      |Admiral
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Vice Admiral |Lieutenant   |Lieutenant   |Lieutenant   |Vice Admiral
+                 |General      |General      |General      |
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Rear Admiral |Major        |Major        |Major        |Rear Admiral
+    (upper half) |General      |General      |General      |(upper half)
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Rear Admiral |Brigadier    |Brigadier    |Brigadier    |Rear Admiral
+    (lower half) |General      |General      |General      |(lower half)
+    and          |             |             |             |and
+    Commodore    |             |             |             |Commodore
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Captain      |Colonel      |Colonel      |Colonel      |Captain
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Commander    |Lieutenant   |Lieutenant   |Lieutenant   |Commander
+                 |Colonel      |Colonel      |Colonel      |
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Lieutenant   |Major        |Major        |Major        |Lieutenant
+    Commander    |             |             |             |Commander
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Lieutenant   |Captain      |Captain      |Captain      |Lieutenant
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Lieutenant   |First        |First        |First        |Lieutenant
+    (Junior      |Lieutenant   |Lieutenant   |Lieutenant   |(Junior
+    Grade)       |             |             |             |Grade)
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Ensign       |Second       |Second       |Second       |Ensign
+                 |Lieutenant   |Lieutenant   |Lieutenant   |
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Commissioned |Commissioned |Chief Warrant|Chief Warrant|Commissioned
+    Warrant      |Warrant      |Officer      |Officer      |Warrant
+    Officer      |Officer      |             |             |Officer
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Midshipman   |             |Cadet        |Cadet        |Cadet
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Warrant      |Warrant      |Warrant      |Warrant      |Warrant
+    Officer      |Officer      |Officer      |Officer      |Officer
+                 |             |Junior Grade |Junior Grade |
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Aviation     |             |             |Aviation     |
+    Cadet        |             |             |Cadet        |
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+
+Officers of all the fighting service, whether regular or reserve, take
+precedence among themselves according to their dates of rank. Officers
+take command in their respective services in accordance with their
+dates of rank in the line, the senior, unless otherwise ordered,
+taking command, whether regular or reserve. The command of a task
+force or group composed of commands from two or more services devolves
+upon the senior commanding officer present in the force or group
+unless otherwise designated by the appropriate common senior, acting
+for the President.
+
+The obvious exceptions to this are that officers outside the line
+(that is, commissioned in specialized branches or corps) cannot
+command line organizations. They may, however, in the Army and Air
+Force, command organizations within the structure of their own corps.
+Non-rated officers in the Air Force and Navy are not eligible to
+command tactical flying units. As a specialized case of command, the
+assigned first pilot and airplane commander of any aircraft continues
+in command even though a pilot senior in rank may be aboard.
+
+Retired officers of the Army rank at the foot of active officers of
+the same grade; those of the Navy according to date of rank.
+
+Changing personnel policies have been reflected by frequent revisions
+of the scale and grade given noncommissioned leadership. This subject
+should therefore be checked against current regulations. But as a
+rough guide, the following can be taken as the corresponding
+noncommissioned grades and rates in the services:
+
+    -----+------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    PAY  |     NAVY AND     |    ARMY     |     AIR     |    MARINE
+    GRADE|   COAST GUARD    |             |    FORCE    |    CORPS
+    -----+------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    E-7  |Chief Petty       |Master       |Master       |Master
+         |Officer           |Sergeant     |Sergeant     |Sergeant
+    -----+------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    E-6  |Petty Officer     |Sergeant     |Technical    |Technical
+         |First Class       |First Class  |Sergeant     |Sergeant
+    -----+------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    E-5  |Petty Officer     |Sergeant     |Staff        |Staff
+         |Second Class      |             |Sergeant     |Sergeant
+    -----+------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    E-4  |Petty Officer     |Corporal     |Sergeant     |Sergeant
+         |Third Class       |             |             |
+    -----+------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    E-3  |[A]Airman         |Private      |Corporal     |Corporal
+         |[A]Constructionman|First Class  |             |
+         |[A]Dentalman      |             |             |
+         |Fireman           |             |             |
+         |Hospitalman       |             |             |
+         |Seaman            |             |             |
+         |Stewardsman       |             |             |
+    -----+------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    E-2  |Apprentice        |Private      |Private      |Private
+         |                  |             |First Class  |First Class
+    -----+------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    E-1  |Recruit           |Recruit      |Private      |Private
+    -----+------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+
+    [A] Does not apply to Coast Guard.
+
+Enlisted insignia of rank are of cloth, sewn on the sleeve of the
+outer garment. Army chevrons are worn on both sleeves with the point
+up, and special devices may be incorporated within the chevron to
+indicate specialties. Chevrons for combat soldiers are blue on a gold
+background, and all others are gold on a blue background. Naval
+chevrons are worn point down. Air Force chevrons have no point, but
+are a compound reverse curve with the deepest part of the curve worn
+down; over this is imposed a star within a circle. Marine Corps
+chevrons are worn on both sleeves with the point up and are gold on a
+crimson background for the dress blue uniform, green on a red
+background for the forest green uniform, green on a khaki background
+for the khaki uniform, and for combat uniforms the chevrons are
+stenciled on the sleeves in black ink.
+
+[Illustration: ARMY AND MARINE CORPS]
+
+[Illustration: NAVY AND COAST GUARD]
+
+[Illustration: AIR FORCE]
+
+All military and naval personnel are addressed in official
+correspondence by their full titles. Off duty in conversations and in
+unofficial correspondence, officers are addressed as follows:
+
+    ARMY, AIR FORCE, MARINE CORPS
+
+    All general officers                 General
+
+    Colonels and Lt. Colonels            Colonel
+
+    Majors                               Major
+
+    Captains                             Captain
+
+    Lieutenants                          Mister or Lieutenant
+
+    Lieutenants in Medical Corps         Doctor or Lieutenant
+
+    All Chaplains                        Chaplain
+
+    Army nurses                          Nurse
+
+    Cadets
+
+      (Official address)                 Cadet
+
+      (Unofficial address)               Mister
+
+    Warrant Officers                     Mister
+
+    All sergeants                        Sergeant
+
+    Corporals                            Corporal
+
+    Privates and Privates, First Class   Private Jones or Jones
+      When the name is not known, an Army private may be addressed as
+      "Soldier," and in the Marine Corps the term, "Marine," is proper
+      in such a case.
+
+    NAVY, COAST GUARD
+
+    All Admirals                         Admiral
+
+    Commodores                           Commodore
+
+    Captains                             Captain
+
+    Commanders                           Commander
+
+    Lieutenant Commanders, lieutenants,
+    ensigns and midshipmen               Mister
+
+    All Chaplains                        Chaplain
+
+    All medical officers (to commander)  Doctor
+
+Except when in the presence of troops, senior officers frequently
+address juniors as "Smith" or "Jones" but this does not give the
+junior the privilege of addressing the senior in any other way than
+his proper title. By the same token, officers of the same grade
+generally address one another by their first or last names depending
+on the degree of intimacy. The courtesy and respect for others which
+govern the conduct of gentlemen are expected to prevail at all times.
+
+Enlisted men are commonly addressed by their last names. Except in
+cases where the officer has a blood relationship or a preservice
+friendship with an enlisted man, the occasions on which an enlisted
+man can properly be called by his first name are extremely rare.
+Speaking face to face, it is proper to use either the last name,
+alone, or the title of rank, or the last name and any accepted
+abbreviation of the title. In calling First Sergeant Brown from among
+a group, it would be acceptable to call for "Brown" but better still
+"Sergeant Brown." In the Navy, the common practice in addressing Chief
+Pharmacists Mate Gale, for instance, would be either "Gale" or
+"Chief." On formal occasions, as in calling a senior enlisted man
+front and center at a formation, the full military title would be
+used: "Chief Bo's'ns Mate Gale and Master Sergeant Brown, front and
+center." The longer form of address would also be proper in directing
+a third party to report to Master Sergeant White.
+
+A painstaking observation of the courtesies due to ranks of other
+services is more than a sign of good manners; it indicates a
+recognition of the interdependence of the services upon one another.
+Failure to observe or to recognize the tables of precedence officially
+agreed upon among the services is both stupid and rude. Any future war
+will see joint operations on a scale never before achieved, and its
+success will be dependent in large part upon the cooperation of all
+ranks in all services. Likewise, in combined operations, the alert
+officer will take it upon himself to learn and respect the insignia,
+relative ranks, and customs of his Allies. By exerting himself in the
+recognition of other ranks, by exacting adherence to the official
+tables of precedence, he contributes not only to his own stature as a
+professional soldier, sailor, marine or airman, but adds to the
+reputation of his service.
+
+In the main requirements, military courtesy varies but little from
+nation to nation. During service abroad, an American officer will
+salute the commissioned officers and pay respects to the anthems and
+colors of friendly nations just as to those of his own country.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX
+
+CUSTOMS AND COURTESIES
+
+
+Mutual respect and courtesy are indispensable elements in military
+organization. The junior shows deference to the senior; the senior
+shows consideration for him. The salute is the ancient and universal
+privilege of fighting men. It is a recognition of a common fellowship
+in a proud profession. Saluting is an expression of courtesy,
+alertness, and discipline. The senior is as obliged to return it as
+the junior is to initiate it. In fact, in the Army particularly, it is
+not unusual to see the senior salute first. Interservice salutes
+should be exchanged as punctiliously as between members of a single
+service, for both services stand to gain or lose by the manner in
+which this act is performed.
+
+The general rules governing saluting are based on common sense, good
+manners, and the customs of the times. For instance, soldiers actively
+engaged in sports are not required to salute, nor is any man leading a
+horse, since the sudden motion so near the horse's head might make it
+restive. There will always be occasions when it is inconvenient,
+impractical, or illogical to render or require the return of a salute.
+The intent of the regulation is not that it embarrass or demean the
+individual, but that it serve as a signal of recognition and greeting
+between members of the military brotherhood. According to regulations,
+in all services, the salute is initiated by the junior, and at any
+convenient distance that insures recognition, the least being about
+six paces. The form of the salute is the same in the Army, Navy and
+Air Force, and it is given either from the position of attention or at
+a walk. It is not given indoors except when reporting to another
+officer in an official capacity. In the Navy, it is customary for the
+junior initiating a salute to combine it with "Good morning, Sir," as
+a means of reinforcing its meaning as a greeting. Where this is done
+in the other two services, it is usually the result of a local
+directive expressing the wish of a particular commander. While it is
+expected that the junior will initiate such a greeting, there is no
+obligation upon him to do so, nor is there any reason that the senior
+may not say it first.
+
+The Navy and Air Force require that the junior, when engaged in work
+that brings him in reasonably frequent contact with the same seniors
+during the course of the working day, salute each senior officer the
+first time that he is passed during the day, but not subsequently
+unless a change in circumstances requires it. In the Air Force an
+enlisted mechanic working on the line would salute the engineering
+officer and his assistants the first time he recognized them during
+the day. If he passed one of the same officers later in the day, for
+example in front of the post exchange, he would salute again. The Army
+requires that a salute be given and returned each time the junior
+passes the senior, unless circumstances dictate that it be temporarily
+suspended by common agreement. The Commanding Officer of a naval
+vessel is saluted whenever met.
+
+Salutes are not mandatory on the driver of a vehicle, whether moving
+or idling at the curb, for the reason that the operator is presumed to
+need both hands for driving. Salutes are not exchanged between moving
+vehicles, between moving and halted vehicles, or between persons
+walking and persons riding in official cars except when it is obvious
+that the passenger is a senior, or when it is required as part of a
+ceremony. Official vehicles carrying general officers or flag officers
+will be clearly marked outside, and will be saluted. A salute is
+exchanged between persons in a parked vehicle and persons walking,
+unless the car is a bus or taxi. When two boats pass each other, the
+senior officer in each boat salutes without rising.
+
+Aside from saluting, there are certain other customs that govern
+conduct around official vehicles. Since the place of honor is on the
+right, the junior not only walks on the left, but rides there as well.
+In entering a car, the junior enters first, followed by other members
+of the party in inverse order of rank, each seating himself so that
+the senior may take position on the right side. In leaving the car,
+the senior debarks first. However, if following this general procedure
+would necessitate any member of the party climbing over another, or
+in any other way cause an awkward situation, the senior may enter
+first and alight last.
+
+The same rules govern for boarding and leaving small boats, except
+that the junior rides forward and the senior aft.
+
+In boarding aircraft with a single hatch, the pilot enters first,
+followed by the copilot and other members of the crew. With the crew
+in place, other passengers enter according to rank, the senior first;
+he takes the seat of his choice if the aircraft is equipped with
+seats. In either transport or tactical aircraft, the senior officers
+generally ride as far forward as possible. In leaving the aircraft,
+the aircrew who handle deplaning normally leave first, followed by
+passengers in order of seniority.
+
+The long association of the Air Force with the Army precludes any
+large body of custom and tradition that can be called peculiarly Air
+Force in origin or usage. In time undoubtedly a considerable body of
+distinctive official and social courtesies will grow, but at present
+most of the official and unofficial usages given here for the Army are
+understood to be applicable to the Air Force as well, and will be so
+treated.
+
+The hand salute is required on all military installations and in
+occupied territories, whether on or off duty; in all official greeting
+in the line of duty both on and off the base; for ceremonial
+occasions; and in honoring the National Anthem, or color, or
+distinguished persons.
+
+Since most military posts or bases are guarded on a twenty-four hour
+basis, the first official contact will be with the guard on the main
+gate. He may be a soldier or airman selected by roster and under the
+temporary control of the Officer of the Day, a Military Policeman
+wearing an MP brassard and under the command of the Provost Marshal,
+or a civilian guard either under the Provost or some other special
+staff agency of the Post or Base Commander. On the ordinary post or
+base, officers of other services will be admitted if wearing uniform,
+even when accompanied by civilian dependents. If the stay is of short
+duration, a "visitors" tag on the car may be sufficient; in other
+cases it may be necessary to secure a temporary pass from the Provost.
+
+Except for civilian guards, who do not salute, and who will be
+readily identified in their police uniforms, the guard, if armed with
+a pistol or carbine will give a hand salute. During the hours for
+challenging (usually extending from a short time before darkness until
+after reveille the next morning) sentries on an Army post may require
+any officer to halt, give his rank and name, and advance for
+recognition. The challenging sentry stands at "raise pistol" or "port
+arms" until the challenged party has been recognized, after which he
+simply returns his weapon to the normal carrying position; if armed
+with a rifle, he executes "present arms" and holds it until the salute
+is returned.
+
+On any post or base, the adjutant usually acts for the commanding
+officer in greeting the visitor and directing him to the various
+facilities of the base, although if the visit is to be of short
+duration--say, just for the purpose of seeing a friend--it would be
+impertinent to bother him. But if the visiting officer is reporting
+for temporary duty, or if he will be living in the immediate vicinity
+for some time on special detail and desires the use of post
+facilities, he is required to report to the adjutant.
+
+Most posts and bases have not only a bachelor officers quarters, more
+popularly known by the abbreviation BOQ, where the visitor may obtain
+lodging, but also a Hostess House where the officer may stay with his
+dependents. These accommodations are usually under the supervision of
+the Billeting Officer, who makes the assignments and charges a nominal
+fee for the services provided. Other facilities that the visitor may
+use include the Officer's Club and dining room, the Post Exchange
+(corresponding to Navy Exchanges), and the post theater. Under certain
+conditions the visitor may secure permission from the adjutant or
+executive to make purchases at the Commissary, which deals in
+foodstuffs and other perishables.
+
+Special dinners are served to the enlisted men on Christmas,
+Thanksgiving, July 4, New Year's Day and sometimes on February 22. The
+company commander and lieutenants of the company accompanied by their
+wives and families and other guests visit the dining room and kitchen
+just before Christmas dinner is served, often remaining for dinner as
+guests of the organization. In some companies the soldiers are
+permitted to invite their wives and other ladies to dinner. In some
+commands, the post commander accompanied by his staff and some of the
+ladies of the garrison visit all the dining rooms and kitchens just
+previous to dinner hour.
+
+A newly arrived officer on a post and the adult members of his family
+are usually invited to be in the receiving line at the first
+regimental function after their arrival.
+
+If you arrive at a post at which you expect to remain longer than 24
+hours you should check with the post adjutant for rules on calling.
+The adjutant will also give the normal calling hours in effect at the
+post or station. You are usually expected to call on the post
+commander. If assigned to duty there, you would normally call on all
+of your intermediate commanders at their offices. These calls should
+be made immediately after the call on the post commander. If unable to
+wear uniform, an explanation should be made for appearing in civilian
+clothes.
+
+When it is in keeping with local rules, as verified by the adjutant,
+you should follow the official visit by a social call on the post and
+intermediate commanders at their residence within 72 hours after your
+arrival. If the commander is married and his wife is present on the
+post, it is customary for you to make the visit accompanied by your
+wife. These calls should be formal and ordinarily last no longer than
+fifteen minutes.
+
+You need not make other calls until the officers of the battalion,
+regiment or garrison have called on you except that as junior officer
+you should make the first call on field officers of your organization.
+
+It is customary for all officers of a unit or garrison to call upon
+the commanding officer on New Year's Day. (Again the commanding
+officer's desire in this matter can be asked of his aide or adjutant.)
+
+The visitor at the average Army and Air Force post will probably see
+few ceremonies other than retreat. This ceremony, which closes the
+official day, may be accompanied either by appropriate bugle calls, or
+by a parade with a military band. In the former case, the music will
+sound _To the Color_, and in the latter, the _National Anthem_, while
+the flag is being lowered. Retreat is held daily at a fixed time,
+usually about 1700 hours. Posts with saluting cannon fire one round at
+the designated hour. At the first note of either the _National Anthem_
+or _To the Color_, all dismounted persons face toward the color or
+flag and render the prescribed salute from attention; the salute is
+held until the last note of the music has been played. In the event
+the flag cannot be seen and the location of the flag staff is unknown
+to the person saluting, he faces toward the sound of the music.
+
+At parades and reviews and on other occasions when uncased colors are
+carried, all military personnel salute at six paces distance and hold
+the salute until the color or standard is the same distance past. When
+personal honors are being rendered to general or flag officers at a
+review, all military personnel present and not in formation salute
+during the ruffles, flourishes, and march. When a cannon salute is
+given, personnel in the immediate vicinity conform to the actions of
+the person being saluted. No salute is required during the 48 gun
+salute to the Nation on the Fourth of July.
+
+Military personnel also salute during the passing of a caisson or
+hearse in a military funeral. If attending the services at the grave
+side either as mourners or as honorary pallbearers, they stand at
+attention with the head-dress over the left breast at any time the
+casket is being moved, and during the service at the grave, including
+the firing of the volleys and the sounding of _Taps_. In cold or
+inclement weather, the head-dress is left on and the hand salute is
+rendered during the movement of the casket, the firing of the volleys,
+and the sound of _Taps_.
+
+On ships having 180 or more men of the seaman branch, the side is
+attended by side boys for visiting officers of our Armed Services,
+except in civilian clothes, and for officers of the Foreign Service
+when they come on board and depart. This courtesy is also extended to
+commissioned officers of the armed services of foreign nations.
+Officers of the rank of lieutenant to major inclusive are given two
+side boys, from lieutenant colonel to colonel four side boys, from
+brigadier to major general six side boys, and lieutenant general and
+above eight side boys. Full guard and band are given to general
+officers, and for a colonel the guard of the day but no music.
+
+During the hours of darkness or low visibility an approaching boat is
+usually hailed "Boat ahoy?" which corresponds to the sentry's
+challenge, "Who goes there?" Some of the answers are as follows:
+
+    ANSWER          MEANING: Senior in boat is:
+
+    "Aye aye"       Commissioned officer
+
+    "No no"         Warrant officer
+
+    "Hello"         Enlisted man
+
+    "Enterprise"    CO of U.S.S. Enterprise
+
+    "Third Fleet"   Admiral commanding Third Fleet
+
+Similarly if the CO of the 13th Infantry is embarked or the CO of
+Fortress Monroe, the answers would be "13th Infantry" or "Fort
+Monroe."
+
+On arrival, at the order, "Tend the side" the side boys fall in fore
+and aft of the approach to the gangway, facing each other. The
+boatswain's mate-of-the-watch takes station forward of them and faces
+aft. When the boat comes alongside the boatswain's mate pipes, and
+again when the visiting officer's head reaches the level of the deck.
+At this moment the side boys salute.
+
+On departure, the ceremony is repeated in reverse, the bo's'ns mate
+begins to pipe and the side boys salute as soon as the departing
+officer steps toward the gangway between the side boys. As the boat
+casts off the bo's'ns mate pipes again. (Shore boats and automobiles
+are not piped.)
+
+You uncover when entering a space where men are at mess and in Sick
+Bay (Quarters) if sick men are present. You uncover in the wardroom at
+all times if you are junior. All hands except when under arms uncover
+in the captain's cabin and country.
+
+You should not overtake a senior except in emergency. In the latter
+case slow, salute, and say, "By your leave, sir."
+
+Admirals and captains when in uniform fly colors astern when embarked
+in boats. When on official visits they also display their personal
+flags (pennants for commanding officers) in the bow. Flag officers'
+barges are distinguished by the appropriate number of stars on each
+side of the barge's hull. Captains' gigs are distinguished by the name
+or abbreviation of their ships surcharged by an arrow.
+
+Where gangways are rigged on both sides, the starboard gangway is
+reserved for officers and the port for enlisted men. Stress of weather
+or expedience (in the discretion of the officer of the deck or OOD)
+may make either gangway available to both officers and men.
+
+Seniors come on board ship first. When reaching the deck you face
+toward the colors (or aft if no colors are hoisted) and salute the
+colors (quarterdeck). Immediately thereafter you salute the OOD and
+request permission to come on board. The usual form is, "Request
+permission to come aboard, sir." The OOD is required to return both
+salutes.
+
+On leaving the ship the inverse order is observed. You salute the OOD
+and request permission to leave the ship. The OOD will indicate when
+the boat is ready (if a boat is used). Each person, juniors first,
+salutes the OOD; then faces toward the colors, salutes and embarks.
+
+The OOD on board ship represents the captain and as such has
+unquestioned authority. Only the executive and commanding officer may
+order him relieved. The authority of the OOD extends to the
+accommodation ladders or gangways. He is perfectly within his rights
+to order any approaching boat to "lay off" and keep clear until in his
+judgment he can receive her alongside.
+
+The OOD normally conveys orders to the embarked troops via the Troop
+Commander but in emergencies he may issue orders direct to you or any
+person on board.
+
+The _bridge_ is the "Command Post" of the ship when underway, as the
+quarterdeck is at anchor. The officer-of-the-deck is in charge of the
+ship as the representative of the captain. Admittance to the bridge
+when underway should be at the captain's invitation or with his
+permission. You may usually obtain permission through the executive
+officer.
+
+The _quarterdeck_ is the seat of authority; as such it is respected.
+The starboard side of the quarterdeck is reserved for the captain (and
+admiral, if a flagship). No person trespasses upon it except when
+necessary in the course of work or official business. All persons
+salute the quarterdeck when entering upon it. When pacing the deck
+with another officer the place of honor is outboard, and when
+reversing direction each turns towards the other. The port side of the
+quarterdeck is reserved for commissioned officers, and the crew has
+all the rest of the weather decks of the ship. However, every part of
+the deck (and the ship) is assigned to a particular division so that
+the crew has ample space. Not unnaturally every division considers it
+has a prior though unwritten right to its own part of the ship. For
+gatherings such as smokers and movies, all divisions have equal
+privileges at the scene of assemblage. Space and chairs are reserved
+for officers and for CPO's, where available, and mess benches are
+brought up for the men. The seniors have the place of honor. When the
+captain (and admiral) arrive those present are called to attention.
+The captain customarily gives "carry on" at once through the executive
+officer or master-at-arms who accompanies him to his seat.
+
+If you take passage on board a naval vessel you will be assigned to
+one of several messes on board ship, the wardroom or junior officer's
+mess. In off-hours, particularly in the evenings, you can foregather
+there for cards, yarns or reading. Generally a percolator is available
+with hot coffee.
+
+The Executive Officer is ex officio the president of the wardroom
+mess. The wardroom officers are the division officers and the heads of
+departments. All officers await the arrival of the Executive Officer
+before being seated at lunch and dinner. If it is necessary for you to
+leave early, ask the head at your table for permission to be excused
+as you would at home. The seating arrangement in the messes is by
+order of seniority.
+
+Naval Officers are required to pay their mess bills in advance. The
+mess treasurer takes care of the receipts and expenditures and the
+management of the mess. The mess chooses him by election every month.
+When assigned to a mess you are an honorary member. Consult the mess
+treasurer as to when he will receive payment for mess bills. Your
+meals are served by stewards who in addition, clean your room, make up
+your bunk, shine your shoes. This is their regular work for which they
+draw the pay of their rating. They are not tipped.
+
+The Cigar Mess is the successor of the old Wine Mess. You may make
+purchases from this mess, for example, of cigarettes, cigars, pipe
+tobacco and candies. The cigar mess treasurer will make out your bill
+at the end of the month or before your detachment. Before you are
+detached be sure that the mess treasurer and the cigar mess treasurer
+have sufficient warning to make out your bills before you leave. Once
+a ship has sailed, long delays usually occur before your remittances
+can overtake it. The unpaid mess bill on board is a more serious
+breach of propriety than the unpaid club bill ashore because of the
+greater inconvenience and delay in settlement.
+
+Passenger officers should call on the captain of the ship. If there
+are many, they should choose a calling committee and consult the
+executive officer as to a convenient time to call. The latter will
+make arrangements with the captain.
+
+Gun salutes in the Navy are the same as in the Army, except that flag
+officers below the rank of fleet admiral or general of the Army are,
+by Navy regulations, given a gun salute upon departure only. By Army
+regulations gun salutes for the same officers are fired only on
+arrival.
+
+The rules governing saluting, whether saluting other individuals or
+paying honor to the color or National Anthem, are the same for the Air
+Force as in the Army, with the minor exceptions already noted. Because
+a most frequent contact between the Air Force and the other services
+comes of the operations of air transport, an officer should know what
+is expected of him when he travels as a passenger in military
+aircraft.
+
+It is assumed that the majority of officers visiting an Air Force base
+will arrive by air at the local military airfield. In addition to the
+Base Operations Officer, who is the commander's staff officer with
+jurisdiction over air traffic arriving and departing, the Airdrome
+Officer is charged with meeting all transient aircraft, determining
+their transportation requirements, and directing them to the various
+base facilities. General officers and admirals will usually be met by
+the Base Commander if practicable. RON (Remaining Over Night) messages
+may be transmitted through Base Operations at the same time the
+arrival notice is filed.
+
+Pilots of transient aircraft carrying classified equipment are
+responsible for the safeguarding of that equipment unless it can be
+removed from the aircraft and stored in an adequately guarded area.
+Under unusual circumstances, it may be possible to arrange for a
+special airplane guard with the base commander.
+
+Passengers from other services, who desire to remain overnight at an
+air force station should make the necessary arrangements with the
+Airdrome Officer, and not attach themselves to the pilot who will be
+busy with his own responsibilities. By the same token, passengers of
+other services who have had a special flight arranged for them should
+make every effort to see that the pilot and crew are offered the same
+accommodations that they themselves are using, unless the particular
+base has adequate transient accommodations.
+
+Passenger vehicles are never allowed on the ramp or flight line unless
+special arrangements have been made with the Base Operations Officer;
+this permission will be granted only under the most unusual
+circumstances.
+
+The assigned first pilot, or the airplane commander, is the final
+authority on the operation of any military aircraft. Passengers,
+regardless of rank, seniority, or service, are subject to the orders
+of the airplane commander, who is held responsible for their adherence
+to regulations governing conduct in and around the aircraft. In the
+event it is impractical for the airplane commander to leave his
+position, orders may be transmitted through the copilot, engineer, or
+flight clerk, and have the same authority as if given by the pilot
+himself.
+
+The order of boarding and alighting from military aircraft--excluding
+the crew--will vary somewhat with the nature of the mission. If a
+special flight is arranged for the transportation of Very Important
+Persons, official inspecting parties, or other high ranking officers
+of any service, the senior member will enter first and take the seat
+of his choice, unless the aircraft is compartmented otherwise. Other
+members of the party will enter in order of rank, and precedence among
+officers of the same rank will be determined among the officers
+themselves. In alighting from the aircraft, the senior member will
+exit first, and the other members of the party will follow either in
+order of rank, or in order of seating, those nearest the hatch
+alighting first. The duties of the crew preclude their acting as
+arbiters in matters of precedence, and order of boarding and alighting
+will be decided among the members of the party.
+
+In routine flights, officers will normally be loaded in order of rank
+without regard for precedence, except that any VIP will be on- and
+off-loaded first; in alighting, officers will leave as they are seated
+from the exit forward--officers seated near the hatch will debark
+first, and so on to those who are seated farthest forward. In the
+event civilian dependents are being carried, or an enlisted man
+accompanied by dependents, they will be loaded after any VIP and
+before the officers, and leave in the same sequence.
+
+Aircraft carrying general or flag officers will usually be marked with
+a detachable metal plate carrying stars appropriate to the highest
+rank aboard, and will be greeted on arrival by the Air Force Base
+Commander, if the destination is an Air Force base. Other aircraft are
+usually met by the Airdrome Officer, who is appointed for one day
+only, and acts as the Base Commander's representative.
+
+Other personnel on active duty, seeking transportation on navigation
+or training missions, should realize that the flight is at the pilot's
+convenience. While the pilot will usually agree to any reasonable
+request, he can not deviate from his approved flight plan simply to
+accommodate a passenger. By the same token, passengers should be
+prompt, observe all pertinent safety regulations, and remain in the
+passengers compartment of the aircraft unless specifically invited to
+the flight deck or pilot's compartment. Under instrument
+conditions--so-called "blind" flying--continuous movement of the
+passengers of the aircraft makes unnecessary work for the pilot in
+maintaining balance, trim, and his assigned altitude. Passengers who
+are abnormally active while in the air are sometimes called--with
+exasperation--"waltzing mice."
+
+Since flights are somewhat dependent on weather, especially when
+carrying passengers, the decision of the pilot to fly or not to fly,
+or to alter his flight plan enroute will not be questioned by the
+passengers of whatever rank or service. Regulations governing the use
+of safety belts; wearing of parachutes; smoking during take-off,
+landing, fuel transfer, or in the vicinity of the aircraft on the
+ground are binding on all classes of passengers.
+
+When airplanes participate in the funeral of an aviator, it is
+customary to fly in a normal tactical formation, less one aircraft, to
+indicate the vacancy formerly occupied by the deceased. The flight
+should be so timed that it appears over the procession while the
+remains are being carried to the grave. Care should be exercised that
+the noise of the flight does not drown out the service at the edge of
+the grave.
+
+Other ceremonies, including Retreat and reviews, are the same for the
+Air Force as for the Army.
+
+By custom; and because it is the natural way of an American, the
+officers of the host service accord more than their average
+hospitality to the individual from any other service who may be
+visiting or doing duty among them. Even the young officer, having this
+experience for the first time, and in consequence feeling a little
+strange about it, is not permitted to feel that way long. He quickly
+finds a second home, provided there is that in his nature which
+responds to friendship.
+
+These amenities, carefully observed at all levels, contribute more
+directly to a spiritual uniting of American fighting forces than all
+of the policies which have been promulgated toward the serving of that
+object.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN
+
+KEEPING YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER
+
+
+In one of Lord Chesterfield's letters to his son there is to be found
+this bit of wisdom: "Dispatch is the soul of business and nothing
+contributes more to dispatch than method. Fix one certain hour and day
+in the week for your accounts, keep them together in their proper
+order, and you can never be much cheated."
+
+Although that is good advice in any man's league, there is just a
+little more reason why the military officer should adopt a system of
+accounting whereby he can keep his record straight, his affairs
+solvent and his situation mobile than if he had remained in civil
+life.
+
+He rarely, if ever, becomes permanently fixed in one location or
+remains tied to one group of individuals who know his credit, his
+ability, his past accomplishments and his general reputation. In the
+nature of his work, these things have to be reestablished from point
+to point, and if he personally does not take pains to conserve them,
+he can be certain only that no one else ever will.
+
+On the whole, the attitude of the services toward the private affairs
+and nonduty conduct of their officers can be best set forth by once
+again employing Chesterfield's phrases: "If you have the knowledge,
+the honor, and probity which you may have, the marks and warmth of my
+affection will amply reward you; but if you have them not, my aversion
+and indignation will rise in the same proportion."
+
+Reassignment to a distant station is of course a day-to-day
+possibility in the life of any military officer. Far from this being a
+general hardship, it is because the pattern of work and environment
+changes frequently, and the opportunity to build new friendships is
+almost endless, that the best men are attracted to the services. To
+vegetate in one spot is killing to the spirit of the individual who is
+truly fitted to play a lead part in bold enterprises, and for that
+reason there is something very unseemly and unmilitary about the
+officer who resists movement.
+
+On the other hand, a move order is like a club over the head to the
+officer who hasn't kept his own deck clean, has made no clear
+accounting of himself and is out of funds and harassed by his
+creditors.
+
+Concerning the evils of running into debt, there is hardly need for a
+sermon to any American male who has brains enough to memorize his
+general orders. As Mr. Micawber put it to David Copperfield, "The
+blossom is blighted, the leaf is withered, the god of days goes down
+upon the dreary scene, and--and in short, you are forever floored."
+The over-extension of credit is a not unknown American failing. It is
+now the nigh universal custom to overload the home with every kind of
+gadget, usually bought on time, and nearly all intended to provide the
+householder with every possible excuse for resisting human toil or for
+declining to use any personal ingenuity in making life interesting for
+his family. It is all good enough for those who must have it, but it
+is well for an officer to remember that the greater the accumulation,
+the less his chance of accommodating his personal establishment to the
+requirements of the service. All moves are costly, even though the
+government pays most of the freight.
+
+For these and many other reasons, the habit of systematic saving is an
+essential form of career insurance. The officer who will not deprive
+himself of a few luxuries to build up a financial reserve is as
+reckless of his professional future as the one who in battle commits
+his manpower reserve to front-line action without first weighing his
+situation.
+
+In the old days, keeping up with the Joneses was almost a part of
+service tradition. If the colonel's lady owned a bob-tailed nag, the
+major's wife could be satisfied with nothing less than a bay. And so
+on and on. Things are no longer that way. They have become much more
+sensible.
+
+There is one other kind of credit--the professional credit which an
+officer is entitled to keep with his own establishment. Junior
+officers are entitled to know that which their superiors are often
+too forgetful to tell them--that if they have made some especially
+distinct and worthy contribution to the service, it belongs in the
+permanent record. If, for example, an officer has written part of a
+manual, or sat on a major board or committee or provided the idea
+which has resulted in an improvement of materiel, the fact should be
+noted in the 201 file, or its equivalent. Such things are not done
+automatically, as many an officer has learned too late and to his
+sorrow. But any officer is within propriety in asking this
+acknowledgment from his responsible superior.
+
+The legal assistance office in an officer's immediate organization
+will usually suffice his needs in the drawing of all papers essential
+to his personal housekeeping.
+
+To make a will is merely good business practice, and to neglect it
+simply because one's holdings are small is to postpone forming the
+habits which mark a responsible person. Because of superstition and a
+reluctance to think about death, about three out of every four
+Americans die intestate. That is about as foolish as leading men into
+battle without designating a second in command. The Armed Services
+counsel all officers to take the more responsible view, and make it
+easy for their officers to do this duty without cost.
+
+A power of attorney enables one person to take certain legal steps for
+another in his absence, and execute papers which would usually require
+his signature. When an officer is going on an extended tour overseas,
+his interests are apt to be left dangling unless he leaves such a
+power with his wife, mother, best friend or some other person, thereby
+avoiding loss of money and excess worry.
+
+Any citizen may draw up a will in his own handwriting, and if it is
+properly attested, it will have some standing in court. Likewise, a
+power of attorney can be executed on a blank form. But it is foolish
+for a military officer to do these things halfway when the legal
+offices of the service are available to him, not only for performing
+the work, but for counseling him as to its effect.
+
+There is one other step that the responsible man takes on his own. It
+is not likely that his wife or any other person knows at any one time
+the whole story of his interests, obligations and holdings, as to
+where goods may be stored, savings kept, insurance policies filed,
+what debts are owed and what accounts are receivable. In the event of
+his sudden death, next of kin would be at a loss to know whom and
+where to call to get the estate settled smoothly, and with all things
+accurately inventoried. So it is a practical idea to keep an
+up-to-date check list in ledger form, but containing all pertinent
+information whereby things may be made readily accessible. If for some
+private reason, it is preferred not to leave this with next of kin, it
+can be kept in a top drawer at the office, where it could scarcely
+escape attention.
+
+A current inventory of household goods is also a safety and
+time-saving precaution. As changes occur, the list can be corrected
+and kept fresh. Then in case of a sudden move, there is almost nothing
+to be done in preparation for the movers, and in the event of loss
+anywhere along the line, one's own tables will provide a basis for
+recovery. Goods are not infrequently mislaid, lost, or damaged when
+shipped or warehoused, and the more authentic the description of the
+goods in question, the better the chances for the claim.
+
+For any officer with dependents, insurance is of course a necessity.
+How much it should be, and what its form, are matters for his judgment
+and conscience, and according to his circumstances. The services do
+not try to tell a man how he should provide for his family. Men of
+honor need no such reminder, though they may be bothered by the
+question: "How much can I afford?" On that point, sufficient to say
+that it is _not_ more blessed to be insolvent and worried about debts
+from being overloaded with insurance than for any other reason. Many
+retired officers supplement their pay by selling insurance. When a
+young service officer wants insurance counsel, he will find that they
+are disposed to deal sympathetically with his problem.
+
+A few recurrent expenses, such as insurance premiums and bond
+purchases, can be met with allotments through the Finance or
+Disbursing Officer. The forms for the starting of an allotment are
+quite simple. When an officer is going overseas, if his dependents are
+not to follow immediately, an allotment is the best way to insure
+that they will get their income regularly. Overseas expenses are
+usually quite light, which means that the allotment may safely be made
+in larger amount than half the monthly pay. Under certain
+circumstances, it may also be arranged for allotments to be made to
+banks, as a form of steady saving.
+
+Adverting for a moment to the question of what happens to a service
+officer when he becomes ridden by debt and plagued by his creditors,
+it is a fair statement that the generality of higher commanders are
+not unsympathetic, that they know that shrewdness and thrift are quite
+often the product of a broadened experience, and that their natural
+disposition is to temper the wind to the shorn lamb, if there are
+signs that he is making a reasonable effort to recover. When it
+becomes clear that he is taking the service for a ride and cares
+nothing for the good name of the officer corps, they'll send him
+packing. A man harassed by debt, and not knowing how to meet his
+situation, is always well-advised to go to his commander, make a clean
+statement of the case, and ask for his counsel.
+
+Every officer should be absolutely scrupulous about keeping a
+complete, chronologically arranged file of all official papers having
+anything to do with his status, movements, duties, or possessions.
+That may seem burdensome, but it is well worth doing, since one never
+knows when an old paper will become germane to a current question or
+undertaking.
+
+Likewise, receipts are necessary whenever one spends money on anything
+(for instance, travel) on which reimbursement is expected from the
+Government. Regulations are clear on this point--the Government simply
+will not give the individual the benefit of the doubt. No receipt; no
+check from the Treasury.
+
+The military society is a little more tightly closed than a civilian
+society, particularly in posts, camps and stations. For that reason
+the pressure from the distaff side is usually a little heavier. Wives
+get together more frequently, know one another better, and take a more
+direct interest in their husbands' careers than is common elsewhere.
+That has its advantages, but also its headaches. There is an
+occasional officer who is so immature in his judgments as to permit
+his wife's feelings about a colleague or a colleague's wife to
+supervene in the affairs of organization. This is one way to ask for
+trouble.
+
+Gossip is to be avoided because it is vicious, self-destructive,
+unmanly, unmilitary and, most of the time, untrue. The obligation of
+each officer toward his fellow officer is to build him up, which
+implies the use of moral pressure against whatsoever influence would
+pull him down. While the love of scandal is universal, and the
+services can not hope to rid themselves altogether of the average
+human failings, it is possible for any man to guard his own tongue
+and, by the example of moderation, serve to keep all such discussion
+temperate. Were all officers to make a conscious striving in this
+direction, the credit of the corps as a whole, and the satisfactions
+of each of its members in his service, would be tremendously
+increased. Besides, there is another point: gossip is the mark of the
+man insufficiently occupied with serious thought about his personal
+responsibilities. His carelessness about the destruction of the
+character of others is incidental to his indifference to those things
+which make for character in self.
+
+As for the rest of it, we can turn back to Chesterfield, with whom we
+started. For how might any man state it more neatly than with these
+words:
+
+"Were I to begin the world again with the experience which I now have
+of it, I would lead a life of real, not of imaginary pleasure. I would
+enjoy the pleasures of the table and of wine, but stop short of the
+pains inseparably annexed to an excess of either.
+
+"I should let other people do as they would without formally and
+sententiously rebuking them for it. But I would be most firmly
+resolved not to destroy my own faculties and constitution in
+complaisance to those who have no regard for their own.
+
+"I would play to give me pleasure, but not to give me pain. That is, I
+would play for trifles in mixed companies, to amuse myself and conform
+to custom. But I would take care not to venture for sums which if I
+won I would not be the better for, but if I lost, should be under a
+difficulty to pay."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT
+
+GETTING ALONG WITH PEOPLE
+
+
+The main answer can be stated almost as simply as doing right-face.
+Hear this:
+
+If you like people, if you seek contact with them rather than hiding
+yourself in a corner, if you study your fellow men sympathetically, if
+you try consistently to contribute something to their success and
+happiness, if you are reasonably generous with your thoughts and your
+time, if you have a partial reserve with everyone but a seeming
+reserve with no one, if you work to be interesting rather than spend
+to be a good fellow, you will get along with your superiors, your
+subordinates, your orderly, your roommate and the human race.
+
+It is easy enough to chart a course for the individual who is wise
+enough to make human relationships his main concern. But getting the
+knack of it is sufficiently more difficult that it is safe to say more
+talk has been devoted to this subject than to any other topic of
+conversation since Noah quit the Ark. From Confucius down to Emily
+Post, greater and lesser minds have worked at gentling the human race.
+By the scores of thousands, precepts and platitudes have been written
+for the guidance of personal conduct. The odd part of it is that
+despite all of this labor, most of the frictions in modern society
+arise from the individual's feeling of inferiority, his false pride,
+his vanity, his unwillingness to yield space to any other man, and his
+consequent urge to throw his own weight around. Goethe said that the
+quality which best enables a man to renew his own life, in his
+relation to others, is that he will become capable of renouncing
+particular things at the right moment in order warmly to embrace
+something new in the next.
+
+That is earthy advice for any member of the officer corps. For who is
+regarded as the strong man in the service--the individual who fights
+with tooth and nail to hold to a particular post or privilege? Not at
+all! Full respect is given only to him who at all times is willing to
+yield his space to a worthy successor, because of an ingrained
+confidence that he can succeed as greatly in some other sphere.
+
+For a fresh start in this study of getting along with people, we could
+not do better than quote what was published some time ago in the
+United States Coast Guard Magazine. Under the title "_Thirteen
+Mistakes_," the coast guardsmen raised their warning flares above the
+13 pitfalls. It is a mistake:
+
+    1. To attempt to set up your own standard of right and wrong.
+
+    2. To try to measure the enjoyment of others by your own.
+
+    3. To expect uniformity of opinions in the world.
+
+    4. To fail to make allowance for inexperience.
+
+    5. To endeavor to mold all dispositions alike.
+
+    6. Not to yield on unimportant trifles.
+
+    7. To look for perfection in our own actions.
+
+    8. To worry ourselves and others about what can't be remedied.
+
+    9. Not to help everybody wherever, however, whenever we can.
+
+    10. To consider impossible what we cannot ourselves perform.
+
+    11. To believe only what our finite minds can grasp.
+
+    12. Not to make allowances for the weakness of others.
+
+    13. To estimate by some outside quality, when it is that within
+    which makes the man.
+
+The unobserving officer will no doubt dismiss this list as just so
+many clichés. The reflective man will accept it as a negative guide to
+positive conduct, for it engages practically every principle which is
+vital to the growth of a strong spiritual life in relation to one's
+fellow men.
+
+Certain of these points stand out as prominently as pips on a radar
+screen to the military officer bent on keeping his own ship out of
+trouble. The morals contained in 4, 5, 12, and 13 all come to bear in
+the story told by Sgt. Fred Miller about Pvt. Fred Lang of Hospital
+No. 1 on Bataan. Miller had tried to do what he could for Lang, but no
+one else in the detachment was willing to give him a break. He was an
+unlettered hillbilly and, being ashamed of his own ignorance, he was
+shy toward other men. The rest of the story is best told in Miller's
+words.
+
+"When the Japs made their first bombing run on Marivales, most of us,
+being new at war, huddled together under such cover as we could find.
+Some people were hit outside. We stayed where we were. But we looked
+out and saw Lang. He was trying to handle a stretcher by himself,
+dragging one end along the ground in an effort to bring in the
+wounded. I remember one member of our group remarking, 'Look at old
+Lang trying to do litter drill right in the middle of a war.' Lang was
+killed by an enemy bomb that night. I guess he had to die to make us
+understand that he was the best man."
+
+There is hardly an American who has been in combat but can tell some
+other version of this same story, changing only the names and the
+surroundings. All too frequently it happens in the services--we look
+at a man, and because at a casual inspection we do not like the cut of
+his jib, or the manner of his response, or are over-persuaded by what
+someone else has said about him, we reach a permanent conclusion about
+his possibilities, and either mentally write him off, or impair our
+own capacity for giving him help.
+
+It suffices to say that when any officer has the inexcusable fault
+that he takes snap judgment on his _own_ men, he will not be any
+different in his relations with all other people, and will stand in
+his own light for the duration of his career. Which leads to one other
+observation. When any man, bearing a bad efficiency report, comes to a
+new organization, it is a fact to be noted with mild interest, but
+_without any prejudice whatever_. Every new assignment means a clean
+slate, and there should be no hangover from what has happened,
+including the possible mistaken judgments of others. The system was
+never intended to give a dog a bad name. To be perpetually supervised,
+questioned and shadowed is to be doubted, and doubt destroys
+confidence and creates fear, slyness and discontent in the other
+individual. Every man is entitled to a fresh hold on security with his
+new superior. Any wise and experienced senior commander will tell you
+this, and will cite examples of men who came to him with a spotty
+record, who started nervously, began to pick up after realizing that
+they were not going to get another kick, and went on to become
+altogether superior. For any right-minded commander, it is far more
+gratifying to be able to salvage human material than to take over an
+organization that is sound from bottom to top.
+
+However, the truth in point 9 applies universally. The studied effort
+to be helpful in all of our relations with our fellow men, and to give
+help not grudgingly, but cheerfully, courteously and in greater
+measure than is expected, is the high road to wide influence and
+personal strength of character. More than all else, it is the little
+kindnesses in life which bind men together and help each wayfarer to
+start the day right. These tokens are like bread cast upon the water;
+they ultimately nourish the giver more than the direct beneficiary.
+One of our best-known corps commanders in the Pacific War made it a
+rule that if any man serving under him, or any man he knew in the
+service, however unimportant, was promoted or given any other
+recognition, he would write a letter to the man's wife or mother,
+saying how proud he felt. He was not a great tactician or strategist
+but, because of the little things he did, men loved him and would ride
+to hell for him, and their collective moral strength became the
+bastion of his professional success.
+
+Of Maj. Gen. Henry T. Allen, who commanded our first Army of
+Occupation in Germany, a distinguished contemporary once said: "It
+surprised us that Allen did so well; in the old Army we regarded him
+as a swashbuckler." Maybe that was because he was a cavalryman and
+liked to strut, and he liked to see chestiness in his own people,
+right down to the last file. But General Allen was infinitely
+considerate of the dignity of all other men, and he disciplined
+himself to further their growth and give them some mark of his
+thoughtful regard so far as lay within his power. It was because of
+his rich understanding humanity, and not through any genial slackness,
+that he kept a tight hold on discipline. To the units he commanded he
+gave his own tone. He warmed men instead of chilling them with fear.
+Thousands returned to civil life better equipped for the passage
+because of what they had seen him do and heard him say.
+
+So we can link points 1, 6, 7, and 8 from the Coast Guard's list into
+one binding truth not less essential to sound officership than to
+action anywhere which seeks the cooperation and goodwill of men: _It
+is not more blessed to be right than to be loved_, Henry Clay's remark
+that he would rather be right than president notwithstanding. The
+absolute perfectionist is the most tiresome of men, and a waster of
+time and of nerves. The stickler, the fly-speckler, the bully and the
+sadist serve only to encumber those parts of the establishment which
+they touch; their subordinates spend part of their own strength
+clearing away the wreckage which these misfits make.
+
+Other than these comments, it is not necessary to say a great deal
+about the _inner qualities_ which give an officer a free-wheeling
+adjustment with other persons in all walks of life. Once again,
+however, it might be well to speak of the importance of enthusiasm,
+kindness, courtesy, and justice, which are the safeguards of honor and
+the tokens of mutual respect between man and man. This last there must
+be if men are to go forward together, prosper in one another's
+company, find strength in the bonds of mutual service, and experience
+a common felicity in the relationship between the leader and the led.
+
+But it is sadly the case that the reputation of any man, as to what he
+is inside, forms in large measure from what others see of him from the
+outside. That is what makes poignant the story of Pvt. Fred Lang; like
+a singed cat, he was better than he looked. In the military service,
+more than elsewhere in life, manner weighs heavily in the balance, if
+only for the reason that from the public point of view, the military
+officer is supposed to look the part. He is expected to be the
+embodiment of character, given to forthright but amiable speech,
+capable of expressing his ideas and purpose clearly, careful of
+customs and good usage, and carrying himself with poise and assurance.
+For if he does not have the aura of vitality, confidence and
+reflection which is expected in a leader of men, it will be suspected
+that he is incapable of playing the part. However unfairly
+discriminating that judgment may seem to be, in comparison with the
+attitude toward other professions, it has a perfectly logical basis.
+The people are willing to forgive preoccupation in all others, since
+how an engineer dresses has no relation to his skill as a
+mathematician, and when a doctor mumbles it doesn't suggest that he
+would be clumsy with a scalpel. But when they meet an uncivil or
+unkempt officer, or see an untidy soldier or bluejacket on the street,
+they worry that the national defense is going to pot. One reason for
+the great prestige of the Marine Corps is that the public seldom, if
+ever, sees a sloppy marine, though its members do sometimes look a
+little gruesome on the field of battle.
+
+The officer corps does have its share of "characters." Some are men
+born in an uncommon mold, with a great deal of natural phlegm in their
+systems, a gift for salty speech and a tendency to drawl their words
+as if their thoughts were being raised from a deep well. Usually, they
+are men of extraordinary power, and are worth any dozen of that
+individual who scuttles about like a water bug, making an exhibition
+of great energy but, like the whirling dervish, keeping in such
+constant motion that he has no chance to observe what goes on under
+his nose. Here, as in all things, it is steadiness that does it. The
+blunt soldier, the old sea-dog type of naval officer, is endurable and
+even lovable in the eyes of most other people, when he has done his
+scrapping with fire rather than firewater, when his personal
+credentials are sound, and when his outward manner is bluff in both
+meanings of the word. But the fakers who affect the crusty manner, the
+glaring eye and the jutting jaw, simply because they are wearing
+military suits and think mistakenly that these things are in the
+tradition, will be recognized as counterfeit as quickly as a lead
+quarter.
+
+There is nothing else that serves as well as the natural manner, with
+some polishing of the surfaces here and there, and a general
+tightening at the corners.
+
+While a partial check list is not likely to reform the establishment
+overnight, if kept simple enough, it may afford help to an occasional
+individual, instead of giving him the fear that he is falling apart at
+the seams.
+
+The smartest physical culturists are swinging around to the idea that
+correct posture alone is the great secret of physical fitness, that if
+a man sits well, stands erect and walks correctly all the time, he is
+doing more for his health and longevity than all of the setting-up
+exercises and sweat baths yet devised. At the same time he is making a
+favorable impression on all who see him. Clumsy one-sided postures,
+fidgeting on a chair, slouching while sitting or standing, moving
+along at a shambling gait and speaking with the chin down on the chest
+produce quite the opposite effect. Right or wrong, they are taken as a
+sign of indolence, fatigue, or inattention. There is always an hour
+for complete physical relaxation, for stretching and letting the
+muscles melt; Winston Churchill attributed a large part of his vigor
+and recuperative powers to the habit of taking a 30-minute cat nap in
+midday. That is a smart trick if one can master it. But trying most of
+all for _physical ease_ when in conversation, or at conference, or in
+attending to any matter wherein one comes under the surveillance of
+those whose good opinion is worth cultivating is as certain a handicap
+as putting excess weight on an otherwise good horse.
+
+In the services, as in any situation in life in which deference to
+higher opinion is compelled by the nature of an undertaking, the young
+will do well to consider the wisdom of the precept, "Be patient with
+your betters."
+
+It is lamentably bad judgment to act by any other rules. Where
+differences of opinion exist, time and forbearance not infrequently
+will work the desired change, where stubbornness or rudeness would
+utterly fail. More than that, a junior owes this much consideration to
+any senior whose heart is in the right place. It is bad manners, but
+even worse from the standpoint of tactics, to attempt publicly to
+score a victory over a senior in any dispute, or to attempt by wit to
+gain the upperhand of him in the presence of others. Though the point
+may be gained for the moment, it is usually at the cost of one's
+personal hold on the confidence of the senior.
+
+But there is also the other side of the case, that the superior should
+deal considerately with any earnest proposal from his subordinate,
+rather than dashing cold water in his face, just because he has not
+thought his proposition through. One of the best-loved editors of the
+United States, Grove Patterson, of Toledo, Ohio, was remembered by
+every young journalist who ever came under him because of the care
+with which he supported every man's pride. A youngster would go in to
+him, filled with enthusiasm for some idea, which he himself had not
+bothered to view in the round. Patterson would listen carefully, and
+would then say: "That's a corking idea. Take it and work it out
+carefully, going over every aspect of it. Then bring it back to me."
+On second thought, the youngster would begin having his own doubts,
+and would shortly begin hoping that the chief would forget all about
+the subject, which he invariably did. Many celebrated commanders in
+our military services have won the lasting affection of their
+subordinates by employing exactly this method.
+
+Men like the direct glance. They feel flattered by it, particularly
+when they are talking, and in conversation they like to be heard
+through, not interrupted in mid-passage. That is true whatever their
+station. Nobody likes to be bored, but fully half of boredom comes
+from lack of the habit of careful listening. The man who will not
+listen never develops wits enough to distinguish between a bore and a
+sage and therefore cannot pick the best company. The vacant stare, the
+drifting of eyes from the speaker to a window, or a picture or a
+passing blonde, though greatly tempting in the midst of long
+discourse, are taken only as signs of inattention. Many a young
+officer called to the carpet for some trivial business has managed to
+square himself with his commander just by looking straight and talking
+straight in the few moments that decided his future.
+
+Elsewhere in the book, a great deal has been said about the importance
+of the voice and of developing one's powers of conversation. Not a
+great deal more needs to be added here. But there is no excuse for the
+officer who talks so that others must strain to hear what he is
+saying--unless he is suffering from laryngitis. It is simple enough
+to keep the chin up and let the words roll out. Many persons have the
+bad habit of letting the voice drop at the end of a sentence; the
+effect on the other party is like watching a man run away from a
+fight. For clear understanding, and to create a good impression, there
+should be a cheerful lift upward at the end of a sentence.
+
+Also, officers who look at lecturing simply as part of the routine
+tend to fall into either the singsong rhythm which one frequently
+hears in college professors and certain radio announcers, or go all
+out for the sonorous intonations which are beloved by many of the
+clergy. Many young officers get into these same cadences whenever they
+talk to men, and before they know it, they are trying the same thing
+in the family circle. They sound like alarm clocks running down, but
+instead of arousing the house, they are an invitation to slumber.
+Either on the lecture platform, or in man-to-man conversation, there
+is no valid reason why it is ever necessary to take the tone which
+suggests that the talk is one-sided. Words can be crisply uttered and
+still be personally directed, but not if the speaker is looking at the
+floor, the moon or the rafters. To discuss a question amicably is the
+best way to gain clear insight into it; when a man argues violently,
+his purpose usually is not to serve wisdom but to prevail despite his
+lack of it, thus stultifying both himself and his adversary.
+
+Clothes are important. They have to be. One can't go very far without
+them, north of the Equator. But a fresh press counts more than a new
+suit by a Fifth Avenue tailor left unpressed, and neatness beats
+lavishness any day in the week.
+
+Carefulness in the little things counts much. Men develop an aversion
+to the individual who cannot remember their names, their titles or
+their stations, but they will warm to the person who remembers, and
+they will overlook most of his other shortcomings. Likewise, they are
+won by any words of appreciation or of interest in what they are
+doing. Get a man talking about his business, his golf game or his
+family, and you are on the inside track toward his friendship. As for
+senior commanders, when the hours comes for them to bat the ball back
+and forth in friendly conversation, there is nothing they enjoy more
+than reminiscing about experiences on the battlefield. Other than
+inveterate surgical patients, no one can outdo them in talking about
+their operations.
+
+It isn't lengthy advice which is needed on this subject, since a man
+commissioned is considered to have graduated from at least the
+kindergarten of good manners. What counts is simply caring about it,
+not to be ingratiating to other people, but for the sake of one's own
+dignity and self-respect.
+
+None of the oracles on winning friends and influencing people have
+said it in those few words, and if they had, there would have been no
+books to sell.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE
+
+LEADERS AND LEADERSHIP
+
+
+In that gallery of Great Americans whose names are conspicuously
+identified with the prospering of the national arms in peace and war,
+there are almost as many types as there are men.
+
+There were a certain few qualities that they had to possess in common
+or their names would never have become known beyond the county line.
+
+But these were inner qualities, often deep buried, rather than outward
+marks of greatness which men recognized immediately upon beholding
+them.
+
+Some almost missed the roll call, either because in early life their
+weaknesses were more apparent than their strengths, or because of an
+outward seeming of insignificance which at first fooled their
+contemporaries.
+
+In the minority are the few who seemed marked for greatness almost
+from the cradle, and were acclaimed for leadership while still of
+tender years.
+
+Winfield Scott, a Brigadier in the War of 1812 when Brigadiers were
+few, and Chief of Staff when the Civil War began, is a unique figure
+in the national history.
+
+George Washington, Adjutant of the State of Virginia at 21, is one
+other military infant prodigy who never later belied his early fame.
+
+The majority in the gallery are not like these. No two of them are
+strikingly alike in mien and manner. Their personalities are as
+different, for most part, as their names. Their characters also ran
+the range of the spectrum, or nearly, if we are talking of moral
+habit, rather than of conscientious performance of military duty. Some
+drank their whiskey neat and frequently; others loathed it and took a
+harsh line with any subordinate who used it.
+
+One of the greatest generals in American history, celebrated for his
+fighting hardly more than for his tippling, would walk from the room
+if any man tried to tell an off-color story in his presence.
+
+One of the most celebrated and successful of our Admirals endeared
+himself to millions of men in all ranks and services by his trick of
+gathering his chief subordinates together just prior to battle,
+issuing his orders sternly and surely, and then relaxing long enough
+to tell them his latest parlor story, knowing that finally it would
+trickle down through the whole command.
+
+Among the warriors in this gallery are men who would bet a month's pay
+on a horse race. There are duellists and brawlers, athletes and
+aesthetes, men who lived almost sainted lives and scholars who lived
+more for learning than for fame.
+
+Some tended to be so over-reclusive that they almost missed
+recognition; others were hail-fellow-well-met in any company.
+
+Their methods of work reflected these extreme variations in personal
+type, as did the means they used to draw other men to them, thereby
+setting a foundation for real success.
+
+Part of their number commanded mainly through the sheer force of
+ideas; others owed their fortune more to the magnetism of dynamic
+personality.
+
+In a few there was the spark of genius. All things seemed to come
+right with them at all times. Fate was kind, the openings occurred,
+and they were prepared to take advantage of them.
+
+But the greater number moved up the hill one slow step at a time, not
+always sure of their footing, buffeted by mischance, owning no exalted
+opinion of their own merits, reacting to discouragement much as other
+men would do, but finally accumulating power as they learned how to
+organize the work of other men.
+
+While a young lieutenant, Admiral Sims became so incensed, when the
+United States would not take his word on a voucher, that he offered to
+resign.
+
+General Grant signally failed to organize his life as an individual
+prior to the time when a turn of the wheel gave him his chance to
+organize the military power of the United States in war.
+
+General Sherman, who commanded the Army for almost 15 years, was
+considered by many of his close friends to be a fit subject for
+confinement as a mental case just prior to the Civil War.
+
+General Meade, one of the sweetest and most serene of men in his
+family relationships, lacked confidence in his own merits and was very
+abusive of his associates during battle.
+
+Admiral Farragut, whose tenderness as an individual are marked by the
+16 years in which he personally nursed an invalid wife, was so
+independent in his professional thought and action that both in and
+out of the Navy he was disqualified as a "climber." He got into
+wretched quarrels with his superiors mainly because he felt his
+assignments afforded him no distinction. The Civil War gave him his
+opportunity.
+
+Admiral John Paul Jones, though an unusually modest man, was as
+redoubtable in the boudoir as at sea, and it would be hard to say
+which type of engagement most caught his fancy.
+
+General Winfield Scott, as firm a commander as ever drew on a glove,
+plagued the service with his petty bickering over rank, seniority, and
+precedent.
+
+They were all mortal. Being human, they had their points of personal
+weakness, just as any newly appointed ensign or second lieutenant also
+has weak spots in his armor, and sometimes views them in such false
+proportion that he doubts his own potential for high responsibility.
+
+There is not one perfect life in the gallery of the great. All were
+moulded by the human influences which surrounded them. They reacted in
+their own feelings, and toward other men, according as their personal
+fortunes rose and fell. They sought help where it could be found. When
+disappointed, they chilled like anyone else. But along with their
+professional talents, they possessed, in common, a desire for
+substantial recognition, accompanied by the will to earn it fairly, or
+else the nation would never have heard their names.
+
+All in all it is a multifarious gallery. If we were to pass it in
+review, and then inspect it carefully, it would still be impossible to
+say: "This is the composite of character. This is the prototype of
+military success. Model upon it and you have the pinnacle within
+reach."
+
+The same thing would no doubt hold true of a majority of the better
+men who commanded ships, squadrons, regiments, and companies under
+these commanders, and at their own level were as superior in
+leadership as the relatively few who rose to national stature because
+of the achievements of the general body.
+
+The same rule will apply tomorrow. Those who come forward to fill
+these same places, and to command them with equal or greater authority
+and competence, will not be plaster saints, laden with all human
+virtue, spotless in character and fit to be anointed with a superman
+legend by some future Parson Weems. They will be men with a human
+quality, and a strong belief in the United States and the goodness of
+a free society. They will have some of the average man's faults, and
+maybe a few of his vices. But certainly they will possess the
+qualities of courage, creative intelligence and physical fitness in
+more than average measure.
+
+What we know of our great leaders in the current age should disparage
+the idea that only a superman may scale the heights. Trained observers
+have noted in their personalities and careers many of the plain
+characteristics which each man feels in himself and mistakenly
+believes is a bar to preferment.
+
+Drew Middleton, the British correspondent, wrote of Gen. Carl "Tooey"
+Spaatz: "This man, who may be a heroic figure to our grandchildren, is
+essentially an unheroic figure to his contemporaries. He is in fact
+such a friendly, human person that observers tend to minimize his
+stature as a war leader. He is not temperamental. He makes no rousing
+speeches, writes no inspirational orders. Spaatz, in issuing orders
+for a major operation involving 1,500 airplanes, is about as inspiring
+as a groceryman ordering another five cases of canned peas."
+
+In the files of the Navy Department there is a picture of Admiral Marc
+A. Mitscher, the famed commander of Task Force 58, coming on board a
+flagship to take command of a force of carriers. Officers and men are
+lined up at spick-and-span attention. The Admiral himself appears as a
+little man in a rumpled khaki uniform, tieless and wearing an
+informal garrison cap. Under his arm is a book, and in the photograph
+the title can be read as "Send Another Coffin." Mitscher liked
+detective stories; he didn't like ceremonial pomp.
+
+An interviewer who called on Gen. Ira C. Eaker when he was leading 8th
+Air Force against Germany found "a strikingly soft-spoken, sober,
+compact man who has the mild manner of a conservative minister and the
+judicial outlook of a member of the Supreme Court. But he is always
+about two steps ahead of everybody on the score, and there is a quiet,
+inexorable logic about everything he does." Of his own choice, Eaker
+would have separated from military service after World War I. He
+wanted to be a lawyer and he also toyed with the idea of running a
+country newspaper. In his off hours, he wrote books on aviation for
+junior readers. On the side, he studied civil law and found it
+"valuable mental training."
+
+On the eve of the Guadalcanal landing, Gen. A. A. Vandegrift's final
+order to his command ended with the stirring and now celebrated
+phrase: "God favors the bold and strong of heart." Yet in the
+afterglow of later years, the Nation read a character sketch of him
+which included this: "He is so polite and so soft spoken that he is
+continually disappointing the people whom he meets. They find him
+lacking in the fire-eating traits they like to expect of all marines,
+and they find it difficult to believe that such a mild-mannered man
+could really have led and won the bloody fight." When another officer
+spoke warmly of Vandegrift's coolness under fire, his "grace under
+pressure," to quote Hemingway's phrase, he replied: "I shouldn't be
+given any credit. I'm built that way."
+
+The point is beautifully taken. Too often the man with great inner
+strength holds in contempt those less well endowed by nature than
+himself.
+
+While there are no perfect men, there are those who become relatively
+perfect leaders of men because something in their makeup brings out in
+strength the highest virtues of all who follow them. That is the way
+of human nature. Minor shortcomings do not impair the working loyalty,
+or growth, of the follower who has found someone whose strengths he
+deems worth emulating. On the other hand, to recognize merit, you must
+yourself have it. _The act of recognizing the worthwhile traits in
+another person is both the test and the making of character._ The man
+who scorns all others, and thinks no one else worth following, parades
+his own inferiority before the world. He puts his own character into
+bankruptcy just as surely as does that other sad camp follower of whom
+Thomas Carlyle wrote: "To recognize false merit, and crown it as true,
+because a long tail runs after it, is the saddest operation under the
+sun."
+
+Sherman, Logan, Rawlins and the many others hitched their wagons to
+Grant's star because they saw in him a man who had a way with other
+men, and who commanded them not less by personal courage than by
+patient work in their interest. Had Grant spent time brooding over his
+civilian failures, he would have been stuck with a disorderly camp and
+would never have gotten out of Illinois.
+
+The nobility of the private life and influence of Gen. Robert E. Lee
+and the grandeur of his military character are known to every American
+school boy. His peerless gifts as a battle leader have won the tribute
+of celebrated soldiers and historians throughout the English-speaking
+world. Likewise, the deep religiosity of his great lieutenant,
+Stonewall Jackson, the latter's fiery zeal and the almost evangelical
+power with which he lifted the hearts of all men who followed him, are
+hallmarks of character that are vividly remembered in whatever context
+his name happens to be mentioned.
+
+If we turn for a somewhat closer look at Grant it is because he, more
+than any other American soldier, left us a full, clear narrative of
+his own growth, and of the inner thoughts and doubts pertaining to
+himself which attended his life experience. There was a great deal of
+the average man in Grant. He was beset by human failings. He could not
+look impressive. He had no sense of destiny. In his great hours, it
+was sweat, rather than inspiration, dogged perseverance, rather than
+the aura of power, which made the hour great.
+
+Average though he was in many things, there was nothing average about
+the strong way in which he took hold, applying massive common sense to
+the complex problems of the field. That is why he is worth close
+regard. His virtues as a military leader were of the simpler sort
+which plain men may understand and hope to emulate. He was direct in
+manner. He never intrigued. His speech was homely. He was
+approachable. His mind never deviated from the object. Though a
+stubborn man, he was always willing to listen to his subordinates. He
+never adhered to a plan obstinately, but nothing could induce him to
+forsake the idea behind the plan.
+
+History has left us a clear view of how he attained to greatness in
+leadership by holding steadfastly to a few main principles.
+
+At Belmont, his first small action, he showed nothing to indicate that
+he was competent as a tactician and strategist. But the closing scene
+reveals him as the last man to leave the field of action, risking his
+life to see that none of his men had been left behind.
+
+At Fort Donelson, where he had initiated an amphibious campaign of
+highly original daring, he was not on the battlefield when his army
+was suddenly attacked. He arrived to find his right wing crushed and
+his whole force on the verge of defeat. He blamed no one. Without more
+than a passing second's hesitation, he said quietly to his chief
+subordinates: "Gentlemen, the position on the right must be retaken."
+Then he mounted his horse, and galloped along the line shouting to his
+men: "Fill your cartridge cases quick; the enemy is trying to escape
+and he must not be permitted to do so." Control and order were
+immediately reestablished by his presence.
+
+At Shiloh, the same thing happened, only this time it was worse; the
+whole Union Army was on the verge of rout. Grant, hobbling on crutches
+from a recent leg injury, met the mob of panic-stricken stragglers as
+he left the boat at Pittsburgh Landing. Calling on them to turn back,
+he mounted and rode toward the battle, shouting encouragement and
+giving orders to all he met. Confidence flowed from him back into an
+already beaten Army and in this way a field near lost was soon
+regained.
+
+The last and best picture of Grant is on the evening after he had
+taken his first beating from General Lee in the campaign against
+Richmond. He was newly with the Army of the Potomac. His predecessors,
+after being whipped by Lee, had invariably retreated to safe distance.
+But this time as the defeated army took the road of retreat out of the
+Wilderness, its columns got only as far as the Chancellorsville House
+crossroad. There the soldiers saw a squat, bearded man, sitting
+horseback, and drawing on a cigar. As the head of each regiment came
+abreast him, he silently motioned it to take the right-hand fork--back
+toward Lee's flank and deeper than ever into the Wilderness. That
+night for the first time the Army sensed an electric change in the air
+over Virginia. It had a man.
+
+"I intend to fight it out on this line" is more revealing of the one
+supreme quality which put the seal on all other of U. S. Grant's great
+gifts for military leading than everything else that the historians
+have written of him. He was the epitome of that spirit which moderns
+call "seeing the show through." He was sensitive to a fault in his
+early years, and carried to his tomb a dislike for military uniform,
+caused by his being made the butt of ridicule the first time he ever
+donned a soldier suit. As a junior lieutenant in the Mexican War, he
+sensed no particular aptitude in himself. But he had participated in
+every engagement possible to a member of his regiment, and had
+executed every small duty to the hilt, with particular attention to
+conserving the lives of his men. This was the school and the course
+which later enabled him to march to Richmond, when men's lives had to
+be spent for the good of the Nation. In more recent times, one of the
+great statesmen and soldiers of the United States, Henry L. Stimson,
+has added his witness to the value of this force in all enterprise: "I
+know the withering effect of limited commitments and I know the
+regenerative effect of full action." Though he was speaking
+particularly of the larger affairs of war and nation policy, his words
+apply with full weight to the personal life. The truth seen only
+halfway is missed wholly; the thing done only halfway had best not be
+attempted at all. Men can be fooled but they can't be fooled on this
+score. They will know every time when the bolt falls short for lack of
+a worthwhile effort. And when that happens, confidence in the leader
+is corroded, even among those who themselves were unwilling to try.
+
+There have been great and distinguished leaders in our military
+services at all levels, who had no particular gifts for
+administration, and little for organizing the detail of decisive
+action either within battle or without. They excelled because of a
+superior ability to utilize the brains and command the loyalty of
+well-chosen subordinates. Their particular function was to judge the
+mark according to their resources and audacity, and then to hold the
+team steady until the mark was gained. So doing, they complemented the
+power of the faithful lieutenants who might have put them in the shade
+in any I. Q. test. Wrote Grant: "I never knew what to do with a paper
+except put it in a side pocket or pass it to a clerk who understood it
+better than I did." There was nothing unfair or irregular about this;
+it was as it should be. All military achievement develops out of unity
+of action. The laurel goes to the man whose powers can most surely be
+directed toward the end purposes of organization. _The winning of
+battles is the product of the winning of men._ That aptitude is not an
+endowment of formal education, though the man who has led a football
+team, a class, a fraternity or a debating society is the stronger for
+the experience which he has gained. It is not uncustomary in those who
+have excelled in scholarship to despise those who have excelled merely
+in sympathetic understanding of the human race. But in the military
+services, though there are niches for the pedant, character is at all
+times at least as vital as intellect, and the main rewards go to him
+who can make other men feel toughened as well as elevated.
+
+    _Quiet resolution._
+
+    _The hardihood to take risks._
+
+    _The will to take full responsibility for decision._
+
+    _The readiness to share its rewards with subordinates._
+
+    _An equal readiness to take the blame when things go adversely._
+
+    _The nerve to survive storm and disappointment and to face toward
+    each new day with the scoresheet wiped clean, neither dwelling on
+    one's successes nor accepting discouragement from one's failures._
+
+In these things lie a great part of the essence of leadership, for
+they are the constituents of that kind of moral courage which has
+enabled one man to draw many others to him in any age.
+
+It is good, also, to look the part, not only because of its effect on
+others, but because from out of the effort made to _look it_, one may
+in time come _to be it_. One of the kindliest and most penetrating
+philosophers of our age, Abbé Ernest Dimnet, has assured us that this
+is true. He says that by trying to look and act like a socially
+distinguished person, one may in fact attain to the inner disposition
+of a gentleman. That, almost needless to say, is the _real_ mark of
+the officer who takes great pains about the manner of his dress and
+address, for as Walt Whitman has said: "All changes of appearances
+without a change in that which underlies appearance, are without
+avail." All depends upon the spirit in which one makes the effort. By
+his own account, U. S. Grant, as a West Point cadet, was more stirred
+by the commanding appearance of General Winfield Scott than by any man
+he had ever seen, including the President. He wrote that at that
+moment there flashed across his mind the thought that some day he
+would stand in Scott's place. Grant was unkempt of dress. His physical
+endowments were such that he could never achieve the commanding air of
+Scott, but he left us his witness that Scott's military bearing helped
+kindle his own desire for command, even though he knew that he could
+not be like Scott.
+
+Much is said in favor of modesty as an asset in leadership. It is
+remarked that the man who wishes to hold the respect of others will
+mention himself not more frequently than a born aristocrat mentions
+his ancestor. However, the point can be labored too hard. Some of the
+ablest of the Nation's battlefield commanders have been anything but
+shrinking violets; we have had now and then a hero who could boast
+with such gusto that this very characteristic somehow endeared him to
+his men. But that would be a dangerous tack for all save the most
+exceptional individual. Instead of speaking of modesty as a charm that
+will win all hearts, thereby risking that through excessive modesty a
+man will become tiresome to others and rated as too timid for high
+responsibility, it would be better to dwell upon the importance of
+being natural, which means neither concealing nor making a vulgar
+display of one's ideals and motives, but acting directly according to
+their dictations.
+
+This leads to another point. In several of the most celebrated
+commentaries written by higher commanders on the nature of
+generalship, the statement is made rather carelessly that to be
+capable of great military leadership a man must be something of an
+actor. If that were unqualifiedly true, then it would be a desirable
+technique likewise in any junior officer that he too should learn how
+to wear a false face, and play a part which cloaks his real self. The
+hollowness of the idea is proved by the lives of such men as Robert E.
+Lee, W. T. Sherman, George C. Marshall, Omar N. Bradley, Carl A.
+Spaatz, William H. Simpson, Chester A. Nimitz, and W. S. Sims. As
+commanders, they were all as natural as children, though some had
+great natural reserve, and others were warmer and more outgiving. They
+expressed themselves straightforwardly rather than by artful striving
+for effect. There was no studied attempt to appear only in a certain
+light. To use the common word for it, their people did not regard them
+as "characters." This naturalness had much to do with their hold on
+other men.
+
+Such a result will always come. He who concentrates on the object at
+hand has little need to worry about the impression he is making on
+others. Even though they detect the chinks in the armor, they will
+know that the armor will hold.
+
+On the other hand, a sense of the dramatic values, coupled with the
+intelligence to play upon them skillfully, is an invaluable quality in
+any military leader. Though there was nothing of the "actor" in Grant,
+he understood the value of pointing things up. _To put a bold or
+inspiring emphasis where it belongs is not stagecraft, but an integral
+part of the military fine art of communications._ System which is only
+system is injurious to the mind and spirit of any normal person. One
+can play a superior part well, and maintain prestige and dignity,
+without being under the compulsion to think, speak and act in a
+monotone. In fact, when any military commander becomes over-inhibited
+along these lines because of the illusion that this is the way to
+build a reputation for strength, he but doubles the necessity that his
+subordinates will act at all times like human beings rather than
+robots.
+
+Coupled with self-control, recollection and thoughtfulness will carry
+a man far. Men will warm toward a leader when they come to believe
+that all the energy he stores up by living somewhat within himself is
+at their service. But when they feel that this is not the case, and
+that his reserve is simply the outward sign of a spiritual miserliness
+and concentration on purely personal goals, no amount of restraint
+will ever win their favor. This is as true of him who commands a whole
+service as of the leader of a picket squad.
+
+To speak of the importance of a sense of humor would be unavailing if
+it were not that what cramps so many men isn't that they are by nature
+humorless but that they are hesitant to exercise what humor they
+possess. Within the military profession, it is as unwise as to let the
+muscles go soft and to spare the mind the strain of original thinking.
+Great humor has always been in the military tradition. The need of it
+is nowhere more delicately expressed than in Kipling's lines:
+
+    My son was killed while laughing at some jest,
+               I would I knew
+    What it was, and it might serve me in a time
+               When jests are few.
+
+Marcus Aurelius, Rome's soldier philosopher, spoke of his love for the
+man who "could be humorous in an agreeable way." No reader of Grant's
+_Memoirs_ (one of the few truly great autobiographies ever written by
+a soldier) could fail to be impressed by his light touch. A delicate
+sense of the incongruous seems to have pervaded him; he is at his
+whimsical best when he sees himself in a ridiculous light. Lord
+Kitchener, one of the grimmest warriors ever to serve the British
+Empire, warmed to the man who made him the butt of a practical joke.
+There is the unforgettable picture of Admiral Beatty at Jutland. The
+_Indefatigable_ has disappeared beneath the waves. The _Queen Mary_
+had exploded. The _Lion_ was in flames. Then word came that the
+_Princess Royal_ was blown up. Said Beatty to his Flag Captain
+"Chatfield, there seems to be something wrong with our ... ships
+today. Turn two points nearer the enemy." Admiral Nimitz, surveying
+the terrible landscape of the Kwajalein battlefield for the first
+time, said gravely to his Staff: "It's the worst devastation I've ever
+seen except for that last Texas picnic in Honolulu." There is a
+characteristic anecdote of General Patton. He had just been worsted by
+higher headquarters in an argument over strategy. So he sat talking to
+his own Staff about it, his dog curled up beside him. Suddenly he said
+to the animal: "The trouble with you, too, Willy, is that you don't
+understand the big picture." General Eisenhower, probably more than
+any other American commander, had the art of winning with his humor.
+He would have qualified under Sydney Smith's definition: "The meaning
+of an extraordinary man is that he is eight men in one man; that he
+has as much wit as if he had no sense, and as much sense as if he had
+no wit; that his conduct is as judicious as if he were the dullest of
+human beings, and his imagination as brilliant as if he were
+irretrievably ruined."
+
+There is hardly a soldier, marine, or bluejacket who has been long in
+battle but can tell some tale of an experience under fire when the
+pressure became almost unbearable, and then was suddenly relieved
+because somebody made a wisecrack or pulled something that was good
+for a laugh. At Bastogne the American headquarters was being shelled
+out of its position in the Belgian Barracks. The Commanding General
+called in his Chief Signal Officer and asked when it would be
+convenient to move. Said Lt. Col. Sid Davis, "Right now, while I've
+got one line left and you can still give the order." When the garrison
+was surrounded, and higher headquarters requested a description of the
+situation, the young G-3 of the operation, Col. H. W. O. Kinnard,
+radioed: "Think of a doughnut: we're the hole."
+
+Who hasn't heard of the top kick who got his men forward by yelling:
+"Come on you ----! Do you want to live forever?" Both the Army and the
+Marine Corps claim him for their own, and it is possible that he was
+twins.
+
+If the American fighting man did not have an instinctive feeling for
+the moral value of that kind of thing, the story would be long since
+buried, for it is as ancient as the other tale which ends: "That was
+no lady; that was my wife."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN
+
+MAINSPRINGS OF LEADERSHIP
+
+
+To what has been said, just a few things should be added so that the
+problem of generating greater powers of leadership within the officer
+corps may be seen in its true light.
+
+The counselor says: "Be forthright! Be articulate! Be confident! Be
+positive! Possess a commanding appearance!" The young man replies:
+"All very good, so far as it goes. I will, if I can. But tell me, how
+do I get that way?" He sees rightly enough the main point, that these
+things are but derivatives of other inner qualities which must be
+possessed, if the leader is to travel the decisive mile between
+wavering capacity and resolute performance.
+
+So the need is to get down to a few governing principles. Finding
+them, we may be able to resolve finally any argument as to whether
+leadership is a God-given power, or may be bestowed through earnest
+military teaching.
+
+Two great American commanders have spoken their thoughts on this
+subject. The weight of their comment is enhanced by the conspicuous
+success of both men in the field of moral leading.
+
+Said Admiral Forrest P. Sherman, Chief of Naval Operations: "I concur
+that we _can_ take average good men and, by proper training, develop
+in them the essential initiative, confidence, and magnetism which are
+necessary in leadership. I believe that these qualities are present in
+the average man to a degree that he can be made a good leader if his
+native qualities are properly developed; whether or not he becomes a
+_great_ leader depends upon whether or not he possesses that _extra_
+initiative, magnetism, moral courage, and force which makes the
+difference between the average man and the above-average man."
+
+Said Gen. C. B. Cates, Commandant of the Marine Corps: "Leadership is
+intangible, hard to measure and difficult to describe. Its qualities
+would seem to stem from many factors. But certainly they must include
+a measure of inherent ability to control and direct, _self-confidence
+based on expert knowledge_, initiative, loyalty, pride, _and a sense
+of responsibility_. Inherent ability obviously cannot be instilled,
+but that which is latent or dormant can be developed. Other
+ingredients can be acquired. They are not easily taught or easily
+learned. _But leaders can be and are made._ The average good man in
+our service is and must be considered a potential leader."
+
+There are common denominators in these two quotations which clearly
+point in one main direction. When we accent the importance of extra
+initiative, expert knowledge and a sense of responsibility, we are
+saying in other words that out of unusual application to duty comes
+the power to lead others in the doing of it.
+
+The matter is as simple and as profound as that, and if we will
+consider for but a moment, we will see why it could hardly be
+otherwise.
+
+No normal young man is likely to recognize in himself the qualities
+which will persuade others to follow him. On the other hand, any man
+who can carry out orders in a cheerful spirit, complete this work step
+by step, use imagination in improving it, and then when the job is
+done, can face toward his next duty with anticipation, need have no
+reason to doubt his own capacity for leadership.
+
+The psychologists assure us that there is a sound scientific basis for
+what enlightened military trainers have long held to be true--that the
+first-class follower and the leader are one and the same. They say
+that this is literally true, and that their tests prove it so.
+
+But it does not follow that every man can be taught to lead. In the
+majority of men, success or failure is caused more by mental attitude
+than by mental capacity. Many are unwilling to face the ordeal of
+thinking for themselves and of accepting responsibility for others.
+But the man determined to excel at his own work has already climbed
+the first rung of the ladder; in that process he perforce learns to
+think for himself while setting an example to those who are around
+him. Out of application to work comes capacity for original and
+creative progress. The personality characteristics, emotional balance,
+etc., which give him excellence in those things which he does with his
+own brain and hand will enable him to command the respect, and in
+turn, the service of other men.
+
+To this extent, certainly leadership can be learned! It is a matter of
+mastering simple techniques which will give more effective expression
+to the character and natural talents of the individual.
+
+Said one of this Nation's great political leaders: "There is no more
+valuable subordinate than the man to whom you can give a piece of work
+and then forget it, in the confident expectation that the next time it
+is brought to your attention it will come in the form of a report that
+the thing has been done. When this self-reliant quality is joined to
+executive power, loyalty and common sense, the result is a man whom
+you can trust."
+
+Yes, indeed, and that is as it should be. For while no man can be sure
+of the possibilities of his influence over other men, every man knows
+by his own conscience when he is putting forth his best effort, and
+when he is slacking.
+
+It is therefore not an arbitrary standard for measuring leadership
+capacity in men which puts the ability to excel in assigned work above
+everything else. The willingness and ability to strive, and to do, are
+best judged by what we see of men in action. If they are indifferent
+to assigned responsibilities, they are bad risks for larger ones, no
+matter how charming their personalities or what the record says about
+their prior experience and educational advantages. Either that
+proposition is both reasonable and sound, or Arnold Bennett was
+singing off key when he said: "I think fine this necessity for the
+tense bracing of the will before anything worth doing can be done. It
+is the chief thing that distinguishes me from the cat by the fire."
+
+Love of work is the sheet-anchor of the man who truly aspires to
+command responsibilities; that means love of it, not for the reward,
+or for the skill exercised, but for the final and successful
+accomplishment of the work itself. For out of interest in the job
+comes thoroughness, and it is this quality above all which
+distinguishes the willing spirit. The willingness to learn, to study
+and to try harder are requisite to individual progress and the
+improvement of opportunity--the process that Thomas Carlyle described
+as the "unfolding of one's self." Thus it can be taken as an axiom
+that any man can lead who is determined to become master of that
+knowledge which an increased responsibility would require of him; and
+by the same token, that to achieve maximum efficiency at one's own
+working level, it is necessary to see it as if from the perspective of
+the next level up. To excel in the management of a squad, the leader
+must be knowledgeable of all that bears upon the command of a platoon.
+Otherwise the mechanism lacks something of unity.
+
+Mark Twain said at one point that we should be thankful for the
+indolent, since but for them the rest of us could not get ahead.
+That's on the target, and it emphasizes that how fast and far each of
+us travels is largely a matter of free choice.
+
+Personal advancement, within any worthwhile system, requires some
+sacrifice of leisure, and more careful attention to the better
+organization of one's working routine. But that does not entail heroic
+self-sacrifice or the forfeiting of any of life's truly enduring
+rewards. It means putting the completion of work ahead of golf and
+bridge. It means rejecting the convenient excuse for postponing
+solution of the problem until the next time. It means cultivating the
+mind during hours that would otherwise be spent in idleness. It means
+concentrating for longer periods on the work at hand without getting
+up from one's chair. But after all, these things do not require an
+extraordinary faculty. The ability of the normal man to concentrate
+his thought and effort are mainly the product of a personal conviction
+that concentration is necessary and desirable. Abbé Dimnet said:
+"Concentration is supposed to be exceptional only because people do
+not try and, in this, as in so many things, starve within an inch of
+plenty." And as to the mien and manner which will develop from firm
+commitments, another wise Frenchman, Honore Balzac, added this:
+"Conviction brings a silent, indefinable beauty into faces made of the
+commonest human clay." Here is a great part of the secret. It is in
+the exercise of the will that the men are separated from the boys, and
+that the officer who is merely anxious for advancement is put apart
+from the one who is truly ambitious to succeed in his life calling.
+Even a lazy-minded superior, in judging of his subordinates, will
+rarely mistake the one condition for the other.
+
+When within the services we hear the highest praise reserved for the
+man "with character," that is what the term means--application to duty
+and thoroughness in all undertakings, along with that maturity of
+spirit and judgment which comes by precept, by kindness, by study, by
+watching, and above all, by example. The numerous American commanders
+from all services who have been accorded special honor because they
+rose from the ranks have invariably made their careers by the extra
+work, self-denial and rigor which the truly good man does not hesitate
+to endure. The question facing every young officer is whether he, too,
+is willing to walk that road for the rewards, material and spiritual,
+which will surely attend it.
+
+There is of course that commonest of excuses for rejecting the
+difficult and taking life easy. "I haven't time!" But for the man who
+keeps his mind on the object, there is always time. Figure it out!
+About us in the services daily we see busy men who somehow manage to
+find time for whatever is worth doing, while at the adjoining desks
+are others with abundant leisure who can't find time for anything.
+When something important requires doing, it is usually the busy man
+who gets the call.
+
+Of the many personal decisions which life puts upon a service officer,
+the main one is whether he chooses to swim upstream. If he says yes to
+that, and means it, all things then begin to fit into place. Then will
+develop gradually but surely that well-placed inner confidence which
+is the foundation of military character. From the knowing of _what to
+do_ comes the knowing of _how to do_, which is likewise important.
+Much is conveyed in few words in Army Field Forces' "Brief on
+Practical Concepts of Leadership." It is stressed therein that the
+preeminent quality which all great commanders have owned in common is
+a _positiveness_ of manner and of viewpoint, the power to concentrate
+on means to a given end to the exclusion of exaggerated fears of the
+obstacles which lie athwart the course. Every word of that should be
+underscored, and above all, what it says about the need for
+affirmative thinking, and concentrating on how the thing can be done.
+The service is no place for those who hang back and view through a
+glass darkly. The man who falls into the vice of thinking negatively
+must perforce in time become fearful of all action; he lacks the power
+of decision, because it has been destroyed by his habit of thought,
+and even when circumstances compel him to say yes he remains
+uncommitted in spirit.
+
+But the shadow should not be mistaken for the substance. Positiveness
+of manner, and redoubtable inner conviction stem only from the mastery
+of superior knowledge, and this last is the fruit of application,
+preparation, thoroughness and the willingness to struggle to gain the
+desired end.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN
+
+HUMAN NATURE
+
+
+In the history of American arms, the most revealing chapter as to the
+nature of the human animal does not come from any story of the
+battlefield but from the record of 23 white men and two Eskimos who,
+on August 26, 1881, set up in isolation a camp on the edge of Lady
+Franklin Bay to attempt a Farthest North record for the United States.
+
+The Expedition under command of First Lt. A. W. Greeley, USA, expected
+to be picked up by a relief ship after 1 year, or 2 years at most. Its
+supply could be stretched to cover the maximum period. But the winters
+were so unduly harsh that the rescue mission could not break through
+the ice to keep the rendezvous. During the first year, two members of
+the party had set a new Far North mark. The party as a whole--3
+officers, 19 enlisted men, 1 civilian surgeon and the 2 natives--had
+survived a winter closer to the Pole than civilized men had ever lived
+before. So doing, they had remained in reasonably good personal
+adjustment to each other, despite the Arctic monotony. The discipline
+of the camp had been strict. Rules of subordination, sanitation,
+work-sharing and religious observance had been maintained, without
+major friction occurring in the life of the group. Lectures were given
+regularly, and schools were organized. Though it is recorded that the
+men became melancholy, sleepless, and irritable because of the long
+Arctic night, temper was still in so good a state that an honor system
+within the camp meted out extra duty to any man using an oath.
+
+The comradely feeling remained alive within the party throughout the
+first winter, though morale had its first blow when Greeley issued an
+unwise order forbidding enlisted men to go more than 500 yards from
+the base without permission. The strain was beginning to tell, but
+there was no fatal rift in the working harmony of the group while
+supply and hope remained reasonably full.
+
+But June of the second year came and passed, and no relief ship
+arrived. In August, Greeley decided on a retreat, intending to fall
+back on bases which were supposed to hold food stores. Thereafter
+disaster was piled upon disaster, most of it having to do with the
+lack of food, and the varying animal and spiritual reactions of men to
+a situation of utmost desperation. When the Greeley Expedition was at
+last rescued at Cape Sabine on June 22, 1884, by the third
+expedition--the _Revenue Cutter Bear_ and the _Thetis_ under Commander
+Winfield S. Schley, USN--only seven men remained alive. Even in these,
+the spark of life was so feeble that their tent was down over them and
+they had resigned themselves to death. Two died soon after the rescue,
+leaving five. Most of the other 20 had perished of slow starvation,
+but not all. Some had been shot. Others had met death with utmost
+bravery trying to save their failing comrades.
+
+All that happened to Greeley's party during the months of its terrible
+ordeal is known because of a diary which records the main things--the
+fight of discipline against the primal instincts in men, the reversion
+of the so-called civilized man to his real type when he knows that
+death is at his elbow, the strength of unity which comes of
+comradeship, and also the weakness in some individuals which makes it
+impossible for them to measure up to honor's requirements.
+
+Men are of all kinds. Some remain base, though given every opportunity
+to develop compassion. Others who may appear plodding and dull, and
+have been denied opportunity, still have in them an immortal spark of
+love for humanity which gives them an unbreakable bond with their
+fellows in the hours of crisis.
+
+What the case history of the Greeley Expedition proves is that _in the
+determining number of men, the potential is sound_. Given a wise,
+understanding leadership, they will stand together, and they will
+either persuade the others to go along, or they will help break them
+if they resist. If that were not the truth of the matter, no military
+commander in our time would be able to make his forces keep going into
+battle.
+
+Until the end, discipline was kept in Greeley's force. But this was
+not primarily due to Lieutenant Greeley, the aloof, strict
+disciplinarian who commanded by giving orders, instead of by trying to
+command the spirits and loyalties of men. That any survived was due to
+the personal force and example of Sgt. (later Brig. Gen.) David L.
+Brainard, who believed in discipline as did Greeley, and supported his
+chief steadfastly, but also supplied the human warmth and helping hand
+which rallied other men, where Greeley's strictures only made them
+want to fight back. Brainard was not physically the strongest man in
+the Expedition, nor necessarily the most self-sacrificing and
+courageous. But he had what counted most--mental and moral balance.
+
+Among the most fractious and self-centered of the individuals was the
+camp surgeon, highly trained and educated, and chosen because he
+seemed to have a way among men. Greeley was several times at the point
+of having him shot; the surgeon's death by starvation saved Greeley
+that necessity.
+
+Among the most decent, trustworthy, and helpful was Jens, the simple
+Eskimo, who died trying to carry out a rescue mission. He had never
+been to school a day in his life.
+
+There were soldiers in the party whom no threat of punishment, or
+sense of pity, could deter from taking advantage of their comrades,
+rifling stores, cheating on duty and even stealing arms in the hope of
+doing away with other survivors. When repeated offense showed that
+they were unreformable, they were shot.
+
+But in the greater number, the sense of pride and of honor was
+stronger even than the instinct for self-preservation, though these
+were _average_ enlisted men, not especially chosen because their
+records proved they had unusual fortitude.
+
+Private Schneider, a youngster who loved dogs and played the violin,
+succumbed to starvation after penning one of the most revealing
+deathbed statements ever written: "Although I stand accused of doing
+dishonest things here lately, I herewith, as a dying man, can say that
+the only dishonest thing I ever did was to eat my own sealskin boots
+and the part of my pants."
+
+Private Fredericks, accused in the early and less-trying period of
+meanness and injustice to his comrades, became a rock of strength in
+the weeks when all of the others were in physical collapse or coma,
+and was made a sergeant because of the nobility of his conduct. Yet
+this man's ambition was to be a saloonkeeper in Minneapolis.
+
+There is still an official report on file in the Department of the
+Army which describes Sergeant Rice as the "bravest and noblest" of the
+Expedition. He is identified with most of its greatest heroisms. The
+man was apparently absolutely indomitable and incorruptible. He died
+from freezing on a last forlorn mission into the Arctic storm to
+retrieve a cache of seal meat for his friends. Fredericks, who had
+accompanied him, was so grief-stricken at the tragedy that he
+contemplated dying at his side, then reacted in a way which signifies
+much in a few words, "Out of the sense of duty I owed my dead comrade,
+I stooped and kissed the remains and left them there for the wild
+winds of the Arctic to sweep over."
+
+Such briefly were the extremes and the middle ground in this body of
+human material. At one end were the amoral characters whose excesses
+became steadily worse as the situation blackened. At the other were
+Brainard and Rice--good all the way through, absolute in integrity and
+adjusted perfectly to other men. In between these wholly contrasting
+elements was the group majority, trying to do duty, with varying
+degrees of success. That would include Greeley, strong in
+self-discipline but likewise brittle. It would include Lieutenant
+Lockwood, a lion among men for most of the distance, but totally
+downcast and beaten in the last dreadful stretch, Israel, the youngest
+of the party who won the love of other men by his frankness and
+generosity, Sergeant Gardiner who was always ready to share his scraps
+of food with whoever he thought needed them more, Private Whisler who
+died begging his comrades to forgive him for having stolen a few
+slices of bacon, and Private Bender who alternated between feats of
+heroism and acts of miscreancy.
+
+Other than their common experience, there was probably nothing unusual
+about this group of men. They were an average slice of American
+manpower as found in the services of that day, and in the
+fundamentals, men have changed but little since. Those who had the
+chance to study American men under the terrible rigor of Japanese
+imprisonment during World War II give an analysis not unlike the
+chronicles of the Greeley party. In certain of the prisoners,
+character, and sanity with it, held fast against every circumstance.
+In others, some of whom had been well educated and came from gentle
+homes, the brute instinct was as uppermost as in an East African
+cannibal.
+
+From such crucibles as these, even more than from the remittent
+stresses of combat in war, comes the clearest light on the inner
+nature of man, insofar as it needs to be understood by the officer who
+may some day lead a force into battle.
+
+Snap judgment on the data might lead to the conclusion that every
+individual is exactly according to his own mould, that influence from
+without can not catalyze character, and that hence training has little
+to do with winning loyalty and instilling dutifulness. That would be
+as radically false as to believe that training, when properly
+conducted, can make all men alike and can infuse all ranks with the
+desire for a high standard. The vanity of that hope can be read out of
+what happened to the force at Cape Sabine. But the positive lesson
+glows even more strongly. The good Sergeant, Brainard, wrote of his
+Lieutenant, Lockwood, that he "loved him more than a brother." It was
+the service which taught him the worth of that attachment; Brainard's
+superb courage developed initially out of his unbounded admiration for
+Lockwood's dauntlessness, and in time the copyist outdistanced the
+model. Emotionally, Greeley and Brainard were quite unlike. One was a
+New England Puritan, the other a hard-boiled sergeant. But they became
+as one in the interests of the force; service training had made that
+possible.
+
+Psychologists tell us that every sense impression leaves a trace or
+imprint of itself on the mind, or in other words, what we are, and
+what we may become, is influenced in some measure by everything
+touching the circumference of our daily lives. The imprints become
+memories and ideas, and in their turn build up the consciousness, the
+reason and finally the will, which translates into physical action
+the psychological purpose. In the process, moral character may be
+shaped and strengthened; but it will not be transformed if it is dross
+in the first place. That is something which every combat leader has
+learned in his tour under fire; the man of whom nobody speaks good,
+who is regarded as a social misfit, unliked and unliking, of his
+comrades, will usually desert them under pressure. There are others
+who have the right look but will be just as quick to quit, and look to
+themselves, in a crisis; underneath, they are made of the same shoddy
+stuff as the derelict, but have learned a little more of the modern
+art of getting by. Leadership, be it ever so inspired, can not make a
+silk purse from a sow's ear. But as shines forth in the record of
+Greeley and his men, it can reckon with the fact that the majority is
+more good than mean, and that from this may be developed the strength
+of the whole. In the clutch, the men at Cape Sabine who believed in
+the word "duty," and who understood spiritually that its first meaning
+was mutual responsibility, remained joined in an insoluble union. That
+was the inevitable outcome, leadership doing its part. The minority
+had no basis for organic solidarity, as each of its number was
+motivated only by self-interest. Goodwill and weakness may be combined
+in one man; bad will and strength in another. High moral leading can
+lift the first man to excel himself; it will not reform the other. But
+there is no other sensible rule than that all men will be approached
+with trust, and treated as trustworthy until proved otherwise beyond
+reasonable doubt.
+
+To transfer this thought to even the largest element in war, it will
+be seen that _it is not primarily a cause which makes men loyal to
+each other, but the loyalty of men to each other which makes a cause_.
+The unity which develops from man's recognition of his dependence upon
+his fellows is the mainspring of every movement by which society, or
+any autonomy within it, moves forward.
+
+It is a common practice to say "Men are thus-and-so." Nothing is more
+attractive than to make some glittering generalization about the human
+race, and from it draw a moral for the instruction of those who work
+with human material. But from all that we have learned from the
+experience of men under inordinate pressure, either in war or wherever
+else military forces have been sorely tested, it would be false to say
+either that the desire for economic security or the instinct for
+self-preservation is the driving force in every man's action. To those
+who possess the strength of the strong, honor is the main shaft; and
+they can carry a sufficient number of the company along with them to
+stamp their mark upon whatever is done by the group. No matter what
+their personal strength, however, they too are dependent on the
+others. There is no possibility of growth for any man except through
+the force, and by the works of those about him, though the manner of
+his growth is partly a matter of free choice. To most men, the setting
+of the good example is a challenge to pride and a stimulus to action.
+To nearly every member of the race, confidence and inspiration come
+mainly from the influence which living associates have upon them. That
+training is most perfect which takes greatest advantage of this truth,
+employing it in balance toward the development of a spirit of
+comradeship and the doing of work with a manifestly military purpose.
+Peace training is war training and nothing less. There is no other
+basis for the efficient operation of military forces even when the
+skies are clear. _But no commander or instructor can convince men of
+the decisive importance of the object if he himself regards it as only
+an intellectual exercise._
+
+The Army's "Brief on Practical Concepts of Leaderships," published 1
+January 1950, well points out the desirability of leaders realizing it
+is vain to expect that training can bring men forward uniformly. The
+better men advance rapidly; the men of average attainments remain
+average; the below-average lose additional ground to the competition.
+In consequence, the chance for balance in the organizational structure
+depends upon the leader progressing in such close knowledge of his men
+that those who are strong in various aspects of the team's general
+requirements compensate for the weaknesses of others, irrespective of
+MOS numbers. It is not less essential that the followers know each
+other and prepare themselves to complement each other. Obviously,
+this cannot be done when personnel changes are so frequent that those
+concerned have no chance to see deeper than the surface.
+
+Even when to do any labor meant sapping the small store of energy
+deriving from a few ounces of food each day, Greeley's men kept alive
+the spark of morale and mutual support by maintaining a work schedule,
+until the day came when there was no longer a man who could stand. To
+fight off despondency, they held to a nightly schedule of lectures and
+discussions in their rude shelters, until speech became an agony
+because of throats poisoned by eating of caterpillars, lichens and
+saxifrage blossoms. In their worst extremity, Private Fredericks,
+unlettered but a man of great common sense and moral power, became the
+doctor, cook and forager for the party.
+
+Men do not achieve a great solidarity, or preserve it, simply by
+_being_ together. Their mutual bonds are forged only by _doing_
+together that which they have been made convinced is constructive.
+Their view of its importance is usually contingent upon what others
+tell them, and upon a continuing emphasis thereof. _Unity is all at
+one time a consequence of, and a cause and condition for great
+accomplishment._ Toward that end, it is neither vital nor desirable
+that all members of the group coincide in their motives, ideas and
+methods of expression. What is important is that each man should know,
+and to a reasonable extent incorporate into his own life the thoughts,
+desires and interests of the others. Such sentiments, fixed by
+repetition, remain as a habit during the life of the group, and
+provide the base for disciplined action. But when men are not thus
+drawn together and the cord of sympathy remains unstrung, there is no
+basis for control, nor any element of contact by which the group may
+identify itself with some larger entity and profit by transfusion of
+its moral strength.
+
+_The absence of a common purpose is the chief source of unhappiness in
+any collection of individuals._ Lacking it, and the common standard of
+justice which is one of its chief agents, men become more and more
+separate units, each fighting for his own rights. Yet paradoxically,
+if an organic unity is to develop within any body of free men, drawn
+from a free society to serve its military institutions, and if the
+fairest use is to be made of their possibilities, the processes of the
+institution must embody respect for the dignity of the individual, for
+his rights, and not less, for his desire for worthwhile recognition.
+The profile of every man depends upon the space which others leave
+him. "Of himself," said Napoleon, "a man is nothing." But every man
+also contributes with his every act to the level of what his group may
+attain. One of the foremost leaders in the United States Navy in World
+War II said this about the integrity of personality: "Every person is
+unique. Human talents were never before assembled in exactly the same
+way that they have been put together in yourself. Nothing like you
+ever happened before. No one can predict with accuracy how you will
+grow in your particular combination of skills if allowed complete
+freedom of movement." If there is one word out of place in that
+statement, it is "complete;" no one has complete freedom but a
+buccaneer, and it is for the exercise of it that organized society
+swings him from a gibbet. It is only when personal freedom of action
+operates within an area limited by the rights and welfare of others
+that subordination, in its best sense, takes place. To direct a body
+of men toward the acceptance of this principle, so that thereby they
+may attain social coherence as a group and greater strength of
+personal character, is the most solid contribution that an officer can
+make to the arms of his country.
+
+He can succeed in this without being godlike in wisdom or pluperfect
+in temper. But it is necessary at least that he be interesting, and
+that he know how to get out of his own tracks, lest he be over-run by
+his own organization. Whatever his rank, _it is impossible for any man
+to lead if he is himself running behind_. This bespeaks the need of
+constant study, the constant use of one's personal powers and the
+exercise of the imagination. As men advance, that which was good soon
+ceases to be good simply because something better is possible. Once
+men begin to acquire a sense of organization, they also come to take
+the measure of those who are over them. They will then move
+instinctively toward the one man who possesses the greatest measure
+of social energy. The accolade of leadership is not inherent in the
+individual but is conferred on him by the group. It does not always
+follow that a man can develop an influence with others which is
+proportionate to his talents and capacity for work. Leadership in work
+is a main requirement, but if the group does not warm toward the
+appointed leader, if its members can not feel any enthusiasm about
+him, they will be hypercritical of whatever he does.
+
+History confirms, and a study of the workings of the human mind
+supports one proposition which many of the great captains of war have
+accepted as a truism. "There are no bad troops: there are only bad
+leaders." Taking on percentage what we already know of our average
+American raw material, as it had proved itself in every war, and as it
+has been studied in such a laboratory as the camp at Cape Sabine, no
+exception can be taken to that statement. On the other hand, we know
+equally well that leadership can be taught and it can be acquired.
+Much of our best material lies fallow, awaiting a hand on the
+shoulder, and the touch of other men's confidence, before it can step
+forward. This is not because men with a sound potential for leading
+must necessarily have an outward air of modesty among their major
+virtues, but because a man--particularly a young man--cannot gain a
+sense of his power among his fellows except as they give him their
+confidence, and vivify his natural desire to be something better than
+the average. There is no indication that at any stage of his career
+Gen. George S. Patton was an outwardly modest man. But in reviewing
+the milestones in his own making, he underscored the occasion when
+General Pershing, then commanding the Punitive Expedition into Mexico,
+supported Lieutenant Patton's judgment against that of a major. These
+are his words: "My act took high moral courage and built up my
+self-confidence." It would seem altogether clear, however, that
+Pershing had more than a little to do with it. Col. W. T. Sherman had
+to be kindled by the warm touch of Mr. Lincoln and steeled by the
+example and strong faith of Gen. U. S. Grant before he could believe
+in his own capacity for generalship. We all live by information and
+not by sight. We exist by faith in others, which is the source toward
+knowing greater faith in ourselves.
+
+About the elements of human nature, it is good that an officer should
+know enough that he will be able to win friends and influence people.
+But it is folly to believe that he should pursue his studies in this
+subject until he habitually looks at men as would a scientist putting
+some specimen under a powerful microscope.
+
+Self-consciousness is by no means a serious fault in anyone confronted
+by a new set of responsibilities, and working among new companions.
+There is scarcely an officer who has not felt it, particularly in the
+beginning, before he is assured in his own presence. But if the
+greater part of the officer corps were ever to become absorbed in the
+business of taking men apart to see what makes them tick, thereby
+superinducing self-consciousness all down the line, an irremediable
+blight would come upon the services. There is no need to look that
+deeply. What matters mainly is that an officer will know how men are
+won to accept authority, how they can be made to unify their own
+strength, how they can be helped to find satisfaction and success in
+their employment, how the stronger men can be chosen for preferment
+from among them, and finally, how they can be conditioned to face the
+realities of combat.
+
+The chronicles of effective military leadership date back to Gideon
+and his Band. Therefore any notion that it is impossible for an
+officer to make the best use of his men unless he is armed with all
+available research data and can talk the language of the philosopher
+and modern social scientist is little more than a twentieth century
+conceit. To seek and use all pertinent information is commendable, but
+truth comes of seeing all things in their natural proportion. To know
+more than is necessary blunts one's own weapons. The application of
+common sense to the problem is more vital than the possession of an
+inexhaustible store of data which has no practical bearing upon the
+matter at hand. As was said by a philosopher three centuries ago: "It
+is remarkable in some that they could be so much better if they could
+but be better in some thing."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE
+
+GROUP NATURE
+
+
+In the same way that knowledge of individual nature becomes the key to
+building strength within the group, an understanding of crowd nature
+is essential to the preservation of the unique power within the group,
+particularly under conditions of extreme pressure.
+
+Whereas the central object of a training discipline is to raise a
+safeguard against any military body reverting to crowd form under
+trial by fire, history shows that paralysis both of leadership and of
+the ranks, obliviousness to orders, forgetfulness of means of
+communication, disintegration and even panic are the not uncommon
+reactions of military forces when first entering into battle.
+
+From Bunker Hill and Brandywine down to Pearl Harbor and the fight at
+Kasserine Pass, the American battle record shows that our own troops
+are by no means immune to these ill effects, and that our peace time
+training needs, therefore, always to be reappraised with a critical
+eye to the main issue.
+
+Any of these unsteadying reactions can be prevented, or at least
+minimized, by training which anticipates the inevitable disorders of
+battle--including those who are of material sort as well as the
+disorders of the mind--and acclimates men to the realities of the
+field in war. All may be averted if leadership is braced to the shock
+and prepared to exercise strong control. Indeed, it is a truth worthy
+of the closest regard that the greater number of the disarrangements
+which take place during combat are due to leadership feeling a
+tightening of the throat, and a sticking of the palate, and failing to
+do that which the intellect says should be done.
+
+To take any action, when even to think of action is itself difficult,
+is the essential step toward recovery and the surmounting of all
+difficulty. It is not because of a babel of mixed voices and commands
+that military bodies not infrequently relapse into helplessness and
+stagnation in the face of the enemy. From that cause there may occur
+an occasional minor dislocation. Their total effect is trivial
+compared to the failures which come of leadership, at varying levels,
+failing promptly to exercise authority when nothing else can resolve
+the situation. Among the commonest of experiences in war is to witness
+troops doing nothing, or worse, doing the wrong thing, without one
+commanding voice being raised to give them direction. In such
+circumstance, any man who has the nerve and presence to step forward
+and give them an intelligent order in a manner indicating that he
+expects to be obeyed, will be accepted as a leader and will be given
+their support.
+
+For this reason, under the conditions of modern battle, the coherence
+of any military body comes not only of men being articulate all down
+the line but of building up the dynamic power in each individual. It
+is a thoroughly sound exercise in any unit to give every man a chance
+to take charge, and give orders in drill, or other limited exercises,
+once he had learned what the orders mean. By the same token, it is
+good practice for the junior leader to displace a file in a training
+exercise, and become commanded for a time, to sharpen his own
+perspective.
+
+Progress comes of making the most of our strengths rather than looking
+for ways to repair weaknesses. This is true in things both large and
+small. The platoon leader who permits himself to be bedeviled by the
+file who won't or can't keep step cannot do justice to the ambitions
+of the 10 strongest men beneath him, upon whom the life of the
+formation would depend, come an emergency. To nourish and encourage
+the top rather than to concentrate effort and exhaust nerves in trying
+to correct the few least likely prospects is the healthy way of growth
+within military organization.
+
+Not all men are fitted by nature for the precisions of life in a
+barracks. They may accept its discipline while not being able to
+adjust to its rhythm. The normal temptation to despair of them needs
+to be resisted if only for the reason experience has proved they
+sometimes make the best men in combat. There are many types which fit
+into this category--the foreigner but recently arrived in America,
+the miner who has spent most of his years underground, the boy from
+the sticks who has known only the plough and furrow, the woodsman, the
+reservation Indian, and the men of all races who have had hard
+taskmasters or other misfortune in their civilian sphere, and expect
+to be hurt again. It is not unusual for this kind of material to show
+badly in training because of an ingrained fear of other men. At the
+same time, they can face mortal danger. _To harass the man who is
+trying, but can't quite do it, therefore cuts double against the
+strength of organization. It may ruin the man; it may also give his
+comrades the feeling that he isn't getting a decent break._
+
+The military crowd requires, above all, maturity of judgment in its
+leaders. It cannot be patronized safely. Nor can it be treated in the
+classroom manner, as if wisdom were being dispensed to schoolboys.
+When it has been remiss, it expects to catch unshirted hell for its
+failings, and though it may smart under a just bawling out, it will
+feel let down if the commander quibbles. But any officer puts himself
+on a skid, and impairs the strength of his unit, if he takes to task
+all hands because of the wilful failings of a minority. Strength comes
+to men when they feel that they are grown up and as a body are in
+control and under control, since it amounts to the same thing; it is
+only when men unite toward a common purpose that control becomes
+possible. In this respect, the servant is in fact the master of the
+situation, fully realizes it, and is not unprepared to accept
+proportionate responsibility.
+
+It is a sign of a good level of discipline in a command when orders
+are given and faithfully carried out. But it is a sign of a vastly
+superior condition when men are prepared to demand those orders which
+they know the situation requires, if it is to be helped. No competent
+subordinate sits around waiting for someone else to give impulse to
+movement if his senses tell him that things are going to pot. He
+either suggests a course of action to his superior, or asks authority
+to execute it on his own, or in the more desperate circumstances of
+the battlefield, gives orders on his own initiative. To counsel any
+lesser theory of individual responsibility than this would leave
+every chain of command at the complete mercy of its weakest link, and
+throughout the general establishment, would choke the fount of
+inspiration which comes of the upward thrust of energy and of ideas.
+
+This latter characteristic in the masses of men composing any
+organization is the final statement of moral responsibility for
+success. Within military forces, an element of command is owned by
+every man who is doing his duty with intelligence and imagination.
+That puts him on the side of the angels, and the pressure which he
+exerts is felt not only by his subordinates but by those topside who
+are doing less. Many a lazy skipper has snapped out of it and at last
+begun to level with his organization because he felt the hot breath of
+a few earnest subordinates on his neck. Many a battle unit has held to
+ground which it had been ready to forsake because of the example of an
+aid man who stayed at his work and refused to forsake the wounded.
+Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was thinking on these things when he said
+during World War II: "There is among the mass of individuals who carry
+rifles in war a great amount of ingenuity and efficiency. If men can
+talk naturally to their officers, the product of their resourcefulness
+becomes available to all." But the art of open communication requires
+both receiving and sending, and the besetting problem is to get
+officers to talk naturally to men.
+
+In the seventeenth century Marshal Maurice de Saxe rediscovered
+cadenced marching which, along with the hard-surfaced roads of France,
+had remained buried since the time of the Romans. He reinstituted
+precision marching and drill within military bodies, and by that
+action changed European armies from straggling mobs into disciplined
+troops. The effects of that reform have been felt right down to the
+present. Baron von Steuben, the great reorganizer of the forces in
+George Washington's Army, simply built upon the principles which de
+Saxe had set forth one century earlier. These two great architects of
+military organization founded their separate systems upon one
+controlling idea--that _if men can be trained to think about moving
+together, they can then be led to move toward thinking together_. De
+Saxe wanted keen men, not automatons; in that, he was singular among
+the captains of his day. He started the numbering of regiments so that
+they would have a continuing history and thereby benefit from _esprit
+de corps_. He was the first to see the great importance of battle
+colors and to standardize their use. Of his own military opinions he
+wrote: "Experts should not be offended by the assurance with which I
+deliver my opinions. They should correct them; that is the fruit I
+expect from my work."
+
+Now to take a look at von Steuben. He was the drillmaster of the
+American Revolution, but he was also its greatest student of the human
+mind and heart. He wrote the drill regulations of the Army, and as he
+wrote, committed them to memory. Of his labors he said: "I dictated my
+dispositions in the night; in the day I had them performed." But he
+learned the nature of the human material for which he thought these
+exercises were suited by visiting the huts of the half-clad soldiers
+of Valley Forge, personally inspecting their neglected weapons and
+hearing from their own lips of their sufferings. His main technic in
+installing his system was to depend upon the appeal of a powerful
+example; to allay all doubt of exactly what was wanted, he formed a
+model company and drilled it himself. He was a natural man; troops
+warmed to him because of an unabashed use of broken English and his
+violently explosive use, under stress, of "gottam!" which was his only
+quasi-English oath. In countenance he was strikingly like Gen. George
+S. Patton and there were other points of resemblance. A private
+soldier at Valley Forge was impressed with "the trappings of his
+pistols, the enormous holsters of his pistols, his large size, his
+strikingly martial aspect." But while he liked to dine with great men
+at his table, he chose to complete his list with officers of inferior
+rank. Once at Valley Forge he permitted his aides to give a dinner for
+junior officers on condition that none should be admitted that had on
+a whole pair of breeches. This was making the most of adversity. While
+wearing two stars and serving as Inspector General of the Army, he
+would still devote his whole day to the drilling of a squad of 10 or
+12 men to get his system going. To a former Prussian associate he
+wrote this of Americans: "You say to your soldier, 'Do this!' and he
+doeth it; but I am obliged to say, 'This is the reason that you ought
+to do that,' and then he does it."
+
+This was the key to the phenomenal success of his system. Within 6
+weeks after he began work at Valley Forge, the Continental Army was on
+a new footing of self-confidence. His personal diligence in inquiring
+into the conduct of all officers toward their men, and his zeal in
+checking the accoutrement and carriage of every soldier established
+within the Army its first standard of inspection. Officers began to
+divide their scant rations with their men so that they would look
+better. But though he drilled the men of Valley Forge in marching and
+maneuver, Steuben paid no attention to the manual of arms, and let
+that wait until after he had gone into battle with these same forces.
+He explained why in these words: "Every colonel had introduced a
+system of his own and those who had taken the greatest pains were
+naturally the most attached to their work. Had I destroyed their
+productions, they would have detested me. I therefore preferred to pay
+no special attention to this subject until I had won their
+confidence." To take hold at the essential point and postpone action
+on the relatively unimportant, to respect a worthy pride and natural
+dignity in other men, and finally, to demonstrate that there is a
+better way in order to win men's loyalty and to use loyalty as the
+portal to more constructive collective thought--all of these morals
+shine in this one object lesson. The most revealing light upon the
+character of Steuben comes of the episode in which he had one
+Lieutenant Gibbons arrested for an offense, which he later learned
+another had committed. He then went before the Regiment. It was
+raining hard, but he bared his head and asked Gibbons to come forward.
+"Sir," he said, "the fault which was committed might, in the presence
+of an enemy, have been fatal. Your Colonel tells me you are blameless.
+I ask your pardon. Return to your command."
+
+Mistakes will occur. Tempers will go off half-cocked even among men
+of good habit. Action will be taken on impulse rather than full
+information, despite every warning as to its danger. But no officer
+who has ever done serious injustice to a subordinate can do less than
+Steuben did, if he wants to keep respect. Admiral Halsey wrote about
+how he had once relieved one of his Captains in battle, found months
+later that he had misjudged him, and then tried by every means within
+his power to make redress.
+
+The main connecting link between the perfecting of group action in
+training and the end product of unity and economy of operations in
+battle has never been better than imperfectly expressed even by such
+masters as de Saxe and von Steuben, who felt it by profound instinct.
+The time-honored explanation is that when men accustom themselves to
+obeying orders, the time ultimately arrives when they will obey by
+habit, and that the habit will carry over into any set of
+circumstances requiring response to orders. This has the quality of
+relative truth; it is true so far as it goes, but it undersells the
+major values.
+
+The heterogeneous crowd is swayed by the voices of instinct. Properly
+trained, any military unit, being a homogeneous body, should be swayed
+by the voice of training. Out of uniformity of environment comes
+uniformity of character and spirit. From moving and acting together
+men grow to depend upon, and to support, each other, and to
+subordinate their individual wills to the will of the leader. And if
+that were all that training profited them, they would rarely win a
+battle or a skirmish under modern conditions!
+
+Today the supreme value of any training at arms which fixes habit is
+that, under conditions of absolute pressure, it enables men to take
+the primary steps essential to basic security without too great taxing
+of their mental faculties and moral powers; this leaves their senses
+relatively free to cope with the unexpected. The unforeseen
+contingency invariably happens in battle, and its incidence supplies
+the supreme test of the efficacy of any training method. Surprise has
+no regard for the importance of rank; in combat any unit's fortune may
+pivot on the judgment and initiative of the file who has last joined
+it. Therefore the moral object in training is stated without any
+qualification in words once used by a wise Frenchman, Dr. Maurice
+Campeaux: "_It should be the subordination of the individual's will to
+the leader's, and not its surrender or destruction._" All training at
+all levels has a dual object--to develop us all as leaders of men and
+followers of leaders. Its technics are most perfect when they serve
+evenly these parallel purposes. In consequence, when any officer
+thinks only on: "What is policy?" rather than: "What should policy be
+for the good of the service?" he has trained his sights too low.
+
+Even in modern warfare, however, there are exceptional circumstances
+in which success is altogether dependent upon the will and judgment of
+the leader, and undeviating response to his orders. The commander of a
+buttoned-up tank is the master of its fortunes, and what happens for
+better or worse is according to the strength of his personal control.
+Within a submerged submarine during action, the situation is still
+more remarkable. Only one man, the commander of the ship, can see what
+is occurring, and he only with one eye; the resolving of every
+situation depends on his judgment as to what should be done. Yet those
+who have the surest knowledge of this service have said that the main
+problem in submarine warfare is to find a sufficient body of officers
+who will rise superior to the intricacies of their complicated
+machines, and will make their own opportunities and take advantage of
+them. That is hardly unique. The same quality is the hallmark of
+greatness in any individual serving with a combat arm. The military
+crowd will double its effort for a leader when success rides on his
+coattails; but he needs first to capture their loyalty by keeping his
+contracts with them, sweetening the ties of organization, and
+convincing them that he is a man to be followed. His luck (which
+despite all platitudes to the contrary is an element in success)
+begins when his men start to believe that he was born under a lucky
+star. But they are not apt to be so persuaded unless he can make his
+outfit shine in comparison with all others. The best argument for
+establishing a low VD score and a high disciplinary and deportment
+record within any unit is that it convinces higher authority that the
+unit is well run and is trying, and is therefore entitled to any extra
+consideration that may be requested. All who have been closely
+identified with the inner working of any higher headquarters in the
+American establishment know that it works this way. On the other hand,
+the fundamental idea is almost as old as the hills. Turning back to
+Cicero, we will find these words: "Neither the physician nor the
+general can ever, however praiseworthy he may be in the theory of his
+art, perform anything highly worthwhile without experience in the
+rules laid down for the observation of all small duties." The Old
+Roman added that between men nothing is so binding as a similarity of
+good dispositions.
+
+Within the military crowd, and granting to each the same quality of
+human material, the problem of achieving organic unity in the face of
+the enemy is one thing on a ship, and quite another among
+land-fighting forces. Loyalty to the ship itself provides an extra and
+incisive bond among naval forces. Given steadiness in the command, men
+will fight the ship to the limit, if only for the reason that if they
+fail to do so, there is no place to go but down. The physical setting
+of duty is defined by material objects close at hand. The individual
+has only to fit himself into an already predetermined frame. He knows
+when he is derelict, and he knows further that his dereliction can
+hardly escape the eye of his comrades. The words: "Now Hear This!"
+have the particular significance that they bespeak the collected
+nature of naval forces, and the essential unifying force of complete
+communications.
+
+If the situation were as concrete, and the integrating influences as
+pervading among field forces as in the Navy, land warfare would be
+relieved of a great part of its frictions. Except among troops
+defending a major fortress with all-around protection, there is no
+such possibility. Field movement is always diffusing. As fire builds
+up against the line, its members have less and less a sense of each
+other, and a feeling that as individuals they are getting support.
+Each man is at the mercy of the contact with some other file, and when
+the contact breaks, he sees only blackness in the enveloping
+situation. Men then have to turn physically back toward each other to
+regain the feeling of strength which comes of organization. That, in
+brief, is the mathematical and psychological reason why salients into
+an enemy line invariably take the form of a wedge; it comes of the
+movements of unnerved and aimless men huddling toward each other like
+sheep awaiting the voice of the shepherd. The natural instincts
+intervene ever in the absence of strong leadership. Said the French
+General de Maud'huy: "However perfectly trained a company may be it
+always tends to become once again the crowd when suddenly shocked."
+
+But the priceless advantage which may be instilled in the military
+crowd by a proper training is that it also possesses the means of
+recovery. That possibility--the resolution of order out of
+chaos--reposes within every file who has gained within the service a
+confidence that he has some measure of influence among his fellows.
+The welfare of the unit machinery depends upon having the greatest
+possible number of human shock absorbers--men who in the worst hour
+are capable of stepping forward and saying: "This calls for something
+extra and that means me." The restoration of control upon the
+battlefield, and the process of checking fright and paralysis and
+turning men back to essential tactical duties, does not come simply of
+constituted authority again finding its voice and articulating its
+strength to the extremities of the unit boundary. Control is a
+man-to-man force under fire. No matter how lowly his rank, any man who
+controls himself contributes to the control of others. A private can
+steady a general as surely as a cat can look at a king. There is no
+better ramrod for the back of a senior, who is beginning to buckle,
+than the sight of a junior who has kept his nerve. Land battles, as to
+the fighting part, are won by the intrepidity of men in grade from
+private to captains mainly. Fear is contagious but courage is not less
+so. The courage of any one man reflects in some degree the courage of
+all those who are within his vision. To the man who is in terror and
+bordering on panic, no influence can be more steadying than that of
+seeing some other man near him who is retaining self-control and doing
+his duty.
+
+The paralysis which comes of fear can be lifted only through the
+resumption of action which will again give individuals the feeling of
+organization. This does not mean ordering a bayonet charge, or the
+firing of a volley at such-and-such o'clock. It may mean only patting
+one man on the back, "talking it up" to a couple of others, sending
+someone out to find a flank, or turning one's self to dig-in, while
+passing the word to others to do likewise. This is action in the
+realest sense of the term. _Out of reinvigorating men toward the
+taking of many small actions develops the possibility of large and
+decisive action._ The unit must first find itself before doing an
+effective job of finding the enemy. Out of those acts which are
+incidental to the establishing of order, a leader reaffirms his own
+power of decision.
+
+Such things are elementary, and of the very nature of the fire fight.
+While there is much more to be said about the play of moral forces in
+the trial and success of the group under combat conditions, most of it
+is to be learned from other sources, and it is the duty of every
+officer to study all that he can of this subject, and apply it to what
+he does in his daily rounds.
+
+_There is no rule pertaining to the moral unifying of military forces
+under the pressures of the battlefield which is not equally good in
+the training which conditions troops for this eventuality._ For the
+group to feel a great spiritual solidarity, and for its members to be
+bound together by mutual confidence and the satisfactions of a
+rewarding comradeship, is the foundation of great enterprise. But it
+is not more than that. Unaccompanied by a strengthening of the
+military virtues and a rise in the martial spirit, a friendly unity
+will not of itself point men directly toward the main object in
+training, nor enable them to dispose themselves efficiently toward
+each other on entering battle.
+
+It does not make the military man less an agent of peace and more a
+militarist that he relishes his membership within a fighting
+establishment and thinks those thoughts which would best put his arms
+to efficient use. The military establishment neither declares nor
+makes war; these are acts by the nation. But it is the duty of the
+military establishment primarily to succor the nation from any great
+jeopardy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN
+
+ENVIRONMENT
+
+
+The saying of the Old Sergeant that, "It takes a war to knock the hell
+out of the Regular Army," applies as broadly to war's effects upon the
+general peacetime establishment.
+
+In the rapid expansion of the armed service which comes of a national
+emergency, nothing seems to remain the same. Old units fill up, and
+change their character. By the time they have sent out three or four
+cadres of commissioned and enlisted leaders to form the base for
+entirely new organizations, little remains of the moral foundation of
+the parent unit except an honored name.
+
+Promotion is rapid and moves are frequent among the higher commanders.
+No sooner does a man feel fairly settled under a new commander, and
+confident that he will get along, than he looks up to see someone else
+filling the space.
+
+Installations grow like mushrooms. Schools multiply at a phenomenal
+rate. The best qualified men are taken away so that they will become
+better qualified, either by taking an officers' course or through
+specialist training. Their places are taken by men who may have an
+equal native ability, but haven't yet mastered the tricks of the
+trade. This piles high the load of work on those who command.
+
+The intake and the pipelines in all services fill with men of a quite
+different fiber and outlook than those which commonly pass through the
+peacetime training establishment.
+
+Particularly in the drafts which flow to the army there is a curious
+mixture of the good with the bad. The illiterates, the low IQs and the
+men who are physically a few notches below par are passed for service,
+though under normal conditions the recruiting standards shut them out.
+At the other end of the scale are the highly educated men from the
+colleges, and the robust individuals from the factory and farm. In
+natural quality they are as well suited to the service as any who seek
+it out in peacetime, but in disposition they are likely to be a
+little less tractable. On the whole, however, there is no radical
+difference between them, if we look at both groups simply as training
+problems for the study of the officer.
+
+In the midst of war, when all else is in flux, at least one thing
+stands fast. The methods, the self-discipline, and the personality
+which will best enable the officer to command efficiently during peace
+are identical with the requirements which fit him to shape new
+material most perfectly under the conditions of war.
+
+This is only another way of saying that for his own success, in
+addition to the solid qualities which win him the respect of other
+men, when war comes, he needs a vast adaptability and a confidence
+which will carry over from one situation to another, or he will have
+no peace of mind.
+
+It is only to the man who is burdened with unnecessary and exaggerated
+fears, and who mistakes for a fancied security the privilege of
+sitting quietly in one place, that the uprooting which comes with war
+is demoralizing. The natural officer sees it as an hour of
+opportunity, and though he may not like anything else about war, he at
+least relishes the strong feeling of personal contention which always
+develops when there are many openings inviting many men. As one World
+War II commander expressed it: "During war the ball is always kicking
+around loose in the middle of the field and any man who has the will
+may pick it up and run with it."
+
+Promotion, however, and the invitation to try one's hand at some
+greater venture, do not come automatically to an officer because of
+the onset of war. The man who had marked time on his job becomes
+relatively worse off, not only because the competition is keener, but
+because in lieu of anything which marks him for preferment, there is
+no good reason why he should get it. Years of service are not to a
+man's credit short of some positive proof that the years have been
+well used. The following are among the reasons why certain officers
+are marked for high places and find the door wide open, come an
+emergency:
+
+    A consistently superior showing in the efficiency reports.
+
+    A record showing that they have done well in service schools.
+
+    The ability to attract the eye of some high-placed superior by
+    exceptional performance on maneuvers, in committee work or any
+    other testing problem.
+
+    In addition to general dutifulness, the development to a
+    conspicuous degree of the special talents such as writing,
+    instructing, lecturing and staff administration.
+
+    Fluency in other languages.
+
+    Wide and resourceful study in the fields of military history,
+    military geography, national military policy and logistics.
+
+    The advancement of an original idea which has led to a general
+    improvement in any one service.
+
+Any and all of these are extra strings to one's bow. They are the
+means to greater satisfaction during peacetime employment and the
+source of great personal advantage during the shooting season. But
+they should not be mistaken for the main thing. _To excell in command,
+and to be recognized as deserving of it, is the rightful ambition of
+every service officer and his main hold on the probabilities of
+getting wider recognition._
+
+This holds true of the man who is so patently a specialist that it
+would be wrong to waste him in a command responsibility. If he
+understands the art of command, and his personality and moral
+fortitude fit him for the leading of men, he will be in better
+adjustment with his circumstances anywhere in the services, and will
+be given greater respect by his superiors. This rule is so absolute in
+its workings as to warrant saying that _every man who wears the
+insignia of an officer in the armed forces of the United States should
+aspire to the same bearing and the same inner confidence as to his
+power to meet other men and move them in the direction he desires that
+is to be marked in a superior company commander_.
+
+The natural leader is the real specialist of the armed services. He is
+as prodigious, and as much a man apart, as the wizard who has mastered
+supersonic speeds. Here we speak not alone of the ability of an
+officer fully to control and develop his element under training
+conditions, but to take the same element into battle and conserve the
+total of its powers with complete efficiency. The man who resolves to
+develop within himself the prerequisite qualities which serve such an
+object is moved by the worthiest of all ambitions, for he has
+submitted himself to the most complex task within human reach.
+
+The self-assurance that one has promise in the field of command is in
+part a derivative of growth and in part a matter of instinct. But to
+the normal young officer, it comes as something of a delightful
+surprise to learn that when he speaks other men will listen, when he
+reasons they will become convinced, and when he gives an order his
+authority is accepted. Far from being a bad quality, this
+ingenuousness is wholesome because it reflects warm appreciation of
+what has been given him. It does not lessen confidence if a commander
+feels this way about those who are within his charge throughout his
+service. The best results flow when the working loyalty of other men
+is accepted like manna from heaven, with gratitude rather than with
+gratification. _Simply to feel that it is one's rightful portion is
+the best proof that it is not, and leads to cockiness, windiness, and
+self-adulation, with attendant loss of the sympathy of other men._ The
+consequence to the individual whose dream of success is only that he
+will take on more and more authority is that he will suffer from a
+more and more one-sided development. The great philosopher, Albert
+Schweitzer, holds up to other self-reliant men the example of Defoe's
+hero, Robinson Crusoe, because he is continually reflecting on the
+subject of human conduct and he feels himself so responsible for this
+duty that when he gets in a fight he thinks about how he can win it
+with the smallest loss of human life. _The conservation of men's
+powers, not the spending thereof, is the object of main concern to the
+truly qualified military commander._
+
+At the same time, there should be no mistake about the manner in which
+command is exercised. To command is not simply to compel or to
+convince but a subtle mixture of both. Moral suasion and material
+compulsion are linked in its every act. _It involves not only saying
+that this is the best thing to do but inferring that the thing had
+best be done._ Force and reason are inseparably linked in its nature,
+and the force of reason is not more important than the reason of
+force, if the matter is to be brought to a successful issue. _The
+very touchstone of loyalty is that just demands will be put upon it._
+It cannot endure and strengthen except through finding material means
+of expression. When men are given absolute freedom, with no compulsion
+upon them but to eat and sleep, as with a group of South Sea savages,
+there can be no strong, uniting bond between them. As for absolute
+security, outside of the walls of a penitentiary it is virtually
+nonexistent, though one would scarcely look inside the walls expecting
+to find loyalty. In brief, being an active force in the lives of
+humankind, _loyalty is developed through the unifying of action_. _The
+more decisive the action becomes, the greater becomes the vitality of
+the bond._ Service men look back with an esteem, amounting almost to
+the love that a son feels for his father, toward the captains who led
+them well on the battlefield. But the best skipper they ever had on a
+training detail gets hardly more than a kind word.
+
+It has already been said that the man with a preeminent ability to
+organize and direct the action of the military group has an
+outstanding and greatly prized talent. The assumption that the holder
+of a commission in an armed service of the United States is possessed
+of this quality to a degree goes with the commission; lacking it, the
+warrant would have been withheld. But all men vary in their capacities
+to respond confidently to any particular situation. Some, no matter
+how hard they try, lack the keen edge.
+
+To the officer who discovers that he is especially suited, by
+temperament and liking, to the leading of combat forces, it comes,
+therefore, almost as a personal charge that he will let nothing
+dissuade him from the conviction that his post of duty is with the
+line. Though he may seek other temporary duty to advance his own
+knowledge and interests, he should remain mentally wedded to that
+which he does best, and which most other men find difficult.
+
+If it is a good rule for him, it applies just as well to all others
+within his charge. This means close attention to the careers of all
+junior leaders from the enlisted ranks, toward the end that the
+fighting strength of the establishment will be conserved. The
+personnel people will sometimes scuttle a fine natural leader of a
+tactical platoon, simply because they have discovered that in civilian
+life he ran a garage and there is a vacancy for a motor pool operator,
+or switch a gunner who is zealous for his new work back to a place in
+the rear, because the record book says that he is an erstwhile, though
+reluctant, keeper of books. From their point of view, this makes
+sense. But they are not always aware of how difficult and essential it
+is to find men who can lead at fighting. It is a point which all
+officers need ponder, for in our modern enthusiasm over the marvels
+that can be worked by a classification system, we tend to overlook
+that fighting power is the main thing, and that the best hands are not
+to be found behind every bush.
+
+When war comes, there are vast changes in the tempo and pressure of
+life within the armed establishment. Faced with new and unmeasured
+responsibility, almost every man would be depressed by the feeling
+that he is out far beyond his depth, if he were not buoyed by the
+knowledge that every other man is in like case, and that all things
+are relative. Once these points are recognized, the experience becomes
+exalting. A relatively junior officer finds himself able confidently
+to administer a policy applying to an entire service; a bureau, which
+might have been laboring to save money in the purchase of carpet tacks
+and pins, becomes suddenly confronted with the task of spending
+billions, and of getting action whatever the cost.
+
+But despite the radical change in the scale of operations, the lines
+laid down for the conduct of business remain the same. The regulations
+under which the armed services proceed are written for peace and war,
+and cover all contingencies in either situation. The course of conduct
+which is set forth for an officer under training conditions is the
+standard he is expected to follow when war comes. Administration is
+carried out according to the same rules, though it is probably true
+that there is less "paper doll cutting"--meaning that the tide of
+paper work, though larger in volume, is more to the point. To the
+young officer, it must oftentime seem that, under peacetime training
+conditions, he is being called on constantly to read reports which
+should never have been written in the first place and is required to
+write memoranda which no one should be forced to read in the second
+place. For that matter, the same thought occurs not infrequently to
+many of his seniors. But there is this main point in rebuttal--it is
+all a part of the practice and conditioning for a game which is in
+deadly earnest when war comes. If the armed services in peace were to
+limit correspondence up and down the line to those things which were
+either routine or altogether vital, few men would develop a facility
+at staff procedures.
+
+In one sense, the same generalization applies to the workings of the
+security system. There is the common criticism that the services
+always tend to over-classify papers, and make work for themselves by
+their careful safeguarding of "secrets" in which no one is interested.
+The idea is not without warrant; part of the trouble stems from the
+fact that the line between what can safely be made of public knowledge
+and what can not is impossible of clear definition. Hence the only
+safe rule-of-thumb is, "When in doubt, classify." There is, however,
+the other point that it is only through officers learning how to
+safeguard security, handle papers according to the regulations, and
+keep a tightly buttoned lip on all things which are essentially the
+business of the service during peacetime that they acquire the
+disciplined habit of which matures not only their personal success but
+the national safety when war comes.
+
+Oftentimes the rules seem superfluous. A man scans a paper and sees
+that the contents are innocuous, and ignoring the stamp, he leaves the
+document on his desk, because he is too lazy to unlock the file. _But
+the rules mean exactly what they say, and because their purpose is of
+final importance to the nation, they will be enforced._ There is no
+surer way for an officer to blight an otherwise promising career than
+to become careless about security matters. The superior who looks
+lightly on such an offense is but seeking trouble for himself.
+
+Even so, it is to be observed that regulations are a general guide to
+conduct, and though they mean what they say they are not utterly
+inflexible. One must not be like the half-wit described by Col.
+George F. Baltzell to his trainees during World War I. Joe had
+attached himself to the Confederate command of the Colonel's father,
+whose last chore before turning in was to post the boy. One night in a
+Virginia Tidewater operation, Joe was told to stay by a stump until
+morning. At dawn the unit was moving out in a fog when the elder
+Baltzell bethought himself of Joe. Down by the riverside his cries
+finally brought a faint answer through the mist, "Here I is." "What
+are you doing there, boy?" barked the officer, "I told you not to
+move." "I hain't moved, sir," replied the invisible Joe, up to his
+neck in water, "the river done riz." An occasional unforeseen
+circumstance arises in which it is nonsensical, or even impossible, to
+adhere to the letter of regulations, as of orders. It is then
+essential that an officer use plain common sense, acting according to
+the spirit of the regulation, so that it is clearly manifest he did
+the best possible thing within the determining set of conditions. For
+example, in the European Theater, the Historian had charge of 32 tons
+of documents, all classified "Confidential," "Secret" or "Top Secret."
+There were not enough safes or secured files in the whole of France to
+hold this material, which meant that established procedures could not
+be followed. A permanent guard and watch was put on the archive.
+Wooden cases were made from scrap lumber. Ample fire-fighting
+equipment was brought in. Personnel was drilled in evacuating the
+material in its order of importance, should fire occur. The setup was
+inspected twice daily by the commander or his executive. Though these
+arrangements still fell short of the letter of regulations, they
+perforce had to satisfy any inspector because there was no sounder
+alternative.
+
+When circumstances require any officer to take a course which, while
+appearing in his view to be in the best interests of the service, runs
+counter to the lines of action laid down by constituted authority, he
+has the protection that he may always ask for a court to pass judgment
+on what he had done. We are all prone to associate the court martial
+process only with the fact of punishment, but it is also a shield
+covering official integrity. The privilege of appealing to the
+judgment and sense of fair play in a group of one's fellow officers
+is a very comforting thing in any emergency situation, requiring a
+desperate decision, and engaging conflicting interests. It gives one a
+feeling of backing even when circumstances are such that one is making
+a lonely decision. Almost needless to say, cases of this sort are far
+more likely to occur in war than during peace.
+
+Inspection takes on a somewhat different hue during war. It becomes
+more frequent but, on the whole, less zealous with respect to
+spit-and-polish and less captious about the many little things which
+promote good order and appearance throughout the general
+establishment. This condition is accentuated as organizations move
+closer to the zone of fire. Higher authority becomes more engrossed in
+the larger affairs of operation. At all levels more and more time is
+taken in dealing with the next level above, which means that less and
+less can be given to looking at the structure down below.
+
+What then is the key to over-all soundness in the services in any hour
+of great national peril? This, that in all services, at all times and
+at all levels, each officer is vigilant to see that his own unit,
+section or office is inspection-proof by every test which higher
+authority might apply.
+
+It should not require the visit of an inspector to any installation to
+apprise those who are in charge as to what is being badly done.
+
+The standards are neither complex nor arbitrary. They can be easily
+learned. Thereafter, all that is needed are the eyes to see and the
+will to insist firmly that correction be made.
+
+In officership, there is simply no substitute for personal
+reconnaissance, nor any other technique that in the long run will have
+half its value. Gen. Carl A. Spaatz, the first leader of our
+independent Air Force, was so renowned for this disciplined habit of
+getting everywhere and seeing everything that, even when he was a
+relatively young major, a story about his ubiquitousness gained
+service-wide fame. An ailing recruit was being examined by a doctor at
+March Field. "Do you see spots before your eyes?" the doctor asked.
+"Heavens," groaned the recruit. "Do I have to see him in here, too?"
+
+Once formed, the habit of getting down to the roots of organization,
+of seeing with one's own eyes what is taking place, of measuring it
+against one's own scale of values, of ordering such changes as are
+needed, and of following-through to make certain that the changes are
+made, becomes the mainspring of all efficient command action.
+
+In battle, there is no other way to be sure. In training, there is no
+better way to move toward self-assurance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN
+
+THE MISSION
+
+
+There is a main reason why the word "mission" has an especial
+appropriateness to the military services and implies something beyond
+the call of duty. The arms of the United States do not advance simply
+through the process of correct orders being given and then executed
+with promptness, vigor, and intelligence.
+
+That is the greater part of the task, but it is by no means all.
+Military systems reflect the limitations and imperfections of their
+human material. Whatever his station, and experience, no man is wise
+enough and all-seeing enough that he can encompass every factor in a
+given problem, take correct judgment on every area of weakness,
+foresee all of that which has not yet happened, and then write the
+perfect analysis and solution for the guidance of his subordinates.
+
+The perfecting of operations, and the elimination of grit from the
+machinery, therefore become the concern of _all_, directing their
+thought and purpose to the doing of whatever needs to be done to
+further the harmony and efficiency of the establishment, taking
+personal action where it is within their province, or calling the
+matter to the attention of higher authority when it is not. In this
+direct sense, every ensign and second lieutenant has a personal
+responsibility for the general well-being of the security structure of
+the United States. This is fact, and not theory. In World War II, many
+of the practical ideas which were made of universal application in the
+services were initiated by men of very junior rank. But the extent to
+which any man's influence may be felt beyond his immediate circle
+depends first of all upon the thoroughness with which he executes his
+assigned duties, since nothing else will give his superiors confidence
+in his judgments. It is only when he is exacting in small things, and
+is careful to "close the circuit" on every minor assignment, that he
+qualifies himself to think and act constructively in larger matters,
+through book study and imaginative observation of the situation which
+surrounds him. At this stage, an officer is well on the road to the
+accomplishment of his general mission.
+
+When an order is given, what are the responsibilities of the man who
+receives it? In sequence, these:
+
+    To be certain that he understands what is required.
+
+    To examine and organize his resources as promptly as possible.
+
+    Fully to inform his subordinates on these points.
+
+    To execute the order without waste of time or means.
+
+    To call for support if events prove that his means are inadequate.
+
+    To fill up the spaces in the orders if there are developments
+    which had not been anticipated.
+
+    When the detail is complete, to prepare to go on to something
+    else.
+
+Lt. Gen. Sir Frederick Morgan, who planned the invasion of Normandy,
+put the matter this way: "When setting out on any enterprise, it is as
+well to ask oneself three questions. To whom is one responsible? For
+precisely what is one responsible? What are the means at one's
+disposal for discharging this responsibility?"
+
+Nothing so warms the heart of a superior as that, on giving an order,
+he sees his subordinate salute, say "Yes sir," then about face and
+proceed to carry it out to the hilt, without faltering or looking
+back. This is the kind of man that a commander will choose to have
+with him every time, and that he will recommend first for advancement.
+
+On the other hand, clarification of the object is not only a right but
+a duty, and it cuts both ways. Orders are not always clear, and no
+superior is on firm ground when he is impatient of questions which are
+to the point, or resentful of the man who asks them. But it is natural
+that he will be doubtful of the man whose words show either that he
+hasn't heard or is concerned mainly with irrelevencies. The
+cultivation of the habit of careful, concentrated listening, and of
+collected thought in reading into any problem, is a principal portal
+to successful officership.
+
+To say that promptness and positiveness in the execution of a mission
+are at all times major virtues does not imply that the good man, like
+an old fire horse, moves out instantly at the clang of a bell.
+Soundness of action involves a sense of timing. Thoroughness is the
+way of duty, rather than a speed which goes off half-cocked. There is
+frequently a time for waiting; there is always time for acute
+reflection. The brain which works "like a steel trap" exists only in
+fiction. Even such men as General Eisenhower, or Admiral Nimitz, or
+for that matter, Gen. U. S. Grant, have at times deferred decision
+temporarily while waiting for a change in tide or circumstance to help
+them make up their minds. This is normal in the rational individual;
+it is not a sign of weakness. Rather than to cultivate a belief in
+one's own infallibility, the mature outlook for the military man is
+best expressed in the injunction of the Apostle Paul: "_Let all things
+be done decently and in order._" Grant, wrote of the early stage of
+his advance on Richmond: "At this time I was not entirely decided as
+to how I should move my Army." From the pen of General Eisenhower come
+these words: "The commander's success will be measured more by his
+ability to lead than by his adherence to fixed notions." Thus, in the
+conduct of operations not less than in the execution of orders, it is
+necessary that the mind remain plastic and impressionable.
+
+Within military organization, to refuse an order is unthinkable,
+though to muster a case showing why some other order would serve in
+its place is not undutiful in an individual subordinate, any more than
+in a staff. By the same rule, insistence that an order be carried out
+undeviatingly, simply because it has been given, does not of itself
+win respect for the authority uttering it. Its modification, however,
+should never be in consequence of untempered pressure from below. To
+change or rescind is justified only when reestimate of all of the
+available facts indicates that some other order will serve the general
+purpose more efficiently.
+
+Taking counsel of subordinates in any enterprise or situation is
+therefore a matter of giving them full advantage of one's own
+information and reasoning, weighing with the intellect whatever
+thought or argument they may contribute to the sum of considerations,
+and then making, without compromise, a clean decision as to the line
+of greatest advantage. To know how to command obedience is a very
+different thing from making men obey. Obedience is not the product of
+fear, but of understanding, and understanding is based on knowledge.
+
+On D-day in Normandy, Lt. Turner B. Turnbull undertook to do with his
+platoon of 42 men a task which had been intended for a battalion; he
+was to block the main road to enemy forces pressing south from the
+Cherbourg area against the American right flank. In early morning he
+engaged a counterattacking enemy battalion, supported by mortars and a
+self-propelled gun at the village of Neuville au Plain. The platoon
+held its ground throughout the day. By dusk the enemy had closed wide
+around both its flanks and was about to cut the escape route. Turnbull
+had 23 men left. He said to the others, "There's one thing left to do;
+we can charge them." Pfc. Joseph Sebastian, who had just returned from
+reconnoitering to the rear, said, "I think there's a chance we can
+still get out; that's what we ought to do." Turnbull asked of his men,
+"What's your judgment?" They supported Sebastian as having the sounder
+idea. In a twinkling Turnbull made his decision. He told the others to
+get set for the run; he was losing men even while he talked; he
+ordered that the 12 wounded were to be left behind. Corp. James Kelly,
+first aid man, said he would stay with the wounded. Pfc Sebastian, who
+had argued Turnbull into a withdrawal, volunteered to stand his ground
+and cover the others with a BAR. Corp. Raymond Smitson said he would
+stay by Sebastian and support him with hand grenades. Sgt. Robert
+Niland started for one of the machine guns, to help Smitson and
+Sebastian in covering the withdrawal, but was shot dead by a German
+closing in with a machine pistol before he could reach it. The 16
+remaining survivors took off like so many shots fired from a pistol,
+at full speed but at intervals, to minimize the target. All got back
+to their Battalion, though Turnbull was killed in action a few days
+later. Their 1-day fight had preserved the flank of an Army. For
+economy of effort, and power of decision, there is not a brighter
+example in the whole book of war.
+
+To encourage subordinates to present their views, and to weigh them in
+the light of reason, is at the same time the surest way to win their
+confidence and to refine one's own information and judgments. However,
+to leave final decision to them in matters which are clearly in the
+area of one's own responsibility, is fatal to the character of self
+and to the integrity of the force.
+
+Any officer is one among many. Behind the smallest unit is the total
+power of the combined services. In the main, effectiveness develops
+out of unity of effort. To commit one's force to desperate, unhelped
+enterprises, when there is support at hand which may be had for the
+asking, may be one road to glory, but it is certainly not the path to
+success in War. The Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava was made
+immortal by Tennyson's poem, but it was as foolhardy as asking a troop
+of Boy Scouts to capture Gibraltar. In battle, a main obligation of
+those who lead is to make constant resurvey of the full horizon of
+their resources and means of possible support. This entails in time of
+peace the acquisition of a great body of knowledge seemingly unrelated
+to the administration of one's immediate affairs. It entails, also,
+facing forthrightly toward every task, or assignment, giving it a full
+try, sweating out every obstacle, but not being ashamed to ask for
+help or counsel if it proves to be beyond one's powers. _To give it
+everything, though not quite making the grade personally, is merely an
+exercise in character building. But to have the mission fail because
+of false pride is inexcusable._
+
+The prayer that Sir Francis Drake wrote down for his men as he led
+them forth to a great adventure might well be repeated by any leader
+in the hour when he begins to despair because in spite of his striving
+he has not gained all he sought: "O Lord God, when Thou givest to thy
+servants to endeavour any great matter, grant us also to know that it
+is not the beginning, but the continuing of the same until it is
+thoroughly finished, which yieldeth the true glory."
+
+The courage to start will carry a man far. Under the conditions of
+either war or peace, it is astonishing how many times all things come
+in balance for the man who is less fearful of rebuff than of being
+counted a cypher. One of Britain's great armored leaders, Lt. Gen. Sir
+Giffard Martel, digested the lesson of his whole life experience into
+this sentence: "If you take a chance, it usually succeeds,
+presupposing good judgment." Finally, it comes to that, for the
+willingness to accept calculated risks is of the essence of effective
+personal performance within the military profession. There must be
+careful collection of data. There must be weighty consideration of all
+known and knowable factors in the given situation. But beyond these
+things, what?
+
+To convey the idea that an officer must by ingrained habit dispose
+himself to take action only after he has arrived at an exact formula,
+pointing exclusively in one direction, would mean only that under the
+conditions of war he could never get off his trousers-seat. For such
+fullness of information and confidence of situation are not given to
+combat commanders once in a lifetime.
+
+It is customary to treat "estimate of situation" as if it were pure
+mathematical process, pointing almost infallibly to a definite result.
+But this is contrary to nature. The mind of man does not work that
+way, nor is it consistent with operational realities. Senior
+commanders are as prone as even the newest junior lieutenant to labor
+in perplexity between two opposing courses of action during times of
+crisis, and then make their decisions almost with the abruptness of an
+explosion. _It is post-decision steadiness more than pre-decision
+certitude which carries the day._ A large part of decision is
+intuitive; it is the byproduct of the subconscious. In war, much of
+what is most pertinent lies behind a drawn curtain. The officer is
+therefore badly advised who would believe that a hunch is without
+value, or that there is something unmilitary about the simple decision
+to take some positive action, even though he is working in the dark.
+
+The youthful Col. Julian Ewell of the 501st Parachute Infantry
+Regiment, reaching Bastogne, Belgium, on the night of December 18,
+1944, with only his lead battalion at hand, insisted that he be given
+orders, even though higher headquarters could tell him almost nothing
+about the friendly or enemy situations. He got his orders, and with
+the one battalion moved out through the dark to counter-attack. So
+doing, he stopped cold the German XXXXVII Panzer Corps, and compelled
+Hitler to alter his Ardennes plan.
+
+To grasp the spirit of orders is not less important than to accept
+them cheerfully and keep faith with the contract. But the letter of an
+instruction does not relieve him who receives it from the obligation
+to exercise common sense. In the Carolina maneuvers of 1941, a soldier
+stood at a road intersection for 3 days and nights directing civilian
+traffic, simply because the man who put him there had forgotten all
+about it. Though he was praised at the time, he was hardly a shining
+example to hold up to troops. Diligence and dullness are mutually
+exclusive traits. The model who is well worth pondering by all
+services is Chief Boatswain L. M. Jahnsen who on the morning of Pearl
+Harbor was in command of the yard garbage scow YG-17. She was
+collecting refuse from the fleet when the first Japanese planes came
+over. As the West Virginia began to burn, Jahnsen headed his scow into
+the heat and smoke and ordered his men to man their single fire hose.
+The old assignment forgotten, with overheated ammunition exploding all
+around him, he stood there directing his men in all that could be done
+to lessen the ruin of the fleet.
+
+Within the services, a special glory attends those whose heroism or
+service is "above and beyond the call of duty." But they owe their
+fundamental character to the millions of men who have followed the
+path of duty above and beyond the call of orders.
+
+Whatever the nature of an officer's assignment, there are
+compensations. The conventional attitude is to speak disparagingly of
+staff duty, sniff at service with a higher administrative headquarters
+as if it were somehow lacking in true masculine appeal, and express a
+preference for duty "at sea," "with troops" or "in the field."
+Although most of this is flapdoodle, it probably does no more harm
+than Admiral William F. Halsey's grimace over the fact that he once
+"commanded an LSD--Large Steel Desk." He is a poor stick of a military
+man who has no natural desire to try his hand at the direct management
+of men, if for no better reason than to test his own mettle. Even the
+avowed specialist is better equipped for his own groove if he has
+proved himself at the other game.
+
+Staff work, however, has its own peculiar rewards. Chief among them
+are the broadening of perspective, a more intimate contact with the
+views, working methods and personality characteristics of higher
+commanders and the chance to become acquainted with administrative
+responsibility from the viewpoint of policy. Although it sounds
+mysterious and even forbidding, until one has done it, the procedures
+are not more complex nor less instructive than in any other type of
+assignment.
+
+There are no inside secrets about what goes here that is different, or
+will not work equally well elsewhere. The staff is simply the servant
+of the general force; it exists but to further the welfare of the
+fighting establishment. Those within it are remiss if they fail to
+keep this rule uppermost. Consequently, no special attitude is called
+for, other than an acute receptiveness. The same military bearing, the
+same naturalness of manner which enable an officer to win the
+confidence and working loyalty of his men will serve just as well when
+he is dealing with higher authority.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN
+
+DISCIPLINE
+
+
+Though many of the aspects of discipline can be discussed more
+appropriately in other sections of this book, an officer must
+understand its particular nature within American military forces if he
+is to win from his men obedience coupled with activity at will.
+
+It frequently happens that the root meaning of a word more nearly
+explains the whole context of ideas with which it is legitimately
+associated than the public's mistaken use of the same word. Coming
+from the Latin, "to discipline" means "to teach." Insofar as the
+military establishment of the United States is concerned, nothing need
+be added to that definition. Its discipline is that standard of
+personal deportment, work requirement, courtesy, appearance and
+ethical conduct which, inculcated in men, will enable them singly or
+collectively to perform their mission with an optimum efficiency.
+
+Military discipline, in this respect, is no different than the
+discipline of the university, a baseball league or a labor union. It
+makes specific requirements of the individual; so do they. It has a
+system of punishments; so do they. These things are but incidental to
+the end result. Their main object is to preserve the interests and
+further the opportunity of the cooperative majority. But the essential
+difference between discipline in the military establishment and in any
+other free institution is this, that if the man objects, he still does
+not have the privilege of quitting tomorrow, and if he resists or
+becomes indifferent and is not corrected, his bad example will be felt
+to the far end of the line.
+
+Though the failure to stop looting by our forces during World War II,
+and the redeployment riots which followed it, are both unpleasant
+memories, they underscored a lesson already affirmed by every American
+experience at arms. The most contagious of all moral diseases is
+insubordination, and it has no more respect for rank than the plague.
+When higher authority winks at its existence among the rank and file,
+it will contaminate upward as well as down. Once a man condones
+remissness, his own belief in discipline begins to wither. The officer
+who tolerates slackness in the dress of his men soon ceases to tend
+his own appearance, and if he is not called to account, his sloppy
+habits will shortly begin to infect his superior. There is only one
+correct way to wear the uniform. When any deviations in dress are
+condoned within the services, the way is open to the destruction of
+all uniformity and unity. This continuing problem of stimulating all
+ranks to toe-up to that straight line of bearing and deportment which
+will build inner confidence and win public respect is the main reason
+why, as George Washington put it: "To bring men to a proper degree of
+subordination is not the work of a day, a month, or a year." It calls
+not simply for a high-minded attitude toward the profession of arms
+but for infinitely patient attention to a great variety of detail. An
+officer has a disciplined hold upon his own job only when, like the
+air pilot preparing to take off, he makes personal check of every
+point where the machinery might fail. The stronger his example of
+diligence, the more earnestly will it be followed by the ablest of his
+subordinates, and they in turn will carry other men along. No leader
+ever fails his men--nor will they fail him--who leads them in respect
+for the disciplined life. Between these two things--discipline in
+itself and a personal faith in the military value of discipline--lies
+all the difference between military maturity and mediocrity. A salute
+from an unwilling man is as meaningless as the moving of a leaf on a
+tree; it is a sign only that the subject has been caught by a gust of
+wind. But a salute from the man who takes pride in the gesture because
+he feels privileged to wear the uniform of the United States, having
+found the service good, is the epitome of military virtue. Of those
+units which were most effective, and were capable of the greatest
+measure of self-help during World War II combat, it was invariably
+remarked that they observed the salute and the other rules of courtesy
+better than the others, even when engaged.
+
+The level of discipline is in large part what the officers in any unit
+choose to make it. The general aim of regulations is to set an
+over-all standard of conduct and work requirement for all concerned.
+Training schedules, operational directives and other work programs
+serve the same end. _But there is still a broad area in which the
+influence of every officer is brought to bear. To state what is
+required is only the beginning; to require what has been stated is the
+positive end._ The rule of courtesy may be laid down by the book; it
+remains for the officer to rule by work rather than working by rules,
+and by setting the good example for his men, stimulate their
+acceptance of orderly military habits. A training schedule may
+stipulate that certain tasks be carried out but only the officer in
+charge can assure that the work will be accomplished with fidelity.
+
+The level of discipline should at all times be according to what is
+needed to get the best results from the majority of dutiful
+individuals. There is no practical reason for any sterner requirement
+than that. There is no moral justification for countenancing anything
+less. _Discipline destroys the spirit and working loyalty of the
+general force when it is pitched to the minority of malcontented,
+undutiful men within the organization, whether to punish or to appease
+them._ When this common sense precept is ignored, the results
+invariably are unhappy.
+
+However, it is not here inferred that what has to be done to build
+strong discipline in forces will at all times be welcomed by the
+first-class men within a unit, or that their reaction will always be
+approval. Rather, it is to say that they will accept what is ordered,
+even though they may gripe about it, and that ultimately their own
+reason will convince them of the value of what is being done.
+
+Until men are severely tried, there is no conclusive test of their
+discipline, nor proof that their training at arms is satisfying a
+legitimate military end. The old game of follow-the-leader has no
+point if the leader himself, like the little girl in a Thomas Hardy
+novel, is balked by insuperable obstacles one-quarter inch high. _All
+military forces remain relatively undisciplined until physically
+toughened and mentally conditioned to unusual exertion._ Consider the
+road march! No body of men could possibly enjoy the dust, the heat,
+the blistered foot and the aching back. But hard road marching is
+necessary if a sound foundation is to be built under the discipline of
+fighting forces, particularly those whose labors are in the field. And
+the gain comes quickly. The rise in spirits within any organization
+which is always to be observed after they rebound from a hard march
+does not come essentially from the feeling of relief that the strain
+is past, but rather from satisfaction that a goal has been crossed.
+_Every normal man needs to have some sense of a contest, some feeling
+of resistance overcome, before he can make the best use of his
+faculties. Whatever experience serves to give him confidence that he
+can compete with other men helps to increase his solidarity with other
+men._
+
+It must be accepted that discipline does not break down under the
+strain of placing a testing demand upon the individual. It is sloth
+and not activity that destroys discipline. Troops can endure hard
+going when it serves an understandable end. This is what they will
+boast about mainly when the fatigue is ended. A large part of training
+is necessarily directed toward conditioning them for unusual hardship
+and privation. They can take this in stride. But no power on earth can
+reconcile them to what common sense tells them is unnecessary hardship
+which might have been avoided by greater intelligence in their
+superiors. When they are overloaded, they know it. When they are
+required to form for a parade two hours ahead of time because their
+commander got over-anxious, or didn't know how to write an order,
+again they know it! _And they are perfectly right if they go sour
+because this kind of thing happens a little too often within the
+command._
+
+Within our system, that discipline is nearest perfect which assures to
+the individual the greatest freedom of thought and action while at all
+times promoting his feeling of responsibility toward the group. _These
+twin ends are convergent and interdependent for the exact converse of
+the reason that it is impossible for any man to feel happy and
+successful if he is in the middle of a failing institution._ War, and
+all training operations in preparation for it, have become more than
+ever a problem of creating diversity of action out of unity of
+thought. Its modern technological aspects not only require a much
+keener intelligence in the average file but a higher degree of
+initiative and courageous confidence in his own judgments. If the man
+is cramped by monotonous routine, or made to feel that he cannot move
+unless an order is barked, he cannot develop these qualities, and he
+will never come forward as a junior leader. _On the other hand, the
+increased utilization of the machine in military operations, far from
+lessening the need of mutual support and unified action, has increased
+it._ One of the hazards of high velocity warfare is that reverse and
+disaster can occur much more swiftly than under former systems. Thus
+the need for greater spiritual integration within forces, and
+increased emphasis upon the values of more perfect communication in
+all forms, at the same time that each individual is trained to
+initiate action for the common good. Only so can the new discipline
+promote a higher efficiency based on a more steadfast loyalty of man
+to man. In the words of Du Picq, who saw so deeply into the hearts of
+fighting men: "If one does not wish bonds broken, one should make them
+elastic and thereby strengthen them."
+
+The separate nature of military service is the key to the character of
+the discipline of its several forces. In the United States, we have
+fallen into the sloppy habit of saying that a soldier, bluejacket,
+airman, coast guardsman or marine is only an American civilian in
+uniform. The corollary of this quaint notion is that all military
+organization is best run according to the principles of business
+management. The truth of either of these ideas is to be disputed on
+two grounds: both are contrary to truth and contrary to human nature.
+An officer is not only an administrator but a magistrate, and it is
+this dual role which makes his function so radically different than
+anything encountered in civil life--to say nothing of the singleness
+of purpose by which the service moves forward. Moreover, the armed
+service officer deals with the most plastic human material within the
+society--men who, in the majority, the moment they step into uniform,
+are ready to seek his guidance toward a new way of life.
+
+However, these fancies are but tangential aspects of a much larger
+illusion--that the Armed Services of the United States, since they
+serve a democracy, can better perfect themselves according to the
+measure that they become more and more democratic. Authority is
+questioned in democratic countries today, not only in government, but
+in industry, the school, the church and the home. But to the extent
+that military men lose their faith in its virtue and become amenable
+to ill-considered reforms simply to appease the public, they
+relinquish the power to protect and nurture that growth of free men,
+free thought and free institutions which began among a handful of
+soldiers in Cromwell's Army and was carried by them after the
+Restoration to the North American mainland. The relation of the
+military establishment to American democracy is as a shield covering
+the body. But no wit of man can make it a wholly "democratic"
+institution as to its own processes without vitiating its strength,
+since it progresses through the exercise of unquestioned authority at
+various levels.
+
+One of these levels is the plane on which an ensign or second
+lieutenant conducts his daily dealings with his men. George Washington
+left behind these words, which are as good today as when he uttered
+them from his command post: "Whilst men treat an officer as an equal,
+regard him no more than a broomstick, being mixed together as one
+common herd, no order nor discipline can prevail." Out of his
+experience in the handling of deck divisions during World War II,
+Edmund A. Gibson, Boatswain's Mate, First Class, also said something
+which, put alongside Washington's words, brings the whole subject of
+officer-man relationships into clear focus: "Speaking for Navy men, I
+am certain that they are entirely without any feeling of inferiority,
+social or otherwise, to their officers. If superiority or inferiority
+of any kind enters into their contemplation at all, it is in the shape
+of a conviction, doubtless a wrong one, that every serviceman, as a
+professional warrior, is above the narrow interests which obsess the
+civilian."
+
+Those who have served both as officer and under-officer well
+understand the appropriateness of these two ideas, each to the other,
+that the superior position of the officer must be preserved for the
+good of the service, but that this engages recognition of the
+individual equality of the enlisted man. They know, if they have
+observed well and truly during their service in the ranks, that the
+highest type enlisted man wants his officer to act the part, maintain
+dignity and support the ideals which are consonant with the authority
+vested in him by the Nation. But this same man at the same time
+expects his officers to concede him his right to a separate position
+and to respect his privacy. It is a pitiable eminence that is not well
+founded upon sure feeling for the value of its own prestige and the
+importance of this factor at all levels.
+
+In the military service of the United States, there is always room for
+firm and forthright friendship between officer and man. There is room
+for a close, uniting comradeship. There is room for frank intellectual
+discussion and the exchange of warm humor; no man goes far if he is
+all salt and no savor. There is room for that kind of intimacy which
+enables each to see the other as a human being, know something of the
+other's emotions and help clear the atmosphere for honest counsel on
+personal and organizational problems.
+
+But there is no room for familiarity, since as in any other sphere, it
+breeds contempt. When it occurs, respect flies out the window, the
+officer loses part of his command authority and discipline breaks
+down. Familiarity cannot obtain between the superior and the
+subordinate without the vice of favoritism entering into the conduct
+of organizational matters, even though the former is guilty only of an
+over-zealous goodwill and the latter is otherwise sensible to the
+interests of the unit. The chief damage comes from the effect upon all
+others. It is when all the bars are let down that men communicate
+those inner failings which a greater reserve would keep under cover.
+Familiarity toward a superior is a positive danger; toward a
+subordinate, it is unbecoming and does not increase his trust. In
+excess, it can have no other effect than a breach of confidence on
+both sides.
+
+Changes in the environmental situation do not alter the natural
+proprieties of this relationship between any two men, the one having
+higher authority and the other having the obligation of obedience.
+Under the conditions of modern war, the two not infrequently may be
+required to work together as a unit, almost apart from the influence
+of organizational discipline. Hardship and necessity may compel them
+to extend the limit of personal accommodation to each other. They may
+go into battle together. They may sleep in the same bed or foxhole.
+They may drink from a common bottle and draw upon each other for the
+means to keep going. But in adapting one's course according to the
+rigors of any unconventional situation, authority is maintained only
+through the exercise of a higher sense of responsibility. However, the
+rule is applied according to the circumstance, the rule itself remains
+inflexible.
+
+Officers and men working together as a compact team, in any type of
+military operation where success, and coordinated action in the face
+of danger, depend mainly upon the moral resources within one small
+group, develop a closer camaraderie and become less formal than is
+normal elsewhere throughout the services. The close confinement in
+which tank forces, airplane crews and submarine crews must operate
+would stifle morale and torture nerves otherwise. Whatever the
+patience of men under such conditions, sooner or later they get on
+each other's nerves. Therefore that system of relationships is best
+which is least artificial and most relaxing to the spirit of the
+natural man. But to construe this as a deviation from the standards of
+discipline is to mistake the shadow for the substance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN
+
+MORALE
+
+
+To grow in knowledge of how to win a loyal and willing response from
+military forces, there must first be understanding of the springs of
+human action, what they are, and how they may be directed toward
+constructive ends. This done, the course which makes for the
+perfecting of forces during peacetime training need only be extended
+to harden them for the risk and stress of war.
+
+The mainspring is morale. The meaning of the word is already known in
+a general way to every man who has qualified for officership, so it is
+hardly necessary to redefine it. A World War II bluejacket said it
+this way: "Morale is when your hands and feet keep working when your
+head says it can't be done." That says it just as well as anything
+written by du Picq or Baron von Steuben. Nothing new need be added.
+
+The handiest beginning is to consider morale in conjunction with
+discipline, since in military service they are opposite sides of the
+same coin. When one is present, the other will be also. But the
+instilling of these things in military forces depends upon leadership
+understanding the nature of the relationship.
+
+As to discipline, until recent years, military forces tended to stress
+the pattern rather than the ideal. The elder Moltke, one of the great
+masters of the military art, taught his troops that it was of supreme
+importance that they form accurately in training, since the perfection
+of their formations would determine their efficiency in battle. Yet in
+the Franco-Prussian War, these formations proved utterly unsuited to
+the heavily wooded terrain of the theater, and new ones had to be
+devised on the spur of the moment.
+
+This is the familiar story. It was repeated by United States forces in
+World War II during the Normandy hedgerow fighting and the invasions
+of the Central Pacific atolls. Troops had to learn the hard way how to
+hit, and how to survive, in moving through jungle or across the
+mountains and desert. When that happened, the only disciplinary
+residue which mattered was obedience to orders. The movements they had
+learned by rote were of less value than the spiritual bond between one
+man and another. The most valuable lesson was that of mutual support.
+And unless this lesson was supported by confidence in the judgment of
+those in authority, it is to be doubted that they were helped at all.
+
+Finally, that confidence is the _sine qua non_ of all useful military
+power. The moral strength of an organic unity comes from the faith in
+ranks that they are being wisely directed and from faith up top that
+orders will be obeyed. When forces are tempered by this spirit, there
+is no limit to their enterprise. They become invincible. Lacking it,
+however, any military body, even though it has been compelled to toe
+the mark in training, will deteriorate into a rabble under conditions
+of extraordinary stress in the field, as McDowell's Army did at Bull
+Run in the American Civil War, and as Hitler's Armies did in 1945
+after the Rhine had been crossed at Remagen.
+
+In its essentials, discipline is not measured according to how a man
+keeps step in a drill yard, or whether he salutes at just the right
+angle. The test is how well and willingly he responds to his superiors
+in all _vital_ matters, and finally, whether he stands or runs when
+his life is at stake. History makes this clear. There are countless
+examples of successful military forces which had almost no discipline
+when measured by the usual yardsticks, yet had a high battle morale
+productive of the kind of discipline which beats the enemy in battle.
+The French at Valmy, the Boers in the South African War, and even the
+men of Capt. John Parker, responding to his order on the Lexington
+Common, "Don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war,
+let it begin here," instance that men who lack training and have not
+been regimented still may express themselves as a cohesive force on
+the field of fire, provided that they are well led.
+
+If we will accept the basic premise that discipline, even within the
+military establishment of the United States, is not a ritual or a
+form, but is simply that course of conduct which is most likely to
+lead to the efficient performance of an assigned responsibility, it
+will be seen that morale does not come of discipline, but discipline
+of morale.
+
+True enough, our recruits are given a discipline almost from the
+moment that they take the oath. Their first lesson is the necessity
+for obedience. They are required immediately to conform to a new
+pattern of conduct. They respond to disciplinary treatment even before
+they learn to think as a group and before the attitude of the group
+has any influence upon them. Discipline bears down before morale can
+lift up. Momentarily, they become timid before they have felt any
+pain. These first reactions help condition the man to his new
+environment. They are in part demoralizing, but on the upswing he
+begins to realize that half the fun in life comes of seeing what one
+can do in a new situation. The foundation of his morale is laid when
+he begins to think of himself as a member of the fighting
+establishment, rather than as a civilian. Thereafter all that is done
+to nourish his military spirit and to arouse his thirst for
+professional knowledge helps to build his moral power.
+
+But follow the man a little longer. The time quickly comes when he
+knows his way around in the service. His earlier fears and hesitations
+are largely gone. He acquires strength and wisdom from the group. He
+becomes able to judge his own situation against an attainable standard
+within the service. He is critically conscious of the merits of his
+superiors from what he has himself experienced and what others tell
+him. He knows what is boondoggling and what is not.
+
+From that point on, discipline has little part in alerting the man or
+in furthering the building of his moral power. That which moves him
+mainly is the knowledge that he is a personal success, and that he
+belongs to an efficient unit which is in capable hands. Certain of the
+outer signs of discipline, such as the cadence of the march or snap in
+the execution of the manual, he may subconsciously reenforce his
+impression of these things. But if he feels either that he is an
+outsider or that the club isn't worth joining, no amount of spit and
+polish will alter his opinion.
+
+He is able to recognize a right and reasonable discipline as such,
+even though it causes him personal inconvenience, because he has
+acquired a sense of military values. But if it is either unduly harsh
+or unnecessarily lax, he likewise knows it and wears it as a
+hairshirt, to the undoing of his morale. Though the man, like the
+group, can be hurt by being pushed beyond sensible limits, his spirit
+will suffer even more sorely if no real test is put upon his abilities
+and moral powers. The greater his intelligence, the stronger will be
+his resentment. That is a law of nature. The enlightened mind has
+always the greatest measure of self-discipline but it also has a
+higher sense of what constitutes justice, fairplay and a reasonable
+requirement in the performance of duty. If denied these things, he
+will come to hold his chief, his job, and himself in contempt. The
+greater part of man's satisfactions comes of activity and only a very
+small remnant comes of passive enjoyment. Forgetting this rather
+obvious fact in human nature, social reformers aim at securing more
+leisure, rather than at making work itself more satisfactory. But it
+need not be forgotten in the military service.
+
+Even to those who best understand the reasons for the regimenting of
+military forces, a discipline wrongfully applied is seen only as
+indiscipline. Invariably it will be countered in its own terms. No
+average rank-and-file will become insubordinate as quickly, or react
+as violently, as a group of senior noncommissioned officers, brought
+together in a body, and then mishandled by officers who are ignorant
+of the customs of the service and the limits of their own authority.
+Not only are they conscious of their rights, but they have greater
+respect for the state of decency and order which is the mark of a
+proper military establishment than for the insignia of rank. It is
+this firm feeling of the fitness of things, and his unbounded
+allegiance to an authority when it is based on character which makes
+the NCO and the petty officer the backbone of discipline within the
+United States fighting establishment. Sergeant Evans of "Command
+Decision" was an archtype of the best ball carriers among them. In a
+sense, they remain independent workmen, rather than a tool of
+authority, until the hour comes when they fall in completely with
+someone their own nature tells them is good. In the past, we have not
+always made the wisest use of this latent strength. The normal desire
+of the veteran who has won his stripes by hard service is to support
+his officers and reduce the friction down below. Whatever is done to
+lessen his dignity and prestige damages morale and creates new
+stresses in the relations between the officer corps and the ranks.
+When he is rebuffed, either because those above him are indifferent to
+his pride or are unaware that he is their chief advocate among the
+men, the military machinery loses its cushion and becomes subject to
+increasing shock. Said a newly arrived lieutenant to an old sergeant
+of the 12th Cavalry: "You've been here a long time, haven't you?" "Yes
+sir," replied the sergeant. "The troop commanders, they come and they
+go, but it don't hurt the troop."
+
+To comment on these things, however, is to emphasize once again the
+supreme importance of the judgment of the officer in dealing with all
+of his military associates in such way that he will support that
+native pride, without which a man cannot remain whole, and at the same
+time direct it toward the betterment of the organization. To lecture
+troops about the importance of morale and discipline serves no earthly
+purpose, if the words are at odds with the general conditions which
+have been imposed on the command. They impose their values only as
+reflection of the leader's entire thought concerning his men. At the
+same time, there is this to be remembered, that even when things are
+going wrong at every other level, men will remain loyal and dutiful if
+they see in the one junior officer who is nearest them the embodiment
+of the ideals which they believe should apply throughout the service.
+That is the main object lesson in that remarkable novel written around
+a World War II Navy auxiliary, "Mister Roberts." But it holds just as
+true in our ground and air forces as for those afloat.
+
+Morale comes of the mind and of the spirit. The question is how it is
+to be developed. Admiral Ben Moreell has stated a formula in
+understanding terms by his explanation of what made the Seabees
+notable for competence and devotion to duty during World War II. This
+is what he said: "We used artisans to do the work for which they had
+been trained in civil life. They were well led by officers who 'spoke
+their language.' We made them feel that they were playing an important
+part in the great adventure. And thus they achieved a high standard of
+morale." The elements underscored by Admiral Moreell deserve special
+note.
+
+    Satisfaction in a work program.
+
+    Mutual confidence between leaders and ranks.
+
+    Conviction that all together were striving for something more
+    important than themselves.
+
+True, that was wartime, and the challenge was apparent to all
+concerned. But the principles hold good under any and all conditions,
+and can be applied to any organization by the officer who approaches
+his task with enthusiasm and imagination. The mission of keeping the
+world at peace, through a moral strengthening of the security
+structure of the United States, is a more difficult objective than
+that which confronted fighting forces after Pearl Harbor. In his book,
+"World War: Its Cause and Cure," Lionel Curtis stated our problem in
+its broadest and most challenging terms: "Civilization began with a
+war between freedom and despotism: we are now fighting its latest
+campaign, and our task is to make it the last."
+
+Under training conditions or in combat, the mental ills and the
+resulting moral and physical deterioration which sometimes beset
+military forces cannot be cured simply by the intensification of
+disciplinary methods. It is true that the signs of a recovery will
+sometimes attend the installation of a more rigid, or less rigid,
+discipline. This onset is in fact usually due to the collateral
+influence of an increased confidence in the command, whereby men are
+made to feel that their own fortunes are on the mend. Then discipline
+and morale are together revitalized almost as if by the throwing of an
+electric switch.
+
+In Army history, there is no better example of the working of this
+principle than the work of Brig. Gen. Paul B. Malone of St.
+Aignan-sur-Cher, France, in 1919. He took over a command where
+slackness and indiscipline were general. The men were suffering
+terrible privation and too many of their officers were indifferent to
+their needs. Many of the men had been battle casualties. Some had been
+discharged from hospitals before their wounds were healed. The mess
+was abominable. The camp was short of firewood and other supply. In
+freezing weather, men were sleeping on the ground with only a pair of
+blankets apiece. The death toll from influenza, pneumonia, and the
+aggravation of battle wounds rose daily. Despair and resentment over
+these conditions began to express itself in semiviolent form. Every
+fresh breach of discipline was countered with harassing punishments
+until an air of wretched stagnation hung over the whole camp. General
+Pershing visited the base. The men refused to form for him. When he
+tried to address them at a mass meeting, they wouldn't hear him out.
+Instead of taking any action against the men, he sent for General
+Malone.
+
+The new commander arrived without any instructions except to determine
+what was wrong and correct it. With soldierly instinct, he recognized
+that the indiscipline of the camp was an effect and not a cause. But
+even as he gave orders for relieving the physical distress of the men,
+he demanded that they return to orderly habits.
+
+He walked around the areas. Already, on his order, duck-boards were
+being laid through the mud, and the whole physical setup was in
+process of reorganization. The men, grown listless from weeks of
+mistreatment, paid no heed. "Get on your feet! I'm your general. I
+respect you but I want your respect," were his words. They restored
+the situation. The first impact of this one man on that camp was never
+forgotten by anyone who saw it. It is a point to remember: _A firm
+hold at the beginning pays tenfold the dividend of a timid approach,
+followed by a show of firmness later on._ Within 48 hours the physical
+condition of the camp was showing improvement and 60,000 men were
+again doing their duty and bearing themselves in a military manner.
+The lessons from this one incident stand out like beams from a
+searchlight battery.
+
+_One man is able to accomplish a miracle by an act of will accompanied
+by good works._
+
+_The morale of the force flows from the self-discipline of the
+commander, and in turn, the discipline of the force is reestablished
+by the upsurge of its moral power._
+
+_The inculcation of military habits and thoughts is the only means by
+which these forces may be made to work together toward more perfect
+ends, so that control can be exercised promptly._
+
+When the redeployment period which followed World War II threatened a
+complete collapse to the morale of the general military establishment,
+the remedy attempted by some unit leaders was to relax discipline and
+the work requirement all around. Other officers met this crisis by
+improving the conditions of work, setting an example which proved to
+the men that they believed in its importance and paying sedulous
+attention to the personal problems of those within the unit. They
+found that they could still get superior performance in the midst of
+chaos. Organic strength materializes in the same way on the field of
+war. _However adverse the general situation, men will stick to the one
+man who knows what he wants to do and welcomes them to a full share in
+the enterprise._
+
+The rule applies in matters great and small. No man who leads a squad
+or a squadron, a group of men or a group of armies, can develop within
+his force a well-placed confidence in its own powers, if he is
+uncertain of himself or doubtful of his object. The moral level of his
+men is mainly according to the manner in which he expresses his
+personal force working with, and for, them. If he is timid or aloof,
+uncommunicative and unenthusiastic, prone to stand on his dignity and
+devoid of interest in the human stuff of those who are within his
+charge, they will not respond to him, and he will have raised a main
+barrier to his own success. If, given a course or taking one of his
+own choice, he worries so greatly about the obstacles in his way that
+he cannot make penetrating search for the clear channel, he will
+waste the powers of his men even though he may have won their
+sympathy.
+
+It would be futile to make these comments on the nature of moral
+leading if it were not fully within the power of the average young
+officer to cut his cloth according to the suggested pattern. The
+commonplace that human nature cannot be changed is untrue. The
+characters of each of us, and of all of our acquaintances, are greatly
+affected by circumstances. No man's impulses are fixed from the
+beginning by his native disposition; they remain plastic until the
+hour of his death, and whatever touches his circumference, influences
+them for better or worse. _The power of decision develops only out of
+practice. There is nothing mystic about it. It comes of a clear-eyed
+willingness to accept life's risks, recognizing that only the
+enfeebled are comforted by thoughts of an existence devoid of
+struggle._
+
+Nothing more radical is being suggested here than that the officer who
+would make certain that the morale of his men will prove equal to
+every change cannot do better than concentrate his best efforts upon
+his primary military obligation--his duty to them. They dupe only
+themselves who believe that there is a brand of military efficiency
+which consists in moving smartly, expediting papers and achieving
+perfection in formations, while at the same time slighting or ignoring
+the human nature of those whom they command. The art of leadership,
+the art of command, whether the forces be large or small, is the art
+of dealing with humanity. Only the officer who dedicates his thought
+and energy to his men can convert into coherent military force their
+desire to be of service to the country. Such were the fundamental
+values which Napoleon had in mind when he said that those who would
+learn the art of war should study the Great Captains. He was not
+speaking of tactics and strategy. He was pointing to the success of
+Alexander, Caesar, and Hannibal in moulding raw human nature, and to
+their understanding of the thinking of their men and of how to direct
+it toward military advantage. These are the grand objects.
+
+Diligence in the care of men, administration of all organizational
+affairs according to a standard of resolute justice, military bearing
+in one's self, and finally, an understanding of the simple facts that
+men in a fighting establishment wish to think of themselves in that
+light and that all military information is nourishing to their spirits
+and their lives, are the four fundamentals by which the commander
+builds an all-sufficing morale in those within his charge.
+
+There are other motor forces and mechanisms, most of which come under
+the heading of management principles, and are therefore discussed in
+other portions of this volume. The exception is the greatest force of
+all--patriotism. It may be deemed beyond argument that belief in the
+social order and political doctrine of their country is the foundation
+of a loyal, willing spirit in military forces. Yet this alone cannot
+assure efficiency in training or a battle _elan_ which is the result
+of proper training methods. There is nothing more soulless than a
+religion without good works unless it be a patriotism which does not
+concern itself with the welfare and dignity of the individual. This is
+a simple idea though wise men in all ages have recognized it as one of
+the most profound truths. From Aristotle on down the philosophers have
+said that the main force in shaping the characters of men is not
+teaching and preaching, though these too are important, but the social
+framework in which a man lives. In an age when there is widespread
+presumption that practical problems can be solved by phrases, the
+military body needs more than ever to hold steadfastly to first
+principles. It does no good for an officer to talk patriotism to his
+men unless he stands four-square with them, and they see in him a
+symbol of what is right with the country. Under those circumstances,
+he can always talk to them about the cause, and what he says will be a
+tonic to morale.
+
+In the Normandy invasion, a young commander of paratroops, Lt. Col.
+Edward C. Krause, was given the task of capturing a main enemy
+communications center. Three hours before the take-off he assembled
+his Battalion, held a small American flag in front of them and said
+these words; "This is the first flag raised over the city of Naples.
+You put it there. I want it to be the first flag raised over a
+liberated town in France. The mission is that we will put it up in
+Ste. Mere Eglise before dawn. You have only one order--to come and
+fight with me wherever you land. When you get to Ste. Mere Eglise, I
+will be there."
+
+The assignment was kept. Next morning, Krause and his men raised the
+flag together, even before they had completed capture of the town. As
+Americans go, they were extremely rugged individualists. But they were
+proud of every line of that story.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
+
+ESPRIT
+
+
+To proceed toward a better understanding of _esprit_ and its part in
+the building of military forces, it is necessary to look beyond the
+organization and consider the man.
+
+The life of any socially upright individual is organized around only a
+few basic loyalties and the degree of satisfaction which he derives
+from existence can usually be measured in terms of his service to
+them. He is loyal first to himself, for failing that, he fails in
+loyalty to all else. If he cannot acquit himself ably for his own
+sake, he cannot do honor to anything less personal. Along with loyalty
+to self come loyalty to our beliefs, loyalty to family, loyalty to
+country, loyalty to friends, and loyalty to humanity in general.
+
+Stated as a factual and not as an ideal matter, the interesting and
+important thing that happens to a man when he enters military service
+is that, the moment he takes the oath, loyalty to the arms he bears
+ranks first on the list, above all other loyalties. To get ahead, to
+serve himself well, he must persevere in ways that are most useful to
+the organization. If the circumstances of his family are reduced
+because of this new loyalty, his means of compensating them is to
+strive for such honor as may come to him through service to the United
+States. In his life, service to country is no longer a beautiful
+abstraction; it is the sternly concrete and unremitting obligation of
+service to the regiment, the group or the ship's company. He parts
+with old friends and finds new ones.
+
+In this radical reorientation of the individual life and the arbitrary
+imposition of a commanding loyalty is to be found the key to the
+esprit of any military organization. Too long esprit has been regarded
+as something bequeathed to the unit by the dead hand of tradition.
+There is nothing moribund about it. It is a dynamic and vital
+substance conducted to the living by the living. We can banish from
+our minds the idea that esprit is what the regiment, the ship or the
+company gives the man because of some spark which its past deeds and
+the legends thereof have lighted in him. Esprit, at all times, is what
+the unit gives the man, in terms of spiritual force translated into
+constructive good. Considering what the unit has taken from him
+initially, its obligation is great indeed.
+
+To see this clearly, we need to look once again at what happens to the
+individual when he puts on the uniform. The basis of his life changes
+in broad and fundamental ways. His legal status is changed; the extent
+and intensity of his obligations are magnified. He puts aside the
+banner of individualism for that of obedience. Yet in the words of
+Chester Barnard: "Scarcely a man, I think, who has felt the
+annihilation of his personality in some organized system, has not also
+felt that the same system belonged to him because of his own free will
+he chose to make it so."
+
+To that must be added the further thought that while the military
+service is antecedent to the individual who enters it, that individual
+is also in a sense antecedent to the service. He becomes a factor in
+the equation which expresses the achievement or the failure of the
+service in its particular mission. The thoughtful commander will give
+careful regard to that relationship. One man cannot make or break an
+Army or a Navy, but he can help break it, since each service at all
+times derives its nature from the quality and wills of its men.
+General Harbord, in _The American Army in France_, expressed it this
+way: "Discipline and morale influence the inarticulate vote that is
+constantly taken by masses of men when the order comes to move
+forward--a variant of the crowd psychology that inclines it to follow
+a leader. But the Army does not move forward until the motion has
+carried. 'Unanimous consent' only follows cooperation between the
+individual men in ranks."
+
+But we can go one step beyond General Harbord's suggestion that the
+multiplied individual acceptance of a command alone gives that command
+authority. It is not less true that the multiplied rejection of a
+command nullifies it. In other words, authority is the creature rather
+than the creator of discipline and obedience. In the more recent
+experiences of our arms, under the stresses of battle, there are many
+instances of troops being given orders, and refusing to obey. In every
+case, the root cause was lack of confidence in the wisdom and ability
+of those who led. When a determining number of men in ranks have lost
+the will to obey, their erstwhile leader has _ipso facto_ lost the
+capacity to command. _In the final analysis, authority is contingent
+upon respect far more truly than respect is founded upon authority._
+In the words of Col. G. F. R. Henderson: "It is the leader who reckons
+with the human nature of his troops, and of the enemy, rather than
+with their mere physical attributes, numbers, armament and the like,
+who can hope to follow in Napoleon's footsteps."
+
+_Esprit_ then is the product of a thriving mutual confidence between
+the leader and the led, founded on the faith that together they
+possess a superior quality and capability. The failure of the spirit
+of any military organization is less frequently due to what men have
+forgotten than to what they can't forget. No "imperishable record" of
+past greatness can make men serve with any greater vigor if they are
+being served badly. Nor can it sustain the fighting will of the
+organization so much as one mil beyond the radius within which living
+associations enable men to think great thoughts and act with nobility
+toward their fellows. Unless the organization's past conveys to its
+officers a sense of having been especially chosen, and unless they
+respond to this trust by developing a complete sense of duty toward
+their men, the old battle records might as well be poured down the
+drain, since they will not rally a single man in the hour of danger.
+Said Col. LeRoy P. Hunt in a mimeographed notice to his troops just
+prior to the Guadalcanal landing: "We are meeting a tough and wily
+opponent but he is not sufficiently tough and wily to overcome us
+because We Are Marines." (The capitals are Hunt's.)
+
+Personality plays a part in the ability to command, both under
+training conditions and under fire. But though a man be a veritable
+John Paul Jones or Mad Anthony Wayne in the time of action, his
+hardihood will never wholly undo any prior neglect of his men. While
+men may be rallied for a short space by someone setting an example of
+great courage, they can be kept in line under conditions of increasing
+stress and mounting hardship only when loyalty is based upon a respect
+which the commander has won by consistently thoughtful regard for the
+welfare and rights of his men, and a correct measuring of his
+responsibility to them.
+
+There are a few governing principles, and before considering their
+application in detail we should think first about the file. He is a
+Man; he expects to be treated as an adult, not as a schoolboy. He has
+rights; they must be made known to him and thereafter respected. He
+has ambition; it must be stirred. He has a belief in fair play; it
+must be honored. He has the need of comradeship; it must be supplied.
+He has imagination; it must be stimulated. He has a sense of personal
+dignity; it must not be broken down. He has pride; it can be satisfied
+and made the bedrock of his character once he gains assurance that he
+is playing a useful and respected part in a superior and successful
+organization. To give men working as a group the feeling of great
+accomplishment together is the acme of inspired leadership.
+
+In the degree that the disciplinary method and the training procedure
+of the military service, and the common sense of his superiors,
+combine to nourish these satisfactions in the individual, _esprit de
+corps_ comes into being and furthers his advance in the practice of
+arms and his potential usefulness as a fighting man. He becomes loyal
+because loyalty has been given to him. He learns to serve an ideal
+because an ideal has served him. For it is to be remembered that it is
+always the Army, the Navy or the nation that disengages the man from
+his old moorings, but it is the regiment or the ship's company which
+gives him a fresh anchor and enables him to feel secure again. The
+service cancels out the man's old life; the unit gives him a fresh
+start in a new environment, which may prove salutary or utterly
+damnable, as the man and the unit together make it. Where there is
+enlightened leading, neither can fail the other. _The majority of men,
+so long as they are treated fairly and feel that good use is being
+made of their powers, will rejoice in a new sense of unity with new
+companions even more than they will mind the increased separation from
+their old associations._ The ability to adjust is itself a landmark of
+success in the life of a normal individual.
+
+This is the primary gift of the organization to the man and the
+primary advantage of its relationship to him. Once it has given the
+file a sense of belonging, it restores his balance. It is this feeling
+of possession which is the beginning of true esprit. Without it, the
+man becomes a derelict. Indeed, we may go so far as to say that the
+man who lacks it, and does not aspire to it, will almost invariably be
+unsuited for combat or any military responsibility of consequence, not
+because he is disrespectful of tradition, but because he is a social
+outcast with no sense of duty to his fellows.
+
+Referring once again to the list of satisfactions due the man, it will
+be noted that they differ little, if at all, from the demands of his
+spirit before he has put on the uniform. But there should be marked
+also the vital difference that whereas a complex of social and
+economic forces and of totally disconnected influences contribute to
+his outlook so long as he is a civilian, the measure of his
+satisfactions is almost wholly in the hands of the organization once
+he has raised his right hand and taken the oath of military service to
+country. The condition of his health, the amount of his pay, the
+organization of his leisure time, his diet, his sleeping habits, his
+sex problems, even the manner in which he shaves and wears his hair,
+are matters of organizational concern. Within the new company, he may
+either attain greatly, or miserably fail. It should speak to him with
+the voice of Stentor, the bronze voice of 10,000 men--meaning the
+thousand or so who are still with the ship, the group or the regiment,
+and the thousands who are in the shadows but who once served it well,
+thereby inspiring those who follow to give an extra portion of service
+to their fellows. Unless tradition has that effect upon the living, it
+will not produce esprit, but military "mossbackism."
+
+What does this imply in terms of practical application? Simply that
+the custodianship of esprit must ever be in the hands of the officer
+corps. When the heart of the organization is sound, officership is
+able to see its own reflection in the eyes of the enlisted man. For
+this simple reason: insofar as his ability to mould the character of
+troops is concerned, the qualifying test of the leader is the judgment
+placed upon his military abilities by those who serve under him. If
+they do not deem him fit to command, he cannot train them to obey. But
+if they see in one man directly over them a steady example, the
+strongest of their number will model after him, instead of sagging
+because of weakness elsewhere in the command structure.
+
+This point is irreducible. Though an officer have absolute confidence
+in himself, and though he have an instinct amounting to genius for the
+material things of war, these otherwise considerable gifts will avail
+him little or nothing if his _manner_ is such that his troops remain
+unconvinced of his capacity and doubtful of his power to maintain
+command in periods of extreme trial. He will fail because he has not
+sufficiently regarded the LAW OF PERSONALITY--LOOKS, ACTIONS, WORDS.
+
+Among military men, there has been much mistaken praise for the virtue
+of "mechanical obedience." There is no such thing. Men think in their
+smallest actions; if this were not so, it would not be possible to
+lead them. What has been blindly termed "mechanical response" requires
+perhaps a higher concentration of will than any other type of action,
+and hence of thought itself, since the two are inseparable. The forces
+in which this characteristic was outstanding have been those which
+were led with the highest degree of intelligence and of understanding
+of human nature. For unity of spirit and of action, which is the
+essence of _esprit de corps_, is of all military miracles the most
+difficult to achieve.
+
+Yet its abiding principle is simple. It comes of integrity and
+clarification of purpose. The able officer is not a Saul waiting for
+the light to strike him on the Damascus road, but a Paul having a
+clear understanding that unless the trumpet give forth a certain sound
+at all times, none shall prepare himself for the battle.
+
+Given such officers, the organization comes to possess a sense of
+unity and of fraternity in its routine existence which expresses
+itself as the force of cohesion in the hour when all ranks are
+confronted by a common danger. It is not because of mutual enthusiasm
+for an honored name but because of mutual confidence in one another
+that the ranks of old regiments or the bluejackets serving a ship with
+a great tradition are able to convert their esprit into battle
+discipline. Under stress they move and act together because they have
+imbibed the great lesson, and experience has made its application
+almost instinctive, that only in unity is there safety. They believe
+that they can trust their comrades and commanders as they would trust
+their next of kin. They have learned the necessity of mutual support
+and a common danger serves but to bind the ranks closer.
+
+But the race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong.
+The newest unit--one born only yesterday--is as susceptible to a
+vaulting esprit as any which traces its founding to the beginnings of
+the Republic. Led by those who themselves are capable of great
+endeavour, who are quick to encourage and slow to disparage, and are
+ever ready to make due acknowledgment of worthy effort and to let men
+know wherein they are forging ahead, any military organization serving
+our flag will come to count this among its strengths.
+
+There are no tricks to the building of esprit. Its techniques are
+those which come naturally in the course of stimulating the interest
+of ranks in all of the great fundamentals of the military profession,
+rather than selling short their intelligence, and taking it for
+granted that they want nothing beyond the routine of work, liberty,
+mess call, and payday.
+
+But there is one pitfall. Toward the growth of esprit, the attitude,
+"My organization first, and the rest nowhere," never pays off. It
+begins with the idea, "_The service first, and my unit the best in the
+service._" In all human enterprise, the whole is greater than the sum
+of the parts. The citizen who thinks most deeply about his country
+will be the first to share the burdens of his community and
+neighborhood. The man who feels the greatest affection for the
+service in which he bears arms will work most loyally to make his own
+unit know a rightful pride in its own worth. Among all of the military
+services from out of the present and past, none has been more faithful
+to this principle than the United States Marine Corps. Among its
+members, being a Marine is the thing that counts mainly; after that
+comes service to the Regiment or Battalion. Even the other services
+marvel at the result. Though they take due pride in their own virtues
+and accomplishments, they still regard the esprit of the Marine with
+admiration, and more than a little envy. What is the secret? Perhaps
+it is this, that the Corps emphasizes the rugged outlet for men's
+energies, and never permits its members to forget that the example of
+courage is their most precious heritage.
+
+Six years after his defeat at Wake Island, the things that remained
+uppermost in the mind of Col. James P. S. Devereux, as he put together
+the story of the most tragic hours of his life, were the heroisms of
+the individuals who had been trained in a tradition to which he had
+fully committed his own purpose. One incident of that day, typical of
+many, is best related in Devereux's own words.
+
+"Master Sergeant J. Paszkiewicz, a Marine for 20 years, was caught in
+the first blast at the airfield. Bombs shattered his right leg. He
+started crawling off, dragging his smashed leg limply behind him. The
+second wave of bombers came in. Paszkiewicz reached a little pile of
+wreckage and found what he wanted, a piece of wood. With a little
+fixing it could serve as a crutch. The bombs were dropping again.
+Paszkiewicz started hobbling off. He seemed to be going the wrong way.
+Somebody tried to help him, but he wasn't having any. Lieutenant David
+D. Kliewer saw him stumbling along on his makeshift crutch, giving
+first aid to the wounded or trying to make a dying man a little
+easier."
+
+Could a man give that much, and could his superior, Devereux, have
+remembered it so vividly from amid his own personal trials, unless
+both had been inspired by the traditions of the Corps?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
+
+KNOWING YOUR JOB
+
+
+In one of his little-known passages, Robert Louis Stevenson did the
+perfect portrait of the man who finally failed at everything, because
+he just never learned how to take hold of his work.
+
+It goes like this: "His career was one of unbroken shame. He did not
+drink. He was exactly honest. He was never rude to his employers. Yet
+he was everywhere discharged. Bringing no interest to his duties, he
+brought no attention. His day was a tissue of things neglected and
+things done amiss. And from place to place and from town to town he
+carried the character of one thoroughly incompetent."
+
+No one would say that the picture is overdrawn or that the poor devil
+got other than his just deserts. In the summing up, the final judgment
+that is put on a man by other men depends on his value as a working
+hand. If he has other serious personality faults, they will be
+overlooked as somewhat beside the point, provided that he levels with
+his job. But if he embodies all of the surface virtues, and is
+shiftless, any superior with sense will mark him for the discard, and
+his coworkers will breathe a sigh of relief when he has gone on his
+way.
+
+Within the armed services, the tone of grudging admiration is never
+missing from such altogether familiar comments as:
+
+"He's a queer duck but he has what it takes."
+
+"We can't get along with him but we can't get along without him."
+
+By such words, we unconsciously yield the palm to the man who,
+whatever his other shortcomings, excels us in application to duty. One
+of the worst rascals ever raised in Britain said that while he
+wouldn't give a farthing for virtue, he would pay 10,000 pounds for
+character, because, possessing it, he would be able to sell it for
+much more.
+
+Is it possible then that men of thoroughly good intentions will
+neglect the one value which a knave says is worth prizing? Not only is
+it possible; it happens every day! We see officers of the armed
+establishment who, thinking themselves employed all day, would still,
+if they had to make an honest reckoning of the score after tattoo
+sounded, be compelled to say that they had done exactly nothing.
+Lacking some compelling duty, they may have read several hours
+mechanically, neither studying what was said, making notes, nor
+reflecting on the value and accuracy of it. Such papers as they
+signed, they had glanced over perfunctorily. If any subordinate
+approached them with some small matter, they reacted by trying to get
+rid of him as quickly as possible. When they entered the company of
+their fellow officers, they partook of it as little as they could, not
+bothering to enter vigorous conversation, failing to make any note of
+the character and manner of their associates, and learning not at all
+from the words that were said.
+
+It is all good enough, and yet strangely it is neither good nor is it
+enough. That idea of what life in the officer corps is meant to be
+simply cannot stand up under the pressures of modern operations. True
+enough, assignments do not all have the same level of work
+requirement, and one is sometimes handed a wide open opportunity to
+goldbrick. But taking advantage of it is like the dope habit; the more
+that it is sniffed, the greater becomes the craving of the nervous
+system. It is harder to throw off sloth than to keep it from climbing
+onto one's back in the first place. And finally, the truth of the
+matter is this, that there is never any assignment given an armed
+service officer which entitles him to waste any of the working hours
+of his day. Though he be marking time in a casual depot or replacement
+center, there still awaits his attention the entire range of military
+studies, through which he can advance his own abilities. And if he is
+not of a mind for tactics, map-reading, military law, and training
+doctrine, it still follows that the study of applied psychology,
+English composition, economic geography and foreign languages will
+further his career. Just as a rough approximation, any officer's work
+week should comprise about 50 percent execution and the other half
+study, if he is to make the best use of his force. The woods are
+loaded with go-getters who claim they are men of action and therefore
+have no need of books; that they are "the flat-bottoms who can ride
+over the dew." Though they are a little breezier, they are of the same
+bone and marrow as the drone who is always counseling halfspeed.
+"Don't sweat; just get by; extra work means short life; you're better
+off if they don't notice you." This chant can be heard by anyone who
+cares to listen; it's the old American invitation to mediocrity. But
+while mediocre, as commonly used, means "indifferent, ordinary," it
+also has in old English the odd meaning "a young monk who was excused
+from performing part of a monk's duties." And that, too, fits. It is
+always worthwhile to ask a few very senior officers what they think of
+these jokers who refuse to study. They will say that the higher up you
+go, the more study you have to make up, because of what you missed
+somewhere along the line. They will say also that when they got to
+flag or star rank, things didn't ease off a bit.
+
+But not all wisdom is to be found in books, and at no time is this
+more true than when one is breaking in. What is expected of the novice
+in any field is that he will ask questions, _smart ones if possible_,
+but if not, then questions of all kinds until he learns that there is
+no such item as reveille oil and that skirmish line doesn't come on
+spools. For on one point there should be no mistake: the newly
+appointed officer is a novice. Though many things go with the
+commission, the assumption that he is all wise to all ways of the
+service, and will automatically fit into his element as neatly as a
+loaded ship settles down to its Plimsoll's mark, just isn't among
+them. Within the services, seniors are rarely, if ever, either
+patronizing or intolerant of the greenness of a new officer; they just
+stand ready to help him. And if he doesn't permit them to have that
+chance, because he would rather pretend that he knows it all, they
+will gradually become bored with him because of the manifest proof
+that he knows so very little.
+
+_Wisdom begins at the point of understanding that there is nothing
+shameful about ignorance; it is shameful only when a man would rather
+remain in that state than cultivate other men's knowledge._ There is
+never any reason why he should hesitate, for it is better to be
+embarrassed from seeking counsel than to be found short for not having
+sought it.
+
+In one of the toughest trades in the world of affairs--that of the
+foreign correspondent--initial dependence upon one's professional
+colleagues is the only certain stepping stone to success. A man
+arrives in strange country feeling very much alone. His credentials
+lack the weight they had at home. The prestige of his newspaper counts
+for almost nothing. Even the name of his home city stirs little
+respect. The people, their ways, their approaches and their taboos are
+foreign to him. This sweeping environmental change is crushing to the
+spirit; it would impose an almost insuperable moral handicap if the
+newcomer could not go to other Americans who have already worked the
+ground, ask them how the thing is done, seek their advice about
+dealing with the main personalities, learn from them about the
+facilities for processing copy, and soak up everything they have to
+say about private and professional procedures. Then as the ropes grow
+gradually familiar in the grasp, confidence and nervous energy come
+flooding back.
+
+Surely there is a close parallel between this experience and that of
+the journeyman moving from the familiar soil of civilianism to the
+_terra incognita_ of military life. But there is also the marked
+difference that everyone he meets can tell him something that he needs
+to know. More particularly, if he has the ambition to excel as a
+commander of men, rather than as a technician, then the study of human
+nature and of individual characteristics within the military crowd
+become a major part of his training. That is the prime reason why the
+life of any tactical leader becomes so very interesting, provided he
+possesses some imagination. Everything is grist for his mill.
+Moreover, despite the wholesale transformation in the scientific and
+industrial aspects of war, there has been no revolution in the one
+thing that counts most. Ardant du Picq's words, "The heart of man does
+not change," are as good now as when he said them in an earlier period
+of war. Whatever one learns for certain about the nature of man as a
+fighting animal can be filed for ready reference; the hour will come
+when it will be useful.
+
+We have emphasized the value of becoming curious, and of asking
+questions about what one doesn't know, and have said that even when
+the questions are a little on the dumb side, it does no harm. But the
+ice gets very thin at one point. The same question asked over and
+again, like the same error made more than once, will grate the nerves
+of any superior. It is the mark of inattention, and the beginning of
+that "tissue of things neglected and things done amiss" which put
+Stevenson's oddball character in the ditch. When an officer lets words
+go in one ear and out the other like water off a duck's back, to quote
+the Dutch janitor, he is chasing rainbows by rubbing fur in the wrong
+direction.
+
+Ideally, an officer should be able to do the work of any man serving
+under him. There are even some command situations in which the ideal
+becomes altogether attainable, and a wholly practicable objective. For
+it may be said without qualification, that if he not only has this
+capability, but demonstrates it, so that his men begin to understand
+that he is thoroughly versed in the work problems which concern them,
+_he can command them in any situation_. This is the real bedrock of
+command capacity, and nothing else so well serves to give an officer
+an absolutely firm position with all who serve under him. As said
+elsewhere in this book, within the armed establishment, administration
+is not of itself a separate art, or a dependable prop to authority.
+When administrators talk airily of things that they clearly do not
+understand, they are simply using the whip on the team without having
+control of the reins.
+
+However, the greater part of military operation in present days is
+noteworthy for the extreme diversity and complexity of its parts, and
+instead of becoming more simplified, the trend is toward greater
+elaboration. It is obviously absurd to expect that any officer could
+know more about radio repair than his repairman, more about mapping
+than his cartographical section, more about moving parts than a
+gunsmith, more about radar than a specialist in electronics and more
+about cypher than a cryptographer. If the services were to set any
+such unreasonable standard for the commissioned body, all would
+shortly move over into the lunatic fringe. Science has worked a few
+wonders for the military establishment but it hasn't told us how to
+produce that kind of man.
+
+Plainly, there must be a somewhat different approach to the question
+of what kind of knowledge an officer is expected to possess, or the
+requirement would be unreasonable and unworkable.
+
+_The distinction lies in the difference between the power to do a
+thing well and that of being able to judge when it is well done._ A
+man can say that a book is bad, though not knowing how to write one
+himself, provided he is a student of literature. Though he has never
+laid an egg, he can pass fair judgment on an omelette, if he knows a
+little about cookery, and has sampled many good eggs, and detected a
+few that were overripe.
+
+"He who lives in a house," said Aristotle, "is a better judge of it
+being good or bad than the builder of it. He can say not only these
+things, but wherein its defects consist. Yet he might be quite unable
+to cure the chimney, or to draw out a plan for his rooms which would
+suit him better. Sometimes he can even see where the fault is which
+caused the mischief, and yet he may not know practically how to remedy
+it."
+
+Adjustment to a job, and finally, mastery of it, by a service officer,
+comes of persistent pursuit of this principle. The main technique is
+study and constant reexamination of criteria. To take the correct
+measure of standards of performance, as to the value of the work
+itself, and as to the abilities of personnel, one must become immersed
+in knowledge of the nature, _and purpose_, of all operations. There is
+no shortcut to this grasp of affairs. The sack is filled bean by bean.
+Patient application to one thing at one time is the first rule of
+success; getting on one's horse and riding off in all directions is
+the prelude to failure. All specialists like to talk about their work;
+the interest of any other man is flattering; all men grow in knowledge
+chiefly by picking other men's brains. Book study of the subject,
+specialized courses in the service schools, the instructive comments
+of one's superiors, the informed criticism of hands further down the
+line and the weighing of human experience, at every source and by
+every recourse, are the means of an informed judgment. It was the
+scientist, Thomas Huxley who reminded us that science is only
+"organized common sense."
+
+Other things being equal, the prospect for any man's progress is
+largely determined by his attitude. It is the receptive mind, rather
+than the oracle, which inspires confidence. General Eisenhower said at
+one point that, after 40 years, he still thought of himself as a
+student on all military questions, and that he consciously mistrusted
+any man who believed he had the full and final answer to problems
+which by their nature were ever-changing.
+
+But priggishness about knowledge is not more hurtful than is the
+arbitrary use of it to limit action. _To rule by work rather than to
+work by rules_ must be the abiding principle in military operations,
+for finally, when war comes, nothing else will suffice. In peacetime,
+absolute accountability is required, because dollar economy in
+operations is a main object. This entails adherence to rigid forms,
+time-consuming, but still necessary. In many of war's exigencies,
+these forms frequently have to be swept aside, to bring victory as
+quickly as possible and to save human life. In the book, "General
+Kenney Reports," that great air commander spoke at one point of a
+difficulty in one of his combat groups. "It was a lot of hard-working
+earnest kids, officers and enlisted men, who were doing the best they
+could under poor living and eating conditions. But their hands were
+tied by the colonel in command whose passion for paper work
+effectually stopped the issuing of supplies and the functioning of the
+place as an air depot should. He told me that he thought 'it was about
+time these combat units learned how to do their paper work properly.'
+I decided that it would be a waste of time to fool with him so I told
+him to pack up to go home on the next plane."
+
+Though this is a tragic example of wrong-headedness, it is by no means
+unique. The profession moves ahead, and national security advances
+with it, because of men who have the confidence and courage to toss
+the rule book out the window when it doesn't fit the situation, and
+who dare to trust their own decisions and improvise swiftly.
+
+But in all walks of life, this willingness to take hold of the reins
+firmly is by no means common among men in relatively subordinate
+positions who can play it safe by falling back on "SOP."
+
+But there is also a far wider vista than that which is to be viewed
+only within the services themselves, and its horizons are almost
+infinite. The American way in warfare utilizes everything within the
+national system which may be applied to a military purpose toward the
+increase of training and fighting efficiency. Much of our potential
+strength lies in our industrial structure, our progress in science,
+our inventiveness and our educational resources. Toward the end that
+all of these assets will be given maximum use, and every good idea
+which can be converted to a military purpose will be in readiness to
+serve the nation when war comes, there must be a continuing meeting of
+minds between military leadership and the leaders and experts in these
+various fields during peace.
+
+That union cannot be perfected, however, unless there is a sufficient
+number of men on both sides of the table who can think halfway into
+the field of the man opposite. Just as the civilian expert in
+electronics, airplane manufacture or motion picture production needs
+to know more about the military establishment's problem and
+requirements if he is to do his part, the service officer with whom he
+is dealing needs to be informed on industry's resources, possibilities
+and limitations if he is to enable the civilian side to do its part
+well. The same for science. The same for education, and all other
+backers of the fighting force.
+
+An enlightened Englishman, D. W. Brogan, in a book written during
+World War II, "The American Character," gave us this thought: "The
+American officer must think in terms of material resources, existing
+but not organized in peacetime and taking much time and thought and
+experiment by trial and error to make available in wartime. He finds
+that his best peacetime plans are inadequate for one basic reason:
+that any plan which in peacetime really tried to draw adequately on
+American resources would cause its author to be written off as a
+madman; and in wartime, it would prove to have been inadequate,
+pessimistic, not allowing enough for the practically limitless
+resources of the American people--limitless once the American people
+get ready to let them be used. And only war can get them ready for
+that. The American officer can draw then, but not before, on an
+experience in economic improvization and in technical adaptation which
+no other country can equal."
+
+This is true to the last syllable, and it means in essence that unless
+the American officer can think of the whole nation as his workshop,
+and along with his other duties, will apply himself as a student,
+seeking to understand more and more about the richness and the
+adaptability of our tremendous resources, neither he nor the country
+will be relatively ready when war comes.
+
+There is a last point to be made on the matter of attitude. The most
+resolute opposition to changes in any system usually comes from those
+who control them. That is universally true, and not peculiar to
+military systems; but the services are foremost in recognizing that,
+as a consequence, the encouragement of original thought at the lower
+levels is essential to over-all progress.
+
+All depends upon the manner. We can ponder the words of William
+Hazlitt, "A man who shrinks from a collision with his equals or
+superiors will soon sink below himself; we improve by trying our
+strength with others, not by showing it off." They are good so far as
+they go, but something new should be added. There is a vast difference
+between contending firmly for ideas that seem progressive when one is
+reasonably sure of one's data, and the habit of throwing one's weight
+around through a mistaken belief that this of itself manifests an
+independence of spirit which inspires respect.
+
+Truculence can never win the day. Restraint, tolerance, a sense of
+humor and of proportion and the force of logic are the marks of the
+man qualified for intellectual leading. Within the services, even
+though he has no great rank, there is practically nothing he cannot
+carry through, if his proposals have the color of reason and
+propriety, and if he will keep his head, keep his temper, and keep his
+word.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINETEEN
+
+KNOWLEDGE OF YOUR MEN
+
+
+An admiring contemporary spoke of Paul G. Hoffman, the director of the
+European Recovery Program, as "the kind of man who if tossed through
+the air would always pick out the right trapeze."
+
+Within any military organization, there is always a number of such
+men, enlisted and commissioned. They know how and where to take hold,
+even in the face of a totally unexpected and unnerving situation, and
+they have what amounts to an instinct for doing the right thing in a
+decisive moment.
+
+If it were not so, no captain of the line would ever be able to manage
+a company in battle, and no submarine commander would be able to cope
+with an otherwise overwhelming danger. These men are the foundation of
+unit integrity. The successful life of organization depends upon
+husbanding, and helping them to cultivate, their own powers, which
+means that their initiative and vigor must never be chilled by
+supercilious advice and thoughtless correction.
+
+They will go ahead and act responsibly on their own when given the
+confidence, and if they want it, the friendship, of their commander.
+But they cannot be treated like little children. The lash will ruin
+them and the curb will merely subdue that which needs to be brought
+forward. As in handling a horse with a good temper and a good mouth,
+nothing more is needed than that gentle touch of the rein which
+signals that things are under control.
+
+From where the executive sits, the main secret of building strength
+within organization comes of identifying such men, and of associating
+one's authority with theirs, so it is unmistakable in whose name they
+are speaking and acting. One of the acid tests of qualification in
+officership is the ability properly to delegate authority, to put it
+in the best hands, and thereafter to uphold them. If an officer cannot
+do that, and if he is mistrustful of all power save his own, he
+cannot command in peace, and when he goes into battle, his unit
+strength will fragment like an exploding bomb, and the parts will not
+be rewelded until some stronger character takes hold.
+
+_Command is not a prerogative, but rather a responsibility to be
+shared with all who are capable of filling up the spaces in orders and
+of carrying out that which is not openly expressed though it may be
+understood._ Admittedly, it is not easy for a young officer, who by
+reason of his youth is not infrequently lacking in self-assurance and
+in the confidence that he can command respect, to understand that as a
+commander he can grow in strength in the measure that he succeeds in
+developing the latent strength of his subordinates. But if he
+stubbornly resists this premise as he goes along in the service, his
+personal resources will never become equal to the strain which will be
+imposed upon him, come a war emergency. The power to command resides
+largely in the ability to see when a proper initiative is being
+exercised and in giving it moral encouragement. When an officer feels
+that way about his job and his men, he will not be ready to question
+any action by a junior which might be narrowly construed as an
+encroachment upon his own authority. Of this last evil come the
+restraints which reduce men to automatons, giving only that which is
+asked, or less, according to the pressing of a button.
+
+There are other men who have as sound a potential as these
+already-made leaders, but lack the initial confidence because they
+were not constructively handled in earlier years. They require
+somewhat more personal attention, for the simple reason that more
+frequent contact with their superiors, words of approval and advice as
+needed, will do more than all else to put bottom under them. They must
+be encouraged to think for themselves as well as to obey orders, to
+organize as well as to respond, if they are to become part of the
+solution, rather than remaining part of the problem, of command. If
+left wholly to their own devices, or to the ministrations of less
+thoughtful subordinates, they will remain in that majority which moves
+only when told. It takes no more work, though it does require
+imagination, to awaken the energies of such men by appealing to their
+intelligence and their self-interest, than to nauseate them with dull
+theory, and to cramp them by depriving them of responsibility.
+
+Careful missionary work among these "sleepers" is as productive as
+spading the ground, and sprinkling a garden patch. When an officer
+takes hold in a new unit, his main chance of making it better than it
+was comes of looking for the overlooked men. He uses his hand to give
+them a firm lift upward, but it will not be available for that purpose
+if he spends any of his time tugging at men who are already on their
+feet and moving in the right general direction.
+
+In the words of a distinguished armored commander in our forces: "To
+the military leader, men are tools. He is successful to the extent
+that he can get the men to work for him. Ordinarily, and on their own
+initiative, people run on only 35 percent capacity. The success of a
+leader comes of tapping the other 65 percent." This is a pretty
+seasoned judgment on men in the mass, taking them as they come, the
+mobile men, the slow starters, the indifferent and the shiftless.
+Almost every man wants to do what is expected of him. When he does not
+do so, it is usually because his instructions have been so doubtful as
+to befog him or give him a reasonable excuse for noncompliance. This
+view of things is the only tenable attitude an officer or enlisted
+leader can take toward his subordinates. He will recognize the
+exceptions, and if he does not then take appropriate action, it is
+only because he is himself shiftless and is compassionate toward
+others of his own fraternity.
+
+It is the military habit to "plow deep in broken drums and shoot crap
+for old crowns," as the poet, Carl Sandburg, put it. As much as any
+other profession, and even possibly a little more, we take pride in
+the pat solution, and in proof that long-applied processes amply meet
+the test of newly unfolding experience. But despite all the jests
+about the Gettysburg Map, we wouldn't know where we're going if we
+couldn't be reasonably sure of where we've been.
+
+Therefore, it is as well to say now that from all of the careful
+searching made by the armed services as to the fighting
+characteristics of Americans during World War II, not a great deal was
+learned in addition to what was already well known, or surmised. The
+criteria that had been used in the prior system of selection proved to
+be substantially correct; at least, if it had faults, they were innate
+in the complex problem of weighing human material, and were beyond
+correction by any rule of thumb or judgment. Men were chosen to lead
+because of personality, intelligence at their work, response to
+orders, ability to lead in fatigues or in the social affairs of
+organization, and disciplinary record. In combat these same men
+carried 95 percent of the load of responsibility and provided the
+dynamic for the attack. But in every unit, there was almost invariably
+a small sprinkling of individuals, who having shown no prior ability
+when measured by the customary yardsticks of courtesy, discipline and
+work, became strong and vital in any situation calling for heroic
+action. They could fight, they could lead, they knew what should be
+done, they could persuade other men to rally around, and by these
+things, they could command instantly the previously withheld respect
+of their superiors.
+
+Neither the scientific nor the military mind has yet been able to
+provide the answer as to how men of this type--so indispensable to the
+fighting establishment in the thing that matters most, though lacking
+in strong surface characteristics--can be detected beforehand, and
+conserved, instead of being wasted possibly in a labor or housekeeping
+organization.
+
+All concerned recognize the extreme importance of the problem, and
+would like to do something about it. What is as yet not even vaguely
+seen is the large possibility that the problem might be
+self-liquidating if all junior officers became more concerned with
+learning all they could about the private character and personal
+nature of their subordinates. This does not mean invading their
+privacy; but it implies giving every man a fair chance to open up and
+to talk freely, without fear of contempt. It means studying the
+background of a man even more carefully than one would read a map,
+looking for the key to command of the terrain. These are usually
+repressed men; many of the foreign-born are to be found among them;
+they cover up because of pride, but they are not afraid of physical
+danger. Once any man, and particularly a superior, gets through the
+outer shell, he may have the effect of a catalyst on what is happening
+inside. If such men did not have basic loyalty, they would never
+fight. When at last they give their loyalty to an individual, they are
+usually his to command and will go through hell for him.
+
+There was an Oklahoma miner named Alvin Wimberley in 90th Division
+during World War I. On the drill field, he could do nothing correctly.
+He couldn't step off on the left foot; he would frequently drop his
+piece while trying to do right shoulder. Solely because his case was
+unfathomable, his platoon leader asked that he be taken to France with
+the unit instead of separated with the culls. At the front, Wimberley
+immediately took the lead in every detail of a dangerous sort, such as
+exploding a mine field, or hunting for traps and snares. His nerve was
+inexhaustible; his judgment sure. There was, after all, a simple key
+to the mystery. Wimberley had led a solitary life as a dynamiter, deep
+under ground. He was frightened of men, but danger was his element.
+When he saw other men recoil at the thing which bothered him not at
+all, he realized that he was the big man, though he only stood 5 feet
+3 inches in issue socks.
+
+To know men, it is not necessary to wet-nurse them, and no officer can
+make a sorrier mistake than to take the overly nice, worrying attitude
+toward them. This, after all, is simply the rule of the well-bred man,
+rather than an item peculiar to the code of the military officer. But
+it is a little less becoming in a service officer than in anyone else,
+because, when a man puts on fighting clothes in the name of his
+country, it is an insult to treat him as if he were a juvenile.
+
+In any situation where men need to know one another better, someone
+has to break the ice. Where does the main responsibility lie within a
+military unit? True enough, the junior has to salute first, and in
+some services is supposed to say, "Good morning!" first, though
+beating a man to the draw with a greeting is one way to win him.
+
+However, the main point is this: unless an officer has himself been an
+enlisted man, it is almost impossible for him to know how formidable,
+and even forbidding, rank at first seems to the eyes of the man down
+under, even though he would be loath to say so.
+
+Many recruits have such a mistaken hearsay impression of the United
+States military system, that it is for them a cause for astonishment
+that any officer enjoys free discussion with them. They feel at first
+that there is a barrier there which only the officer is entitled to
+cross; it takes them a little while to learn better.
+
+But in the continuing relationship, it is the habit of the average
+well-disciplined enlisted man to remain reticent, and talk only on
+official matters, unless the officer takes the lead in such way as to
+invite general conversation. For that matter, the burden is the same
+anywhere in the service in relations between a senior officer and his
+subordinates, and the former must take the lead if he expects to
+really know his men.
+
+Many newly joined officers believe, altogether mistakenly, that there
+is some strange taboo against talking to men except in line of duty,
+and that if caught at it, it will be considered _infra dig_. There is
+always the hope that they will remain around long enough to learn
+better.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY
+
+WRITING AND SPEAKING
+
+
+Other things being equal, a superior rating will invariably be given
+to the officer who has persevered in his studies of the art of
+self-expression, while his colleague, who attaches little importance
+to what may be achieved through working with the language, will be
+marked for mediocrity.
+
+A moment's reflection will show why this has to be the case and why
+mastery of the written and spoken word is indispensable to successful
+officership.
+
+As the British statesman, Disraeli, put it, "Men govern with words."
+Within the military establishment, command is exercised through what
+is said which commands attention and understanding and through what is
+written which directs, explains, interprets or informs.
+
+Battles are won through the ability of men to express concrete ideas
+in clear and unmistakable language. All administration is carried
+forward along the chain of command by the power of men to make their
+thoughts articulate and available to others.
+
+There is no way under the sun that this basic condition can be
+altered. Once the point is granted, any officer should be ready to
+accept its corollary--that superior qualification in the use of the
+language, both as to the written and the spoken word, is more
+essential to military leadership than knowledge of the whole technique
+of weapons handling.
+
+It then becomes strictly a matter of personal decision whether he will
+seek to advance himself along the line of main chance or will take
+refuge in the excuse offered by the great majority: "I'm just a simple
+fighting file with no gift for writing or speaking."
+
+How often these or similar words are heard in the armed services! And
+the pity of it is that they are usually uttered in a tone indicating
+that the speaker believes some special virtue attaches to his kind of
+ignorance. There is the unmistakable innuendo that the man who pays
+serious attention to the fundamentals of the business of communication
+is somehow less possessed of sturdy military character than himself.
+There could hardly be a more absurd or disadvantageous professional
+conceit than this. It is the mark only of an officer who has no
+ambition to properly qualify himself, and is seeking to justify his
+own laziness.
+
+Not all American military leaders have been experts at polishing a
+phrase or giving clear expression and continuity to the thoughts which
+made them useful in command. But of those who have excelled in the
+conduct of great operations, at least four out of five made some mark
+in the field of letters. A long list would include such names as U. S.
+Grant, W. T. Sherman, Robert E. Lee, John J. Pershing, James G.
+Harbord, Henry T. Allen, Dwight D. Eisenhower, George S. Patton, Jr.,
+H. H. Arnold, Douglas MacArthur, William F. Halsey, W. B. Smith,
+Joseph W. Stilwell, Holland M. Smith, and Robert L. Eichelberger among
+many others.
+
+Of them all, it can be said without exception that they acquired their
+skill at self-expression by sustained practice which was part of a
+self-imposed training in the interests of furthering their military
+efficiency. No one of them was a born writer. There is no such thing.
+Nor did any one of them owe his abilities as a writer to any other
+person. Writers are self-made. But it is a reasonable speculation that
+history might never have heard of the greater number of these men had
+they not worked sedulously to become proficient with the pen as well
+as with the sword. Granting that they had other sound military
+qualities in the beginning, an acquired ability to express themselves
+lucidly and with force became a touchstone to preferment. The same
+thing holds true of their celebrated military contemporaries almost
+without exception. Even those who had no public reputation for
+authorship, and would have been ill at ease if called upon to speak to
+an average audience, knew how to use the language in presenting their
+thoughts to their staffs and their troops, whether the occasion called
+for a succinct operational order, a doctrinal exposition or an
+inspirational message on the eve of battle.
+
+Wherever one looks, the same precept may be noted. It was not
+coincidence merely, but related cause and effect, that Ferdinand Foch
+was one of the ablest military writers of the twentieth century before
+he won immortality on the field of war, that the elder von Moltke was
+as skilled with ink as with powder, and that we still marvel at the
+picture of the great von Steuben dictating drill manuals far into the
+night so that there would be greater perfection in his formations on
+the following day. The command of language was one of the main sources
+of their power over the multitude.
+
+As it was with these commanders, so it is with leadership at every
+level: _Men who can command words to serve their thoughts and feelings
+are well on their way to commanding men to serve their purposes._
+
+All senior commanders respect the junior who has a facility for
+thinking an idea through and then expressing it comprehensively in
+clear, unvarnished phrases. Moreover, even when they are stilted in
+their own manner of expression, they will warm to the man whose style
+achieves strength through its ease and naturalness. They will quickly
+make note of any young officer who is making progress in this
+direction and will want to have him around. He is a rare bird in the
+services, and for that reason his opportunities are far above the
+average. Staff work could not be carried forward at any of its levels
+if it were not for this particular talent, and command would lose a
+great part of its magnetism.
+
+Toward the building of a career, the best break that can come to any
+young man is to have three or four places bidding simultaneously for
+his services. There are possibly better arguments than that as to why
+perfection in writing should be a main pursuit of the service officer,
+such as the sense of personal attainment which comes of it.
+
+Any man who has the brain to qualify for commission can make of
+himself a competent writer. Because of natural limitations, he may
+never come to excel in this art. But if he has had average schooling,
+knows how to open a dictionary, can find his way to a library, is
+willing to commit himself to long study and practice, particularly in
+nonduty hours, and will finally free himself of the superstition that
+writing is a game only for specialists, he can acquire all the skill
+that is necessary to further his advance within the military
+profession.
+
+That is the great difference between writing ability and specialized
+knowledge in such fields as electronics and atomic research.
+
+But where should work begin? How about a little practical advice?
+
+The only way to learn to write is to write. That is it--there is no
+other secret than hard, unremitting practice. Most writers at the
+start are mentally muscle-bound, and poorly coordinated. They have
+thoughts in their heads. They think they can develop them clearly. But
+when they try to apply a largely dormant vocabulary to the expression
+of these thoughts, the result is stiff and selfconscious.
+
+The only cure for this is constant mental exercise, with one's pen, or
+over one's typewriter. After a man has written perhaps a half million
+relatively useless words there comes, sometimes almost in a flash, and
+at other times gradually, a mastery not only of words, but of phrases,
+sentences and the composition of ideas. It is a kind of rhythmic
+process, like learning to swim, or to row a boat, or navigate an
+airplane. When a writer has at last conquered his element, his
+personality and his character can be transmitted to paper. What is
+said will reflect the force, adaptability, reason and musing of the
+writer. In fact, the discipline through which one learns to write adds
+substance to thought, whereby one's ideas are given body and
+connection. Such common faults as wordiness, overstatement, faulty
+sentence structure and weak use of words are gradually corrected. With
+their passing, confidence grows. This does not mean, however, that the
+task then becomes easy. Though its rewards will increase, good writing
+continues to be a strain even to the man who does it well. Many
+celebrated men of letters never get beyond the "sweating" stage, but
+have to fight their way through a jungle of words, and rewrite almost
+endlessly, before finding satisfaction in their product.
+
+This description makes it all seem more than a little formidable. But
+what was promised in the first place was that any service officer, who
+will accept the necessary discipline, can make himself reasonably
+proficient as a writer, and thereby further his professional progress.
+What he writes about during the conditioning period makes very little
+difference. It might be an operational order one night, a treatise on
+discipline the next, a lecture to his men on the elements of combat
+the third. Fortunately, the list of topics within the services and
+directly applicable to their operations, is practically inexhaustible.
+That is a main reason why the military establishment is a better
+school for writing than perhaps any other place in our society.
+
+Winston Churchill, whose gift of forceful expression is the envy of
+all other writing men, won his literary spurs in his early twenties as
+a soldier with the Malakand Field Force. He saw the essential
+idea--that to learn English, he had literally to learn, just as though
+he had been acquiring Latin or French. As a writer, his main strength
+is his employment of Anglo-Saxon, the words of our common speech.
+
+But simply to take regular exercise in composition is not quite
+enough. Of it would come the shadow but not the substance. To progress
+as a writer, one must become a student of the best things which have
+been written by men who understand their craft. A military officer can
+do that without going beyond the field of military studies, if that
+should be his disposition, such is the richness and variation of
+available works in this realm of literature. The purpose at hand is
+not only to seek great ideas for their own sake but to make careful
+note of the manner in which they are expressed. So doing, one
+unconsciously invigorates his own powers and adopts techniques which
+the masters have used to great advantage.
+
+To paraphrase what a distinguished journalist once said on this
+subject in a speech to young writers: "For an officer it is in the
+first place a shame to be ignorant--ignorant, as not a few are, of
+history and geography: and in the second place, it is a pity that any
+officer should lack a vigor in writing which can be produced through
+imitation of vigorous writers."
+
+As to what is best worth seeking, a man can not go wrong by "falling
+in love" with the works of a relatively limited number of authors who
+kindle him personally. It is all right to widen the field
+occasionally, for diversion, for contrast, for sharpening style, and
+for balancing of ideas, but strength comes of finding a main line and
+holding to it. No man can read a book with sympathetic understanding
+without taking from it something that makes him more complex and more
+potent.
+
+The main test is in this: if you read a book and feel stirred by it,
+even though alternately you strongly agree with certain of its
+passages and warmly contend against others, something new has been
+added. The writer is making you see things. Your own powers of
+observation are being made more acute. All good writers are in a sense
+hitch-hikers. While going along for the ride, and enjoying the essence
+of some highly developed mind, they are not loath to study the
+technique by which some other man develops his driving power, and to
+make note of his strong words and best phrases for possible future
+use.
+
+It is a good habit to underscore passages in books which have
+contributed something vital to one's own thought--always provided that
+the books have not been borrowed.
+
+Without mentioning names, we can take a cue from a man who some years
+ago entered one of the services while still a youth. He had had little
+formal education, but he began an earnest study of military
+literature, and the search for knowledge whetted his thirst to join
+the company of those who could speak to the world because they had
+something to say. He read such books as were at hand, and clipped
+pieces from magazines and newspapers which had particularly appealed
+to him, for one reason or another. Whenever he saw a new word, he
+wrote it down and sought the meaning in the dictionary, considering
+whether it had a shade of meaning which added anything important to
+his vocabulary. This done, he wrote sentences, many sentences,
+employing his new words in various ways, until their use became
+instinctive. On this foundation alone, he built his career as a
+national writer. There was nothing extraordinary about this start and
+the ultimate result. Literally thousands of Americans have qualified
+themselves for one branch or another of the writing profession by what
+they learned to do in military service. Too, an ability to "organize a
+good paper" has been a large element in the success of most of the men
+who have moved from the military circle into top posts in the
+diplomatic service, in education or in industrial administration. Had
+they been capable only of delegating this kind of work, their powers
+would never have been recognized.
+
+As a practical matter, it is better to concentrate on a few elementary
+rules-of-thumb, such as are contained in the following list, than to
+bog down attempting to heed everything that the pedants have said
+about how to become a writer.
+
+    The more simply a thing is said the more powerfully it influences
+    those who read. Plain words make strong writing.
+
+    There is always one best word to convey a thought or a feeling. To
+    accept a weaker substitute, rather than to Search for the right
+    word, will deprive any writing of force.
+
+    Economy of words invigorates composition.
+
+    To quote Carl Sandburg: "Think twice before you use an adjective."
+
+    It is better to use the adverb because an adverb enhances the verb
+    and is active, whereas the adjective simply loads down the noun.
+
+    On the other hand, it is the verb that makes language live. Nine
+    times out of ten the verb is the operative word giving motion to
+    the sentence. Hence, placing the verb is of first importance in
+    giving strength to sentence structure.
+
+    In all writing, but in military writing particularly, there is no
+    excuse for vague terminology or phrases which do not convey an
+    exact impression of what was done or what is intended. The
+    military vocabulary is laden with words and expressions which
+    sound professional but do not have definite meaning. They vitiate
+    speech and the establishment would gladly rid itself of them if a
+    way could be found. Men fall into the habit of saying
+    "performed," "functioned" or "executed" and forget that "did" is
+    in the dictionary. A captain along the MLR (main line of
+    resistance) notifies his battalion commander that he has "advanced
+    his left flank" when all that has actually occurred is that six
+    riflemen from the left have crawled forward to new, and possibly,
+    untenable ground.
+
+    It is better at all times to _rein in_. The strength of military
+    writing, like the soundness of military operations, does not gain
+    through overstatement and artificial coloring. The bigger the
+    subject, the less it needs embroidery.
+
+    For lucidity and sincerity, the important thing is to say what you
+    have to say in whatever words most accurately express your own
+    thoughts. That done, it is pointless to worry about the effect on
+    the audience.
+
+The list of suggestions could be extended indefinitely. But enough has
+already been said to stake out a main line for those who have already
+decided that this subject deserves their interest.
+
+A majority of the world's most gifted writers would in all probability
+be struck dumb if put before an audience; though dealing confidently
+with ideas, they lack confidence when dealing with people. The
+military officer has need of both talents, and as to where the accent
+should be placed, it is probably more important that he should speak
+well than that his writing prose should be polished. A unit commander
+may permit a clerk or a subordinate to do the greater part of his
+paper work, either because his own time is taken with other duties or
+because he is awkward at it, but if he permits any other voice to
+dominate the councils of the organization, he soon ceases to exercise
+moral authority over it.
+
+Of this there is no question. The judgment men take of their superior
+is formed as much by what he says and how he says it as by his action.
+
+The matter of nerve is a main element in speaking. When an officer is
+ill at ease, fidgety and not to the point, the vote of his command for
+the time being is "no confidence," and so long as he remains that
+way, they will not change, no matter though his good will shines forth
+through other acts.
+
+On the other hand, the military crowd is an extremely sympathetic
+audience. It has to be; it is drawing pay for so being. But even if
+that were not true, the ranks have a generous spirit and are ever
+disposed to give the newcomer an even break. If he meets them
+confidently and calmly, measures his words, smiles at his own mistakes
+and breaks it off when he has covered his subject, they'll pay no
+attention to his little fumbles, and they'll approve him. There is no
+better way to pick up prestige than through instruction or discourse
+which commands attention, for despite all that is said in favor of the
+"strong, silent man," troops like an officer who is outgiving, and who
+has an intelligence that they can respect because they have seen it at
+work.
+
+As for _how_ an officer should talk to men, his manner and tone should
+be no different than if he were addressing his fellow officers, or for
+that matter, a group of his intellectual and political peers from any
+walk of life. If he is stuffy, he will not succeed anywhere. If he
+affects a superior manner, that is a mark of his inferiority. If he is
+patronizing, and talks to grown men as a teacher might talk to a class
+of adolescents, the rug, figuratively, will be pulled from under him.
+His audience will put him down as a chump.
+
+It is curiously the case that the junior officer who can't get the
+right pitch when he talks to the ranks will also be out of tune when
+he talks to his superiors. This failing is a sign mainly that he needs
+practice in the school of human nature. By listening a little more
+carefully to other men, he may himself in time attain maturity.
+
+Concerning subject matter, it is better always to aim high than to
+take the risk of shooting too low. It is too often the practice to
+spell out everything in words of one syllable so that the more witless
+files in the organization will be able to understand it. When that is
+done, it insults the intelligence of the keenest men, and nothing is
+added to their progress. The target should be the intellect of the
+upper 25 or 30 percent. When they are stimulated and informed, they
+will bring the others along, and even those who do not fully
+understand all that was under discussion will have heard something to
+which to aspire. _The habit of talking down to troops is one of the
+worst vices that can afflict an officer._
+
+There are no dull lecture topics; there are only dull lecturers. A
+little eager research will enliven any subject under the sun. Good
+lecturing causes men's imaginations to be stirred by vivid images.
+Real good is accomplished only when they talk to each other of what
+they have heard and sharpen their impressions. Schopenauer somewhere
+observes that "people in general have eyes and ears, but not much
+else--little judgment and even little memory," which isn't far wrong.
+Consequently, competent lecturing entails the employment of every
+technique which can be used to hammer a point home. In this way, a
+truth or a lesson has a better chance of adhering because it is
+identified with some definite image. Simply to illuminate this point,
+it is noted that the jests which best stick in the memory are those
+which are associated with some incongruous situation. To relate a
+pertinent anecdote, to provide an apt quotation from some well-known
+authority and to draw upon our own rich battle history for
+illustrative materials are but a few of the means of freshening any
+discussion and sharpening its purpose. Men are always ready to listen
+to the story of other men's experience provided that it is told with
+vigor. And insofar as combat is concerned, such teaching is in point,
+for what has happened once will happen again.
+
+For his way as an instructor of young infantry officers of the A. E.
+F. in 1918, Lt. Col. H. M. Hutchinson of the British Army was awarded
+our D. S. M. Officers who sat at his feet at Gondrecourt were unlikely
+ever to forget the point of such an anecdote as:
+
+"There will be no 'Stack arms' in my army. It is a thing one sees on a
+brewer's calendar--The Soldier's Dream--showing a brave private
+sleeping under a stack of rifles which it will take him a good
+half-hour to untangle when the call comes to stand to. No, a soldier
+had better carry the rifle with him to his meals, have it beside him
+always, lavish his care upon it, and in short treat it more like a
+wife than a weapon.
+
+"I am reminded of the times in South Africa when we would come to a
+country inn where a chap could stop for beer. Well, a soldier would
+walk into the place, and immediately he would stand his rifle in a
+corner--like an umbrella, you know--'We've arrived!'--and he'd get
+well into his beer and a song, say, and suddenly firing would break
+out on the inn from four sides.
+
+"It seemed that a Boer had slipped into the entry and picked up all
+the rifles and passed them around to his mates in the bushes,
+and--well--there you are!"
+
+As a cadet and later as an instructor at Sandhurst, Colonel Hutchinson
+well knew the usefulness of the anecdote in catching and holding the
+attention of the young. Who could forget the lesson in this, related
+at Gondrecourt:
+
+"In my youth I was a dashing ignoramus with clearer ideas than I now
+have on the line of demarcation between the officer and his men. They
+sent me out to South Africa during the trouble and I brought a
+detachment into a country village. It seemed quite unpromising but I
+was told of a sort of place 3 miles in the country that you would call
+a chateau in France. So I cantered out and spent the night, turning my
+men over to a sergeant-major. After a refreshing breakfast along in
+the middle of the morning--the late middle of the morning--I rode back
+into town, but try as I might I could not locate a single one of my
+men.
+
+"Now nothing, you know, is as ineffective in a war as an officer
+without his men. Well, I spent the day in agony and it was not until
+along at dusk that the first of the blighters straggled in--quite
+drunk, all of them, and swearing to a man that they had engaged in
+five ferocious battles. It seems that about 2 miles away, in a barn,
+they had come on a hogshead of ginger brandy, and had stayed with it
+to the bitter end. Need I say that it was a great lesson to me, and
+that from then on I was never billeted farther than 15 rods from my
+men.
+
+"As a matter of fact, I love ginger brandy."
+
+Or this, in which the whole lesson of exactitude in the written
+communication is implicit:
+
+"Now on the subject of messages, it might be well to say immediately
+that as far as I know no one ever received a written message during a
+battle. They may be written, but that I think is as far as it goes.
+However, they are occasionally received before and after battles, and
+in this connection let me say that it is no earthly good writing
+generalities to signify times and places.
+
+"I mean to say, suppose you are writing a message and you write
+'Report after breakfast.' Well, to Sergeant Ramrod it might mean
+stand-to at 3 in the morning; while to Captain Brighteyes it would
+mean, say, 8 o'clock. But to Colonel Blue-fish it would signify some
+time after 11, depending quite a bit on how the old fellow felt.
+
+"So it is better to say 7 o'clock in the morning, if that is what you
+mean, for after all there is only one 7 o'clock in the morning. And,
+by the way, I must warn you chaps against the champagne on sale in the
+Cafe de l'Univers down here in the square. It is made in the
+basement--of potatoes."
+
+On as simple and basic a thing as continuing liaison between small
+units, the Colonel's listeners never forgot his elementary parable:
+
+"One rule is about all a chap can handle in a battle, and as good a
+one as any to remember is to keep in some sort of touch with the chaps
+to your right and left. If you do this--and I dare say you Americans
+will have as much trouble as ourselves in remembering to--then a great
+deal of distress to yourselves and all hands will be obviated.
+
+"Now here we have a triangular wood. There is to be an attack, and the
+objective is this line beyond the wood. So on this side of the wood at
+the hour of attack the Welsh Guards go forward--and on this side,
+here, the Inniskilling Fusiliers, and a tremendous battle ensues.
+Well, after an hour or two, with not much progress, it is discovered
+that the Welsh Guards have been firing into the Inniskilling
+Fusiliers, and the Fusiliers have been firing into the Welsh. This is
+thought a bit thick, you know, even in the confusion of battle. So
+eventually it is stopped."
+
+Some of the experts warn the lecturer who is only a beginner against
+the use of humor, commenting that if a joke is unlaughed at, it is
+disconcerting to all concerned. The only intelligent answer to that
+is: "Well, what of it?" The speaker who is going to cringe every time
+one of his passages falls a little flat had best not start. This
+happens at times to every lecturer; there are good days and bad days,
+live audiences and sour ones. If a man takes his work seriously, it is
+hardly within nature for him to harden his emotions against an
+unexpectedly dull reaction. But he can keep from ever showing that he
+is upset if as a speaker he consciously forms the habit of rapidly
+driving on from one point to another.
+
+Thus as to the use of humor in public address, it is not only an asset
+but almost a necessity. It is better to try with it, and to fall flat
+occasionally, thereby sharpening one's own wit through better
+understanding of what goes and what does not, than to attempt to go
+along humorlessly. Said William Pitt: "Don't tell me of a man's being
+able to talk sense. Everyone can talk sense. Can he talk a little
+nonsense?" Even more to the point is the remark of Thomas Hardy that
+men thin away to insignificance quite as often by not making the most
+of good spirits when they have them as by lacking good spirits when
+they are indispensable. Fighting is much too serious a trade to have a
+large place for men who are dry as dust.
+
+One of the spellbinders of ancient Greece, we are told, orated on the
+sands with his mouth filled with pebbles. In World War I, it was the
+custom of many higher commanders to take their officers out for voice
+exercises and have them talk through 150 feet of thicket; they were
+not satisfied unless the words came through distinctly on the far
+side. If, under average acoustical conditions, a military officer
+cannot get across to five hundred men, he needs to improve his voice
+placement. It is remarkable what miracles can be worked by consistent
+exercise of the vocal cords.
+
+The final thought is that it is all a matter of buildup. An officer
+can cut his audience to his own size, and strengthen his powers and
+his confidence as he goes along. That is his supreme advantage. He can
+start with a short talk to a minor working detail and move from that
+to a more formal address before a slightly larger group. By taking it
+gradually, and increasing his store of knowledge in the interim
+period, he will see the time come when he can hold any audience in the
+hollow of his hand. This is precisely the routine which was followed
+by most of the military leaders who have been celebrated for their
+command of speech.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
+
+THE ART OF INSTRUCTION
+
+
+    _Keep it simple._
+
+    _Have but one main object._
+
+    _Stay on the course._
+
+    _Remain cheerful._
+
+    _Be enthusiastic._
+
+    _Put it out as if the ideas were as interesting and novel to you,
+    as to your audience._
+
+By abiding by these few simple rules you will keep cool, preserve
+continuity and hold your audience.
+
+Instruction is just about the begin-all and end-all of every military
+officer's job. He spends the greater part of his professional life
+either pitching it or catching it, and the game doesn't stop until he
+is at last retired. Should he become a Supreme Commander, even, this
+is one thing that does not change; it remains a give-and-take
+proposition. Part of his time is taken instructing his staff as to
+what he wants done and just as much of it is spent in being instructed
+by his staff as to the means available for the doing of it.
+
+Instruction is the generator of unified action. It is the transmission
+belt by which the lessons of experience are passed to untrained men.
+Left uninstructed, men may progress only by trial-and-error and the
+hard bumps which come of not knowing the way.
+
+Need more than that be said to suggest that the officer who builds a
+competent skill in this field, so that it becomes a part of his
+reputation, has at the same time built the most solid kind of a
+foundation under his service career?
+
+The services do not discard that kind of man when the economy pinch
+comes and the establishment has to contract. The Reservist, who is
+known as a good instructor, is always on the preferred list. In any
+period of emergency, such officers move rapidly to the top; there are
+always more good jobs than there are good men. Look back over the
+lineup of distinguished commanders from World War II! It will be found
+that the high percentage of them first attracted notice by _being good
+school men_.
+
+Within the services, in all functions related to the passing on of
+information, the accent is on "knowing your stuff." The point is
+substantial, but not conclusive. It is upon the way that instruction
+is delivered rather than upon its contents as such that its moral
+worth rests. The pay-off is not in what is said, but in what sinks in.
+_A competent instructor will not only teach his men but will increase
+his prestige in the act._ There are many inexpressibly dull bores who
+know what they're talking about, but still haven't learned how to say
+it, because they are contemptuous of the truth that it is the dynamic
+flow of knowledge, rather than the static possession of it, which is
+the means to power and influence. As technicians, they have their
+place. As instructors, they would be better off if they knew only half
+as much about their subject, and twice as much about people.
+
+To know where truth lies is not more important than knowing how to
+pitch it. Take the average American military audience: what can be
+said fairly of its main characteristics? Perhaps this--that it is
+moderately reflective; that it is ready to give the untried speaker a
+break; that it does not like windiness, bombast or prolonged
+moralizing; that it refuses to be bullied; and that it can usually be
+won by the light touch and a little appeal to its sporting instinct.
+It is the little leavening in the bread which makes all the difference
+in its savor and digestibility.
+
+In World War I an American major, name now long forgotten, was given
+the task of making the rounds of the cantonments, talking to all
+combat formations, and convincing them that the future was bright--no
+Boy Scout errand. But wherever he went, morale was lifted by his
+words. In substance, what he said was this:
+
+"None of us cares about living with any individual who wants every
+break his own way. But when the odds are even, the gamble is worth
+any good man's time. So let's look at the proposition. You now have
+one chance in two; you may go overseas, you may not. Suppose you do.
+You still have one chance in two. You may go to the front, or you may
+not. If you don't, you'll see a foreign country at Uncle Sam's
+expense; if you do, you'll find out about war, which is the toughest
+chance of them all. But up there, you still have one chance in two:
+you may get hit, or you may not. If you breeze through it, you'll be a
+better man for all the rest of your life. And if you get hit, you
+still have one chance in two. You may get a small wound, and become a
+hero to your family and friends. Or there is always the last chance
+that it may take you out altogether. And while that is a little
+rugged, it is at least worth remembering that very few people seem to
+get out of this life alive."
+
+There was as simple an idea as any military instructor ever unloaded,
+and yet troops cheered this man wherever he went.
+
+Lt. Col. H. M. Hutchinson, of the British Army, already described in
+this book as an instructor who made a powerful impression on the
+American Army in World War I because of his droll wit, was a master
+hand at taking the oblique approach to teach a lesson. Old officers
+still remember the manner and the moral of passages such as this one:
+
+"On the march back from Mons--and I may say that a very good army
+sometimes must retreat, though no doubt it wounds the sensibilities to
+consider it--we did rather well. But I noticed often the confusion
+caused by marching slowly up one side of a hill and dashing down the
+other. It is a tendency of all columns on foot.
+
+"A captain is sitting out in front on a horse, with a hell of a great
+pipe in his mouth and thinking of some girl in a cafe, and of course
+he moves slowly up the hill. He comes to the top and his pace
+quickens. Well, then, what happens? The taller men are at the top of
+the column, and they lengthen their stride--but what becomes of Nipper
+and Sandy down in the twentieth squad? Half the time, you see, they
+are running to catch up. So the effect is to jam the troops together
+on an upgrade and to stretch them out going down--you know--like a
+concertina."
+
+Where then is the beginning of efficiency in the art of instruction?
+It resides in becoming diligent and disciplined about self-instruction.
+No man can develop great power as an instructor, or learn to talk
+interestingly and convincingly, until he has begun to think deeply.
+And depth of thought does not come of vigorous research on an
+assignment immediately at hand, but from intensive collateral study
+throughout the course of a career. We are all somewhat familiar with
+the type of commander who, when asked: "What are your officers doing
+about special studies, so that they may better their reading habits
+and further their powers of self-expression?" will puff himself up by
+replying, "They are kept so busily employed that they have no time for
+any such exercise." This is one way of saying that his subordinates
+are kept too busy to get essential work done.
+
+Research, on the spot and at the time, is vital and necessary so that
+the presentation of any subject will be factually freshened and
+documented. But its nature and object should not be overrated. The
+real values can be compared to what happens to a pitcher when he warms
+up before a game. This is merely an act of suppling the muscles; the
+real conditioning process has already taken place, and it has been
+long and arduous.
+
+Even so is it with immediate research, in its relation to continuing
+military study, in the perfecting of instructorship. That which gives
+an officer power, and conviction, on the platform, or before a group,
+is not the thing which he learned only yesterday, having been
+compelled to read it in a manual or other source, but the whole body
+of this thought and philosophy, as it may be directed toward the
+invigorating of any presentation of any subject. If he forms the habit
+of careful reflection, then almost everything that he reads and hears
+other people say that arouses his own interest becomes grist for his
+mill.
+
+Like 10 years in the penitentiary, it's easy to say but hard to do. So
+much time, seemingly, has to be wasted in profitless study to find a
+few kernels amid much chaff. Napoleon said at one point that the
+trouble with books is that one must read so many bad ones to find
+something really good. True enough but, even so, there are perfectly
+practical ways to advance rapidly without undue waste motion. Consider
+this: Among one's superiors there are always discriminating men who
+have "adopted" a few good books after reading many bad ones. When they
+say that a text is worthwhile, it deserves reading and careful study.
+
+The junior who starts building a working library for his professional
+use cannot do better than to consult those older men who are scholars
+as well as leaders, and ask them to name five or six texts which have
+most stimulated their thought. It comes as a surprising discovery that
+some of the titles which are recommended with the greatest enthusiasm
+are not among the so-called classics on war. The well-read man need
+not have more than a dozen books in his home, provided that they all
+count with him, and he continues to pore over them and to ponder the
+weight of what is said. On the other hand, the ignorant man is
+frequently marked by his bookshelf stocked with titles, not one of
+which suggests that he has any professional discernment.
+
+The notebook habit is invaluable, nay, indispensable, to any young
+officer who is ambitious to perfect himself as an instructor. Most men
+who are distinguished for their thinking ability are inveterate
+keepers of scrapbooks and of reference files where they have put
+clippings and notes which jogged their own thoughts. This is not a
+cheap device leading to the parroting of other men; the truth is that
+the departure line toward original thinking by any man is established
+by the mental energy which he acquires by imaginative observation of
+other men's ideas.
+
+To get back to the notebook, it should be loose-leaf and well-bound,
+else it is not likely to be given permanent use. Whether it is kept at
+home or the office is immaterial. What matters is that it be made a
+receptacle for everything that one hears, reads or sees which may be
+of possible future value in the preparation of classroom work. Books
+can't be clipped; but short, decisive passages can be copied, and
+longer ones can be made the subject of a reference item. Copying is
+one way of fixing an idea in the memory. While on the subject of
+books, it is all right to quote the classics and to be able to refer
+to the great authorities on the science of war. But it is more
+effective by far to read deeply into such writers as Clausewitz, Mahan
+and Fuller, and to find some of their strongest but least-known
+passages for one's self, than to rely on the more popular but
+shop-worn quotations which are in general circulation. Such old
+chestnuts as, "The moral is to the material as three to one," do not
+refresh discourse.
+
+Even so, the classics are only one small field worth cultivating.
+Nearly every major speech by current military leadership contains a
+passage or two well worth salting away. The writings of the
+philosophers, the publications of the industrial world, the daily
+press and the scientific journals are goldmines containing rich
+nuggets of information and of choice expression worth study and
+preservation.
+
+In fact, the military instructor has the whole world as his workshop.
+His notebook should be as ready to receive some especially apt saying
+by a new recruit as the more ponderous words uttered by the sages. And
+it should contain, not less, comments on techniques and methods used
+by other speakers and instructors, which were visibly unusually
+effective.
+
+Above all, the consistent use of obvious and stereotyped devices and
+methods of presentation should be avoided. For the fact is that _no
+one has yet discovered the one best way_. In our service thinking, we
+tend to get into a rut, and to use none but the well-tried way. For
+example, we overwork the twin principles of thought-surprise and
+thought-concentration, and in the effort to produce dramatic effect,
+we sometimes achieve only an anticlimax. Using the techniques of the
+advertising world, the military instructor puts his exhibits behind a
+screen, in order to buildup anticipation, and at the appropriate
+moment he yanks the cover off. This is perfectly effective, in some
+instances. But it becomes a _reductio ad absurdum_ when he is working
+with only one chart, or a pair or so of objects. Let's say that he is
+talking about one machine gun, and he has one chart highlighting its
+characteristics. How much more impressive it would be if they were in
+the open at the beginning and he were to start by saying: "Gentlemen,
+I am talking about this one gun and what keeps it going. It is more
+important that you see and know this gun from this moment than that
+you be persuaded by what I am about to say!"
+
+It is a very simple but inviolable rule that where there is an obvious
+straining to produce an effect by the use of any training aid, then
+the effect of the training aid is lost and the speaker is
+proportionately enfeebled. A famous World War II commander said of all
+operations: "It is the chaps, not the charts, that get the job done."
+
+What needs to be kept in mind is the psychological object in their
+use. The scientists tell us, and we can partly take their word for it,
+that people learn about 75 percent of what they know through their
+sight, 13 percent through their hearing, and 12 percent through their
+other senses. But this is a relative and qualitative, rather than an
+absolute, truth. It has to be so. Otherwise, book study, which employs
+sight exclusively, would be the only efficient method of teaching, and
+oral instruction, which depends primarily on sound impact, would be a
+wasteful process.
+
+The more fundamental truth is that when oral instruction is properly
+done, the mind becomes peculiarly receptive because it is being
+bombarded by both sight and sound impressions. Nor is this small
+miracle wrought primarily by what we call training aids. The thoughts
+and ideas which remain most vivid in the memory get their adhesive
+power because some particular person said them in a graphic way in a
+pregnant moment. Our working thoughts are more often the product of an
+association with some other individual than not. We remember words
+largely because we remember an occasion. We believe in ideas because
+first we were impressed by the source whence they came.
+
+The total impression of a speaker--his sincerity, his knowledge, his
+enthusiasm, his mien, and his gestures--is what carries conviction and
+puts an indelible imprint on the memory. Man not only thinks, but he
+moves, and he is impressed most of all by animate objects. Vigorous
+words mean little or nothing to him when they issue from a lack-luster
+personality.
+
+Artificiality is one of the more serious faults, and it is
+unfortunately the case that though an instructor may be solid to the
+core, he will seem out of his element, unless he is careful to avoid
+stilted words and vague or catch-all phrases and connectives. Strength
+in discourse comes of simplicity.
+
+But it has become almost an American disease of late that we painfully
+avoid saying it straight. "We made contact, and upon testing my
+reaction to him, found it distinctly adverse" is substituted for "I
+met him and didn't like him." But what is equally painful is to hear
+public remarks interlarded with such phrases as "It would seem," "As I
+was saying," "And so, in closing," "Permit me to call your attention
+to the fact" and "Let us reflect briefly"--which is often the prelude
+to a 2-hour harangue.
+
+Not less out of place in public address is the apologetic note. The
+man who starts by explaining that he's unaccustomed to public
+speaking, or badly prepared, is simply asking for the hook. "To
+explain what I mean" or "to make myself clear" makes the audience
+wonder only why he didn't say it that way in the first place. But the
+really low man on this totem pole is the one who says, "Perhaps you're
+not getting anything out of this."
+
+A man does not have to go off like a gatling gun merely because he is
+facing the crowd. Mr. Churchill, one of the great orators of the
+century, made good use of deliberate and frequent pauses. It is a
+trick worth any young speaker's cultivation, enabling the collection
+of thought and the avoiding of tiresome "and ah-h-h's."
+
+Likewise, because a man is in military uniform does not require that
+his speech be terse, cold, given to the biting of words and the
+overemployment of professional jargon. Training instruction is not
+drill. Its efficiency does not come of its incisiveness but of the
+bond of sympathy which comes to prevail between the instructor and his
+followers.
+
+Another main point: It is disconcerting to talk about the ABCs, if the
+group already knows the alphabet. To devote any great part of a
+presentation to matters which the majority present already well
+understand is to assure that the main object will receive very little
+serious attention. Thus in talking about the school of the rifle, only
+a fool would start by explaining what part of it was the trigger and
+from which end the bullet emerged, though it might be profitable to
+devote a full hour to the discussion of caliber. Likewise, in such a
+field as tactical discussion, the minds of men are more likely to be
+won, and their imagination stirred, through giving them the reasoning
+behind a technique or method than by telling them simply how a thing
+is done.
+
+In talk, as in tactics, at the beginning the policy of the limited
+objective is a boon to confidence. It scares any green man to think
+about talking for an hour. But if he starts with a subject of his own
+choice and to his liking, and works up to 15-minute talk for a group
+of platoon size, he will quickly develop his powers over the short
+course; the switch from sprinting to distance running can be made
+gradually and without strain. But it's easy that does it, and one step
+at a time.
+
+Excessive modesty is unbecoming. No matter how firm his sources, or
+complex the subject, any instructor should form the habit of adding a
+few thoughts of his own to any presentation. It is not a mark of
+precocity but of interest when an instructor knows his material, and
+its application to the human element, sufficiently well to express an
+occasional personal opinion. Since he is not a phonograph record, he
+has a right to say, "I think" or "I believe." Indeed, if he does not
+have his subject sufficiently in hand that it has stirred his own
+imagination, he is no better than a machine.
+
+That leads to a discussion of outlines. They are necessary, if any
+subject is to be covered comprehensively. But if they are
+overelaborated, the whole performance becomes automatic and dull. A
+little spontaneity is always needed. Even when working from a
+manuscript, a speaker should be ever-ready to depart from his text if
+a sudden idea pops into his mind. It is better to try this and to
+stumble now and then than to permit the mind to be commanded by words
+written on paper.
+
+Likewise, revision of outline between talks is the way of the alert
+mind. A man cannot do this work without seeing, in the midst of
+discussion, points which need strengthening, and bets which have been
+missed. Notes should be revised as soon as the period is completed.
+
+There are many methods of instruction, among them being the seminar,
+critique, group discussion and conference. They are not described here
+for the reason that every young officer quickly learns about them in
+the schools, and gets to know the circumstances under which one form
+or another can be used to greatest advantage.
+
+It suffices to say that their common denominator, insofar as personal
+success and ease of participation are concerned, is the ability to
+think quickly and accurately on one's feet; the one best school for
+the sharpening of this faculty is the lecture platform. Keenness is a
+derivative of pressure.
+
+Use of a wire recorder or a platter, so that one can get a playback
+after talking, is an aid to self-criticism. But it is not enough. A
+man will often miss his own worst faults, because they came of
+ignorance in the first place; too, voice reproduction proves nothing
+about the effectiveness of one's presence, expression and gesture. It
+is common-sense professional procedure to ask the views of one or two
+of the more experienced members of the audience as to how the show
+went over, and what were its weak points.
+
+There is one hidden danger in becoming too good at this business. Too
+frequently, polished speakers fall in love with the sound of their own
+voices, and want to be heard to the exclusion of everyone else. In the
+military establishment, where the ideal object is to get 100 percent
+participation from all personnel, this is a more serious vice than
+snoring in a pup tent.
+
+When an officer feels any temptation to monopolize the discussion, it
+is time to pray for a bad case of bronchitis.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
+
+YOUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH YOUR MEN
+
+
+Inasmuch as most of this book has been directed toward covering the
+various approaches to this subject, there is need to discuss here only
+a relatively few points which could not conveniently be treated
+elsewhere.
+
+This is the touchstone of success.
+
+To any officer starting on a life career, it is impossible to
+overstate its importance. For the moment, we can forget the words duty
+and responsibility. The question is: "How do I get ahead?" And for a
+junior there is one main road open--he will strive to achieve such a
+communion of spirit with his subordinates that he will know the
+personality and character of every one of his men, will understand
+what moves and what stops them, and will be sympathetic to their every
+impulse.
+
+This is the main course. The great principles of war have evolved from
+centuries of observation on how men react in the mass. It could not be
+otherwise than that any officer's growth in knowledge of when and how
+these principles apply to varying situations, strategical and
+tactical, come primarily of the acuteness of his powers of observation
+of individual men, and of men working together in groups, and
+responding to their leadership, under widely different conditions of
+stress, strain and emotion.
+
+The roots of this kind of wisdom are not to be acquired from book
+study; books are a help only as they provide an index to what should
+be sought. The sage who defined strategy as "the art of the possible"
+(the art of politics has been defined in the same words) wrote better
+than he knew. The cornerstone of the science of war is knowledge of
+the economy of men's powers, of their physical possibilities and
+limitations, of their response to fatigue, hope, fear, success and
+discouragement, and of the weight of the moral factor in everything
+they do. Man is a beast of burden; he will fail utterly in the crisis
+of battle if there is no respect for his aching back. He is also one
+of a great brotherhood whose mighty fellowship can make the worst
+misery tolerable, and can provide him with undreamed strength and
+courage. These are among the things that need to be studied and
+understood; they are the main score. It is only when an officer can
+stand and say that he is first of all a student of human material that
+all of the technical and material aspects of war begin to conform
+toward each other and to blend into an orderly pattern. And the
+laboratory is right outside the office door. Either an officer grows
+up with, and into, this kind of knowledge through reflecting on
+everything that he can learn of men wherever he fits himself into a
+new environment, or because of having neglected to look at trees, he
+will also miss the forest.
+
+By the numbers, it isn't a difficult assignment. The schools have
+found by experiment that the average officer can learn the names of 50
+men in between 7 and 10 days. If he is in daily contact with men, he
+should know 125 of them by name and by sight within 1 month. Except
+under war conditions, he is not likely to work with larger numbers
+than that.
+
+This is the only way to make an intelligent start. So long as a man is
+just a number, or a face, to his officer, there can be no deep trust
+between them. Any man loves to hear the sound of his own name, and
+when his superior doesn't know it, he feels like a cypher.
+
+As with any other introduction, an officer meeting an enlisted man for
+the first time is not privileged to be inquisitive about his private
+affairs. In fact, nosiness and prying are unbecoming at any time, and
+in no one more than in a military officer. On the other hand, any man
+is flattered if he is asked about his work or his family, and the
+average enlisted man will feel complimented if an officer engages him
+in small talk of any kind. Greater frankness, covering a wide variety
+of subjects, develops out of longer acquaintance. It should develop as
+naturally and as easily as in civilian walks of life; rank is no
+barrier to it unless the officer is overimpressed with himself and
+bent on keeping the upper hand; the ranks are wiser about these
+things than most young officers; they do not act forward or
+presumptuous simply because they see an officer talking and acting
+like a human being. But they aren't Quiz Kids. Informal conversation
+between officer and man is a two-way street. The ball has to be batted
+back and forth across the net or there isn't any game. An officer has
+to extend himself, his thoughts, his experiences and his affairs into
+the conversation, or after his first trial or two, there will be
+nothing coming back.
+
+It is unfortunately the case that many young officers assume that
+getting acquainted with their men is a kind of interrogation process,
+like handling an immigrant knocking for admission to the United
+States. They want to know everything, but they stand on what they
+think is their right to tell a man nothing. That kind of attitude just
+doesn't wash. In fact, the chief value of such conversations is that
+it permits the junior to see his superior as a man rather than as a
+boss.
+
+An officer should never speak ironically or sarcastically to an
+enlisted man, since the latter doesn't have a fair chance to answer
+back. The use of profanity and epithets comes under the same heading.
+The best argument for a man keeping his temper is that nobody else
+wants it; and when he voluntarily throws it away, he loses a main prop
+to his own position.
+
+Meeting one of his own enlisted men in a public place, the officer who
+does not greet him personally and warmly, in addition to observing the
+formal courtesies between men in service, has sacrificed a main chance
+to win the man's abiding esteem. If the man is with his family, a
+little extra graciousness will go a long way, and even if it didn't,
+it would be the right thing.
+
+In any informal dealing with a number of one's own men, it is good
+judgment to pay a little additional attention to the youngest or
+greenest member of the group, instead of permitting him to be shaded
+by older and more experienced men. They will not resent it, and his
+confidence will be helped.
+
+It should go without saying that an officer does not drink with his
+men, though if he is a guest of honor at an organizational party where
+punch or liquor is being served, it would be a boorish act for him to
+decline a glass, simply because of this proscription. Sometimes in a
+public cocktail bar an officer will have the puzzling experience of
+being approached by a strange but lonely enlisted man who, being a
+little high, may have got it into his head that it is very important
+to buy an officer a drink. What one does about that depends upon all
+of the surrounding circumstances. It is better to go through with it
+than create a scene which will give everyone a low opinion of the
+service. Irrespective of rules, there are always situations which are
+resolved only by good judgment. And, of course, the problem can be
+avoided by staying away from cocktail bars.
+
+Visiting men in hospital is a duty which no officer should neglect.
+Not only does it please the man and his family; it is one of the few
+wide open portals to a close friendship with him. It is strange but
+true that the man never forgets the officer who was thoughtful enough
+to call on him when he was down. And the effect of it goes far beyond
+the man himself. Other men in the unit are told about it. Other
+patients in the ward see it and note with satisfaction that the corps
+takes its responsibilities to heart. If the man is in such shape that
+he can't write a letter, it is a worthy act to serve him in this
+detail. By the same token when a man goes on sick call, the officer's
+responsibility does not end at the point where the doctor takes over.
+His interest is to see that the man is made well, and if he has reason
+to think that the treatment he is receiving falls short of the best
+possible, it is within his charge to raise the question. The old saw
+about giving the man CC pills and iodine and marking him duty is now
+considerably outdated. But it is not assumed that every member of the
+medical staff serving the forces will at all times do his duty with
+the intelligence and reverence of a saint.
+
+A birthday is a big day in any man's life. So is his wedding. So is
+the birth of a child. By making check of the roster and records, and
+by keeping an ear to the ground for news of what is happening in the
+unit, an officer can follow these events. Calling the man in and
+giving him a handclasp and word of congratulation, or writing a note
+to the home, takes very little time and is worth every moment of it.
+Likewise, if he has won some distinction, such as earning a
+promotion, a letter of appreciation to his parents or his wife will
+compound the value of telling the man himself that you are proud of
+what he has done.
+
+Nothing is more pleasing or ingratiating to any junior than to be
+asked by his superior for his opinion on any matter--provided that it
+is given a respectful hearing. Any man gets a little fagged from being
+_told_ all the time. When he is consulted and asked for a judgment, it
+builds him up.
+
+There is absolutely no point in visiting kitchens or quarters and
+asking of the atmosphere if everything is all right. Men seldom
+complain, and they are loath to stick their necks out when there are
+other enlisted men within hearing. It is the task of the officer to
+_see_ that all is right, and to take whatever trouble is necessary to
+make certain. If he is doubtful about the mess, then a mere pecky
+sampling of it will do no good. Either he will live with it for a few
+meals, or he won't find the "bugs" in it.
+
+An officer should not ask a man: "Would you like to do such-and-such a
+task?" when he has already made up his mind to assign him to a certain
+line of duty. Orders, hesitatingly given, are doubtfully received. But
+the right way to do it is to instill the idea of collaboration. There
+is something irresistably appealing about such an approach as: "I need
+your help. Here's what we have to do."
+
+An officer is not expected to appear all-wise to those who serve under
+him. Bluffing one's way through a question when ignorant of the answer
+is foolhardy business. "I'm sorry, but I don't know," is just as
+appropriate from an officer's lips as from any other. And it helps
+more than a little to be able to add, "But I'll find out."
+
+Rank should be used to serve one's subordinates. It should never be
+flaunted or used to get the upper hand of a subordinate in any
+situation save where he had already discredited himself in an
+unusually ugly or unseemly manner.
+
+When suggestions from any subordinate are adopted, the credit should
+be passed on to him publicly.
+
+When a subordinate has made a mistake, but not from any lack of good
+will, it is common sense to take the rap for him rather than make him
+suffer doubly for his error.
+
+An officer should not issue orders which he cannot enforce.
+
+He should be as good as his word, at all times and in any
+circumstance.
+
+He should promise nothing which he cannot make stick.
+
+An officer should not work, looking over his men's shoulder, checking
+on every detail of what they are doing, and calling them to account at
+every furlong post. This maidenly attitude corrodes confidence and
+destroys initiative.
+
+On the other hand, contact is necessary at all times. Particularly
+when men are doing long-term work, or are operating in detachment at a
+remote point, they will become discouraged and will lose their sense
+of direction unless their superior looks in on them periodically, asks
+whether he can be of any help, and, so doing, gets them to open up and
+discuss the problem.
+
+The Navy says, "It isn't courtesy to change the set of the sail within
+30 minutes after relief of the watch." Applied to a command job, this
+means that it is a mistake for an officer, on taking a new post, to
+order sweeping changes affecting other men, in the belief that this
+will give him a reputation for action and firmness. The studying of
+the situation is the overture to the steadying of it. The story is
+told of Gen. Curtis E. LeMay of the Air Force. Taking over the 21st
+Bomber Command in the Marianas, he faced the worried staff officers of
+his predecessor and said quietly, "You're all staying put. I assume
+you know your jobs or you wouldn't be here."
+
+The identity of the officer with the gentleman should persist in his
+relations with men of all degree. In the routine of daily direction
+and disposition, and even in moments of exhortation, he had best bring
+courtesy to firmness. The finest officers that one has known are not
+occasional gentlemen, but in every circumstance: in commissioned
+company and, more importantly, in contact with those who have no
+recourse against arrogance.
+
+The traditional wisdom of addressing Judy O'Grady with the same
+politeness as one would the Colonel's Lady applies equally in all
+situations in life where one is at arbitrary advantage in dealing
+with another. To press this unnecessarily is to sacrifice something of
+one's quality in the eyes of the onlooker. Besides, there is always
+the better way.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
+
+YOUR MEN'S MORAL AND PHYSICAL WELFARE
+
+
+To put it in a nutshell, the moral of this chapter is that when men
+are moral, the moral power which binds them together and fits them for
+high action is given its main chance for success.
+
+There should therefore be no confusion about how the word is being
+used. We are speaking both of training in morals for every day living,
+and of moral training which will harden the will of a fighting body.
+One moment's reflection will show why they need not be considered
+separately, and why we can leave it to Webster to do the
+hairsplitting.
+
+It is the doctrine of the armed establishment of the United States
+that when American men lead a personal life which is based on high
+moral standards, and when their aim is equally high as to physical
+fitness and toughness, under training conditions they will mature
+those qualities which are most likely to produce inspired leading and
+stout following within the forces.
+
+There is nothing panty-waist about this doctrine. It was not
+pronounced to gratify the clergy or to reassure parents that their
+sons would be in good hands, even though these things, too, are
+important.
+
+The doctrine came of the experience of the Nation in war, and of what
+the services learned by measuring their own men. But it happened,
+also, that the facts were consistent with a common sense reckoning of
+the case.
+
+Let's figure it out. To be temperate in all things, to be continent,
+and to refrain from loose living of any sort, are acts of the will.
+They require self-denial, and a foregoing of that which may be more
+attractive, in favor of the thing which should be done. Granted that
+there are a few individuals who are so thin-blooded that they never
+feel tempted to digress morally, men in the majority are not like
+that. What they renounce in the name of self-discipline, at the cost
+of a considerable inner stress, they endeavour to compensate by their
+gains in personal character. Making that grade isn't easy; but no one
+who is anyone has yet said that it isn't worthwhile. In the armed
+services there is an old saying that an officer without character is
+more useless than a ship with no bottom.
+
+In the summing up, the strength of will which enables a man to lead a
+clean life is no different than the strength of purpose which fits him
+to follow a hard line of duty. There are exceptions to every rule.
+Many a lovable rounder has proved himself to be a first-class fighting
+man. But even though he had an unconquerable weakness for drink and
+women, his resolution had to become steeled along some other line or
+he would have been no good when the pay-off came.
+
+Putting aside for the moment the question of the vices, and regarding
+only the gain to moral power which comes of bodily exercise and
+physical conditioning, it should be self-evident that the process
+which builds the muscle must also train and alert the mind. How could
+it be otherwise? Every physical act must have as its origin a mental
+impulse, conscious or unconscious. Thus in training a man to master
+his muscles we also help him to master his brain. He comes out of
+physical training not only better conditioned to move but better
+prepared to think about how and why he is moving, which is true
+mobility.
+
+In military organizations, "setting-up" and other formation exercises
+are usually a drag and a bore. Men grumble about them, and even after
+they are toughened to them, so that they feel no physical distress,
+they rarely relish them. The typical American male would much rather
+sit on his pants along the sidelines and watch someone else engage in
+contact sports. It's almost the national habit. Despite our athletic
+prowess, about 56 percent of American males grow to manhood without
+having ever participated in a group game.
+
+But no matter how great the inertia against it, there must be
+unremitting perseverance in the physical conditioning of military
+forces. For finally, it is killing men with kindness to relax at this
+point. If life is to be conserved, if men are to be given a fair
+chance to play their parts effectively, the physical standards during
+training cannot be less than will give them a maximum fitness for the
+extraordinary stresses of campaigning in war.
+
+When troops lack the coordinated response which comes of long, varied
+and rigorous exercises, their combat losses will be excessive, they
+will lack cohesion in their action against the enemy, and they will
+uselessly expend much of their initial velocity. In the United States
+service, we are tending to forget, because of the effect of
+motorization, that the higher value of the discipline of the road
+march in other days wasn't that it hardened the muscles, but that,
+short of combat, it was the best method of separating the men from the
+boys. This is true today, despite all of the new conditions imposed by
+technological changes. A hard road march is the most satisfactory
+training test of the moral strength of the individual man.
+
+At the same time, to senselessly overload men for road marching hurts
+them two ways. It weakens their faith in the sense of the command,
+thereby impairing morale, and it breaks down their muscle and tendon.
+Enough is known about the average American male to provide a basic
+logistical figure. He stands about 5 feet 8 inches, and weighs about
+153 pounds. The optimum load for a man is about one-third of body
+weight, the same as for a mule. That means that for a training march,
+approximately 50 pounds over-all, including uniform, blankets and
+everything, is the most that a man should be required to carry. If he
+gets so that he can handle that load easily, over let us say a 10-mile
+road march, then the thing to do, further to build up his power, is
+not to increase the weight that he carries, but to lengthen the march.
+Military men have known that this is the underlying principle for
+better than half a century. But the principle has not always been
+observed.
+
+There is another not infrequent cause of breakdown--the leader who
+makes the mistake of thinking that every man's limit is the same as
+his own. Some come into the officer corps fresh from the stadia and
+cinderpaths of the colleges, in the pink of condition. They take
+charge of a group of men, some not yet seasoned, and others somewhat
+older and more wind-broke than themselves. They shag them all over
+the lot at reveille or take them on a cross-country chase like a smart
+rabbit trying to outrun hounds. The poor devils ultimately get back,
+some with their corks completely pulled, a few feeling too nauseated
+to eat their breakfast, and others walking in, feeling whipped because
+they couldn't keep up with the group.
+
+When an officer does this kind of thing thoughtlessly, he shows
+himself to be an incompetent observer of men. When he does it to show
+off, he deserves to be given 10 days in the electric chair.
+
+_It is the steadiness and the continuity of exercise, not the working
+of men to the point of exhaustion and collapse, which keeps them
+upgrading until they are conditioned to the strain of whatever comes._
+To do it the other way around simply makes them hospital patients
+before their time, and fills them with resentment against the service.
+
+In the nature of things, the officer who has been an athlete can fit
+himself into this part of the program with little difficulty and with
+great credit, provided he acts with the moderation that is here
+suggested. The armed services put great store by this. A man with a
+strong flair for physical training can usually find a good berth.
+
+By the same token, the officer who has shunned sports in school,
+either because he didn't have the size or the coordination, or was
+more interested in something else, will frequently have an
+understandable hesitation about trying to play a lead hand in anything
+which he thinks will make him look bad. Of this comes much
+buck-passing. There is often a singular courtesy between officers
+within a unit, and they'll switch details, just to be friendly. So it
+frequently happens that the man who has no great knack at leading in
+exercise and recreation gets the mouse's share of it. And thereby the
+whole point is missed. For it should be perfectly clear that the man
+who has had the least active experience in this field is usually the
+one in greatest need of its strengthening effects. His case is no
+different than that of the enlisted man. If he has not kept himself in
+good physical shape, his nerves will not be able to stand the strain
+of combat, to say nothing of his legs.
+
+It can be said again and again: _The highest form of physical training
+that an officer can undergo is the physical conditioning of his own
+men._ Nothing else can give him more faith in his own ability to stay
+the course and nothing else is likely to give him a firmer feeling of
+solidarity with his men. Study, and an active thirst for wider
+professional knowledge, have their place in an officer's scheme of
+things. But there is something about the experience of bodily
+competition, of joining with, and leading men in strenuous physical
+exercise, which uniquely invigorates one's spirit with the confidence:
+"I can do this! I can lead! I can command!" Military men have
+recognized this since long before it was said that Waterloo was won on
+the playing fields of Eton. Bringing it down to the present, Gen. Sir
+Archibald Wavell said: "The civil comparison to war must be that of a
+game, a very rough and dirty game, for which a robust body and mind
+are essential." Even more emphatic are the words of Coach Frank Leahy
+of Notre Dame, an officer of the United States Navy in World War II:
+"The ability to rise up and grasp an opportunity is something that a
+boy cannot learn in lecture rooms or from textbooks. It is on the
+athletic field primarily that Americans acquire the winning ways that
+play such an important part in the American way of life. The burning
+desire to emerge the victor that we see in our contact sports is the
+identical spirit that gave the United States Marines victory at Iwo
+Jima. If we again know war, the boys who have received sound training
+in competitive athletics will again fight until the enemy has had
+enough."
+
+Men like to see their officers competing and "giving it a good college
+try" no matter how inept, or clumsy they may be. But they take a
+pretty dim view of the leader who perennially acts as if he were
+afraid of a sweat or a broken thumb. In team sports, developing around
+interorganized rivalry, the eligibility of an officer to participate
+among enlisted men is a matter of local ground rules, or special
+regulations. There is nothing in the customs of the services which
+prohibit it. To the contrary, it has been done many times, and is
+considered to be altogether within an officer's dignity. Where there
+is a flat ruling against it, it is usually on the theory that the
+officer, by competing, is robbing some enlisted man of his chance.
+
+Need it be said that in any event, going along with the team, and
+taking an active interest in its ups-and-downs, is not only a service
+officer's duty, but a rewarding privilege, if he is a real leader? In
+this respect, he has a singular relationship to any group that
+represents his unit. He becomes part of their force, and his presence
+is important not only to the team but to the gallery. It is not
+unusual to hear very senior officers excuse themselves from an
+important social function by saying, "I'm sorry, but my team is
+playing tonight." That is a reason which everybody understands and
+accepts.
+
+As for the ranks, even among those men who have had no prior
+acquaintance with organized sports, there is a marked willingness to
+participate, if given just a little encouragement. This is one of the
+effects of getting into military uniform. As someone said about
+gunpowder, "it makes all men alike tall," and provides a welcome
+release from former inhibitions. The military company is much more
+tightly closed than any other. When men are thinking and working
+together in a binding association, they will seek an outlet for their
+excess spirits, and will join together in play, even under the most
+adverse circumstance. During World War I, it was common to see
+American troops playing such games as duck-on-the-rock, tag and touch
+football with somebody's helmet in close proximity to the front.
+Because no other equipment was available, they improvised. So it is
+that in any situation, the acme in leadership consists, not in
+screaming one's head off about shortages, but in using a little
+imagination about what can be done.
+
+The really good thing about the gain in moral force deriving from all
+forms of physical training is that it is an unconscious gain. Will
+power, determination, mental poise and muscle control all march
+hand-in-hand with the general health and well-being of the man, with
+results not less decisive under training conditions than on the field
+of battle. A man who develops correct posture and begins to fill out
+his body so that he looks the part of a fighter will take greater
+pride in the wearing of the uniform. So doing, he will take greater
+care so to conduct himself morally that he will not disgrace it. He
+will gain confidence as he acquires a confident and determined
+bearing. This same presence, and the physical strength which
+contributes to it, will help carry him through the hour of danger.
+Strength of will is partly of the mind and partly of the body. In
+combat, fatigue will beat men down as quickly as any other condition,
+for fatigue inevitably carries fear with it. Tired men are men afraid.
+There is no quicker way to lose a battle than to lose it on the road
+for lack of preliminary hardening in troops. Such a condition cannot
+be redeemed by the resolve of a commander who insists on driving
+troops an extra mile beyond their general level of physical endurance.
+Extremes of this sort make men rebellious and hateful of the command,
+and thus strike at tactical efficiency from two directions at once.
+For when men resent a commander, they will not fight as willingly for
+him, and when their bodies are spent, their nerves are gone.
+
+Looking after the welfare of men, however, does not connote simply
+getting them into the open air and giving them a chance to kick the
+ball around. The services are pretty well organized to provide their
+personnel with adequate sport and recreational facilities, and to
+insure an active, balanced program, in any save the most exceptional
+circumstance. Too, the provisions made for the creature comforts of
+men are ample, experience-tested, and well-regulated.
+
+It is not so much that a young officer needs to have book instruction
+about the detail of these things. Such is the system that they can
+hardly escape his notice, any more than he can escape knowing where to
+get his pay check and by which path he goes to the barbershop.
+
+What counts mainly is that he should fully understand the prime
+importance of a personal caring for his men, so that they cannot fail
+of a better life if it is within his power and wisdom to lead them to
+it.
+
+Once the principle is grasped, and accepted without any mental
+reservation, time and experience will educate him in the countless
+meetings of situations which require its application.
+
+There are times and situations which require that all men be treated
+identically, for the good of organization. There are also occasions
+when nothing else suffices but to give the most help, the most
+encouragement, the most relief to those who are most greatly in need.
+Grown men understand that, and the officer, approaching every
+situation with the question in his mind: "What does reason say about
+what constitutes fair play in this condition?" cannot go far wrong in
+administering to the welfare of those who serve under him.
+
+_It is moral courage, combined with practice, which builds in one a
+delicate sense of the eternal fitness of things._
+
+One example: Under normal training conditions, it would be fair play,
+and the acceptable thing, to rotate men and their junior leaders to
+such an onerous task as guard duty. But if a unit was "dead beat"
+after a hard march, and an officer, pursuing his line of duty, walked
+among his men, inspecting their blistered feet and doing all he could
+to ease each man's physical discomfort, he would then be using
+excessively poor judgment if he did not pick out the men most
+physically fit to do whatever additional duty was required that night.
+
+But infinite painstaking in attending to the physical welfare of men
+is not more important than thoughtful attention to their spiritual
+wants, and their moral needs. In fact, if we would give a little more
+priority to the latter, the former would be far more likely to come
+along all right.
+
+The average American enlisted man is quite young when he enters
+service, and because he is young, he is impressionable. What his
+senior tells him becomes a substitute for the influence and teaching
+that he shed when he left his home or school. That need not mean a
+senior in age! _He looks to his officer, even though the latter may be
+junior in years, because he believes that the man with rank is a
+little wiser, and he has faith that he will not be steered wrong._
+
+Despite all the publicity given to VD, American kids don't know a
+great deal about its reality, and even though the greater number of
+them like to talk about women, what they have to say rarely reveals
+them as worldly-wise.
+
+If an officer talks straight on these subjects, and believes in what
+he says sufficiently to set the good example, he can convince his
+better men that the game isn't worth the candle, and can save even
+some of the more reckless spirits from a major derail.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
+
+KEEPING YOUR MEN INFORMED
+
+
+Nobody ever told the South Sea savage about the nature of air in
+motion. He had never heard of wind and therefore could not imagine its
+effects. Thus when he heard strange noises in the treetops and there
+was a howling around certain headlands, while other headlands were
+silent, he could believe only that the spirits were at work. He would
+strain his ear to hear what they had to say to him, and never being
+able to understand, he would become all the more fearful.
+
+It all sounds pretty silly. And yet civilization is a great deal like
+that. We pride ourselves today in saying, particularly within the
+western nations, that men and women are better informed than ever
+before in the history of the world. What we really mean by that is
+that they are overburdened with more kinds of fragmentary information
+than any people of the past. They know just enough about many major
+questions of the day that either they are driven to the making of
+fearful guesses about the unknown, or they try to close their minds to
+the subject, vainly seeking consolation in the half-truth, "What I
+don't know can't hurt me."
+
+Therein lies a great part of the problem. For it is a fair statement
+that if all of the mystery could be stripped from such a complex topic
+as the nature of atomic power, so that men everywhere would understand
+it, universal fear would be displaced by universal confidence that
+something could be done, and society would be well along the road
+toward its control.
+
+In World War I, the men who had the least fear of the effects of gas
+warfare were the gas officers who understood their subject right down
+to the last detail of the decontamination process and the formula for
+dichlorethylsulphide (mustard gas). The man to whom the dangers of
+submarine warfare seem least fearsome is the submariner. Of all hands
+along the battle line, the first aid man has the greatest calm and
+confidence in the face of fire, largely because he has seen the
+miracles worked by modern medicine in the restoring of grievously
+wounded men. The general or the admiral who is most familiar with the
+mettle of his subordinate commands will also have the most relaxed
+mind under battle pressure.
+
+This leads to a point, which it is better to state here than anywhere
+else. In all military instruction pertaining to the weapons and
+techniques of war, the basis of sound indoctrination is the teaching
+that weapons when rightly used will invariably produce victory, and
+preventive measures, when promptly and thoroughly taken, will
+invariably conserve the operational integrity of the defense. It is
+wrong, _dead wrong_, to start, or carry along, on the opposite track,
+and try to persuade men to do the right thing, by dwelling on the
+awful consequence of doing the wrong thing. Confidence, not fear, is
+the keynote of a strong and convictive doctrine.
+
+In war, in the absence of information, man's natural promptings
+alternate between unreasoning fears that the worst is likely to
+happen, and the wishful thought that all danger is remote. Either
+impulse is a barrier to the growth of that condition of alert
+confidence which comes to men when they have a realization of their
+own strength and a reasonably clear concept of the general situation.
+
+Man is a peculiar animal. He is no more prone to think about himself
+as the central figure amid general disaster than he is to dwell
+morbidly upon thoughts of his own death. Left in the dark, he will get
+a certain comfort out of that darkness, at the same time that it
+clouds his mind and freezes his action. Disturbed by bad dreams about
+what might happen, he nonetheless will not plan an effective use of
+his own resources against that which is very likely to happen. Only
+when he is given a clear view of the horizon, and is made animated by
+the general purpose in all that moves around him, does he understand
+the direction in which he should march, and taking hold, begin to do
+the required thing.
+
+It is almost gratuitous that this even needs to be stated. No high
+commander would think of moving deliberately into the fog of war if
+he was without knowledge of either the enemy or friendly situation.
+Even to imagine such a contingency is paralyzing. But in their nervous
+and spiritual substance, admirals and generals are no different than
+the green men who have come most recently to their forces. Such men
+can not stand alone any more than can the recruit. They draw their
+moral strength and their ability to contend intelligently against
+adverse circumstance largely from what is told them by the men who
+surround them. That is why they have their staffs. They could not
+command even themselves if they were deprived of all information.
+
+Toward the assuring of competent, collected action, the first great
+step is to remove the mystery. This is a process which must be
+mastered in peacetime, if it is to stand the multiplied strains of
+war. What mystery? Let it be said that it surrounds the average file
+on every hand, even though the average junior officer does not realize
+it, while at the same time he himself is completely mystified by much
+that transpires above him. For example, we all like to throw big words
+about, to air our professional erudition; and we do not understand
+that to the man who does not know their meaning, the effect is a
+blackout which makes even the simplest object seem formidable. To
+illustrate, we can take the word "bivouac," common enough in military
+parlance, but rare in civilian speech. When green men are told, "We
+are going into bivouac," and they are not sufficiently grounded in the
+service to know that this means simply going into camp for the night
+without shelter, their instinctive first thought is, "This is another
+complex military process that will probably catch me short." Similarly
+if told that they are detailed "on a reconnaissance mission along the
+line of communications with a liaison function," they could not fail
+to be "flummoxed." And if then instructed to take a BAR up to the MLR
+and follow SOP in covering a simulated SFC party, they wouldn't be far
+from justified if they blew their tops, and ran shrieking from the
+place.
+
+These are horrible examples, put forward only to illuminate a fairly
+simple point. Exaggerated though they may be, something of the same
+sort happens in almost every installation nearly every day. The
+difference is only in degree. _Every man in the service has an
+inalienable right to work and to think in the clear._ He is entitled
+to the why and the wherefore of whatever he is expected to do, as well
+as the what and the how. His efficiency, his confidence and his
+enthusiasm will wax strong in almost the precise measure that his
+superior imparts to him everything he knows about a duty which can be
+of possible benefit to the man. Furthermore, this is a two-way
+current. Any officer who believes in the importance of giving full
+information in a straight-forward manner, and continues to act on that
+principle, will over the long run get back more than he gives. But the
+chump who incontinently brushes off his subordinates because he thinks
+his time is too valuable to spend any great part of it putting them on
+the right track dooms himself to work in a vacuum. He is soon spotted
+for what he is, and if his superiors can't set him straight, they will
+shrug him aside.
+
+These are pretty much twentieth century concepts of how force is
+articulated from top to bottom of a chain of command. Yet the ideas
+are as old as the ages. Ecclesiastes is filled with phrases pointing
+up that clarification is the way of strength and of unity. "All go
+unto one place." "Two are better than one." "Woe to him that is alone
+when he falleth." "A threefold cord is not quickly broken."
+"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." "Folly is
+set in great dignity." "Truly the light is sweet." Great commanders of
+the past have reflected that knowledge is the source of the
+simplifying and joining of all action and have pondered how better to
+resolve the problem. But it is only in our time that this great
+principle in military doctrine has become rooted deep enough to stay,
+because the technological complexity of modern war is such as to
+permit of no other course.
+
+It is folly to attempt to oversimplify that which is of its nature
+complex. War cannot be made less intricate by conjuring everyone to
+return to kindergarten and henceforth use only one-syllable words. No
+such counsel is here intended. The one thought worth keeping is that
+the military system, as we know it, will prove far more workable, and
+its members will each become a stronger link in the chain of force, if
+all hands work a little more carefully toward the growth of a common
+awareness of all terminology, all process and all purpose.
+
+Once pronounced, the object also requires to be seen in due
+proportion. The principle does not entail that a corporal must
+perforce know everything about operation of a company which concerns
+his captain, to be happy and efficient in his own job. But it does set
+forth that he is entitled to have all information which relates to his
+personal situation, his prospects and his action which it is within
+his captain's power to give him. A coxswain is not interchangeable
+with a fleet admiral. To "bigot" him (make available complete detail
+of a total plan) on an operation would perhaps produce no better or
+worse effect than a slight headache. But if he is at sea--in both
+senses of that term--with no knowledge of where he is going or of his
+chances of pulling through, and having been told of what will be
+expected of him personally at the target, still has no picture of the
+support which will be grouped around him, he is apt to be as
+thoroughly miserable and demoralized as were the sailors under
+Columbus, when sailing on and on, they came to fear that they would
+override the horizon and go tumbling into space.
+
+Lt. Gen. Sir Frederick Morgan wrote of the policy applied at his
+COSSAC planning headquarters during World War II: "Right down to the
+cook, they were told what had happened, what was happening, along with
+their part in it, and what it was proposed to do next."
+
+Paraphrasing Montaigne, President Roosevelt told the American people
+during a great national crisis that the main thing they need fear was
+fear itself. In matters great and small, the fears of men arise
+chiefly from those matters they have not been given to understand.
+Fear can be checked, whipped and driven from the field when men are
+kept informed.
+
+The dynamics of the information principle lies in this simple truth.
+We look at the object through the wrong end of the telescope when in
+the military service we think of information only as instruction in
+the cause of country, the virtues of the free society and the record
+of our arms, in the hope that we will make strong converts. These are
+among the things that every American needs to know, but of themselves
+they will not turn an average American male into an intelligent,
+aggressive fighter. Invigorated action is the product of the free and
+well-informed mind. The "will to do" comes of the confidence that
+one's knowledge of what requires doing is equal to that of any other
+man present.
+
+This is the controlling idea and all constructive planning and work in
+the field of information is shaped around it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
+
+COUNSELING YOUR MEN
+
+
+Among the ever-pressing problems of the commander, and equally of the
+young officer schooling himself to the ways of the service, is the
+seeking of means to break down the natural timidity and reticence of
+the great majority of men.
+
+This he can never do unless he is sufficient master of himself that he
+can come out of his own shell and give his men a chance to understand
+him as a human being rather than as an autocrat giving orders. Nothing
+more unfortunate can happen to an officer than to come to be regarded
+by his subordinates as unapproachable, for such a reputation isolates
+him from the main problems of command responsibility as well as its
+chief rewards. So holding himself, he will never be able to see his
+forces in their true light, and will either have to exercise snap
+judgment upon the main problems within his own sphere, or take the
+word of others as to the factors on which promotions, rewards and
+punishments are based within the unit.
+
+When the block is due to an officer's own reticence, mistaken ideas
+about the requirements of his position, or feeling of strangeness
+toward his fellows, the only cure for him is to dive head-first into
+the cold, clear water, like a boy at the old swimming hole in the
+early spring. Thereby he will grow in self-confidence even as he
+progresses in knowledge of the character of his men and of human
+nature in general.
+
+If an officer is senior, and is still somewhat on the bashful side, by
+watching the manner of his own seniors when he gets counsel, and
+thawing toward his immediate juniors, thereby increasing his
+receptiveness toward them, there will occur a chain reaction to the
+bottom level.
+
+The block, however, is not always of the mind and heart. No man can
+help his own face, but it can sometimes be a barrier to communication.
+One commander in European Theater was told by his Executive that his
+subordinates were fearful to approach him because of his perpetual
+scowl. He assembled his officers and he said to them: "I have been
+told that my looks are forbidding. The mirror reminds me of that every
+morning. Years ago I was in a grenade explosion, and a consequent eye
+injury and strain have done to me what you have to see every time we
+get together. But if you cannot look beyond the face, and judge my
+disposition by all else that you see of me in our work together, you
+do not yet have the full perception that is commensurate with your
+responsibility."
+
+The too-formal manner, the overrigid attitude, the disposition to deal
+with any human problem by-the-numbers as if it were only one more act
+in organizational routine, can have precisely the same chilling effect
+upon men as came of this officer's scowl. Though no man may move
+wholly out of his own nature, a cheerfulness of manner in the doing of
+work is altogether within any individual's capabilities, and is the
+highest-test lubricant of his human relationships.
+
+As a further safeguard against making himself inaccessible, the
+officer needs to make an occasional check on the procedures which have
+been established by his immediate subordinates. At all levels of
+command it is the pet task of those "nearest the throne" to think up
+new ways to keep all hands from "bothering the old man." However
+positive an order to the contrary, they will not infrequently contrive
+to circumvent it, mistakenly believing that by this act they save him
+from himself. Many a compassionate commander leads an unwontedly
+lonely life because of the peculiar solicitude of his staff in this
+matter and his own failure to discover what is happening to him. In
+this way the best of intentions may be thwarted. There is no sure cure
+for the evil but personal reconnaissance.
+
+It is never a waste of time for the commander, or for any officer, to
+talk to his people about their personal problems. More times than not,
+the problem will seem small to him, but so long as it looms large to
+the man, it cannot be dismissed with a wave of the hand. Ridicule,
+sarcasm and the brush-off are equally inexcusable in any situation
+where one individual takes another into his confidence on any matter
+which does not involve bad faith on the part of the petitioner. Even
+then, if the man imparts that which shows that his own conduct has
+been reprehensible or that he would enlist the support of his superior
+in some unworthy act, it is better to hear him through and then skin
+him, than to treat what he says in the offhand manner. An officer will
+grow in the esteem of his men only as he treats their affairs with
+respect. The policy of patience and goodwill pays off tenfold because
+what happens to one man is soon known to the others.
+
+In this particular there has been a radical change within the services
+during the current century, simply because of broader understanding of
+human relationships. In the Old Army, the man could get through to his
+commander only if he could satisfy the First Sergeant as to the nature
+of his business; this was a roadblock for the man who either was
+afraid of the First Sergeant, or was loath to let the latter know
+about his affairs. Custom dies hard and this one has not been entirely
+uprooted. But the distance we have traveled toward humanizing all
+command principles is best reflected by the words of General
+Eisenhower in "Command in Europe": "Hundreds of broken-hearted
+fathers, mothers, and sweethearts wrote me personal letters begging
+for some hope that a loved one might still be alive, or for additional
+detail as to the manner of his death. Every one of these I answered."
+
+It is not necessary that an officer wet-nurse his men in order to
+serve well in the role of counsel. His door should be open, but he
+does not play the part either of a father confessor or of a hotel
+greeter. Neither great solemnity nor effusiveness are called for, but
+mainly serious attention to the problem, and then straight-forward
+advice or decision, according to the nature of the case, _and provided
+that from his own knowledge and experience he feels qualified to give
+it_. If not, it is wiser to defer than to offer a half-baked opinion.
+To consider for a time, and to seek light from others, whether higher
+authority or one's closer associates, is the sound alternative when
+there is a great deal at stake for the man and the problem is too
+complex for its solution to be readily apparent. The spirit in which
+this work should be undertaken is nowhere more clearly indicated than
+in the words of Schuyler D. Hoslett who in his book, "Human Factor in
+Management," said this: "Counseling is advising an individual on his
+problem to the extent that an attempt is made to help him understand
+it so he may carry out a plan for its solution. It is a process which
+stimulates the individual's ability for self-direction."
+
+Family affairs, frictions within the organization, personal
+entanglements which prey upon the mind, frustrations and anxieties of
+varying kind, the sense of failure and other nameless fears which are
+rooted deep in the consciousness of nearly every individual, are the
+more general subjects in counseling.
+
+Whatever impairs the man that he wishes to take up with his officer
+becomes ipso facto the officer's rightful business. Equally so, on the
+positive side, when his only desire is to bring forward something that
+he believes would serve the interests of organization, he should be
+heard.
+
+In either case, the perfecting of counsel develops around two
+controlling ideas, stated in the order of their importance: (1) what
+is in the best interests of the unit, and (2) what is for the good of
+the man. In this particular, the officer as counselor is rarely in the
+role of a disinterested party. Unlike the preacher, the lawyer, the
+teacher or the best friend, he has to look beyond what is beneficial
+simply to the spiritual, mental and moral need of one individual.
+There is an abiding necessity to equate the personal problem to the
+whole philosophy within which a command operates. _To keep in mind
+that every individual has his breaking point is everlastingly
+important. But to remember that the unit is also made of brittle stuff
+is not less so._
+
+When undue personal favors are granted, when precedents are set
+without weighing the possible effects upon all concerned, when men are
+incontinently urged, or even sympathetically humored by their
+superiors toward the taking of a weak personal course, the ties of the
+organization are injured, tension within it mounts and the ranks lose
+respect for the manhood of their leaders.
+
+All things are to be viewed in moderation, and with compassion, but
+with a fine balance toward the central purpose. Let us take one
+example. Within a given command, at a particular time, leaves have
+been made so restricted, for command reasons, that there must be a
+showing of genuine urgency. One man comes forward and says that he is
+so sick for the sight of home that he can no longer take duty. As
+certainly as his superior tries to facilitate this man's purpose
+because of fear that he will break, the superior will be harassed by
+other requests with no better basis, and if they are not granted,
+there will be general discontent. On the other hand, suppose another
+man comes forward. A wire from home has informed him that his mother
+is dying. If the superior will not go to bat on such a case, he will
+win the deserved contempt of the same men who were ready to take
+advantage of the other opening, but in this instance would seek
+nothing for themselves.
+
+To know the record, the character and the measure of goodwill of the
+subject is all-important in counseling. It puts the matter in much too
+dim a light to say that after the call comes, the officer should check
+up on these points so that he can deal knowledgeably with the man.
+That is his first order of business within the unit--to learn all that
+he can about the main characteristics of his men. This general duty
+precedes the detail work of counseling. Under normal circumstances, no
+officer is likely to have more than 250 men in his immediate charge.
+There are exceptions, but this is broadly the rule. It is by no means
+an excessive task for one individual to learn the names and a great
+part of the history of the men he sees daily, when not knowing them
+means that he has neglected the heart of operations.
+
+What the man says of himself, in relation to the problem, deserves
+always to be judged according to his own record. If he has proved
+himself utterly faithful, action can be taken on the basis of his
+word. If he is known to be a corner-cutter and a cheat, his case,
+though listened-to with interest and sympathy, needs to be taken with
+a grain of salt, pending further investigation.
+
+World War II officers had to abide by this standard in dealing with
+the general malaise which arose out of redeployment. When a man came
+forward and said that he couldn't take it any more, and the commander
+knew that he had always been a highly dutiful individual, it became
+the commander's job to attempt to get the man home. But when a second
+man came forward with the same story, and the record showed that he
+had always shirked his work, the question was whether he should be
+given the final chance to shirk it again. To favor the first man meant
+furthering discipline; his comrades recognized it as a fair deal. To
+turn back the second man was equally constructive to the same end. In
+a general situation of unique pressure, commanders found that these
+principles worked.
+
+Many of the problems on which men seek advice of their officers are of
+a legal nature; unless an officer is versed in the law, the inquiry
+must be channeled to a qualified source. Other problems are of a kind
+that use should be made of the home services of such an organization
+as the Red Cross. A knowledge of the limits beyond which the help of a
+special office or agency must be sought is therefore as important to
+the officer-consultant as an ability to give the man full information
+about the whereabouts and use of these facilities.
+
+The Red Cross is usually an effective agent in checking the facts of a
+home situation and returning the data. But at the end of the line
+where officer and man sit together, its resources for helping the
+individual (when what is needed mainly is advice on a human equation)
+are not likely to be any better than what his military superiors can
+do for him. In any time of crisis, the normal human being can draw
+strength and composure far more surely from a person he well knows
+than from a stranger.
+
+There is this illustration. During World War II, many a man overseas
+got word that his home had been broken up. The counselor could talk
+the thing out with him, learn whether a reconciliation was the one
+most important thing, or whether the man was groping his way, looking
+for a friend who could help him see the matter in proportion, and
+weigh, among other things, his duty to himself. The Red Cross could
+check the facts of the home situation. But the man's readjustment
+depended in the main on what was done by those who were closest to
+him.
+
+Sooner or later every commander has to deal with some refraction of
+this kind of problem. When it comes, moralizing and generalizing about
+the weakness of human nature does no good whatever. To call the man a
+fool is as invidious as to waste indignation upon the cause of his
+misfortune. Likewise, any frontal approach to the problem, such as
+telling the man, "Here's what you should do," should be shunned, or
+used most sparingly. The more effective attitude can be expressed in
+these words: "If it had happened to me instead of to you, and I were
+in your same situation, here are the things I would consider, and here
+are the points to which I would give greatest weight." To tell any
+subject to brace up and be a man is a plain inference that he is not
+one. To reflect with him on the things which manhood requires is the
+gentle way toward stirring his self-respect. So doing, a counselor
+renews his own character. _Also worth remembering is that in any man's
+dark hour, a pat on the back and an earnest handclasp may work a small
+miracle._
+
+There is much counseling over the subject of transfer. Herein lies an
+exception to a general rule, for in this case the good of the man
+takes precedence over the good of organization. No conscientious
+officer likes to see a good man depart from his organization.
+Nevertheless, the service is not in competition with itself, and it
+advances as a whole in the measure that all men find the niche where
+they can serve most efficiently, and with the greatest satisfaction.
+There are officers who hold to every able subordinate like grim death,
+seeing no better way to advance their personal fortunes. This is a
+sign of moral weakness, not of strength, and its inevitable fruit is
+discontent within the organization. _The sign of superiority in any
+officer, at whatever level, is his confidence that he can make another
+good man to fill any vacancy._ When it is self-evident that a man can
+better himself and profit the service through transfer, it is contrary
+to all principle to deny him that right. This does not mean that the
+unit's exit door should be kept open, but only that it should be ready
+to yield upon a showing of competent proof. It is not unusual that
+when the pressure mounts and war danger rises, many a man develops a
+sudden conviction that he would be more useful in a noncombat arm. The
+officer body itself is not unsusceptible to the same temptation.
+Unless the great majority are held to that line of duty which they had
+accepted in less dangerous circumstance, the service would soon cease
+to have fighting integrity. But it makes no point to keep men in a
+combat arm or service who are quite obviously morally and physically
+unequipped for its rigor, and it is equally wasteful to deny some
+other arm or service the use of a specialist whose skills fill it
+particularly. Some of the ablest commanders in our service have abided
+by this rule: They never denied the man who had a legitimate reason
+for transfer, and they never shuffled off their lemons and goldbricks
+under a false label. Though seemingly idealistic, the rule is also
+practical. The time wasted in excessive worry over a discard is
+sometimes better spent by concentrating on the value of trumps.
+
+Men tend to seek officer counsel when they feel discriminated against
+by lesser authority. When that happens, it is the duty of the officer
+to get at the facts, and act according to them. Complaints against any
+junior are always unpleasant to hear because of their air of intrigue.
+Tactlessly handled, without due weighing of the case from both sides,
+they turn one blunder into two. But no officer is well-advised if he
+believes that his duty automatically is to uphold the arm of a
+subordinate when the facts say that the latter is dead wrong. His duty
+is to reduce friction wherever it is caused by a misuse of power. This
+implies dealing discreetly with the offender instead of directly
+discountenancing him.
+
+There are a few broad, common-sense rules which, when followed, will
+enable any officer to play his part more effectively in the counseling
+of men.
+
+    Privacy is requisite and the interview should not be held at an
+    hour when interruptions are likely.
+
+    A listless manner spoils everything, diminishes the force of
+    reason and discourages confidence.
+
+    To put the man at ease immediately by some personal gesture is
+    more important than observing forms.
+
+    Thereafter the situation is best served by relaxation of bearing
+    rather than by tension.
+
+    All excess of expression is a failing, but above all in the man to
+    whom another looks for guidance.
+
+    To listen well is the prelude toward pondering carefully and
+    speaking wisely.
+
+    No counsel is worthy that has any lower aim than one's own ideals
+    of self-respect.
+
+    Early enough is well; quickly done can be quickly undone.
+
+    To refuse with kindness is more winning than to acquiesce
+    ungraciously.
+
+    To note another man's mood, and to become congenial to it, is the
+    surest way to engage his confidence.
+
+    Decisions which are wholly of the heart and not of the mind will
+    ultimately do hurt to both places.
+
+    No man will talk freely if met by silence, but an intelligent
+    question encourages frankness above all else.
+
+    When one man loses possession of himself it is the more reason
+    that the other should tighten his reserve.
+
+    Affectation in one's own manner gives the lie to one's own credit
+    and destroys it with others.
+
+    To express pity for a man does not serve to restore him and put
+    him above pity.
+
+    When a man is so burdened by a personal problem that it shuts out
+    all else, he must be led to something else.
+
+    Imprudent tactics can undo the wisest strategy.
+
+While these dispositions have particular value in relation to the
+counseling of one's subordinates, they also have some application to
+any situation in which men work and commune together. Men at any level
+do not mistake the touch of sincerity, nor fail to mark as unworthy of
+trust the man who pays only a superficial regard to a matter which
+they deem important.
+
+For the officer already burdened with other duties, counseling may
+seem like a waste of time, and an activity that more properly belongs
+to the chaplain. The wise and understanding "padre" may sometimes
+counsel men on their material problems and thereby assist the officer
+who is over troops. But so doing, he is committing a trespass unless
+he acts with the commander's knowledge and consent. The commander is
+the foster father of the men in his organization. When he renounces
+this role, he neglects a trust.
+
+That neglect cuts the fighting efficiency of the unit at its root.
+Finally, counseling, like all else in military life, has a combat
+purpose. Other things being equal, the tactical unity of men working
+together in combat will be in ratio to their knowledge and sympathetic
+understanding of each other. Whatever the cause, aloofness on the part
+of the officer can only produce a further withdrawal on the part of
+the man. Finally, the cost comes high. In battle, and out of it, the
+failure to act and to communicate is more often due to timidity in the
+individual than to fear of physical danger.
+
+Described in cold type, the counseling process probably appears a
+little sticky. Actually, it is nothing of the sort. For it has been
+going on ever since man became civilized. It is a force in all
+organized human relationships, beginning in infanthood and lasting
+through old age. Because of the nature of a military group, and
+particularly because of the deriving of united strength from
+well-being in each of the component parts, there is much more need to
+regularize it and to qualify all men in a knowledge of those things
+which will enable them to assist a fellow in need of help. But in the
+military society, far more than in civil life, confidence is a two-way
+street. It would be almost impossible to express the collective
+gratitude of tens of thousands of lieutenants and ensigns who in times
+past have learned to rely on the friendly counsel of a veteran
+sergeant or petty officer, and have usually gotten it straight from
+the shoulder, _but with respect_. The breaking-in of most young
+officers, and the acclimating of them to their role in a command
+system, is due, in large measure, to support from this source. Nor are
+senior commanders reluctant to receive moral comfort of this same kind
+in periods of crisis.
+
+When the planes of the First Tokyo Raid under Col. James H.
+Doolittle, crashed among the mountains and along the sea-coast of
+Eastern China, after one of the most valiant strokes in our military
+annals, their commander was among the few who had the added misfortune
+of coming to earth within the Japanese lines. By fate's mercy, he just
+happened to escape by walking between the enemy outposts. Farther
+along, he saw the wreck of another of his planes. Then he came to a
+third; it was smashed beyond hope. But its crew had already heard from
+several other parties. They too had lost their B-25's to the fog, the
+night and the crags. Doolittle realized then that everything was gone,
+lives saved yes, but otherwise the expedition was a total ruin.
+
+The Commander sat for a long time in the cockpit of the wrecked plane,
+terribly depressed, thinking only of how totally he had failed.
+
+At last one of the younger men, Sgt. Paul Leonard walked up to him and
+said: "What's the matter, Colonel?"
+
+Doolittle said: "It couldn't be worse. We've lost everything. We've
+let the country down."
+
+The kid said: "Why, Colonel, you've got this all wrong. You have no
+idea how this looks to the United States. Don't you realize that right
+now they're getting ready to make you a general? Why I'll make you a
+bet they give you the Congressional Medal."
+
+Doolittle thanked him. He thought it was a nice thing for the boy to
+say. That kind of loyalty was worth having in a bad hour. The boy
+started to walk away; he could tell that Doolittle didn't believe a
+word of it. Then suddenly he turned and came on back.
+
+"Colonel," he said, "I'd like to make a deal with you. Suppose I'm
+right about it and you're wrong. So they give you a star and the
+Congressional Medal. If that happens, will you agree to take me with
+you wherever you go?"
+
+Doolittle made him a solemn promise. Fresh courage came to him out of
+the boy's tremendous earnestness.
+
+And of course the boy was right, and the contract was kept, and all
+things went well until, by a savage irony, Sgt. Leonard was killed in
+the last German raid against Doolittle's headquarters in Europe
+shortly before the war ended.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
+
+USING REWARD AND PUNISHMENT
+
+
+One of the illusions having greatest currency among our people is that
+any green member of the fighting establishment is merely an American
+civilian in a uniform, and that therefore, his spirit is nourished to
+the extent that accommodations and usages of the service most nearly
+duplicate what he has known elsewhere.
+
+This belief is especially prevalent during wartime when every mother's
+son puts on a new suit; it is natural to think that everything in the
+service will better suit the boy if it smells like home. The corollary
+of this rather quaint idea is that military organization is therefore
+most perfect when it operates in the same way as the civil society.
+
+Earlier in this book it has been suggested that these ideas need to be
+questioned on two broad grounds: Do not both of them run counter to
+the facts of encharged responsibility, and to human nature itself?
+
+To emphasize it once again, the military officer is not alone an
+administrator: _he is a magistrate_. There are special powers given
+him by the President. It is within these powers that he will sit in
+judgment on his men and that he may punish them when they have been
+grievously derelict. This dual role makes his function radically
+different from anything encountered in civil life--to say nothing of
+the singleness of purpose which a fighting service is supposed to move
+forward.
+
+Moreover, the military officer is dealing with men who are submitted
+to him in a binding relationship which by its nature is not only more
+compelling but more intimate than anything elsewhere in society. As
+much as the parent in the home, and far more than the teacher in the
+school or the executive in business, he is directed to center his
+effort primarily on the building of good character in other
+individuals.
+
+One need only compare a few points of advantage and disadvantage to
+see why a better balanced sense of justice and fair play is required
+of the military officer than of his brother in civil life, and why the
+aim would be far too low if the fighting services did not shoot for
+higher standards of personnel direction than are common in the
+management of American business. Here are the points:
+
+    If any subordinate in the civilian vineyard feels that he is
+    getting a bad deal from his boss, and has become the object of
+    unfair discrimination, it is his royal American privilege to quit
+    on the spot, be he a policeman, a government factotum or a hod
+    carrier. He can then maintain himself by carrying his skill into a
+    new shop. But an enlisted member of the armed establishment cannot
+    quit summarily, and finally, if his commander is just wrong-headed
+    and arbitrary, it can be made almost impossible for him to
+    transfer out. However bad his fortune, he's stuck with it.
+
+    Nepotism is so general in our business and political life that the
+    people who suffer from its effect accept it more or less as the
+    working of nature; the results are therefore less destructive of
+    efficiency than they might be otherwise. It is common to see the
+    boss's nephew or his son get a good spot in the office and then
+    rise like a rocket, even though he is a third-rater. And it is not
+    less common to see a straw boss in a factory favor the man whom he
+    thinks might grease the wheels for him on the outside. But in the
+    armed establishment, favoritism on any grounds, and particularly
+    on such treacherous grounds as these, will destroy the foundations
+    of work and of control.
+
+    The armed establishment has its own body of law. Therein, too, it
+    differs from any civilian autonomy except the state itself. The
+    code is intended to enable a uniform standard of treatment to all
+    individuals in the regulating of all interior affairs. The code is
+    not rigid; its provisions are not absolute. It specifies the
+    general nature of offenses against society, and special offenses
+    against the good of the service. But, except for the more serious
+    offenses, particularly those which by their nature also violate
+    the civil code, it does not flatly prescribe trial and punishment.
+    Military law, in this respect, has more latitude, and is more
+    congenial, than civil law covering minor offenders. Rarely
+    arbitrary in its workings, it premises the use of corrective good
+    judgment at all times. It regards force as an instrument only to
+    be used for conserving the general good of the establishment. The
+    essential power behind the force is something spiritual--the will
+    and conscience of the great majority, expressing itself through
+    the action of one or several of their number. Its major object is
+    not punishment of the wrong-doer but protection of the interests
+    of the dutiful. This view of military law is four-square with the
+    basic principle of all action within the armed services--_that in
+    all cases the best policy is one which depends for its workings on
+    the sense of duty in men toward each other, and thereby
+    strengthens that sense through its operations._
+
+Put in these terms, the attitude of the service toward the problem of
+correction as a means of promoting the welfare of the general
+establishment obviously reposes a tremendous burst in the justice and
+goodwill of the average officer. It would be useless to blink the
+fact. But there is this to be said unalterably in favor of the
+military system's way of handling things: If the organization of the
+whole human family into an orderly unit is ever to be made possible,
+it will be done only because many men, of all ages and working at many
+different levels, develop this faculty for passing critical, impartial
+judgment on the conduct and deserts of those whom they lead, instead
+of regarding it as a special kind of wisdom, given only to the few
+anointed. Nor is that all. Not only the knowledge but the sense of
+duty in men is imperfect. In every society are men who will not obey
+the law of their own accord. Unless the authority which receives and
+interprets the law will also impose it, by force if necessary, the
+reign of law soon ceases. Whether an ordered society is to exist thus
+depends upon whether there are citizens enough, fixed with a sense of
+duty, to obey it and to enforce it.
+
+At first glance, the responsibility seems extraordinarily heavy and
+difficult. But with broadening experience, it becomes almost second
+nature to an officer quickly to set a course by which to judge
+individual men in relation to the affairs of organization, provided
+that he has steered all along in the light of a few elementary
+principles.
+
+Concerning reward, and equally with respect to punishments, no more
+pertinent words could be said than those uttered long ago by Thomas
+Carlyle: "What a reflection it is that we cannot bestow on an unworthy
+man any particle of our benevolence, our patronage or whatever
+resource is ours--without withdrawing it, and all that will grow out
+of it, from one worthy, to whom it of right belongs! We cannot, I say;
+impossible; it is the eternal law of things."
+
+He said a number of important things in this one brief paragraph.
+There is first the thought that when any reward, such as a promotion,
+a commendation or a particularly choice assignment is given other than
+to the man who deserves it on sheer merit, some other man is robbed
+and the ties of organization are weakened.
+
+Next, there is this proposition: if, in the dispensing of punishment,
+undue leniency is extended to an individual who has already proved
+that he merits no special consideration, in the next round a bum rap
+will be given some lesser offender who is morally deserving of a real
+chance. The Italians have an epigram: "The first time a dog bites a
+man, it's the dog's fault; the second time, it's the man's fault."
+
+According to Carlyle, these things have the strength of a natural law.
+Nor is it necessary to take his word for it. Any wise and experienced
+military administrator will say approximately the same thing and will
+tell of some of the bad examples he has met along his way.... The
+commander who was afraid to punish anybody and by his indecision
+punished everybody.... The lieutenant who had such a bad conscience
+about his own weak handling of a bad case of indiscipline that he
+threw the book at the next offender and thereby spoiled a good man and
+gained the ill will of the company.... The old timer who smarted under
+excessive punishment for a trivial offense, broke under it, got into
+worse trouble, and became a felon.... The officer who promoted his
+pets instead of his good men and at last found that there were no good
+men left.... The skipper who condoned a small case of insolence until
+it swelled into a mutiny.... The fool who handled every case alike, as
+if he were an animal trainer instead of a builder of human character
+... and so on, ad infinitum. It is a long and sorry list, but the
+overwhelming majority of dutiful executives in the armed services
+avoid these stupid blunders by following a Golden Rule policy toward
+their men.
+
+If lack of obedience is the most frequent cause of service men being
+brought on the carpet, then as obedience is a moral quality, so should
+punishment be employed as a moral act, its prime purpose being to
+nourish and foster obedience. Before meting punishment, it is
+necessary to judge a man, and judgment means to think over, to
+compare, to weigh probable effects on the man and on the command, and
+to give the offender the benefit of any reasonable doubt. Before any
+punishment is given, the questions must be faced: "What good will it
+achieve?" If the answer is none, then punishment is not in order.
+Punishment of a vindictive nature is a crime; when it is given
+uselessly, or handed out in a strictly routine manner, it is an
+immoral act.
+
+But when punishment has to be awarded, the case must be handled
+promptly, and its issue must be stated incisively, so that there is no
+room for doubt that the officer is certain about his judgments. Men
+know when they are in the wrong, and even when it works to their
+disadvantage, they will feel increased respect toward the officer who
+knows what should be done, and states it without hemming and hawing.
+The showing of firmness is the first requirement in this kind of
+action. It is as foolish to go back on a punishment as to threaten it
+and not follow through. The officer who is always running around
+threatening to court martial his subordinates is merely avowing his
+own weakness, and crying that he has lost all of his moral means. Even
+the dullest men do not mistake vehemence and abuse for signs of
+strength.
+
+To punish a body of men, for offenses committed by two or three of
+their number, even though the offense is obnoxious and it is
+impossible to put the finger on the culprits, is the act of a sadist,
+and is no more excusable within military organization than in civilian
+society. Any officer who resorts to this stupid practice will forfeit
+the loyalty of the best men in his command. There is no reason why it
+should be otherwise.
+
+As a general rule, it is a serious error to reprimand a subordinate in
+the presence of any other person, because of the unnecessary hurt to
+his pride. But circumstances moderate the rule. If the offense for
+which he is being reprimanded involves injury of any sort to some
+other person, or persons, it may be wholly proper to apply the
+treatment in their presence. For example, the bully or the smart-aleck
+who wantonly humiliates his own subordinates is not entitled to have
+his own feelings spared. However, in the presence of his own superior,
+an officer is always ill-advised to administer oral punishment to one
+of his own juniors, since the effect is to destroy confidence both up
+and down the line.
+
+It is always the duty of an officer to intervene, toward the
+protection of his own men against any manifest injustice, whatever its
+source. In fact, this trust is so implicit that he should be ready to
+risk his professional reputation upon it, when he is convinced beyond
+doubt that the man is being unfairly assailed, or that due process is
+not being followed. Both higher authority and civil authority
+occasionally overreach; an officer stands as a shield protecting his
+men against unfair treatment from any quarter. _But it is decidedly
+not his duty to attempt to cheat law or thwart justice for the sake of
+his men simply because they are his men._ His job, as Shakespeare puts
+it, is "to unmask falsehood and bring truth to light, to wrong the
+wronger till he render right."
+
+Finally, the best policy on punishments is to eliminate the frictions
+which are the cause of most transgressions. When a ship is happy, men
+do their duty. Scarcely anything will cross them up more quickly than
+to see rewards given with an uneven hand. Even the stinker who has no
+ambition but to duck work can recognize a deserving man, and will burn
+if that man is bypassed in favor of a bootlicker or some other
+lightweight.
+
+Nothing is more vain than to give a promotion, or any reward, in the
+hope, or on the promise, that the character who receives it will hit
+the sawdust trail and suddenly reform.
+
+Duty is the only sure proving ground. Men, like motors, should be
+judged on their all-around performance. There is no other way to
+generate the steady pull over the long grind.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
+
+FITTING MEN TO JOBS
+
+
+In civilian society, what amounts to a cult has developed around the
+idea that the average person has a natural bent for some particular
+job or profession, which if thwarted will fill him with those
+frustrations which are conceded to be the cause of most of the mental
+and moral disorders of mankind.
+
+Therefore if all men could become rightly placed, we would have Utopia
+tomorrow.
+
+This theory of what humanity mainly cries for is perforce rejected by
+the military establishment, for several eminently practical as well as
+ideal reasons.
+
+It discounts man, his plastic and impressionable nature, his response
+to all that goes on around him and his marked ability to adjust to any
+environment. He is not like a bolt fitted into a hole by a riveter,
+nor merely clay in the hands of the potter. What he becomes is mainly
+of his own making.
+
+Further, the theory does not meet the needs of the situation, since in
+the services, as elsewhere, there are not enough better holes to go
+around, and no man is ready to say that he is good for nothing but
+life as a file-closer.
+
+But the last and main reason why the theory is no good is that it
+doesn't square with human experience. A narrow classification system
+invites the danger of overspecialization and lessens the team play
+which is so indispensable to all military enterprise. It is possible
+for the machine to break down totally from lack of interchangeability
+in its parts.
+
+We learn much from war, but some of the most obvious lessons are
+disregarded. One of the things that it should teach us is the
+tremendous adaptability of the average intelligent man, his ability to
+take hold of work altogether remote from any prior experience, master
+it, and find satisfaction in it, provided he is given help and
+encouragement by those who already know.
+
+This is the great phenomenon of war--greater than the atomic bomb or
+supersonic flight. Former bookkeepers emerge as demolitions men.
+Divinity students become pharmacist's mates. School teachers operate
+tanks. Writing men turn into navigators. Woodsmen become lecturers.
+Longshoremen specialize in tactics. And all goes well.
+
+Then when it is all over, and everyone gets back in his well-worn
+groove, the social scientists explain that these miracles occurred
+because under the stimulus of great fear and excitement which attends
+a period of national emergency, individuals will sublimate their main
+drives, and adjust temporarily to what would be otherwise an onerous
+personal difficulty. Sheer poppycock! Normal men do not feel pressed
+by fear simply because a state of war exists; their chief emotions
+change scarcely at all. These transformations occur only because the
+man had the potential all along, and with someone backing him up _and
+giving him the feeling of success_, his incentives became equal, at
+least, to anything he had known in his peacetime occupation.
+
+That is the long-and-short of it. If our average man couldn't become a
+jack of many trades, and a master of several, the United States would
+never be able to meet a major war emergency.
+
+For these reasons, service concepts of how men should be fitted to
+jobs do not develop around the simple notion that it is all a matter
+of putting a square peg in a square hole--which is the one best way to
+deny the peg any room for expansion. The doctrine is that _men are
+many sided, that they learn their own powers and likes through
+experiment, that they are entitled to find what is best for them, and
+that having found it, their satisfactions will still derive mainly
+from intelligent and interested treatment by their superiors_.
+
+Every officer arrives sooner or later at the point where he has a
+direct hand in the placement of men. By way of preparation for that
+responsibility he should do two things mainly--learn all that he can
+from his superiors about its technical aspects, and in his own
+thinking, concentrate on principles to the exclusion of detail.
+
+The fundamental purpose of all training today is to develop the
+natural faculties and stimulate the brain of the individual rather
+than to treat him as a cog which has to be fitted into a great
+machine.
+
+The true purpose of _all_ rules covering the conduct of warfare and
+all regulations pertaining to the conduct of its individuals is to
+bring about order in the fighting machine rather than to strangle the
+mind of the man who reads them.
+
+Thus in the assignment of men to work within any military
+organization, no amount of perfection in the analysis of skills and
+aptitudes can compensate for carelessness in their subsequent
+administration. The uniformed ranks are not mechanics, storekeepers
+and clerks primarily, but fighting men. This makes a difference. The
+optimum over-all results do not come from the care exercised in seeing
+that every man is placed at exactly the right job but from the concern
+taken that in whatever job he fills, he will feel that he is supported
+and that his efforts are appreciated. There is scarcely a good man who
+has served long within the profession without filling a half-dozen
+roles requiring vastly different skills. And looking back, what would
+the average one say about it? Not that he was happiest where the
+nature of the task best suited his hand, but happiest where his
+relations with his superiors gave him the greatest sense of
+accomplishment.
+
+That is the human nature of the equation. We can let the economist
+argue that what a man puts into a job is largely dependent on what he
+takes out of it. And we can let the philosopher answer him that the
+fault in his proposition is that he has turned it the wrong way
+'round. Regardless of which man has put the cart before the horse,
+there are two basic truths which outweigh the merits of the argument.
+
+First. _All human progress has come of the willingness of a man at a
+particular time to undertake a job which no one had ever done before._
+
+Second. _The main reward of any job is the knowledge that worthwhile
+work has been accomplished._
+
+This last may sound like a corny maxim, but it's true. The reason
+maxims become corny is because they're true.
+
+Despite all of the present-day emphasis on paycheck security as the
+mainspring of human action, the far stronger force which moves man as
+a social being is his desire for a secure place in the respect and
+affections of his associates, including his chief or his employer.
+Gary Cooper, playing in "The Cowboy and the Lady," used the line, "I
+aims, ma'm, to be high-regarded." Except for the few wrong-headed
+people, he was speaking for the whole human family.
+
+The man who can get along without wanting or needing words of approval
+from other people is fit for a cell by himself, either padded or
+barred.
+
+Loyalty in the masses of men waxes strong in the degree that they are
+made to believe that real importance is attached to their work and to
+their ability to think about their work. It weakens at every point
+where they consider that there is a negative respect for their
+intelligence; the dignity in any work is not inherent in the job
+itself but in the attitude of others toward it. Cabinet ministers,
+college presidents and industrial magnates will quit their jobs when
+they feel they no longer have the confidence of those to whom they are
+responsible. That experience is as demoralizing to great men as to the
+mine-run. Equally, the feeling of compensation which comes with any
+token of recognition is one of those touches of human nature which
+make all men akin. If men of genius and good works did not find Nobel
+prizes and honorary college degrees highly gratifying, this custom
+would have faded long ago. It is as rewarding to them to be called
+good at their job as it was to the New Jersey street sweeper who
+pushed his broom so diligently that he swept halfway into the next
+town before discovering his mistake.
+
+The far inferences of these things should be reasonably clear to every
+officer of the fighting establishment. It makes little difference
+whether a man is digging a ditch or is working up a loading table for
+an invasion: what he thinks about his work will depend in large
+measure upon the attitude of his superiors. He will develop no great
+conviction about what he is doing except as it is transmitted to him.
+_The fundamental cause of any breakdown of morale and discipline
+within the armed service usually comes of this, that a commander or
+his subordinates transgress by treating men as if they were children
+or serfs instead of showing respect for their adulthood._
+
+The requirements of modern war are such that we certainly do not want
+to turn out one man exactly like another, or turn the majority into
+mechanical men, capable of one set function. But the rule applies to
+officers as well as men. The greater freedom which is needed has
+nothing to do with social behavior or privilege. It is the freedom to
+think boldly and originally for the common good, for, to quote Kant
+again: "What one learns the most fixedly and remembers the best is
+what one learns more or less by oneself."
+
+Thus in the matter of sizing up men, judging of their capacities and
+trying to get them rightly placed, the need is not a formula, since no
+formula will work. It is only by keeping principles uppermost in our
+thoughts that the greatest measure of common sense will prevail in our
+actions. That is what is needed, rather than clairvoyant powers, or a
+master's degree in psychology, if the service officer is to handle
+personnel efficiently. There are no great wizards in this field: there
+are only men who know more about the human nature of the problem than
+others because they have had a zest for meeting humanity and have
+built a text out of what others have told them.
+
+The job begins by the search for data on the individual--all of the
+data that may be obtained. It goes on from that to sitting down with
+the subject, getting him to open up and talk freely about himself,
+what he has done, what he would like to do with his life, and his
+reasons for so feeling, et cetera. But the information from all
+sources has to be balanced against one's impression of the outer man,
+not just what he says but how he talks, the degree of his
+attentiveness, his bearing, his eye, his self-control. The decision is
+made on the basis of all these reckonings. This is common sense in
+action, and the only alternatives to it are to act upon a hunch or
+purely emotional grounds; one might, with better reason, determine
+another man's fortune by the flip of a coin.
+
+Let's see briefly how the method works out in practice.
+
+If the record shows that a man is a bad speller, careless about
+punctuation, not interested in writing, non-experienced at clerkship,
+and something of a rough diamond in his nature, he would be a bad bet
+for the administrative side, or in supply work, or in a communications
+role, though with a little polishing, and provided that he seems
+self-assured and is what we would call a "likeable" man, he might
+become a capital leader of a tactical group.
+
+On the other hand, the man who says he had tried in vain to develop a
+manual skill, but has always been clumsy with his hands, and is
+supported in what he says by the records of his service, isn't
+necessarily excluded from becoming a good weapons or demolitions man,
+if he seems strong in body and nerve, though he would hardly do for a
+mechanic's berth, or a carpenter's assistant or as a radio repairman.
+Weapons and demolitions require strength, carefulness and good sense
+rather than great dexterity.
+
+Take the man who is uncommunicative, or morose or unusually shy. From
+the day that he starts his service, his superiors should do their best
+to help him to change his ways; these ingrown men are roadblocks to
+group cooperation. But if he does not pick up and become outgiving, he
+hasn't the quality of a junior leader and there is no point in wasting
+space by sending him to any school or course out of which it would be
+expected that duties as an instructor would devolve upon him.
+
+However, there is one word of extreme caution on this point. For as
+long as 6 months after entering service, some men are under abnormal
+constraint because they are in a new element, and feel a little
+frightened inside. Whether this is the case is to be judged best by
+getting full information on the man. If the record shows that he had
+led his class in college, managed an athletic team, headed a debating
+team in high school, been the main wheel in a boy's club or a Scout
+troop, or led any kind of group, this is to be taken as a sign that
+the potential is there and that he is a sleeper. The most common error
+made in the services is that we are prone to underscore that a man was
+a lieutenant in a cadet company while taking no note of the file who
+had greater prestige in other activities because of his natural
+qualities as a leader.
+
+These are only a few average samples of personnel handling, and of
+elementary reasoning. As Mother Goose might say, if the list had been
+longer, the case still wouldn't have been stronger. Far more
+profitably, we can dig a little deeper into the subject of principles.
+
+In two senses, every decision as to the placing of men in the armed
+service is a moral decision, and therein it differs from average
+civilian responsibility. What is best for the man has always to be
+measured against the ultimate security and fighting objects of the
+establishment.
+
+For example, it is dead wrong, even in time of peace, to commit
+tactical leadership to the hands of the man whose moral force clearly
+falls short of what is required on the field of war, no matter how
+congenial he may be. And it is just as wrong to let a blabbermouth
+work his way into security channels, even though the hour is such that
+he can do no immediate harm.
+
+What importance should be attached to a man's estimate of his own
+capabilities? It is always pertinent, but it is by no means decisive.
+This is so for two reasons, the first being that the majority of men
+tend to over-sell themselves on the thing they like to do, and the
+second, that very few men know their own dimensions. Almost
+consciously, men resist the thing that they do not know, because of
+premonitory fears of failure. When the Armored Force School was first
+organized in 1941, a private from a unit stationed in Georgia was
+arbitrarily assigned to take the radio course. He protested, saying
+that he did not like anything about the field and therefore had no
+talent for it. But his commander sent him along. Within 1 week after
+arriving at Fort Knox, he was operating at a faster rate than any man
+in the history of the Army. Every service could tell stories of this
+kind; they are not miracles; they are regular features of the daily
+show.
+
+At the same time, the man who volunteers for a particular line of
+duty--especially if it is a hard duty--already has one mark in his
+favor. The fact that he wants to do it is one-half of success. Before
+turning him down, there must be a substantially clear showing that he
+lacks the main qualifications. It must be a _compelling_ reason,
+rather than the overweening excuse that it is more convenient to keep
+him where he is. In any case, he should be thanked for coming forward,
+and earmarked as a good prospect for the next likely opening.
+
+There is a slack saying in the services that "the good man never
+volunteers." That is an outright canard. The best men still do.
+
+In job placement, mistakes are inevitable. Any authority in this work
+will say so. Every experienced man who has had conspicuous success in
+picking the right men, and in getting scores of individuals started up
+the right ladder, will also shudder a little as he recalls his
+particularly atrocious blunders. Outward appearances are so greatly
+deceiving! The prior estimates placed on men are so frequently highly
+colored or outright dishonest!
+
+As to the making of mistakes, it is just not enough to comment that
+they have value, provided one has sufficient breadth to learn from
+hard experience. What is vastly more important is that the mistake,
+once made, will not be needlessly compounded. That is a normal, human
+temptation. The attitude, "I don't care if he is a chump; he's my
+chump," has nothing in its favor. Yet it becomes a point of pride in
+some men that they will not admit their judgments are fallible.
+Consequently, having chosen the wrong man for a given responsibility,
+they will sustain him there, come hell or high water, rather than make
+public acknowledgement of error.
+
+With what result? Mainly this, that for the sake of the point, they
+win, with it, the contempt of their other subordinates. For there is
+something very childish about this form of weakness, though it is a
+failing not unknown in many men otherwise qualified for high
+responsibility. To put it plainly, _no man_ has the moral right to
+suffer this upon any organization he is professing to serve.
+
+The advice of one's subordinates, as to the placement and promotion of
+men with whom they are in close contact, is not to be followed
+undeviatingly. Men play favorites: they will sometimes back an
+individual for no better reason than that they "like the guy." Too,
+each small group leader, even the best one, will work to advance the
+interests of his own men, because so doing is part of his own buildup.
+Unless decisions are made from a central point of view, the
+subordinate who talks the most convincingly will get an extra portion
+of favor for his men, and jealousies will wrack the organization.
+
+There is one last point. No officer can progress in fitting men to
+jobs except as he becomes better informed about job requirements. This
+is an essential part of his education. There is no administrative
+technique which is separate and apart from knowledge of how basic work
+is performed in the fields which have to be administered. A great many
+officers resist this truth, but it is nonetheless valid.
+
+What is eternally surprising in the fighting services is how the
+aggressive questing for knowledge continues to pay large dividends,
+and leads, in the average case, to a general forgiveness of one's
+little sins and vices.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
+
+AMERICANS IN COMBAT
+
+
+The command and control of men in combat _can_ be mastered by the
+junior leaders of American forces short of actual experience under
+enemy fire.
+
+It is altogether possible for a young officer his first time in battle
+to be in total possession of his faculties and moving by instinct to
+do the right thing, provided that he has made the most of his training
+opportunities.
+
+Exercise in the maneuvering of men is only an elementary introduction
+to this educational process. The basic requirement is a continuing
+study, first of the nature of men, second of the techniques which
+produce unified action, and last, of the history of past operations,
+which are covered by an abundant literature.
+
+Provided always that this collateral study is sedulously carried
+forward by the individual officer, at least 90 percent of all that is
+given him during the training period becomes applicable to his
+personal action and his power to lead other men when under fire.
+
+Each service has its separate character. The fighting problem of each
+differs in some measure from those of all others. In the nature of
+things, the task of successfully leading men in battle is partly
+conditioned by the unique character and mission of each service.
+
+It would therefore be gratuitous, and indeed impossible, to attempt to
+outline a doctrine which would be of general application, stipulating
+methods, techniques, etc., which would apply to all Americans in
+combat, no matter in what element they engaged.
+
+There are, however, a few simple and fundamental propositions to which
+the Armed Services subscribe in saying to the officer corps what may
+be expected of the average man of the United States under the
+conditions of battle. Generally speaking, they have held true of
+Americans in times past from Lexington to Okinawa. The fighting
+establishment builds its discipline, training, code of conduct and
+public policy around these ideas, believing that what served yesterday
+will also be the one best way tomorrow, and for so long as our
+traditions and our system of freedoms survive. These propositions are:
+
+I
+
+When led with courage and intelligence, an American will fight as
+willingly and as efficiently as any fighter in world history.
+
+II
+
+His keenness and endurance in war will be in proportion to the zeal
+and inspiration of his leadership.
+
+III
+
+He is resourceful and imaginative, and the best results will always
+flow from encouraging him to use his brain along with his spirit.
+
+IV
+
+Under combat conditions he will reserve his greatest loyalty for the
+officer who is most resourceful in the tactical employment of his
+forces and most careful to avoid unnecessary losses.
+
+V
+
+He is to a certain extent machine-bound because the nature of our
+civilization has made him so. In an emergency, he tends to look around
+for a motor car, a radio or some other gadget that will facilitate his
+purpose, instead of thinking about using his muscle power toward the
+given end. In combat, this is a weakness which thwarts contact and
+limits communications. Therefore it needs to be anticipated and
+guarded against.
+
+VI
+
+War does not require that the American be brutalized or bullied in any
+measure whatever. His need is an alert mind and a toughened body. Hate
+and bloodlust are not the attributes of a sound training under the
+American system. To develop clearly a line of duty is sufficient to
+point Americans toward the doing of it.
+
+VII
+
+Except on a Hollywood lot, there is no such thing as an American
+fighter "type." Our best men come in all colors, shapes, and sizes.
+They appear from every section of the Nation, including the
+territories.
+
+VIII
+
+Presupposing soundness in their officer leadership, the majority of
+Americans in any group or unit can be depended upon to fight loyally
+and obediently, and will give a good account of themselves.
+
+IX
+
+In battle, Americans do not tend to fluctuate between emotional
+extremes, in complete dejection one day and in exultation the next,
+according to changes in the situation. They continue, on the whole, on
+a fairly even keel, when the going is tough and when things are
+breaking their way. Even when heavily shocked by battle losses, they
+tend to bound back quickly. Though their griping is incessant, their
+natural outlook is on the optimistic side, and they react unfavorably
+to the officer who looks eternally on the dark side.
+
+X
+
+During battle, American officers are not expected either to drive
+their men or to be forever in the van, as if praying to be shot. So
+long as they are with their men, taking the same chances as their men,
+and showing a firm grasp of the situation and of the line of action
+which should be followed, the men will go forward.
+
+XI
+
+In any situation of extreme pressure, or moral exhaustion, where men
+cannot otherwise be rallied and led forward, officers are expected to
+do the actual physical act of leading, such as performing as first
+scout, or point, even though this means taking over what normally
+would be an enlisted man's function.
+
+XII
+
+The normal, gregarious American is not at his best when playing a
+lone-handed or tactically isolated part in battle. He is not a
+kamikaze or a one-man torpedo. Consequently, the best tactical
+results obtain from those dispositions and methods which link the
+power of one man to that of another. Men who feel strange with their
+unit, having been carelessly received by it, and indifferently
+handled, will rarely, if ever, fight strongly and courageously. But if
+treated with common decency and respect, they will perform like men.
+
+XIII
+
+Within our school of military thought, higher authority does not
+consider itself infallible. Either in combat or out, in any situation
+where a majority of militarily-trained Americans become undutiful,
+that is sufficient reason for higher authority to resurvey its own
+judgments, disciplines and line of action.
+
+XIV
+
+To lie to American troops to cover up a blunder in combat rarely
+serves any valid purpose. They have a good sense of combat and an
+uncanny instinct for ferreting out the truth when anything goes wrong
+tactically. They will excuse mistakes but they will not forgive being
+treated like children.
+
+XV
+
+When spit-and-polish are laid on so heavily that they become onerous,
+and the ranks cannot see any legitimate connection between the
+requirements and the development of an attitude which will serve a
+clear fighting purpose, it is to be questioned that the exactions
+serve any good object whatever.
+
+XVI
+
+On the other hand, because standards of discipline and courtesy are
+designed for the express purpose of furthering control under the
+extraordinary frictions and pressures of the battlefield, their
+maintenance under combat conditions is as necessary as during
+training. Smartness and respect are the marks of military alertness,
+no matter how trying the circumstances. But courtesy starts at the
+top, in the dealing of any officer with his subordinates, and in his
+decent regard for their loyalty, intelligence, and manhood.
+
+XVII
+
+Though Americans enjoy relatively a bountiful, and even luxurious
+standard of living in their home environment, they do not have to be
+pampered, spoon-fed and surfeited with every comfort and convenience
+to keep them steadfast and devoted, once war comes. They are by nature
+rugged men, and in the field will respond most perfectly when called
+on to play a rugged part. Soft handling will soften even the best men.
+But even the weak man will develop a new vigor and confidence in the
+face of necessary hardship, if moved by a leadership which is
+courageously making the best of a bad situation.
+
+XVIII
+
+Extravagance and wastefulness is somewhat rooted in the American
+character, because of our mode of life. When our men enter military
+service, there is a strong holdover of their prodigal civilian habits.
+Even under fighting conditions, they tend to be wasteful of drinking
+water, food, munitionment and other vital supply. When such things are
+made _too_ accessible, they tend to throw them away, rather than to
+conserve them in the general interests. This is a distinct weakness
+during combat, when conservation of all supply is the touchstone of
+success. The regulating of all supply, and the preventing of waste in
+any form, is the prime obligation of every officer.
+
+XIX
+
+Under the conditions of battle, any extra work, exercise, maneuver or
+_marching which does not serve a clear and direct operational purpose_
+is unjustifiable. The supreme object is to keep men as physically
+fresh and mentally alert as possible. Tired men take fright and are
+half-whipped before the battle opens. Worn-out officers cannot make
+clear decisions. The conservation of men's powers, not the exhaustion
+thereof, is the way of successful operation.
+
+XX
+
+When forces are committed to combat, it is vital that not one
+unnecessary pound be put on any man's back. Lightness of foot is the
+key to speed of movement and the increase of firepower. In judging of
+these things, every officer's thought should be on the optimistic
+side. It is better to take the chance that men will manage to get by
+on a little less than to overload them, through an over-cautious
+reckoning of every possible contingency, thereby destroying their
+power to do anything effectively.
+
+XXI
+
+Even a thorough training and long practice in weapons handling will
+not always insure that a majority of men will use their weapons freely
+and consistently when engaging the enemy. This is particularly true of
+Americans. In youth they are taught that the taking of human life is
+wrong. This feeling is deep-rooted in their emotions. Many of them
+cannot shake it off when the hour comes that their own lives are in
+danger. They fail to fire, though they do not know exactly why. In
+war, firing at an enemy target can be made a habit. Once required to
+make the start, because he is given personal and intelligent
+direction, any man will find it easier to fire the second and third
+time, and soon thereafter his response will become automatic in any
+tactical situation. When engaging the enemy, the most decisive task of
+all junior leaders is to make certain that _all_ men along the line
+are employing their weapons, even if this means spending some time
+with each man and directing his fire. Reconnaissance and inspection
+toward this end, particularly in the early stages of initial
+engagement, are far more important than the employment of weapons by
+junior leaders themselves, since this latter tends to distract their
+attention from what the men are doing.
+
+XXII
+
+Unity of action develops from fullness of information. In combat, all
+ranks have to know what is being done, and why it is being done, if
+confusion is to be kept to a minimum. This holds true in all types of
+operation, whatever the service. However, a surfeit of information
+clouds the mind and may sometimes depress the spirit. We can take one
+example. A commander might be confronted by a complex situation, and
+his solution may comprise a continuing operation in three distinct
+phases. It would be advisable that all hands be told the complete
+detail of "phase A." But it might be equally sensible that only his
+subordinates who are closest to him be made fully informed about
+"phase B," and "phase C." All plans in combat are subject to
+modification as circumstances dictate; this being the case, it is
+better not to muddle men by filling their minds with a seeming
+conflict in ideas. More important still, if the grand object seems too
+vast and formidable, even the first step toward it may appear doubly
+difficult. Fullness of information does not void the other principle
+that one thing at a time, carefully organized all down the line, is
+the surest way.
+
+XXIII
+
+There is no excuse for malingering or cowardice during battle. It is
+the task of leadership to stop it, by whatever means would seem to be
+the surest cure, always making certain that in so doing it will not
+make a bad matter worse.
+
+XXIV
+
+The Armed Services recognize that there are occasional individuals
+whose nervous and spiritual makeup may be such that, though they erode
+rapidly and may suffer complete breakdown under combat conditions,
+they still may be wholly loyal and conscientious men, capable of doing
+high duty elsewhere. Men are not alike. In some, however willing the
+spirit, the flesh may still be weak. To punish, degrade or in any way
+humiliate such men is not more cruel than ignorant. When the good
+faith of any individual has been repeatedly demonstrated in his
+earlier service, he deserves the benefit of the doubt from his
+superior, pending study of his case by medical authority. But if the
+man has been a bad actor consistently, his officer is warranted in
+proceeding on the assumption that his combat failure is just one more
+grave moral dereliction. To fail to take proper action against such a
+man can only work unusual hardship on the majority trying to do duty.
+
+XXV
+
+The United States abides by the laws of war. Its armed forces, in
+their dealing with all other peoples, are expected to comply with the
+laws of war, in the spirit and to the letter. In waging war, we do not
+terrorize helpless non-combatants, if it is within our power to avoid
+so doing. Wanton killing, torture, cruelty or the working of unusual
+and unnecessary hardship on enemy prisoners or populations is not
+justified in any circumstance. Likewise, respect for the reign of law,
+_as that term is understood in the United States_, is expected to
+follow the flag wherever it goes. Pillaging, looting and other
+excesses are as unmoral where Americans are operating under military
+law as when they are living together under the civil code. None the
+less, some men in the American services will loot and destroy
+property, unless they are restrained by fear of punishment. War looses
+violence and disorder; it inflames passions and makes it relatively
+easy for the individual to get away with unlawful actions. But it does
+not lessen the gravity of his offense or make it less necessary that
+constituted authority put him down. The main safeguard against
+lawlessness and hooliganism in any armed body is the integrity of its
+officers. When men know that their commander is absolutely opposed to
+such excesses, and will take forceful action to repress any breach of
+discipline, they will conform. But when an officer winks at any
+depradation by his men, it is no different than if he had committed
+the act.
+
+XXVI
+
+On the field of sport Americans always "talk it up" to keep nerves
+steady and to generate confidence. The need is even greater on the
+field of war, and the same treatment will have no less effect. When
+men are afraid, they go silent; silence of itself further intensifies
+their fear. The resumption of speech is the beginning of thoughtful,
+collected action, for self-evidently, two or more men cannot join
+strength and work intelligently together until they know one another's
+thoughts. _Consequently, all training is an exercise in getting men to
+open up and become articulate even as it is a process in conditioning
+them physically to move strongly and together._
+
+XXVII
+
+Inspection is more important in the face of the enemy than during
+training because a fouled piece may mean a lost battle, an overlooked
+sick man may infect a fortress and a mislaid message can cost a war.
+In virtue of his position, every junior leader is an inspector, and
+the obligation to make certain that his force at all times is
+inspection proof is unremitting.
+
+XXVIII
+
+In battle crisis, a majority of Americans present will respond to any
+man who has the will and the brains to give them a clear, intelligent
+order. They will follow the lowest-ranking man present if he obviously
+knows what he is doing and is morally the master of the situation, but
+they will not obey a chuckle-head if he has nothing in his favor but
+his rank.
+
+XXIX
+
+In any action in which the several services are joined, any American
+officer may expect the same measure of respect from the ranks of any
+other service as from his own, provided he conducts himself with a
+dignity and manner becoming an American officer.
+
+For all officers, due reflection on these points, relating to the
+character of our men in war, is not more important than a continuing
+study of how they may be applied to all aspects of training, toward
+the end that we may further strengthen our own system. This is the
+grand object in all military studies. That service is most perfect
+which best holds itself, at all times and at all levels, in a state of
+readiness to move against and destroy any declared enemy of the United
+States.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX ONE
+
+RECOMMENDED READING
+
+
+    Army Historical Division--Okinawa: The Last Battle, 1949.
+                                       Omaha Beachhead, 1946.
+
+    H. H. Arnold--Global Mission, 1949.
+
+    Basil Bartlett--My First War, 1941.
+
+    William Liscum Borden--There Will Be No Time, 1946.
+
+    David L. Brainard--The Outpost of the Lost, 1929.
+
+    Bernard Brodie--A Guide to Navy Strategy, 1944.
+                    The Absolute Weapon, 1946.
+
+    Vannevar Bush--Modern Arms and Free Men, 1949.
+
+    Winston S. Churchill--The World Crisis, 1931.
+                          The Unknown War, 1931.
+                          The River War, 1933.
+                          Marlborough: His Life and Times, 1933-35.
+                          A Roving Commission, 1939.
+                          The Second World War, 1948--.
+
+    Hugh M. Cole--The Lorraine Campaign, 1950.
+
+    W. F. Craven and J. L. Cate--The Army Air Forces in World War II,
+                                                              1948--.
+
+    Edward S. Creasy--Decisive Battles of the World, 1862.
+
+    James P. S. Devereux--The Story of Wake Island, 1947.
+
+    Giulio Douhet--Command of the Air, 1927.
+
+    Clifford Dowdey--Experiment in Rebellion, 1946.
+
+    Theodore Draper--The Six Weeks' War, 1944.
+
+    Dwight D. Eisenhower--Crusade in Europe, 1948.
+                          Report by the Supreme Commander, 1946.
+
+    George Fielding Eliot--The Ramparts We Watch, 1938.
+                           If Russia Strikes, 1949.
+
+    Charles W. Elliott--Winfield Scott, 1937.
+
+    Cyril Falls--The Nature of Modern Warfare, 1941.
+
+    Ferdinand Foch--The Principles of Warfare, 1913.
+
+    J. F. C. Fuller--Decisive Battles, 1940.
+                     The Generalship of Ulysses S. Grant, 1929.
+                     Armament and History, 1946.
+                     The Second World War, 1948.
+                     Armored Warfare, 1943.
+
+    Douglas F. Freeman--R. E. Lee, 1934.
+
+    William A. Ganoe--History of the United States Army, 1942.
+
+    James M. Gavin--Airborne Warfare, 1947.
+
+    Joseph I. Greene--The Living Thoughts of Clausewitz, 1943.
+
+    Russell Grenfell--The Bismarck Episode, 1949.
+
+    U. S. Grant--Personal Memoirs, 1885.
+
+    Augustin Guillaume--Soviet Arms and Soviet Power, 1949.
+
+    Francis de Guingand--Operation Victory, 1947.
+
+    W. F. Halsey--Admiral Halsey's Story, 1947.
+
+    Gordon A. Harrison--The Cross-Channel Attack, 1950.
+
+    B. H. Liddell Hart--Sherman, 1934.
+                        The Future of Infantry, 1934.
+                        The German Generals Talk, 1949.
+
+    G. F. R. Henderson--Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War,
+                                                                1898.
+                        The Science of War, 1905.
+
+    Pendleton Herring--The Impact of War, 1941.
+
+    R. D. Heinl, Jr.--The Defense of Wake, 1947.
+                      Marines at Midway, 1948.
+
+    John Hersey--Into the Valley, 1943.
+
+    Russell Hill--Desert War, 1942.
+
+    Max von Hoffmann--The War of Lost Opportunities, 1925.
+
+    Ralph Ingersoll--The Battle Is the Pay-Off, 1943.
+
+    Douglas Wilson Johnson--Topography and Strategy in the War, 1917.
+
+    Melvin M. Johnson and Charles T. Haven--Automatic Arms, 1941.
+
+    Walter Karig, Russell L. Harris and Frank A. Manson--Battle Report,
+                                                             1944-1949.
+
+    George C. Kenney--General Kenney Reports, 1949.
+
+    Roger Keyes--Naval Memoirs, 1933.
+
+    Alexiei Kuropatkin--The Russian Army and the Japanese War, 1909.
+
+    Lee J. Levert--Fundamentals of Naval Warfare, 1947.
+
+    Bert Levy--Guerilla Warfare, 1942.
+
+    Charles B. MacDonald--Company Commander, 1947.
+
+    A. T. Mahan--Influence of Seapower Upon History.
+
+    George McMillan--The Old Breed, 1949.
+
+    George C. Marshall--General Marshall's Report, 1946.
+
+    S. L. A. Marshall--Island Victory, 1944.
+                       Bastogne: The First Eight Days, 1946.
+                       Men Against Fire, 1948.
+
+    Giffard Martel--An Outspoken Soldier, 1944.
+
+    Walter Millis--The Last Phase, 1946.
+                   This Is Pearl, 1947.
+
+    John Miller, Jr.--Guadalcanal: The First Offensive, 1949.
+
+    Drew Middleton--Our Share of Night, 1946.
+
+    Samuel Taylor Moore--America and the World War, 1937.
+
+    Samuel Eliot Morison--History of United States Naval Operations in
+                                      World War II (14 vols.), 1947--.
+
+    W. F. P. Napier--History of the War in the Peninsula (6 vols.) 1828.
+
+    James R. Newman--The Tools of War, 1942.
+
+    Frederick Palmer--America in France, 1921.
+                      John J. Pershing, 1921.
+
+    George S. Patton, Jr.--War As I Knew It, 1947.
+
+    Thomas R. Phillips--Roots of Strategy, 1940.
+
+    Frederick Pile--Ack-Ack, 1949.
+
+    Fletcher Pratt--Ordeal by Fire, 1935.
+                    Road to Empire, 1939.
+                    The Marine's War, 1948.
+                    Navy: A History.
+
+    Leonard Rapport and Arthur Northwood--Rendezvous With Destiny, 1948.
+
+    Roland Ruppenthal--Utah Beach to Cherbourg, 1947.
+
+    W. T. Sherman--Memoirs, 1886.
+
+    Robert E. Sherwood--Roosevelt and Hopkins, 1948.
+
+    Milton Shulman--Defeat in the West, 1948.
+
+    Holland M. Smith--Coral and Brass, 1949.
+
+    E. L. Spears--Liaison 1914, 1930.
+                  Prelude to Victory, 1939.
+
+    Joseph W. Stilwell--The Stilwell Papers, 1948.
+
+    Alfred Vagts--The History of Militarism, 1937.
+
+    Yorck von Wartenburg--Napoleon as a General.
+
+    Archibald Wavell--Allenby, 1941.
+                      Generals and Generalship, 1941.
+
+    John W. Wheeler Bennett--The Forgotten Peace, 1939.
+                             Munich: Prologue to Tragedy, 1948.
+
+    Kenneth P. Williams--Lincoln Finds a General, 1949.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ARMED FORCES OFFICER***
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+<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Armed Forces Officer, by U. S. Department
+of Defense</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: The Armed Forces Officer</p>
+<p>       Department of the Army Pamphlet 600-2</p>
+<p>Author: U. S. Department of Defense</p>
+<p>Release Date: May 15, 2008  [eBook #25482]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ARMED FORCES OFFICER***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>E-text prepared by Audrey Longhurst, Chris Logan,<br />
+    and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 321px;">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="321" height="500" alt="Cover" title="Cover" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<h1>THE<br />
+ARMED FORCES<br />
+OFFICER</h1>
+
+<div class="seal" style="width: 150px;">
+<img src="images/seal.png" width="150" height="148" alt="Seal" title="Seal" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="title_dod">DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE</p>
+
+<p class="title_printer">UNITED STATES<br />
+GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE<br />
+WASHINGTON: 1950</p>
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<div id="intro_letter1">
+<h2>OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE<br />
+<span class="location">WASHINGTON</span></h2>
+
+
+<p class="date"><em>November 1950</em></p>
+
+<p><em>This manual on leadership has been prepared for use by the
+Department of Army, the Department of Navy, and the Department
+of Air Force, and is published for the information
+and guidance of all concerned.</em></p>
+
+<div class="signature" style="width: 150px;">
+<img src="images/signature.png" width="150" height="48" alt="G. C. Marshall" title="G. C. Marshall" />
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<div id="intro_letter2">
+<p class="heading">DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY<br />
+<span class="location">Washington 25, D. C.</span>, <em>20 June 1956</em></p>
+
+<p>Department of the Army Pamphlet 600&ndash;2, The Armed
+Forces Officer, is issued for the use of all concerned.</p>
+
+<p class="by_order_of">By Order of <em>Wilber M. Brucker</em>, Secretary of the Army:</p>
+
+<p class="signed"><span class="taylor">MAXWELL D. TAYLOR,</span><br />
+<em>General, United States Army,</em><br />
+<span class="taylor_position"><em>Chief of Staff.</em></span></p>
+
+<p>Official:</p>
+
+<p><span class="klein">JOHN A. KLEIN,</span><br />
+<em>Major General, United States Army,</em><br />
+<span class="klein_position"><em>The Adjutant General.</em></span></p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<h2>THE<br />
+ARMED FORCES<br />
+OFFICER</h2>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<h3><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h3>
+
+<div id="toc">
+
+<table summary="Table of contents">
+<thead>
+<tr>
+  <th>Chapter</th>
+  <th>&nbsp;</th>
+  <th>Page</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_right">I.</td>
+  <td>The Meaning of Your Commission</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#CHAPTER_ONE">1</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_right">II.</td>
+  <td>Forming Military Ideals</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#CHAPTER_TWO">14</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_right">III.</td>
+  <td>Responsibility and Privilege</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#CHAPTER_THREE">25</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_right">IV.</td>
+  <td>Planning Your Career</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#CHAPTER_FOUR">32</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_right">V.</td>
+  <td>Rank and Precedence</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#CHAPTER_FIVE">41</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_right">VI.</td>
+  <td>Customs and Courtesies</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#CHAPTER_SIX">50</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_right">VII.</td>
+  <td>Keeping Your House in Order</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#CHAPTER_SEVEN">63</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_right">VIII.</td>
+  <td>Getting Along With People</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#CHAPTER_EIGHT">69</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_right">IX.</td>
+  <td>Leaders and Leadership</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#CHAPTER_NINE">79</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_right">X.</td>
+  <td>Mainsprings of Leadership</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#CHAPTER_TEN">93</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_right">XI.</td>
+  <td>Human Nature</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#CHAPTER_ELEVEN">99</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_right">XII.</td>
+  <td>Group Nature</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#CHAPTER_TWELVE">110</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_right">XIII.</td>
+  <td>Environment</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#CHAPTER_THIRTEEN">121</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_right">XIV.</td>
+  <td>The Mission</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#CHAPTER_FOURTEEN">131</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_right">XV.</td>
+  <td>Discipline</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#CHAPTER_FIFTEEN">139</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_right">XVI.</td>
+  <td>Morale</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#CHAPTER_SIXTEEN">147</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_right">XVII.</td>
+  <td>Esprit</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#CHAPTER_SEVENTEEN">158</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_right">XVIII.</td>
+  <td>Knowing Your Job</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#CHAPTER_EIGHTEEN">166</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_right">XIX.</td>
+  <td>Knowledge of Your Men</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#CHAPTER_NINETEEN">176</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_right">XX.</td>
+  <td>Writing and Speaking</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#CHAPTER_TWENTY">182</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_right">XXI.</td>
+  <td>The Art of Instruction</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#CHAPTER_TWENTY-ONE">196</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_right">XXII.</td>
+  <td>Your Relationships With Your Men</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#CHAPTER_TWENTY-TWO">206</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_right">XXIII.</td>
+  <td>Your Men's Moral and Physical Welfare</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#CHAPTER_TWENTY-THREE">213</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_right">XXIV.</td>
+  <td>Keeping Your Men Informed</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#CHAPTER_TWENTY-FOUR">222</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_right">XXV.</td>
+  <td>Counseling Your Men</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#CHAPTER_TWENTY-FIVE">228</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_right">XXVI.</td>
+  <td>Using Reward and Punishment</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#CHAPTER_TWENTY-SIX">240</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_right">XXVII.</td>
+  <td>Fitting Men to Jobs</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#CHAPTER_TWENTY-SEVEN">246</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_right">XXVIII.</td>
+  <td>Americans in Combat</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#CHAPTER_TWENTY-EIGHT">255</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <th>Appendix</th>
+  <th>&nbsp;</th>
+  <th>&nbsp;</th>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_right">I.</td>
+  <td>Recommended Reading</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#APPENDIX_ONE">264</a></td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_ONE" id="CHAPTER_ONE"></a><span class="chapter_number">CHAPTER ONE</span><br /><br />
+
+THE MEANING OF YOUR COMMISSION</h3>
+
+
+<p>Upon being commissioned in the Armed Services of the
+United States, a man incurs a lasting obligation to cherish
+and protect his country and to develop within himself that
+capacity and reserve strength which will enable him to serve
+its arms and the welfare of his fellow Americans with increasing
+wisdom, diligence, and patriotic conviction.</p>
+
+<p>This is the meaning of his commission. It is not modified
+by any reason of assignment while in the service, nor is the
+obligation lessened on the day an officer puts the uniform
+aside and returns to civil life. Having been specially chosen
+by the United States to sustain the dignity and integrity of
+its sovereign power, an officer is expected so to maintain
+himself, and so to exert his influence for so long as he may
+live, that he will be recognized as a worthy symbol of all
+that is best in the national character.</p>
+
+<p>In this sense the trust imposed in the highest military commander
+in the land is not more than what is encharged the
+newest ensign or second lieutenant. Nor is it less. It is the fact
+of commission which gives special distinction to the man and
+in turn requires that the measure of his devotion to the service
+of his country be distinctive, as compared with the charge
+laid upon the average citizen.</p>
+
+<p>In the beginning, a man takes an oath to uphold his
+country's Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic,
+to bear true faith and allegiance, and to discharge well
+and faithfully the duties of office. He does this without any
+mental reservation.</p>
+
+<p>Thereafter he is given a paper which says that because the
+President as a representative of the people of this country
+reposes "special trust and confidence" in his "patriotism,
+valor, fidelity, and abilities," he is forthwith commissioned.</p>
+
+<p>By these tokens, the Nation also becomes a party to the con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>tract,
+and will faithfully keep its bond with the man. While
+he continues to serve honorably, it will sustain him and will
+clothe him with its dignity. That it has vouched for him gives
+him a felicitous status in our society. The device he wears, his
+insignia, and even his garments identify him directly with the
+power of the United States. The living standards of himself
+and of his family are underwritten by Federal statute. Should
+he become ill, the Nation will care for him. Should he be
+disabled, it will stand as his guardian through life. Should
+he seek to advance himself through higher studies, it will
+open the way.</p>
+
+<p>Other than the officer corps, there is no group within our
+society toward which the obligation of the Nation is more
+fully expressed. Even so, other Americans regard this fact
+with pride, rather than with envy. They accept the principle
+that some unusual advantage should attend exceptional and
+unremitting responsibility. Whatever path an American officer
+may walk, he enjoys prestige. Though little is known of his
+intrinsic merit, he will be given the respect of his fellow
+citizens, unless he proves himself utterly undeserving.</p>
+
+<p>This national esteem for the corps is one of the priceless
+assets of American security. The services themselves so recognize
+it. That they place such strong emphasis upon the importance
+of personal honor among officers is because they
+know that the future of our arms and the well-being of our
+people depend upon a constant renewing and strengthening
+of public faith in the virtue of the corps. Were this to
+languish, the Nation would be loath to commit its sons to
+any military endeavor, no matter how grave the emergency.</p>
+
+<p>The works of goodwill by which those who lead the national
+military forces endeavor to win the unreserved trust of the
+American people is one of the chief preservatives of the
+American system of freedoms. The character of the corps is in
+a most direct sense a final safeguard of the character of the
+Nation.</p>
+
+<p>To these thoughts any officer who is morally deserving of
+his commission would freely subscribe. He will look beyond<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>
+the letter of his obligation and will accept in his own heart
+the total implications of his new responsibility.</p>
+
+<p>So doing, he still might see fit to ask: "But to what do I
+turn my thoughts? How do I hold myself so that while following
+the line of duty, I will also exemplify those ideals
+which may inspire other men to make their best effort?"</p>
+
+<p>It is suggested that there is a one-word key to the answer
+among the four lofty qualities which are cited on every man's
+commission.</p>
+
+<p>That word is <em>Fidelity</em>.</p>
+
+<p>As for patriotism, either a man loves his country or else he
+would not seek commission at its hands, unless he be completely
+the rascal, pretending to serve in order to destroy.</p>
+
+<p>Valor, on the other hand, can not be fully vouchsafed, since
+it is not given to any man to know the nature and depth of his
+personal courage.</p>
+
+<p>Abilities vary from man to man, and are partly what heredity
+and environment have made them. If nature had not imposed
+a ceiling, mere striving would make every man a genius.</p>
+
+<p>But Fidelity is the derivative of personal decision. It is the
+jewel within reach of every man who has the will to possess it.</p>
+
+<p>Given an officer corps composed throughout of men who
+would make the eternal try toward bettering their professional
+capacities and furthering the working efficiency and harmony
+within all forces, the United States would become thrice-armed
+though not producing one new weapon in its arsenals.</p>
+
+<p>Great faith, rightness of mind, influence over other men,
+and finally, personal success and satisfaction come of service
+to the ideals of the profession. Were these strengths reflected
+throughout the officer body, it could well happen that because
+of the shining example, the American people would
+become more deeply conscious of the need to keep their own
+fibers strong than has been their disposition throughout
+history.</p>
+
+<p>Accepting these truths as valid, a man still must know
+where he stands before making a true reckoning of his line
+of advance. This entails some consideration of himself (<em>a</em>) as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>
+to the personal standard which is required of him because
+of his position in relation to all others (<em>b</em>) as to the reasons
+in common sense which make this requirement, and (<em>c</em>) as
+to the principles and philosophy which will enable him to
+play his part well.</p>
+
+<p>The military officer is considered a gentleman, not because
+Congress wills it, nor because it has been the custom of
+people in all times to afford him that courtesy, but specifically
+because nothing less than a gentleman is truly suited for his
+particular set of responsibilities.</p>
+
+<p>This is not simply a bit of self-adulation; it is distinctly the
+American tradition in the matter. The Nation has never attempted
+to draw its officers from a particular class. During
+World War II, thousands of men were commissioned in our
+forces who had enjoyed little opportunity in their earlier environments.
+They were sound men by nature. They had courage.
+They could set a good example. They could rally other men
+around them. In the eyes of the services, these things count
+more than any man's blood lines. We say with Voltaire, "Whoever
+serves his country well has no need of ancestors."</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, from the time of the Colonies, this
+country has despised press gangs, floggings, martinetism, and
+all of the other Old World military practices which demeaned
+the rank and file. Its military system was founded on the
+dignity of man, just as was its Constitution. The system has
+sought ever since to advance itself by appealing to the higher
+nature of the individual. That is why its officers need to be
+gentlemen. To call forth great loyalty in other people and to
+harness it to any noble undertaking, one must first be sensible
+of their finer instincts and feelings. Certainly these things
+at least are among the gentle qualities which are desired in
+every military officer of the United States:</p>
+
+
+<ol>
+<li>Strong belief in human rights.</li>
+
+<li>Respect for the dignity of every other person.</li>
+
+<li>The Golden Rule attitude toward one's daily associates.</li>
+
+<li><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>An abiding interest in all aspects of human welfare.</li>
+
+<li>A willingness to deal with every man as considerately
+as if he were a blood relative.</li>
+</ol>
+
+<p>These qualities are the epitome of strength, not of softness.
+They mark the man who is capable of pursuing a great purpose
+consistently in spite of temptations. He who possesses
+them will all the more surely be regarded as a "man among
+men." Take any crowd of new recruits! The greater number
+of them during their first few days in service will use more
+profanity and obscenity, talk more about women and boast
+more about drinking than they have ever done in their lives,
+because of the mistaken idea that this is the quick way to get
+a reputation for being hard-boiled. But at the same time,
+the one or two men among them who stay decent, talk moderately
+and walk the line of duty will uniquely receive the infinite
+respect of the others. It never fails to happen!</p>
+
+<p>There is the other matter about how a man should feel
+toward his own profession. Simply to accept the fact that the
+bearing of arms is a highly honorable calling because the book
+says so should not suffice one's own interest in the matter, when
+a little personal reflection will reveal wherein the honor resides.</p>
+
+<p>To every officer who has thought earnestly about the business,
+it is at once apparent that civilization, as men have known it
+since the time of the Greek City States, has rested as a pyramid
+upon a base of organized military power. Moreover, the general
+possibility of world cultural progress in the foreseeable future
+has no other conceivable foundation. For any military man to
+deny, on any ground whatever, the role which his profession
+has played in the establishment of everything which is well-ordered
+in our society, shows only a faulty understanding of
+history. It made possible the birth of the American system of
+freedoms. Later, it gave the nation a new birth and vouchsafed
+a more perfect union.</p>
+
+<p>Likewise, we need to see the case in its present terms. One
+may abhor war fully, despise militarism absolutely, deplore all
+of the impulses in human nature which make armed force
+necessary, and still agree that for the world as we know it, the
+main hope is that "peace-loving nations can be made obviously<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>
+capable of defeating nations which are willing to wage aggressive
+war." Those words, by the way, were not said by a
+warrior, but by the eminent pacifist, Bertrand Russell. It does
+not make the military man any less the humanitarian that he
+accepts this reality, that he faces toward the chance forthrightly,
+and that he believes that if all military power were
+stricken tomorrow, men would revert to a state of anarchy and
+there would ensue the total defeat of the forces which are
+trying to establish peace and brotherly love in our lives.</p>
+
+<p>The complete identity of American military forces with the
+character of the people comes of this indivisibility of interest.
+To think of the military as a guardian class apart, like Lynkeus
+"born for vision, ordained for watching," rather than as a
+strong right arm, corporately joined to the body and sharing its
+every function, is historically false and politically inaccurate. It
+is not unusual, however, for those whose task it is to interpret
+the trend of opinion to take the line that "the military" are
+thinking one way and "the people" quite another on some
+particular issue, as if to imply that the two are quite separate
+and of different nature. This is usually false in detail, and
+always false in general. It not only discounts the objects of their
+unity but overlooks the truth of its origins.</p>
+
+<p>Maybe they should be invited to go to the root of the word.
+The true meaning of "populus," from which we get the word
+"people," was in the time of ancient Rome the "armed body."
+The pure-blooded Roman in the days of the Republic could not
+conceive of a citizen who was not a warrior. It was the arms
+which a Roman's possession of land enabled him to get that
+qualified him to participate in the affairs of state. He had no
+political rights until he had fought. <em>He was not of the people;
+they were of him!</em> Nor is this concept alien to the ideals on
+which the Founding Fathers built the American system, since
+they stated it as the right and duty of every able-bodied citizen
+to bear arms.</p>
+
+<p>These propositions should mean much to every American who
+has chosen the military profession. A main point is that on
+becoming an officer a man does not renounce any part of his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>
+fundamental character as an American citizen. He has simply
+signed on for the post graduate course where one learns how
+to exercise authority in accordance with the spirit of liberty.
+The nature of his trusteeship has been subtly expressed by an
+Admiral in our service: "The American philosophy places the
+individual above the state. It distrusts personal power and
+coercion. It denies the existence of indispensable men. It asserts
+the supremacy of principle."</p>
+
+<p>An understanding of American principles of life and growth,
+and personal zeal in upholding them, is the bedrock of sound
+leading in our services. Moral and emotional stability are expected
+of an American officer; he can usually satisfy his superiors
+if he attains to this equilibrium. But he is not likely to
+satisfy himself unless he can also achieve that maturity of
+character which expresses itself in the ability to make decisions
+in detachment of spirit from that which is pleasant or unpleasant
+to him personally, in the desire to hold onto things
+not by grasping them but by understanding them and remembering
+them, and in learning to covet only that which may be
+rightfully possessed.</p>
+
+<p>An occasional man has become wealthy while in the services
+by making wise investments, through writings, by skill at invention,
+or through some other means. But he is the exception.
+The majority have no such prospect. Indeed, if love of money
+were the mainspring of all American action, the officer corps
+long since would have disintegrated. But it is well said that the
+only truly happy people on earth are those who are indifferent
+to money because they have some positive purpose which forecloses
+it. Than the service, there is no other environment which
+is more conducive to the leading of the full life by the individual
+who is ready to accept the word of the philosopher that
+the only security on earth is the willingness to accept insecurity
+as an inevitable part of living. Once an officer has made this
+passage into maturity, and is at peace with himself because the
+service means more to him than all else, he will find kinship
+with the great body of his brothers-in-arms. The highest possible
+consequence can develop from the feelings of men mutually<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>
+inspired by some great endeavor and moving forward together
+according to the principle that only those who are willing to
+serve are fit to lead. Completely immersed in action, they have
+no time for smallness in speech, thought or deed. It is for these
+reasons that those who in times past have excelled in the leadership
+of American forces have invariably been great Americans
+first and superior officers second. The rule applies at all levels.
+The lieutenant who is not moved at the thought that he is
+serving his country is unlikely to do an intelligent job of directing
+other men. He will come apart at the seams whenever the
+going grows tough. Until men accept this thought freely, and
+apply it to their personal action, it is not possible for them to go
+forward together strongly. In the words of Lionel Curtis: "The
+only force that unites men is conscience, a varying capacity in
+most of them to put the interests of other people before their
+own."</p>
+
+<p>The services are accustomed to being hammered. Like other
+human institutions, they are imperfect. Therefore the criticisms
+are not always unjust. Further, there is no more reason why the
+services should be immune to attack than any other organic
+part of our society and government.</p>
+
+<p>The service officer is charged only to take a lively interest in
+all such discussions. He has no more right to condemn the
+service unfairly than has any other American. On the other
+hand he is not expected to be an intellectual eunuch, oblivious
+to all of the faults in the institution to which he gives his
+loyalty. To the contrary, the nature of that loyalty requires that
+he will use his force toward the righting of those things which
+reason convinces him are going wrong, though making certain
+that his action will not do more damage than repair.</p>
+
+<p>His ultimate commanding loyalty at all times is to his country,
+and not to his service or his superior. He owes it to his country
+to speak the truth as he sees it. This implies a steadying judgment
+as to when it should be spoken, and to whom it should be
+addressed. A truth need not only be well-rounded, but the
+utterance of it should be cognizant of the stresses and objectives
+of the hour. Truth becomes falsehood unless it has the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>
+strength of perspective. The presentation of facts is self-justifying
+only when the facts are developed in their true proportion.</p>
+
+<p>Where there is public criticism of the services, in matters both
+large and small, the service officer has the right and the duty of
+intervention only toward the end of making possible that all
+criticism will be well-informed. That right can not be properly
+exercised when there is nothing behind it but a defense of professional
+pride. The duty can be well performed when the officer
+knows not only his subject&mdash;the mechanism itself&mdash;but
+the history and philosophy of the armed services in their relation
+to the development of the American system. Criticism from
+the outside is essential to service well-being, for as Confucius
+said, oftentimes men in the game are blind to what the lookers
+on see clearly.</p>
+
+<p>The value of any officer's opinion of any military question
+can never be any greater than the extent and accuracy of his
+information. His ability to dispose public thought favorably
+toward the service will depend upon the wisdom of his words
+rather than upon his military rank and other credentials. A false
+idea will come upon a bad fate even though it has the backing
+of the highest authority.</p>
+
+<p>Only men of informed mind and unprejudiced expression can
+strengthen the claim of the services on the affections of the
+American people.</p>
+
+<p>This is, of itself, a major objective for the officer corps, since
+our public has little studious interest in military affairs, tends
+ever to discount the vitality of the military role in the progress
+and prosperity of the nation and regards the security problem
+as one of the less pleasant and abnormal burdens on an otherwise
+orderly existence.</p>
+
+<p>It is an explicable contradiction of the American birthright
+that to some of our people the military establishment is at best a
+necessary evil, and military service is an extraordinary hardship
+rather than an inherent obligation. Yet these illusions are rooted
+deep in the American tradition, though it is a fact to be noted
+not without hope that we are growing wiser as we move
+along. In the years which followed the American Revolution,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>
+the new union of States tried to eliminate military forces altogether.
+There was vast confusion of thought as to what freedom
+required for its own survival. Thomas Jefferson, one of the
+great architects of democracy, and still renowned for his "isolationist"
+sentiments, wrote the warning: "We must train and
+classify the whole of our male citizens, and make military instruction
+a regular part of collegiate education. We can never be
+safe until this is done."</p>
+
+<p>None the less, the hour came when the standing Army was reduced
+to 80 men. None the less, the quaint notion has survived
+that an enlightened interest in military affairs is somehow undemocratic.
+And none the less, recurring war has invariably
+found the United States inadequately prepared for the defense
+of its own territory.</p>
+
+<p>Because there has been a holdover of these mistaken sentiments
+right down to the present, there persists in many military
+officers a defensive attitude toward their own profession which
+has no practical relation to the strength of the ground on which
+they are enabled to stand. Toward any unfair and flippant criticism
+of the "military mind" they react with resentment, instead
+of with buoyant proof that their own minds are more plastic
+and more receptive to national ideals than those of any other
+profession. Where they should approach all problems of the
+national security with the zeal of the missionary, seeking and
+giving light, they treat this subject as if it were a private game
+preserve.</p>
+
+<p>It suffices to say of this minority that they are a barnacle on
+the hull of an otherwise staunch vessel. From such limited concepts
+of personal responsibility, there can not fail to develop a
+foreshortened view of the dignity of the task at hand. The note
+of apology is injected at the wrong time; the tone of belligerency
+is used when it serves no purpose. When someone arises within
+the halls of government to say that the military establishment
+is "uneconomic" because it cuts no bricks, bales no hay and
+produces nothing which can be vended in the market places, it
+is not unusual to hear some military men concur in this strange
+notion. That acquiescence is wholly unbecoming.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>The physician is not slurred as belonging to a nonproductive
+profession because he contributes only to the care and healing
+of the body, and through these things to the general well-being
+of society. Respect for formal education, organized religion
+and all of the enterprises built up around the dissemination
+of ideas is not the less because the resultant benefit to
+society is not always tangible and saleable. Hence to say that
+that without which society could not endure in its present form
+is "uneconomic" is to make the word itself altogether meaningless.</p>
+
+<p>In that inner power of courage and conviction which stems
+from the spiritual integrity of the individual, lies the strength of
+democracy. As to their ability to produce toward these ends, the
+military services can stand on the record. When shortly after
+World War II, a census was taken among the returned men,
+60 percent said that they had been <em>morally strengthened</em> by
+their military service in the American uniform. About 30 percent
+had no opinion or felt that military life had not changed them
+one way or the other. An insignificant minority considered themselves
+damaged. This is an amazing testimony in light of the
+fact that only a small fraction of American youth is schooled to
+believe that any spiritual good can come of military service. As
+to what it signifies, those who take a wholly materialistic view
+of the objects of the Republic are entitled to call the military
+establishment "uneconomic." The services will continue to hold
+with the idea that strong nationhood comes not of the making
+of gadgets but of the building of character.</p>
+
+<p>Men beget goodwill in other men by giving it. They develop
+courage in their following mainly as a reflection of the courage
+which they show in their own action. These two qualities of
+mind and heart are of the essence of sound officership. One is of
+little avail without the other, and either helps to sustain the
+other. As to which is the stronger force in its impact upon the
+masses of men, no truth is more certain than the words once
+written by William James: "Evident though the shortcomings
+of a man may be, if he is ready to give up his life for a cause,
+we forgive him everything. However inferior he may be to our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>selves
+in other respects, if we cling to life while he throws it
+away like a flower, we bow to his superiority."</p>
+
+<p>Theodore Roosevelt once said that if he had a son who refrained
+from any worthwhile action because of the fear of hurt
+to himself, he would disown him. Soon after his return to
+civilian life, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower spoke of the worthwhileness
+of "living dangerously." An officer of the United
+States armed forces can not go far wrong if he holds with
+these ideas. It is not the suitable profession for those who
+believe only in digging-in and nursing a soft snap until death
+comes at a ripe old age. Who risks nothing gains nothing.</p>
+
+<p>Nor should there be any room in it for professional smugness,
+small jealousies, and undue concern about privilege.</p>
+
+<p>The regular recognizes as his peer and comrade the officer
+from any of the civilian components. That he is a professional
+does not give him an especial eminence, but simply a greater
+measure of responsibility for the success of the total establishment.
+Moreover, he can not afford to be patronizing, without
+risking self-embarrassment, such is the vast experience which
+many reservists have had on the active field of war.</p>
+
+<p>Toward services other than his own, any officer is expected to
+have both a comradely feeling and an imaginative interest.
+Any Army officer is a better man for having studied the works
+of Admiral Mahan and familiarized himself with the modern
+Navy from first-hand experience. Those who lead sea-going
+forces can enlarge their own capacities by knowing more, rather
+than less, about the nature of the air and ground establishments.
+The submariner can always learn something useful to his
+own work by mingling with airmen; the airman becomes a
+better officer as he grows in qualified knowledge of ground and
+sea fighting.</p>
+
+<p>But the fact remains that the services are not alike, that no
+wit of man can make them alike, and that the retention by each
+of its separate character, customs and confidence is essential to
+the conserving of our national military power. Unification has
+not altered this basic proposition. The first requirement of a
+unified establishment is moral soundness in each of the integral<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>
+parts, without which there can be no soundness at all. And on
+the question of fundamental loyalty, the officer who loves every
+other service just as much as his own will have just as much
+active virtue as the man who loves other women as much as
+his own wife.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_TWO" id="CHAPTER_TWO"></a><span class="chapter_number">CHAPTER TWO</span><br /><br />
+
+FORMING MILITARY IDEALS</h3>
+
+
+<p>Any stranger making a survey of what Americans are and
+how they get that way would probably see it as a paradox that
+within the armed establishment the inculcation of ideals is considered
+the most vital of all teaching, while in our gentler and
+less rigid institutions, there is steadily less emphasis on this
+subject.</p>
+
+<p>He would be entitled to the explanation that it is not so done
+because this has always been the way of Armies, Navies, and
+other fighting forces, or because it is universal in the military
+establishments of the twentieth century, but because nothing
+else would better suffice the American military system under
+present conditions.</p>
+
+<p>There are two main reasons why.</p>
+
+<p>The first is that we are an altogether unregimented people,
+with a strong belief in the virtues of rugged individualism and
+in the right of the average man to go along about as he pleases,
+so long as he does not do actual injury to society. Voluntary
+group cooperation rather than absolute group loyalty, developing
+from a strong spiritual bond, is the basic technic of
+Americans in their average rounds. It is enough to satisfy the
+social, political and economic needs of a democracy, but in its
+military parts, it would be fatally weak. There would be no
+possibility of achieving an all-compelling unity under conditions
+of utmost pressure if no man felt any higher call to action than
+what was put upon him by purely material considerations.</p>
+
+<p>Military ideals are therefore, as related to this purpose, mainly
+an instrument of national survival. But not altogether so, since
+in the measure that they influence the personal life and conduct
+of millions of men who move in and out of the services, they
+have a regenerative effect upon the spiritual fiber of the Nation
+as a whole.</p>
+
+<p>There is the second and equally important reason that,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>
+whereas wars have sometimes been fought for ideal causes, as
+witness the American Revolution and Civil War, war itself is
+never ideal, and the character of our people is such as to insist
+that from our side, its brutalities be minimized. The barbarian
+who kills for killing's sake and who scorns the laws of war at
+any point is repugnant to the instincts of our people, under
+whatever flag he fights. If we did not have some men of this
+type among us, our penitentiaries would not be filled. The
+ravages which they might commit when all of the barriers are
+down on the battlefield can be prevented only when forces as a
+whole believe that armed power, while not ideal in itself, must
+be made to serve ideal ends.</p>
+
+<p>To speak of ethics in the same breath with war may seem like
+sheer cant and hypocrisy. But in the possibility that those who
+best understand the use and nature of armed power may excel
+all others in stimulating that higher morality which may some
+day restrain war lies a main chance for the future. The Armed
+Services of the United States do not simply do lip service to
+such institutions as United Nations. They encourage their people
+to take a deep personal interest in every legitimate activity
+aimed to bulwark world peace. But while doing this, they keep
+their powder dry.</p>
+
+<p>Military ideals are not different than the ideals which make
+any man sound in himself, and in his relation to others. They
+are called military ideals only because the proving ground is a
+little more rugged in the service than elsewhere. But they are all
+founded in hard military experience; they did not find expression
+because some Admiral got it in his head one day to set an
+unattainable goal for his men, or because some General wished
+to turn a pious face toward the public, professing that his men
+were aspiring to greater virtue than anything the public knew.</p>
+
+<p>The military way is a long, hard road, and it makes extraordinary
+requirements of every individual. In war, particularly,
+it puts stresses upon men such as they have not known elsewhere,
+and the temptation to "get out from under" would be
+irresistible if their spirits had not been tempered to the ordeal.
+If nothing but fear of punishments were depended upon to hold<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>
+men to the line during extreme trial, the result would be wholesale
+mutiny and a situation altogether beyond the control of
+leadership. So it must be true that <em>it is out of the impact of
+ideals mainly that men develop the strength to face situations
+from which it would be normal to run away</em>.</p>
+
+<p>Also, during the normal routine of peace, members of the
+Armed Services are expected to respond to situations that are
+more extensive, more complex, and take longer to reach fulfillment
+than the situations to which the majority of men instinctively
+respond. Even the length of the enlistment period
+looks like a slow march up a 60-mile grade. Promotion is slow,
+duty frequently monotonous. It is all too easy for the individual
+to worry about his own insignificance and to feel that he has
+become lost in the crowd. Under these conditions a man may go
+altogether bad, or simply get lazy and rock with the grain.
+But nothing except a strong belief in the ideals he is serving
+will make him respond to the larger situation and give it his
+best effort. Ideals have the intensely practical end of strengthening
+men for the better discharge of duties which devolve upon
+them in their day-to-day affairs.</p>
+
+<p>What is the main test of human character? Probably it is this:
+that a man will know how to be patient in the midst of hard
+circumstance, and can continue to be personally effective while
+living through whatever discouragements beset him and his
+companions. Moreover, that is what every truly civilized man
+would want in himself during the calmer moments when he
+compares critically what he is inside with what he would like
+to be. That is specifically the reason why the promulgation of
+military ideals is initially a problem in the first person, singular.
+The Armed Services have in one sense a narrow motive in
+turning the thoughts of younger leaders toward a belief in
+ideals. They know that this is a lubricant in the machinery of
+organization and the best way to sweeten the lives of men
+working together in a group toward some worthwhile purpose.
+But there is also a higher object. All experience has taught that
+it is likewise the best way to give the individual man a solid
+foundation for living successfully amid the facts of existence,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>
+irrespective of his situation. The military system of the United
+States is not committed to grinding out warriors <em>per se</em>, but to
+the training of men in such manner that they will be able to
+play a better part anywhere, and will find greater satisfactions
+in what they do. All the time, when the service seeks to emphasize
+to its ranks what is the "right thing to do," it is speaking
+of that course of conduct which in the long run is most
+necessary and useful to the individual.</p>
+
+<p>As to what one man should seek in himself, in order to be
+four-square with his own life and all others who are related to
+his personal situation, it is simple enough to formulate it, and to
+describe what constitutes maturity of character. In fact, that
+can be done without mentioning the words "patriotism" and
+"courage", which traditionally and rightly are viewed as the
+very highest of the military virtues.</p>
+
+<p>No man is truly fit for officership unless in the inner recess of
+his being he can go along with the toast known to every American
+schoolboy: "My country, in her intercourse with other
+nations may she always be in the right! But right or wrong, my
+country!" And he will never do a really good job of supporting
+her standards if, when the clutch comes, he is lacking in intestinal
+fortitude.</p>
+
+<p>But there is this to be said about the nature of courage and
+patriotism, in the same breath that we agree they are essential
+in an officer of the fighting establishment&mdash;neither of these
+qualities of itself carries sufficient conviction, except as it is the
+product of those homelier attributes which give dignity to all
+action, in things both large and small, during the course of
+any average work day.</p>
+
+<p>When Dr. Johnson remarked that patriotism is the last refuge
+of a scoundrel he was not belittling the value of love of country
+as a force in the lives of men, but to the contrary, was
+pointing out that a profession of patriotism, unaccompanied by
+good works, was the mark of a man not to be trusted. In no
+other institution in the land will flag-waving fall as flat as in
+the Armed Services when the ranks know that it is just an act,
+with no sincere commitment to service backing it up. But the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>
+uniformed forces will still respond to the real article with the
+same emotion that they felt at Bunker Hill and Manila Bay.</p>
+
+<p>There is a Civil War story from one of the campaigns against
+Stonewall Jackson in the Valley. A Confederate who had had
+his leg shot away turned on his pallet to regard a Union private
+who had just lost an arm, and said to him, "For what reason
+did you invade us and make all this trouble?" The boy replied
+simply: "For the old flag." That may sound like sentiment from
+a distant past. But turn to the story of Major Devereux and the
+Marine defense of Wake Island. He wrote that the "music"
+had always gone sour, and had invariably broken down when
+he tried to play "The Colors." But on the morning of Pearl
+Harbor, when the flag was raised, the garrison already knew
+that the war was on. And for some reason which no man
+could account for, the bugler rose to the occasion, and for the
+first time, every note came straight and true. Devereux said that
+every throat tightened and every head went higher. Yet Devereux
+was a remarkably unmelodramatic fighting man.</p>
+
+<p>But to get back to those simpler virtues which provide a firm
+foundation for patriotism and may become the fount of courage,
+at least these few things would have to be put among the fundamentals:</p>
+
+
+<ol>
+<li>A man has honor if he holds himself to a course of
+conduct, because of a conviction that it is in the general
+interest, even though he is well aware that it may lead to
+inconvenience, personal loss, humiliation or grave physical
+risk.</li>
+
+<li>He has veracity if, having studied a question to the
+limit of his ability, he says and believes what he thinks to
+be true, even though it would be the path of least resistance
+to deceive others and himself.</li>
+
+<li>He has justice if he acknowledges the interests of all
+concerned in any particular transaction rather than serving
+his own apparent interest.</li>
+
+<li>He has graciousness if he acts and speaks forthrightly,
+agrees warmly, disagrees fairly and respectfully, participates
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>enthusiastically, refrains from harboring grudges, takes his
+reverses in stride, and does not complain or ask for help in
+the face of trifling calamities.</li>
+
+<li>He has integrity if his interest in the good of the
+service is at all times greater than his personal pride, and
+when he holds himself to the same line of duty when unobserved
+as he would follow if all of his superiors were
+present.</li>
+</ol>
+
+<p>The list could be longer, but for the moment, we can let it go
+at that. These standards are not counsels of perfection; thousands
+of officers have adhered to them. But it should be said as
+well that if all leaders at the lower levels in all of the services
+were to conform in the same way, the task of higher command
+would be simplicity itself. The cause of much of the friction in
+the administrative machinery is that at all levels there are individuals
+who insist on standing in their own light. They believe
+that there is some special magic, some quick springboard to
+success; they mistakenly think that it can be won by bootlicking,
+apple-polishing, yessing higher authority, playing office politics,
+throwing weight around, ducking the issues, striving for cheap
+popularity, courting publicity or seeking any and all means of
+grabbing the spotlight.</p>
+
+<p>Any one of this set of tricks may enable a man to carry the
+ball forward a yard or two in some special situation. But at least
+this comment can be made without qualification: Of the men
+who have risen to supreme heights in the fighting establishment
+of the United States, and have had their greatness proclaimed
+by their fellow countrymen, there is not one career which provides
+any warrant for the conclusion that there is a special
+shortcut known only to the smart operators. True enough, a
+few men have gained fairly high rank by dint of what the late
+Mr. Justice Holmes called "the instinct for the jugular"&mdash;a
+feeling for when to jump, where to press and how to slash in
+order to achieve somewhat predatory personal ends. That will
+occasionally happen in any walk of life. But from Washington,
+Wayne, and Jones down to Eisenhower, Vandegrift, and Nimitz,
+the men best loved by the American people for their military
+successes were also men with greatness of soul. In short, they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>
+were idealists, though they likely would have disclaimed that
+label, since it somehow connotes the visionary rather than the
+intensely practical man.</p>
+
+<p>But it isn't necessary to look at the upper brackets of history
+to find the object lesson. The things that any man remembers
+about his own father with love and reverence have to do with
+his forbearance, his charity toward other men, his strength and
+rightness of will and his readiness to contribute of his force to
+the good of other people. Or if not his father, then it may be an
+uncle, a neighbor or one of his schoolmasters.</p>
+
+<p>In one way, however, it illuminates but half the subject to
+reflect that a man has to find purpose in himself before he can
+seek purpose in any of the undertakings of which he is a part
+or in the society of which he is a member. No man is wholly
+sufficient unto himself even though he has been schooled from
+infancy to live according to principles. His character and the
+moral strength from which he gains peace of mind need constantly
+to be replenished by the force of other individuals who
+think and act more or less in tune with him. His ability to remain
+whole, and to bound back from any depression of the
+spirit, depends in some measure on the chance that they will be
+upgrading when he is on the downswing. To read what the
+wisest of the philosophers have written about the formation of
+human character is always a stimulating experience; but it is
+better yet to live next to the man who already possesses what the
+philosophers are talking about. During World War II, there
+were quite a few higher commanders relieved in our forces because
+it was judged, for one reason or another, that they had
+failed in battle. Of the total number, there were a few who
+took a reduction in rank, went willingly to a lower post in a
+fighting command, uttered no complaint, kept their chins up,
+worked courageously and sympathetically with their commands,
+and provided an example of manhood that all who saw them
+will never forget. Though their names need not be mentioned,
+they were imprinted with the real virtue of the services even
+more deeply than many of their colleagues who had no blemishes
+on their records. Their character had met the ultimate test.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>
+The men who had the privilege of working close to them realized
+this and the sublime effect of this personal influence helped
+strengthen the resolve of many others.</p>
+
+<p>Because there is so much at stake in the matter, the services
+cannot depend solely upon such influence as would be exerted
+on their affairs by the occasional idealist, but must work for
+that chain reaction which comes of making the inculcation of
+military ideals one of the cardinal points of a strong, uniting
+inner doctrine. It is altogether necessary that as a body, the
+power of their thought be shaped along ideal lines. The ideal
+object must be held high at all times, even though it is recognized
+that men are not perfect, and that no matter how
+greatly they may aspire, they will occasionally fail. Nor is the
+effort to lead other men to believe in the transcendent importance
+of goodwill made less effective because the leader has a
+conscience about his own weakness, <em>provided he has the good
+sense not to flaunt it</em>. He need not be a paragon of all the
+virtues to set an example which will convince other men that
+his ideas are worth following. No man alive possesses perfect
+virtue, which fact is generally understood. Many an otherwise
+ideal commander is ruthless in his exactions upon his staff;
+many a petty officer, who has won the absolute love of all men
+with whom he served, has found himself in the middle because
+he couldn't think straight about his debts. But these things do
+not lessen the impact upon men of thinking together about
+common ideals and working together toward the fulfillment of
+some high obligation. The pursuit of ideals culminates in the experience
+of mutual growth. If that were not so, men who have
+served the arms of the United States would not continue to have
+a special respect for the uniform, and an extra reverence for the
+flag, for years after they have passed from the service. These
+emotions are not the consequence of habit, but come of having
+known the comradeship of other men whom they loved and
+respected, who shared these same thoughts, and believed in the
+same body of ideals.</p>
+
+<p>Any normal man loves his country and it is natural in him
+to regard highly the symbols through which this affection is ex<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>pressed.
+An American child of kindergarten age already feels an
+emotional attachment for the national emblem. The recruit who
+has just entered upon service can begin to understand that his
+regard for his uniform must be a far different thing than what
+he felt about his civilian dress, since it is identified with the
+dignity of the Nation. His training in military ideals starts at
+this point, and for the main part is carried forward subtly, by
+transfer of this same feeling to all other objects associated with
+his military life. His perseverance in the care of weapons, in
+keeping his living quarters orderly and in doing his full share
+of work is best insured, not through fear of punishments, but
+by stimulating his belief that any other way of going is unworthy
+of a member of a fighting service.</p>
+
+<p>Precision in personal habits, precision in drill and precision in
+daily living are the high road to that kind of discipline which
+best insures cool and collected thought and unity of action on
+the field of battle. When men, working together, successfully
+attain to a high standard of orderliness, deportment and response,
+each to the other, they develop the cohesive strength
+which will carry them through any great crisis. For this reason
+mainly, military life is far more exacting than civil life. But the
+services hold that what is best for the many can be achieved
+without cramping the personal life or blighting individuality
+and initiative. Within the frame of our system, we can achieve
+obedience and discipline without destroying independence and
+impulse.</p>
+
+<p>This is idealism, though we seldom think about it in that
+light. Further, it is all the better that in the beginning these
+impressions are developed obliquely, rather than through the
+direct approach of reading a lecture on ideals and ethics, since
+it means that the man is assisted to reach certain conclusions by
+himself, and as Kant has said, those things which a man learns
+pretty much on his own become the ideas that he is least likely
+to forget.</p>
+
+<p>Looking at this subject in its largest aspect, it should be perfectly
+clear that any institution must know what its ideals are
+before it can become coherent and confident, and that there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>
+must be present in the form of clearly available ideas an
+imaginative conception of the good at which the institution
+aims.</p>
+
+<p>This is fully recognized in the American armed establishment.
+For many years, the program of indoctrinating military
+ideals has been inseparably linked with instruction in democratic
+ideals, teaching as to the American way of life and clear
+statement of the policies and purposes of the Government of
+the United States in its relations with all others powers and
+peoples.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, it is an accepted principle in all services that this
+mission can not be carried forward competently except by those
+officers who are directly in charge of forces. It is not a job for
+chaplains or orientation specialists, because it cannot flourish
+unless it is in the hands of those leaders whom men know well
+and in whom they place their confidence. When men are well
+led, they become fully receptive to the whole body of ideas
+which their leaders see fit to put before them.</p>
+
+<p>There are two points which follow, as a matter of course.</p>
+
+<p>An officer's ability to talk effectively on these or other subjects
+to his men can be no better than his information, irrespective of
+his zeal or of his own firm belief in the ideals of his country and
+service.</p>
+
+<p>All other things being equal, his effectiveness will depend on
+the extent to which he participates in all of the other affairs of
+organization. If he is remote from the spirit of his own unit, and
+indifferent to the varying activities which enter into the building
+of that spirit, he will not have a sympathetic audience when
+he talks to men about the grand objectives of organization.
+There is something terribly incongruous about a man talking to
+troops on the ideal purposes of the military service if all they
+see of him convinces them that he is loyal only to his own rank
+and his pay check. It can be said without any qualification that
+when an officer's interest in the unit is limited strictly to those
+things which <em>have to be done</em> in line of duty, even though he
+attends to them truly and well, he will never have a strong hold
+on the sympathy and imagination of his men. When he takes an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>
+enthusiastic part in the sports program of the ship, the company,
+the squadron or the battalion, even though he has no
+natural talent for sport, when he voluntarily helps in furthering
+all activities within the unit which are designed to make leisure
+more enjoyable, and when he is seen by his men attending
+religious exercises, his magnetism is increased. It was noteworthy
+during World War II that church attendance among
+enlisted personnel took a tremendous bound forward when it
+was seen that their officers were present at church services. This
+provided tremendous support to those chaplains who were
+intent not only on praising the Lord but on passing moral
+ammunition to all ranks so that they would be better prepared
+for the ordeal ahead.</p>
+
+<p>Recognizing that instruction in the duties of citizenship, and
+providing information which will enable Americans to have a
+better understanding of their national affairs, is part of the arch
+of morale and of a strong uniting comradeship, the Armed
+Services nevertheless hold that <em>the keystone of the arch, among
+fighting forces, is the inculcation of military ideals and the
+stimulation of principles of military action</em>. Unless orientation
+within the services is balanced in this direction, the military
+spirit of all ranks will suffer, and the forces will deteriorate into
+an assembly of Americans who, whatever their enthusiasms for
+the nation, will lack an organized capacity to serve it efficiently
+along the main line of resistance.</p>
+
+<p>To round out any discussion of how military ideals are
+formed, much more needs to be said about the nature of courage
+on the battlefield and, in preparation for it, about the
+winning and meaning of loyalty within the Armed Services
+and how instruction on these points and all related matters is
+best advanced within the organization.</p>
+
+<p>But the object of this chapter is to define certain governing
+principles. The substantive parts of the subject can be more
+clearly presented further along in the book.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_THREE" id="CHAPTER_THREE"></a><span class="chapter_number">CHAPTER THREE</span><br /><br />
+
+RESPONSIBILITY AND PRIVILEGE</h3>
+
+
+<p>There is a common saying in the services, and elsewhere, that
+greater privileges grow out of larger responsibilities, and that
+the latter justifies the former. This is part truth and part fable.</p>
+
+<p>In military organization, as in industry, business, and political
+life, the more important a man's position, the more lavish he is
+likely to be in his office appointments and living arrangements,
+and the greater the care that is apt to be taken in freeing him of
+trifling annoyances.</p>
+
+<p>But that is only partly because of the need for him to conserve
+his time and energy. When men are successful, they like
+the good things of life. Why deny it? Not one individual in
+10,000 would aspire to power and authority if it meant living
+like a hermit.</p>
+
+<p>There is no way that the military establishment can denature
+human nature, and change this determining condition. Nor is
+there any reason why it should wish to do so. Its men, like all
+others, develop a sense of well-being from those advantages,
+many of them minor, which attend, and build prestige, both in
+private and in official life. The incentive system by which our
+country has prospered has always recognized that privilege is a
+reward for effort and enterprise. The American people have
+always accepted that reasonable, harmless privileges should attend
+merit. It is by enhancing the prestige of leaders and by
+making their positions attractive that the Armed Forces get
+better officers and men.</p>
+
+<p>One of the keenest-minded Americans of our time has said:
+"Responsibilities are what devolve upon a person, and privileges
+are what he ought not to have, but takes." In a perfect
+universe, that would be a perfect truth. But men being as they
+are, prideful and desirous of any mark of recognition, privileges
+are the natural accompaniment of rank and station, and
+when not wilfully misused, may contribute to the general wel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>fare.
+At all levels, men will aspire more, and their ambition
+will be firmer, if getting ahead will mean for them an increase in
+the visible tokens of deference from the majority, rather than
+simply a boost in the paycheck. To complain about this quality
+in human nature is as futile as regretting that the sun goes
+down.</p>
+
+<p>However, since it is out of the abuse of privilege that much of
+the friction between authority and the rank-and-file arises, the
+subject can't be dropped at that point. What puts most of the
+grit into the machinery isn't that privileges exist, but that they
+are exercised too often by persons who are not motivated by a
+passionate sense of duty. For it is an almost inviolable rule of
+human behavior that the man who is concerned most of all with
+his responsibilities will be fretted least about the matter of his
+privileges, and that his exercise of any rightful privilege will not
+be resented by his subordinates, because they are conscious of his
+merit.</p>
+
+<p>We can take two officers. Lieutenant "A" enters the service
+with one main question in mind: "Where does my duty lie?"
+So long as he remains on that beam, he will never injure the
+morale of the service by using such privileges as are rightfully
+his as an officer. But in the mind of Lieutenant "B" the other
+idea is uppermost: "What kudos do I get out of my position?"
+Unless that man changes his ways, he will be a troublemaker
+while he remains in the service, a headache to his fellow officers
+and a despoiler of those who are under him.</p>
+
+<p>In recent years, we have learned a lot about American manpower.
+We have seen enough of the raw material under testing
+conditions to know that, with the exception of the occasional
+malcontent who was irreparably spoiled before he left home,
+American young men when brought into military organization
+do not resent rank, and are amenable to authority. Indeed,
+they expect that higher authority will have certain advantages
+not common to the rank-and-file, because that is normal in our
+society in all of its workday relationships.</p>
+
+<p>But they do not like to have their noses rubbed in it by
+officers who, having no real moral claim on authority, try to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>
+exhibit it by pushing other people around. And when that
+happens, our men get their backs up. And they wouldn't be
+worth a hoot in hades if they didn't.</p>
+
+<p>Even as privilege attends rank and station, it is confirmed by
+custom, and modified by time and environment. What was all
+right yesterday may be all wrong tomorrow, and what is proper
+in one set of circumstances may be wholly wrong in another.</p>
+
+<p>Take one example. In Washington's Continental Army, a first
+lieutenant was court-martialed and jailed because he demeaned
+himself by doing manual labor with a working detail of his
+men. Yet in that same season, Major General von Steuben,
+then trainer and inspector of all the forces, created a great
+scandal and almost terminated his usefulness by trying to rank
+a relatively junior officer out of his quarters. Today both of
+these usages seem out of joint. Any officer has the <em>privilege</em> of
+working with his men, if he needs exercise, wishes to see for
+himself how the thing is done, or feels that an extra hand is
+needed on the job at a critical moment. As for any notion that
+his quarters are his permanent castle no matter who comes, he
+had best not make an issue of the point!</p>
+
+<p>But to emphasize it once again, duty is the great regulator of
+the proper exercise of one's rights. Here we speak of duty as it
+was meant by Giuseppe Mazzini, Italy's great patriot of the
+early Nineteenth Century, when he said: "Every mission constitutes
+a pledge of duty. Every man is bound to consecrate his
+every effort to its fulfillment. He will derive his rule of action
+from the profound conviction of that duty." For finally the key
+lies in this, that out of high regard for duty comes as a natural
+flow that sense of proportion which we call common sense.</p>
+
+<p>Adjustment and dignity in any situation are impossible when
+minds are bent only on a code of conduct rather than on action
+which is consistent with the far objectives. In the early stages of
+World War II, it was not unusual to see a junior officer walking
+on the public sidewalk, hands free, and looking important,
+while his wife tagged along, trying to keep step, though laden
+like a pack mule. This was because someone had told him that
+it was not in keeping with an officer's dignity to be seen heavily<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>
+burdened. In the nature of things, anyone so lacking in gallantry
+as that would stimulate very little respect for the officer
+corps.</p>
+
+<p>Actually, in these times, there are relatively few special privileges
+which attend officership, and though the war brought
+perhaps a few excesses, the post war trend has been in the other
+direction.</p>
+
+<p>Normally, an officer is not expected to buck a chow line, or
+any other queue in line of duty, if he is sensibly in a rush. The
+presumption is that his time is more valuable to the service
+than that of an enlisted man. Normally, an officer is not expected
+to pitch a tent or spend his energy on any hand labor
+incidental to housekeeping. Normally, he has greater freedom of
+action and is less bound by minor restrictions than the ranks.</p>
+
+<p>But the accent in these things is decidedly on the word
+<em>normally</em>. If a mess line were in an area under general fire, so
+that added waiting meant extra danger, then only a poltroon
+would insist on being fed first. And while an officer wouldn't be
+expected to pitch a tent, he would dig his own foxhole, unless
+he was well up in grade. At that, there were a few high commanders
+in World War II who made it a point of pride to do
+their own digging from first to last. Greater "freedom of action,"
+too, can go out the window, for conditions arise, particularly
+in war, when freedom of action can not be permitted
+anyone except the very top authority. When a general restriction
+is clamped down, the officer caught violating it is in more
+serious jeopardy than the enlisted offender.</p>
+
+<p>As the entire body of this book is directed toward the consideration
+of the fundamental responsibilities in officership, the
+special comments in this chapter will relate mainly to propositions
+not stated elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>Though it has been said before, even so, it can be said
+again: It is a paramount and overriding responsibility of every
+officer to take care of his men before caring for himself. From
+the frequent and gross violation of this principle by badly informed
+or meanly selfish individuals comes more embarrassment
+to officer-man relationships than perhaps from all other causes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>
+put together. <em>It is a cardinal principle!</em> Yet many junior
+officers do not seem to understand that steadfast fidelity to it is
+required, not lip service. "And of this," as Admiral Mahan
+would say, "comes much evil." The loyalty of men simply cannot
+be commanded when they become embittered by selfish
+action.</p>
+
+<p>Then how deeply does this rule cut? In line of duty, it applies
+right down to the hilt! When a command is worn, bruised, and
+hungry, officers attend to their men's creature comforts and
+make sure that all is going well, before looking to their own
+needs. If an officer is on a tour with an enlisted man, he takes
+care that the man is accommodated as to food, shelter, medical
+treatment or other prime needs, before satisfying his own wants;
+if that means that the last meal or the last bed is gone, his duty
+is to get along the hard way. If a command is so located that
+recreational facilities are extremely limited, and there are not
+enough to go around, the welfare of the ranks takes priority
+over the interests of their commissioned leaders; in fact, it
+would be more correct to say that the welfare of men <em>is</em> the
+prior interest of the officer.</p>
+
+<p>These few concrete illustrations show, in general, what is expected.
+Once the main idea is grasped, the way of its total
+application becomes clear. Officers do not go around playing
+pigtail to enlisted men. But they build loyalty by serving the
+men first, when all concerned are following a general line of
+duty together.</p>
+
+<p>It is an incumbent responsibility on all officers to maintain the
+dignity of the uniform and prevent anyone from sullying it.
+This means not only the dress of person, but the uniform wherever
+it is worn publicly by any man of the United States forces.
+Where the offense is committed by a member of some other
+service and the disgrace to the uniform is obvious, it is the
+duty of the officer to intervene, or to bring about intervention,
+rather than to walk out on the situation. This calls for judgment,
+tact, nerve. The offense must be real, and not simply an
+offense against one's private sensibilities. But indecencies, exhibitionism
+and bawdiness of such a nature that if done on a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>
+reservation would warrant trial of the individual for unbecoming
+conduct will justify intervention by the officer under public
+circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>Similarly, any officer has a responsibility to any enlisted man
+who is in personal distress, with no other means of ready help.
+Suppose they just happen to meet in a strange community. The
+enlisted man's credentials are shown to be <em>bona fide</em>. But he has
+had his pocket picked, or has lost his wallet, or has just missed
+the train that would have carried him back from his leave on
+time, and he doesn't know what to do. For any officer to
+brush-off a forthright request for aid or advice under such circumstances
+is an unofficerly act. Likewise, if one suspects, just
+from appearances, that the man is in trouble and somewhat
+beyond his depths, it will be found that, far from resenting a
+kindly inquiry, he will mark it to the credit of the whole fighting
+system.</p>
+
+<p>To say that an officer owes a fellow officer no less consideration
+than this is to state the obvious. Officers meeting in
+transit usually get into conversation; it is a habit that adds
+much to one's professional education. When an officer is getting
+into a strange town, or arriving at a new post, anything done
+by a fellow officer to help him get oriented, or to make things
+friendly and easy for him, furthers the comity of the corps.
+Between officers of differing services these small courtesies are
+particularly appreciated. Nor does the matter end there. Within
+Unit A, the officers have the responsibility of continuing support
+to the officers of Unit C, Unit B, and so on. Though they are in
+a sense competing, each trying to build higher than the other,
+they must never forget that the basic technique of organization
+is cooperation. What "A" knows that has helped his unit, or
+whatever he can do to assist "B" and "C" without materially
+depriving himself, it becomes his official and moral obligation to
+transmit. An officer can never understand his own command
+problem very well unless he knows, at least a little, of how
+things are going in other units. And the statement can be reversed.
+He cannot judge the problems of other people unless
+he tries passionately to understand his own people.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>There are many other minor articles within what is sometimes
+called the "unwritten code" which help to regulate life in
+the services, and to sweeten it.</p>
+
+<p>But what counts most is not the knowing of the rule but the
+sharing of the spirit which gives it meaning and makes its
+proper administration possible.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_FOUR" id="CHAPTER_FOUR"></a><span class="chapter_number">CHAPTER FOUR</span><br /><br />
+
+PLANNING YOUR CAREER</h3>
+
+
+<p>The main purpose of this book is to stimulate thought and to
+encourage the average young officer to seek truth for, and in,
+himself. It is never a good idea to attempt a precise formula
+about matters which are by nature indefinite and subject to all
+number of variable factors.</p>
+
+<p>Thus with respect to career planning, despite all of the emphasis
+put upon that subject in modern America, it would be
+plain error to infer that any man can become all-wise, as to the
+direction which he should take with his own life, simply by
+steeping himself in all of the information which is to be had on
+this subject.</p>
+
+<p>That might qualify him to give top-lofty advice to all others
+on how to make the start up the right ladder, and he would
+win a reputation as a personnel expert, which in itself is no
+mean assignment. But in all probability, he would still be doing
+better by himself than by any other individual.</p>
+
+<p>American library shelves are stacked with such books as
+"Planning Your Future," "New Careers for Youth," and "The
+Problem of Vocational Guidance." The pages are laden with
+sage counsel and bromidic expressions. But their chief public
+value is that they enabled a writer, his publisher and the bookseller
+to get a little further ahead in life.</p>
+
+<p>Reflecting the trend elsewhere in the national life, the Armed
+Services are equipped to give their forces the advantage of career
+management principles, and to assist their men to plan their
+professional careers. The opportunities and the job qualifications
+can be described. Also, somewhat more thoroughly than is
+done in civil life, the establishment's system of record-keeping
+throws a partial light on the aptitudes of the individual. The
+qualified man is soon known by his "spec number" or maybe
+two numbers. It might seem therefore that things are so well-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>regulated
+that the prospect of every man finding his niche is
+better than even.</p>
+
+<p>The fact remains that the majority of individuals spend the
+greater part of their lives doing something other than that which
+would bring out their best quality and give them the greatest
+satisfaction, mainly because accident, in one form or another,
+put them into a particular channel, and inertia kept them there.</p>
+
+<p>A boy builds model airplanes. His hobby being a force in his
+youthful years, he becomes a pilot, and then discovers to his
+shocked amazement that he does not have his heart in machines
+but in the management of men. A man who has lived his life
+among guns, and who enjoys the feel and the working of them,
+enters the service and permits himself to be made a food procurement
+specialist, having run that kind of business in civil
+life only because he had inherited it from his father. An
+officer assigned to a weapons detail finds it hard going. And the
+fact that he takes a delight in writing a good paper still does
+not signal to him that this is his main field and he should
+exploit it to the fullest!</p>
+
+<p>To what do these things point? In particular, to this, that
+despite all of the help which may be provided by outside
+agencies, finding the straight thoroughfare in work is mainly a
+problem of searching self-examination and personal decision.
+The impression which any other person may have of our talents
+and possibilities is largely formed by what we say, think and
+feel about ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>This does not require that constant introspection which is
+found in Cecil Forester's nervous hero, "Captain Horatio Hornblower."
+That man doubtless would have died of stomach ulcers
+before winning his second stripe. It is not a matter of, "How do
+I look to someone else?" but of, "What do I know about myself?"
+The kind of work which one likes best and does with the
+greatest facility, the avocational study which is pursued because
+it provides greater delight than an encharged responsibility,
+the talent which one had as a youth but was dropped
+because of the press of making a living, the task which looks
+alluring though one has lacked either the chance, or the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>
+courage, to try a hand at it&mdash;these are among the more
+fertile points of inquiry.</p>
+
+<p>Weighing it out, the service officer has an unrivaled opportunity
+for fruitful experiment.</p>
+
+<p>In the first place, he has made the fundamental decision to
+serve his country in the profession of arms. The meaning of
+that decision should not be lost on him. It is by nature patriotic.
+But if he regards his inheritance simply as a snug berth and
+the best way to provide "three squares" to himself and family
+throughout a lifetime, he is neither soundly patriotic nor intelligently
+selfish.</p>
+
+<p>After signing on the line for his country, the individual's duty
+to himself is to strive by every honorable means to move ahead
+of his competition by growing more knowledgeable and better
+qualified. <em>It is the inherent right of every officer to request such
+service as he believes will further his advancement</em>, and far
+from discouraging the ambitious man, higher authority will invariably
+try to favor him. In no other mode of life are older
+men so ready to encourage the willing junior.</p>
+
+<p>Gen. H. H. Arnold, the great air leader of World War II, is
+an inspiring case study with respect to several of these points.
+He wrote in "Global Mission" how he considered quitting the
+Army in disgust upon being commissioned in infantry, following
+graduation, so deeply was his heart set upon service in cavalry.
+But something held him to the assignment. Some years later he
+tried to transfer to ordnance because the prospect for advancement
+looked better. While still ruminating on this change, he
+was offered a detail to the newly forming aviation section of the
+signal corps, and took it, not because he had a clear vision of
+the future, but because it looked like a chance to get ahead.
+Thus, almost inadvertently, he met the opportunity of which
+came his world fame.</p>
+
+<p>This emphasizes another peculiar advantage belonging to the
+young officer who is trying to orient himself toward the line of
+greatest opportunity. In civil life, the man who flits from job to
+job is soon regarded as a drifter and unstable. In the military
+establishment an ability to adjust from job to job and to achieve<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>
+greater all-around qualification by making a successful record
+in a diversified experience becomes a major asset in a career.
+Generalship, in its real sense, requires a wider knowledge of
+human affairs, supported by specialized knowledge of professional
+techniques, than any other great responsibility. Those who
+get to the top have to be many-sided men, with skill in the
+control and guidance of a multifarious variety of activities.
+Therefore even the young specialist, who has his eyes on a narrow
+track because his talents seem to lie in that direction, is
+well advised to raise his sights and extend his interest to the far
+horizons of the profession, even while directing the greater part
+of his force to a particular field.</p>
+
+<p>After all, variety is the spice of life, as well as a high road
+toward perfection. Of Princeton's 1932 class, 161, or 59 percent,
+were in the armed services during World War II. Questioned
+after the war 70 percent of the total number replied that military
+service was interesting, broadening, and profitable. But the
+main point was that they said in overwhelming number that its
+great lure was that <em>they were doing something new</em>. They liked
+it because it gave them a legitimate excuse to quit their jobs and
+attempt something different. In the services, a man may give
+vent to this natural desire without impairing his record, and if
+he is young and not at all certain what is his favorite dish,
+the more he broadens his experience, the more likely it becomes
+that he will sharpen his view of his own capabilities.</p>
+
+<p>The possible hard consequence of looking at service opportunity
+through any one lens is epitomized in one paragraph of a
+reclassification proceedings on an officer relieved during World
+War II while serving as assistant division commander:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Through no fault of his own, General Blank has never served
+with troops since he was a captain during World War I. He
+has been unable to keep pace with the problems of a commander
+on the battlefield of today. He is unqualified for command of
+troops due to lack of practical experience."</p></div>
+
+<p>It is hard to imagine a more dismal ending for a career than
+that of the man who aspires to rank, without having any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>
+honest concept of its proportionate moral responsibilities, particularly
+when the lives of others are at stake.</p>
+
+<p>So when we say that "career planning" is a springboard to
+personal success within the military establishment, it is not with
+the narrow meaning that any officer should proceed to limit his
+field of interest, decide quickly and arbitrarily where he will put
+his plow and run his furrow, and then sit down and plot a
+schedule of how he proposes to mount the success ladder rung
+by rung. That might suit a plumber, or tickle the fancy of an interior
+decorator, but it will not conserve the strength of the
+officer corps. Its consequence would be to stereotype the thinking
+faculties of a professional whose inner power flows from the
+questing imagination, eager curiosity and versatility of its individuals.
+Intense specialization, to the exclusion of all peripheral
+areas of knowledge, warps the mind and limits the useful action
+and influence of its owner. Dr. Vannevar Bush was a greater
+scientist on the day he made his decision to explore the sphere
+of military knowledge, and greater still when he applied himself
+to literature.</p>
+
+<p>There are few men of great talent who initially have an unswerving
+inner conviction that they possess the final answer,
+as to themselves. They may feel reasonably sure about what they
+would like to do, though still reserving an honest doubt about
+the validity of their instincts and of their power to compete.
+Even long and successful experience does not always allay this
+doubt. Said Washington, on being appointed Commander-in-Chief:
+"I beg it may be remembered by every man in this room
+that I this day declare with the utmost sincerity, I do not think
+myself equal to the command I am honored with." Assurance,
+or by its other name, self-confidence, is only a continuing willingness
+to keep coming back and trying, without fear of coming
+a cropper, but with a care to the constant strengthening of one's
+own resources. The motto of Admiral Robert E. Peary: "I will
+find a way or make one," is not over-bold; any officer can
+afford to paste the words inside his own hat. But in the hard
+game with which Peary's fame is forever linked, there were
+countless errors, an occasional hit, and at last a run.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>The health and progressive spirit of the services come of the
+many-sided officer who can make not one career for himself but
+three or four. Had officers from all services been unwilling to go
+into the industrial workshops and scientific laboratories of the
+Nation to try their hands at wholly new lines of work, had
+successful cavalrymen been unable to evolve as leaders of
+armored forces, had ship captains and ensigns disdained taking
+to the air, had foot soldiers refused the risks of parachuting and
+naval officers not participated as observers with the infantry
+line to further SFC (ship fire control) we would have run out
+of wind before winning World War II.</p>
+
+<p>Some months after the war ended, the Secretary of the Navy,
+recognizing the dilemma which confronted thousands of men
+who were asking whether the wave of the future would be to
+the specialist or to the all-around man, sent a message which
+applied not less to the officers of every service:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>It is intended that the highest posts will be filled by officers
+of the highest attainments, regardless of specialty. Be assured,
+whatever may be your field of endeavor, that your future as an
+officer rests, as it always has, in your hands. The outstanding
+officer will continue to be he who attacks with all of his energy
+and enthusiasm the tasks to which he is assigned and who grows
+in stature and understanding with his years and with his experience.
+Responsibility comes to him who seeks responsibility.
+It is this officer, regardless of his field of effort, who will be called
+to high command.</p></div>
+
+<p>There is not a chief of service who would shade the general
+tone of this paragraph if asked to put before his own officers
+the one rule which, most closely followed, would most surely
+bring success. Nothing need be added to it and nothing should
+be taken away; it states the case.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time, and as the message itself implies, specialization,
+like sex and the automobile, is here to stay. In the service,
+perforce, even the balanced, all-around man has his specialty.
+In the beginning, true enough, he may aspire only to being a
+soldier, marine, sailor or airman. That is good enough in the
+cocoon stage. But ultimately he emerges with the definite color<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>ing
+of a ground fighter, a gunner, an engineer officer, a signals
+man, a submariner, a weapons man, a navigator, an observer, a
+transport officer or something else. If his tact, bearing and quick
+pick-up suggest to his superiors that he may be good staff
+material, and he takes that route, there are again branch lines,
+leading out in roughly parallel directions, and embracing activities
+in the fields of personnel, intelligence, operations, supply
+and military government. And each one of these main stems has
+smaller branches, greatly diversified. The man with a love for
+logistics (and few have it) might some day find himself
+running railroads or managing a port. The engineer could become
+a salvage officer working a crew of deep sea divers, or as
+easily a demolitions expert running a company of dynamiters.
+The expert in communications? His next task might be setting
+up a radio station near the North Pole or helping perfect radio
+control of troops over a 50-mile area.</p>
+
+<p>It is in these things that the privilege of free choice arises,
+for despite the popular theory that in the services you take what
+you are given and like it, the placement of officers according to
+their main aptitudes and desires is a controlling principle of
+personnel policy. It is recognized throughout the military establishment
+that, in general, men will do their best service in that
+field where they think their natural talents are being most usefully
+employed.</p>
+
+<p>Among the combat line commanders in World War II there
+were doctors, dentists and even a few ministers. They could have
+had places in their regular corps, but they were permitted to
+continue with the duty of their own choice.</p>
+
+<p>Concerning the main problem of the officer, in fitting himself
+for higher command, the controlling principle is well expressed
+in the words of a distinguished educator, Wallace B. Donham:
+"The hope of the wisdom essential to the general direction of
+men's affairs lies not so much in wealth of specialized knowledge
+as in the habits and skills required to handle problems involving
+very diverse viewpoints which must be related to new concrete
+situations. Wisdom is based on broad understanding in perspective.
+It is common sense on a large canvas. It is never the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>
+product of scientific, technological, or other specializations,
+though men so trained may, of course, acquire it."</p>
+
+<p>This puts just the right light on the subject. The military
+officer specializes strictly to qualify himself more highly in his
+main calling&mdash;the management of men in the practice of arms.
+Becoming a specialist does not <em>ipso facto</em> make him a better
+officer, or win him preferment. It is part of the mechanism,
+though not the main wheel. As Admiral Forrest P. Sherman has
+so well said: "We are not pushed willy-nilly into specialization;
+there is never an excess of the all-around, highly competent
+combat officer."</p>
+
+<p>Concerning his choice, all general advice is gratuitous. Whatever
+might be written here would be worth far less than the
+counsel or suggestion of any superior, or for that matter, a colleague,
+who has observed his work closely over a long period,
+who has some critical faculty, and whose good will is beyond
+question.</p>
+
+<p>Particularly, the <em>voluntary</em> advice of such a person is worth
+notice. That which is spontaneous usually has shrewd reason behind
+it. When counsel is deliberately sought, it may catch the
+consultant unaware, and in lieu of saying that which is well-considered,
+he may offer a half-baked opinion, rather than be
+disappointing. But when another person having one's trust, says:
+"Your natural line is to do thus-and-so," it is time to ask him
+why, and check his reasoning with one's own. Worth just as
+much earnest consideration is his negative opinion, his strong
+feeling that what one is about to undertake is not particularly
+suitable.</p>
+
+<p>As for the man himself, it remains to survey thoughtfully the
+whole range of possibilities, to keep the mind open and receptive
+to impressions, to experiment but take firm hold in so doing, to
+tackle each new task with as much enthusiasm as if it were to be
+his life work, to ask for difficult assignments rather than soft
+snaps and to be calmly deliberate, rather than rashly hasteful, in
+appraising his own capabilities.</p>
+
+<p>Self-study is a lifetime job. A great many engineers didn't
+realize that they were born to make nuclear fission possible until<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>
+there was a three-way wedding between science, industry and
+the military in 1940. Many officers who have had a late blooming
+as experts in the field of electronics and supersonic speeds
+had lived out successful careers before these subjects first saw
+daylight.</p>
+
+<p>As Elbert Hubbard said of it, the only way to get away from
+opportunity is to lie down and die.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_FIVE" id="CHAPTER_FIVE"></a><span class="chapter_number">CHAPTER FIVE</span><br /><br />
+
+RANK AND PRECEDENCE</h3>
+
+
+<p>The regulations that govern precedence among officers of the
+same service and among the services in relation to each other
+have a very real utility not only in determining succession to
+command and as reminders of the authority to which all persons
+in the Armed Services are subject but in providing precedent for
+all official or ceremonial occasions in which officers or organizations
+of the several services may find themselves cooperating.
+It is easy to imagine the confusion that would result without
+such rules, especially if a junior commander of a senior service
+had to defend the right of his organization to occupy the place
+of honor ahead of a very senior commander with a detachment
+from a junior service. These regulations are also the arbiter in
+disputes arising between officers of equal rank who aspire to
+command of the same unit.</p>
+
+<p>The legislation which separated the Air Force from the Army
+again raised the question of precedence in parades and ceremonies.
+Since the Air Force is the junior service, as to date
+of recognition, the change indicated the following parade order:
+(Reference, <em>Federal Register</em>, Volume 14, Number 160, August
+19, 1949, page 5203)</p>
+
+
+<ol>
+<li>Cadets, United States Military Academy.</li>
+
+<li>Midshipmen, United States Naval Academy.</li>
+
+<li>Cadets, United States Coast Guard Academy.</li>
+
+<li>United States Army.</li>
+
+<li>United States Marines.</li>
+
+<li>United States Navy.</li>
+
+<li>United States Air Force.</li>
+
+<li>United States Coast Guard.</li>
+
+<li>National Guard of the United States.</li>
+
+<li>Organized Reserve Corps of the Army.</li>
+
+<li>Marine Corps Reserve.</li>
+
+<li><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>Naval Reserve.</li>
+
+<li>Air Force National Guard of the United States.</li>
+
+<li>United States Air Force Reserve.</li>
+
+<li>Coast Guard Reserve.</li>
+
+<li>Other training organizations of the Army, Marine
+Corps, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard, in that
+order, respectively.</li>
+</ol>
+
+<p>During any period when the United States Coast Guard shall
+operate as a part of the United States Navy, the Cadets,
+United States Coast Guard Academy, the United States Coast
+Guard, and the Coast Guard Reserve, shall take precedence,
+respectively, next after the Midshipmen, United States Naval
+Academy, the United States Navy, and the Naval Reserve.</p>
+
+<p>In any ceremony in which any or all of these components act
+together, the table of precedence in appropriate regulations
+determines their location in the column.</p>
+
+<p>The ranks and insignia in the Armed Services have been substantially
+the same since 1883. During World War II there were
+newly established the five star ranks of general of the army and
+fleet admiral. After the first World War the rank of general-of-the-armies
+was created to honor General Pershing, who was permitted
+to choose the number of stars he would wear. He chose
+four. After the Spanish-American War the rank of admiral-of-the-navy
+was established for Admiral Dewey. No one has held
+this rank since.</p>
+
+<p>On November 15, 1776, Congress established the ranks of admiral,
+vice-admiral, rear admiral and commodore corresponding
+to general, lieutenant general, major general, and brigadier
+general. It also established three grades of naval captains&mdash;captain
+of a 40-gun ship and upward to rank with colonel, captain
+of a 20 to 40-gun ship to rank with lieutenant colonel, captain
+of a 10 to 20-gun ship to rank with major, and lieutenant to
+rank with captain in the Army.</p>
+
+<p>Although the top naval ranks were provided, the only two
+officers ever to attain a higher rank than captain prior to 1862
+were Ezekiel Hopkins, whom Congress on December 22, 1775,
+commissioned with the rank of <em>C-in-C of the Fleet</em>, and Charles
+Stewart who was commissioned <em>Senior Flag Officer</em> by Congress<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>
+in 1859. Hopkins and Stewart were called "commodore" as was
+any other captain who commanded more than one ship.</p>
+
+<p>During our War of Independence, the Army had the rank of
+ensign and the Navy did not. The several Army ranks were then
+distinguishable by the color of the cockade, green for lieutenant,
+buff for captain, and pink or red for a field officer. As early as
+1780 major generals wore two stars on their epaulettes and
+brigadier generals one. During our quasi-war with France, toward
+the end of the eighteenth century, Washington was commissioned
+lieutenant general, our first, and three stars were
+prescribed to be worn by him.</p>
+
+<p>In the Army Register for 1813 the rank of ensign had disappeared
+but there were third lieutenants (as in the Soviet Army
+today) and coronets. In 1832 the eagle was adopted as the insignia
+of colonel in the Army and in 1857 the lieutenant colonel,
+captain, and first lieutenant wore the same insignia as today.
+These insignia were adopted some time in the interval between
+1847 and 1857. The gold bar, insigne of the second lieutenant,
+was authorized just prior to World War I.</p>
+
+<p>The Navy has used the same shoulder insignia as the Army
+since the Civil War. However, shoulder insignia on blues were
+discontinued by the Navy in 1911 but the insignia were still
+prescribed on epaulettes. The Navy adopted the eagle for captain
+in 1852, twenty years after it had been approved by the
+Army for colonels.</p>
+
+<p>In the first half of the last century the Navy List contained
+officers of four grades only. A captain wore three stripes, a master
+commandant, two (master commandant, established in 1806,
+was changed to commander in 1837;) and a lieutenant, one.
+A master had no stripe but three buttons instead. There were
+midshipmen too, but they were warrant officers and <em>aspirants</em>
+for commissioned rank as the present French term designates
+them.</p>
+
+<p>Our first full general was U. S. Grant and our first full admiral,
+David D. Porter; both won their rank in the Civil War.
+In that war there was a large increase in the Navy and more
+naval ranks were established. In 1862 ensign was provided in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>
+Navy to correspond to second lieutenant; and the term lieutenant
+commanding became lieutenant commander. An ensign
+wore one stripe as now; an additional stripe was added for each
+rank till the rear admiral had eight. Since 1869 the senior
+officers have worn the same stripes as now prescribed. In 1883
+the rank "master" was changed to lieutenant, junior grade.</p>
+
+<p>The rank of commodore, which had been abolished, was
+temporarily revived during World War II. The rank of passed-midshipman
+was abolished about 1910; thereafter graduates of
+the Naval Academy were commissioned ensign. The rank of
+ensign had previously been attained by passed-midshipmen after
+2 years at sea and a successful examination at the end of that
+cruise. The only permanent change in recent years was the addition
+of aviation cadet to both the Air Force and Navy listings.
+The warrant rank of flight officer in the Air Force, which was
+created during the war, has now been abandoned, all the flight
+officers then holding warrants either being commissioned second
+lieutenants or separated. The naval rank of commodore was
+likewise dropped, and brigadier generals of the Army and Air
+Force now rank with admirals of the lower half.</p>
+
+<p>The following are the present corresponding ranks in the
+Armed Services:</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="visible_table">
+<table summary="Corresponding ranks across the armed services.">
+<thead>
+<tr>
+  <th>NAVY</th>
+  <th>MARINE CORPS</th>
+  <th>ARMY</th>
+  <th>AIR FORCE</th>
+  <th>COAST GUARD</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+  <td>Fleet Admiral</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td>General of the Army</td>
+  <td>General of the Air Force</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Admiral</td>
+  <td>General</td>
+  <td>General</td>
+  <td>General</td>
+  <td>Admiral</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Vice Admiral</td>
+  <td>Lieutenant General</td>
+  <td>Lieutenant General</td>
+  <td>Lieutenant General</td>
+  <td>Vice Admiral</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Rear Admiral (upper half)</td>
+  <td>Major General</td>
+  <td>Major General</td>
+  <td>Major General</td>
+  <td>Rear Admiral (upper half)</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Rear Admiral (lower half) and Commodore</td>
+  <td>Brigadier General</td>
+  <td>Brigadier General</td>
+  <td>Brigadier General</td>
+  <td>Rear Admiral (lower half) and Commodore</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Captain</td>
+  <td>Colonel</td>
+  <td>Colonel</td>
+  <td>Colonel</td>
+  <td>Captain</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Commander</td>
+  <td>Lieutenant Colonel</td>
+  <td>Lieutenant Colonel</td>
+  <td>Lieutenant Colonel</td>
+  <td>Commander</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Lieutenant Commander</td>
+  <td>Major</td>
+  <td>Major</td>
+  <td>Major</td>
+  <td>Lieutenant Commander</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Lieutenant</td>
+  <td>Captain</td>
+  <td>Captain</td>
+  <td>Captain</td>
+  <td>Lieutenant</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Lieutenant (Junior Grade)</td>
+  <td>First Lieutenant</td>
+  <td>First Lieutenant</td>
+  <td>First Lieutenant</td>
+  <td>Lieutenant (Junior Grade)</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Ensign</td>
+  <td>Second Lieutenant</td>
+  <td>Second Lieutenant</td>
+  <td>Second Lieutenant</td>
+  <td>Ensign</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Commissioned Warrant Officer</td>
+  <td>Commissioned Warrant Officer</td>
+  <td>Chief Warrant Officer</td>
+  <td>Chief Warrant Officer</td>
+  <td>Commissioned Warrant Officer</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Midshipman</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td>Cadet</td>
+  <td>Cadet</td>
+  <td>Cadet</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Warrant Officer</td>
+  <td>Warrant Officer</td>
+  <td>Warrant Officer Junior Grade</td>
+  <td>Warrant Officer Junior Grade</td>
+  <td>Warrant Officer</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Aviation Cadet</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td>Aviation Cadet</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+<p>Officers of all the fighting service, whether regular or reserve,
+take precedence among themselves according to their dates of
+rank. Officers take command in their respective services in accordance
+with their dates of rank in the line, the senior, unless
+otherwise ordered, taking command, whether regular or reserve.
+The command of a task force or group composed of commands
+from two or more services devolves upon the senior commanding
+officer present in the force or group unless otherwise designated
+by the appropriate common senior, acting for the President.</p>
+
+<p>The obvious exceptions to this are that officers outside the line
+(that is, commissioned in specialized branches or corps) cannot
+command line organizations. They may, however, in the Army
+and Air Force, command organizations within the structure of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>
+their own corps. Non-rated officers in the Air Force and Navy
+are not eligible to command tactical flying units. As a specialized
+case of command, the assigned first pilot and airplane commander
+of any aircraft continues in command even though a
+pilot senior in rank may be aboard.</p>
+
+<p>Retired officers of the Army rank at the foot of active officers
+of the same grade; those of the Navy according to date of rank.</p>
+
+<p>Changing personnel policies have been reflected by frequent
+revisions of the scale and grade given noncommissioned leadership.
+This subject should therefore be checked against current
+regulations. But as a rough guide, the following can be taken
+as the corresponding noncommissioned grades and rates in the
+services:</p>
+
+<div class="visible_table">
+<table summary="Corresponding noncommissioned grades and rates in the services.">
+<thead>
+<tr>
+  <th>PAY GRADE</th>
+  <th>NAVY AND COAST GUARD</th>
+  <th>ARMY</th>
+  <th>AIR FORCE</th>
+  <th>MARINE CORPS</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+  <td>E-7</td>
+  <td>Chief Petty Officer</td>
+  <td>Master Sergeant</td>
+  <td>Master Sergeant</td>
+  <td>Master Sergeant</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>E-6</td>
+  <td>Petty Officer First Class</td>
+  <td>Sergeant First Class</td>
+  <td>Technical Sergeant</td>
+  <td>Technical Sergeant</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>E-5</td>
+  <td>Petty Officer Second Class</td>
+  <td>Sergeant</td>
+  <td>Staff Sergeant</td>
+  <td>Staff Sergeant</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>E-4</td>
+  <td>Petty Officer Third Class</td>
+  <td>Corporal</td>
+  <td>Sergeant</td>
+  <td>Sergeant</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>E-3</td>
+  <td><a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a>Airman<br />
+<a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a>Constructionman First Class<br />
+<a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a>Dentalman<br />
+Fireman<br />
+Hospitalman<br />
+Seaman<br />
+Stewardsman<br /></td>
+  <td>Private First Class</td>
+  <td>Corporal</td>
+  <td>Corporal</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>E-2</td>
+  <td>Apprentice</td>
+  <td>Private</td>
+  <td>Private First Class</td>
+  <td>Private First Class</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>E-1</td>
+  <td>Recruit</td>
+  <td>Recruit</td>
+  <td>Private</td>
+  <td>Private</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> Does not apply to Coast Guard.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>Enlisted insignia of rank are of cloth, sewn on the sleeve of
+the outer garment. Army chevrons are worn on both sleeves with
+the point up, and special devices may be incorporated within
+the chevron to indicate specialties. Chevrons for combat soldiers
+are blue on a gold background, and all others are gold on a
+blue background. Naval chevrons are worn point down. Air
+Force chevrons have no point, but are a compound reverse
+curve with the deepest part of the curve worn down; over this
+is imposed a star within a circle. Marine Corps chevrons are
+worn on both sleeves with the point up and are gold on a
+crimson background for the dress blue uniform, green on a
+red background for the forest green uniform, green on a khaki
+background for the khaki uniform, and for combat uniforms
+the chevrons are stenciled on the sleeves in black ink.</p>
+
+<table summary="Insignia">
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;">
+<img src="images/army_insignia.png" width="150" height="150" alt="ARMY AND MARINE CORPS" title="ARMY AND MARINE CORPS" />
+<span class="caption">ARMY AND MARINE CORPS</span>
+</td>
+
+<td class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;">
+<img src="images/navy_insignia.png" width="150" height="150" alt="NAVY AND COAST GUARD" title="NAVY AND COAST GUARD" />
+<span class="caption">NAVY AND COAST GUARD</span>
+</td>
+
+<td class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;">
+<img src="images/airforce_insignia.png" width="150" height="150" alt="AIR FORCE" title="AIR FORCE" />
+<span class="caption">AIR FORCE</span>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<p>All military and naval personnel are addressed in official
+correspondence by their full titles. Off duty in conversations and
+in unofficial correspondence, officers are addressed as follows:</p>
+
+<table summary="Addressing officers">
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+  <th colspan="2">Army, Air Force, Marine Corps</th>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>All general officers</td>
+  <td>General</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Colonels and Lt. Colonels</td>
+  <td>Colonel</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Majors</td>
+  <td>Major</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Captains</td>
+  <td>Captain</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Lieutenants</td>
+  <td>Mister or Lieutenant</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Lieutenants in Medical Corps</td>
+  <td>Doctor or Lieutenant</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>All Chaplains</td>
+  <td>Chaplain</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Army nurses</td>
+  <td>Nurse</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td colspan="2">Cadets</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_indented">(Official address)</td>
+  <td>Cadet</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_indented">(Unofficial address)</td>
+  <td>Mister</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Warrant Officers</td>
+  <td>Mister</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>All sergeants</td>
+  <td>Sergeant</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Corporals</td>
+  <td>Corporal</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Privates and Privates, First Class</td>
+  <td>Private Jones or Jones</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td colspan="2" class="table_indented">When the name is not known, an Army private may be addressed
+as "Soldier," and in the Marine Corps the term, "Marine," is
+proper in such a case.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <th colspan="2"><br />Navy, Coast Guard</th>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>All Admirals</td>
+  <td>Admiral</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Commodores</td>
+  <td>Commodore</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Captains</td>
+  <td>Captain</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Commanders</td>
+  <td>Commander</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Lieutenant Commanders, lieutenants, ensigns and midshipmen</td>
+  <td>Mister</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>All Chaplains</td>
+  <td>Chaplain</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>All medical officers (to commander)</td>
+  <td>Doctor</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>Except when in the presence of troops, senior officers frequently
+address juniors as "Smith" or "Jones" but this does not
+give the junior the privilege of addressing the senior in any
+other way than his proper title. By the same token, officers of
+the same grade generally address one another by their first or
+last names depending on the degree of intimacy. The courtesy
+and respect for others which govern the conduct of gentlemen
+are expected to prevail at all times.</p>
+
+<p>Enlisted men are commonly addressed by their last names.
+Except in cases where the officer has a blood relationship or a
+preservice friendship with an enlisted man, the occasions on
+which an enlisted man can properly be called by his first name
+are extremely rare. Speaking face to face, it is proper to use
+either the last name, alone, or the title of rank, or the last name
+and any accepted abbreviation of the title. In calling First
+Sergeant Brown from among a group, it would be acceptable to
+call for "Brown" but better still "Sergeant Brown." In the Navy,
+the common practice in addressing Chief Pharmacists Mate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>
+Gale, for instance, would be either "Gale" or "Chief." On formal
+occasions, as in calling a senior enlisted man front and center
+at a formation, the full military title would be used: "Chief
+Bo's'ns Mate Gale and Master Sergeant Brown, front and center."
+The longer form of address would also be proper in directing
+a third party to report to Master Sergeant White.</p>
+
+<p>A painstaking observation of the courtesies due to ranks of
+other services is more than a sign of good manners; it indicates a
+recognition of the interdependence of the services upon one
+another. Failure to observe or to recognize the tables of precedence
+officially agreed upon among the services is both stupid
+and rude. Any future war will see joint operations on a scale
+never before achieved, and its success will be dependent in
+large part upon the cooperation of all ranks in all services.
+Likewise, in combined operations, the alert officer will take it
+upon himself to learn and respect the insignia, relative ranks,
+and customs of his Allies. By exerting himself in the recognition
+of other ranks, by exacting adherence to the official tables of precedence,
+he contributes not only to his own stature as a professional
+soldier, sailor, marine or airman, but adds to the
+reputation of his service.</p>
+
+<p>In the main requirements, military courtesy varies but little
+from nation to nation. During service abroad, an American
+officer will salute the commissioned officers and pay respects to
+the anthems and colors of friendly nations just as to those of his
+own country.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_SIX" id="CHAPTER_SIX"></a><span class="chapter_number">CHAPTER SIX</span><br /><br />
+
+CUSTOMS AND COURTESIES</h3>
+
+
+<p>Mutual respect and courtesy are indispensable elements in
+military organization. The junior shows deference to the senior;
+the senior shows consideration for him. The salute is the ancient
+and universal privilege of fighting men. It is a recognition of a
+common fellowship in a proud profession. Saluting is an expression
+of courtesy, alertness, and discipline. The senior is as
+obliged to return it as the junior is to initiate it. In fact, in the
+Army particularly, it is not unusual to see the senior salute first.
+Interservice salutes should be exchanged as punctiliously as between
+members of a single service, for both services stand to
+gain or lose by the manner in which this act is performed.</p>
+
+<p>The general rules governing saluting are based on common
+sense, good manners, and the customs of the times. For instance,
+soldiers actively engaged in sports are not required to salute, nor
+is any man leading a horse, since the sudden motion so near
+the horse's head might make it restive. There will always be
+occasions when it is inconvenient, impractical, or illogical to
+render or require the return of a salute. The intent of the regulation
+is not that it embarrass or demean the individual, but that
+it serve as a signal of recognition and greeting between members
+of the military brotherhood. According to regulations, in all
+services, the salute is initiated by the junior, and at any convenient
+distance that insures recognition, the least being about
+six paces. The form of the salute is the same in the Army, Navy
+and Air Force, and it is given either from the position of attention
+or at a walk. It is not given indoors except when reporting
+to another officer in an official capacity. In the Navy, it is customary
+for the junior initiating a salute to combine it with "Good
+morning, Sir," as a means of reinforcing its meaning as a greeting.
+Where this is done in the other two services, it is usually the
+result of a local directive expressing the wish of a particular
+commander. While it is expected that the junior will initiate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>
+such a greeting, there is no obligation upon him to do so, nor is
+there any reason that the senior may not say it first.</p>
+
+<p>The Navy and Air Force require that the junior, when engaged
+in work that brings him in reasonably frequent contact
+with the same seniors during the course of the working day,
+salute each senior officer the first time that he is passed during
+the day, but not subsequently unless a change in circumstances
+requires it. In the Air Force an enlisted mechanic working on the
+line would salute the engineering officer and his assistants the
+first time he recognized them during the day. If he passed one of
+the same officers later in the day, for example in front of the
+post exchange, he would salute again. The Army requires that a
+salute be given and returned each time the junior passes the
+senior, unless circumstances dictate that it be temporarily suspended
+by common agreement. The Commanding Officer of a
+naval vessel is saluted whenever met.</p>
+
+<p>Salutes are not mandatory on the driver of a vehicle, whether
+moving or idling at the curb, for the reason that the operator is
+presumed to need both hands for driving. Salutes are not exchanged
+between moving vehicles, between moving and halted
+vehicles, or between persons walking and persons riding in official
+cars except when it is obvious that the passenger is a senior,
+or when it is required as part of a ceremony. Official vehicles
+carrying general officers or flag officers will be clearly marked
+outside, and will be saluted. A salute is exchanged between
+persons in a parked vehicle and persons walking, unless the car
+is a bus or taxi. When two boats pass each other, the senior
+officer in each boat salutes without rising.</p>
+
+<p>Aside from saluting, there are certain other customs that govern
+conduct around official vehicles. Since the place of honor is
+on the right, the junior not only walks on the left, but rides
+there as well. In entering a car, the junior enters first, followed
+by other members of the party in inverse order of rank, each
+seating himself so that the senior may take position on the right
+side. In leaving the car, the senior debarks first. However, if
+following this general procedure would necessitate any member<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>
+of the party climbing over another, or in any other way cause an
+awkward situation, the senior may enter first and alight last.</p>
+
+<p>The same rules govern for boarding and leaving small boats,
+except that the junior rides forward and the senior aft.</p>
+
+<p>In boarding aircraft with a single hatch, the pilot enters first,
+followed by the copilot and other members of the crew. With the
+crew in place, other passengers enter according to rank, the
+senior first; he takes the seat of his choice if the aircraft is
+equipped with seats. In either transport or tactical aircraft, the
+senior officers generally ride as far forward as possible. In leaving
+the aircraft, the aircrew who handle deplaning normally leave
+first, followed by passengers in order of seniority.</p>
+
+<p>The long association of the Air Force with the Army precludes
+any large body of custom and tradition that can be called
+peculiarly Air Force in origin or usage. In time undoubtedly a
+considerable body of distinctive official and social courtesies
+will grow, but at present most of the official and unofficial
+usages given here for the Army are understood to be applicable
+to the Air Force as well, and will be so treated.</p>
+
+<p>The hand salute is required on all military installations and in
+occupied territories, whether on or off duty; in all official greeting
+in the line of duty both on and off the base; for ceremonial
+occasions; and in honoring the National Anthem, or color, or
+distinguished persons.</p>
+
+<p>Since most military posts or bases are guarded on a twenty-four
+hour basis, the first official contact will be with the guard
+on the main gate. He may be a soldier or airman selected by
+roster and under the temporary control of the Officer of the
+Day, a Military Policeman wearing an MP brassard and under
+the command of the Provost Marshal, or a civilian guard either
+under the Provost or some other special staff agency of the Post
+or Base Commander. On the ordinary post or base, officers of
+other services will be admitted if wearing uniform, even when
+accompanied by civilian dependents. If the stay is of short duration,
+a "visitors" tag on the car may be sufficient; in other cases
+it may be necessary to secure a temporary pass from the Provost.</p>
+
+<p>Except for civilian guards, who do not salute, and who will be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>
+readily identified in their police uniforms, the guard, if armed
+with a pistol or carbine will give a hand salute. During the hours
+for challenging (usually extending from a short time before darkness
+until after reveille the next morning) sentries on an Army
+post may require any officer to halt, give his rank and name, and
+advance for recognition. The challenging sentry stands at "raise
+pistol" or "port arms" until the challenged party has been
+recognized, after which he simply returns his weapon to the
+normal carrying position; if armed with a rifle, he executes
+"present arms" and holds it until the salute is returned.</p>
+
+<p>On any post or base, the adjutant usually acts for the commanding
+officer in greeting the visitor and directing him to the
+various facilities of the base, although if the visit is to be of
+short duration&mdash;say, just for the purpose of seeing a friend&mdash;it
+would be impertinent to bother him. But if the visiting officer
+is reporting for temporary duty, or if he will be living in the
+immediate vicinity for some time on special detail and desires
+the use of post facilities, he is required to report to the adjutant.</p>
+
+<p>Most posts and bases have not only a bachelor officers quarters,
+more popularly known by the abbreviation BOQ, where the
+visitor may obtain lodging, but also a Hostess House where the
+officer may stay with his dependents. These accommodations are
+usually under the supervision of the Billeting Officer, who makes
+the assignments and charges a nominal fee for the services provided.
+Other facilities that the visitor may use include the
+Officer's Club and dining room, the Post Exchange (corresponding
+to Navy Exchanges), and the post theater. Under certain
+conditions the visitor may secure permission from the adjutant
+or executive to make purchases at the Commissary, which deals
+in foodstuffs and other perishables.</p>
+
+<p>Special dinners are served to the enlisted men on Christmas,
+Thanksgiving, July 4, New Year's Day and sometimes on February
+22. The company commander and lieutenants of the company
+accompanied by their wives and families and other guests
+visit the dining room and kitchen just before Christmas dinner
+is served, often remaining for dinner as guests of the organization.
+In some companies the soldiers are permitted to invite their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>
+wives and other ladies to dinner. In some commands, the post
+commander accompanied by his staff and some of the ladies of
+the garrison visit all the dining rooms and kitchens just previous
+to dinner hour.</p>
+
+<p>A newly arrived officer on a post and the adult members of
+his family are usually invited to be in the receiving line at the
+first regimental function after their arrival.</p>
+
+<p>If you arrive at a post at which you expect to remain longer
+than 24 hours you should check with the post adjutant for rules
+on calling. The adjutant will also give the normal calling hours
+in effect at the post or station. You are usually expected to call
+on the post commander. If assigned to duty there, you would
+normally call on all of your intermediate commanders at their
+offices. These calls should be made immediately after the call
+on the post commander. If unable to wear uniform, an explanation
+should be made for appearing in civilian clothes.</p>
+
+<p>When it is in keeping with local rules, as verified by the adjutant,
+you should follow the official visit by a social call on the
+post and intermediate commanders at their residence within 72
+hours after your arrival. If the commander is married and his
+wife is present on the post, it is customary for you to make the
+visit accompanied by your wife. These calls should be formal
+and ordinarily last no longer than fifteen minutes.</p>
+
+<p>You need not make other calls until the officers of the battalion,
+regiment or garrison have called on you except that as
+junior officer you should make the first call on field officers of
+your organization.</p>
+
+<p>It is customary for all officers of a unit or garrison to call
+upon the commanding officer on New Year's Day. (Again the
+commanding officer's desire in this matter can be asked of his
+aide or adjutant.)</p>
+
+<p>The visitor at the average Army and Air Force post will
+probably see few ceremonies other than retreat. This ceremony,
+which closes the official day, may be accompanied either by
+appropriate bugle calls, or by a parade with a military band. In
+the former case, the music will sound <em>To the Color</em>, and in the
+latter, the <em>National Anthem</em>, while the flag is being lowered.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>
+Retreat is held daily at a fixed time, usually about 1700 hours.
+Posts with saluting cannon fire one round at the designated
+hour. At the first note of either the <em>National Anthem</em> or <em>To the
+Color</em>, all dismounted persons face toward the color or flag and
+render the prescribed salute from attention; the salute is held
+until the last note of the music has been played. In the event the
+flag cannot be seen and the location of the flag staff is unknown
+to the person saluting, he faces toward the sound of the music.</p>
+
+<p>At parades and reviews and on other occasions when uncased
+colors are carried, all military personnel salute at six paces
+distance and hold the salute until the color or standard is the
+same distance past. When personal honors are being rendered to
+general or flag officers at a review, all military personnel present
+and not in formation salute during the ruffles, flourishes, and
+march. When a cannon salute is given, personnel in the immediate
+vicinity conform to the actions of the person being saluted.
+No salute is required during the 48 gun salute to the Nation on
+the Fourth of July.</p>
+
+<p>Military personnel also salute during the passing of a caisson
+or hearse in a military funeral. If attending the services at the
+grave side either as mourners or as honorary pallbearers, they
+stand at attention with the head-dress over the left breast at any
+time the casket is being moved, and during the service at the
+grave, including the firing of the volleys and the sounding of
+<em>Taps</em>. In cold or inclement weather, the head-dress is left on
+and the hand salute is rendered during the movement of the
+casket, the firing of the volleys, and the sound of <em>Taps</em>.</p>
+
+<p>On ships having 180 or more men of the seaman branch, the
+side is attended by side boys for visiting officers of our Armed
+Services, except in civilian clothes, and for officers of the Foreign
+Service when they come on board and depart. This courtesy
+is also extended to commissioned officers of the armed services of
+foreign nations. Officers of the rank of lieutenant to major inclusive
+are given two side boys, from lieutenant colonel to colonel
+four side boys, from brigadier to major general six side boys, and
+lieutenant general and above eight side boys. Full guard and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>
+band are given to general officers, and for a colonel the guard
+of the day but no music.</p>
+
+<p>During the hours of darkness or low visibility an approaching
+boat is usually hailed "Boat ahoy?" which corresponds to the
+sentry's challenge, "Who goes there?" Some of the answers are as
+follows:</p>
+
+<div id="challenge_table">
+<table summary="Answers to sentry's challenge">
+<thead>
+<tr>
+  <th>Answer</th>
+  <th>Meaning: <span class="reply_start">Senior in boat is:</span></th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+  <td>"Aye aye"</td>
+  <td>Commissioned officer</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>"No no"</td>
+  <td>Warrant officer</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>"Hello"</td>
+  <td>Enlisted man</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>"Enterprise"</td>
+  <td>CO of U.S.S. Enterprise</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>"Third Fleet"</td>
+  <td>Admiral commanding Third Fleet</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+<p>Similarly if the CO of the 13th Infantry is embarked or the CO
+of Fortress Monroe, the answers would be "13th Infantry" or
+"Fort Monroe."</p>
+
+<p>On arrival, at the order, "Tend the side" the side boys fall
+in fore and aft of the approach to the gangway, facing each
+other. The boatswain's mate-of-the-watch takes station forward
+of them and faces aft. When the boat comes alongside the
+boatswain's mate pipes, and again when the visiting officer's
+head reaches the level of the deck. At this moment the side boys
+salute.</p>
+
+<p>On departure, the ceremony is repeated in reverse, the bo's'ns
+mate begins to pipe and the side boys salute as soon as the departing
+officer steps toward the gangway between the side boys.
+As the boat casts off the bo's'ns mate pipes again. (Shore boats
+and automobiles are not piped.)</p>
+
+<p>You uncover when entering a space where men are at mess
+and in Sick Bay (Quarters) if sick men are present. You uncover
+in the wardroom at all times if you are junior. All hands
+except when under arms uncover in the captain's cabin and
+country.</p>
+
+<p>You should not overtake a senior except in emergency. In the
+latter case slow, salute, and say, "By your leave, sir."</p>
+
+<p>Admirals and captains when in uniform fly colors astern
+when embarked in boats. When on official visits they also display
+their personal flags (pennants for commanding officers) in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>
+the bow. Flag officers' barges are distinguished by the appropriate
+number of stars on each side of the barge's hull. Captains'
+gigs are distinguished by the name or abbreviation of
+their ships surcharged by an arrow.</p>
+
+<p>Where gangways are rigged on both sides, the starboard gangway
+is reserved for officers and the port for enlisted men. Stress
+of weather or expedience (in the discretion of the officer of the
+deck or OOD) may make either gangway available to both
+officers and men.</p>
+
+<p>Seniors come on board ship first. When reaching the deck you
+face toward the colors (or aft if no colors are hoisted) and salute
+the colors (quarterdeck). Immediately thereafter you salute the
+OOD and request permission to come on board. The usual form
+is, "Request permission to come aboard, sir." The OOD is required
+to return both salutes.</p>
+
+<p>On leaving the ship the inverse order is observed. You salute
+the OOD and request permission to leave the ship. The OOD
+will indicate when the boat is ready (if a boat is used). Each
+person, juniors first, salutes the OOD; then faces toward the
+colors, salutes and embarks.</p>
+
+<p>The OOD on board ship represents the captain and as such
+has unquestioned authority. Only the executive and commanding
+officer may order him relieved. The authority of the OOD
+extends to the accommodation ladders or gangways. He is perfectly
+within his rights to order any approaching boat to "lay
+off" and keep clear until in his judgment he can receive her
+alongside.</p>
+
+<p>The OOD normally conveys orders to the embarked troops via
+the Troop Commander but in emergencies he may issue orders
+direct to you or any person on board.</p>
+
+<p>The <em>bridge</em> is the "Command Post" of the ship when underway,
+as the quarterdeck is at anchor. The officer-of-the-deck is
+in charge of the ship as the representative of the captain. Admittance
+to the bridge when underway should be at the captain's
+invitation or with his permission. You may usually obtain permission
+through the executive officer.</p>
+
+<p>The <em>quarterdeck</em> is the seat of authority; as such it is respected.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>
+The starboard side of the quarterdeck is reserved for the captain
+(and admiral, if a flagship). No person trespasses upon it except
+when necessary in the course of work or official business. All
+persons salute the quarterdeck when entering upon it. When
+pacing the deck with another officer the place of honor is outboard,
+and when reversing direction each turns towards the
+other. The port side of the quarterdeck is reserved for commissioned
+officers, and the crew has all the rest of the weather
+decks of the ship. However, every part of the deck (and the
+ship) is assigned to a particular division so that the crew has
+ample space. Not unnaturally every division considers it has a
+prior though unwritten right to its own part of the ship. For
+gatherings such as smokers and movies, all divisions have equal
+privileges at the scene of assemblage. Space and chairs are reserved
+for officers and for CPO's, where available, and mess
+benches are brought up for the men. The seniors have the place
+of honor. When the captain (and admiral) arrive those present
+are called to attention. The captain customarily gives "carry on"
+at once through the executive officer or master-at-arms who accompanies
+him to his seat.</p>
+
+<p>If you take passage on board a naval vessel you will be assigned
+to one of several messes on board ship, the wardroom
+or junior officer's mess. In off-hours, particularly in the evenings,
+you can foregather there for cards, yarns or reading. Generally a
+percolator is available with hot coffee.</p>
+
+<p>The Executive Officer is ex officio the president of the wardroom
+mess. The wardroom officers are the division officers and
+the heads of departments. All officers await the arrival of the
+Executive Officer before being seated at lunch and dinner. If it
+is necessary for you to leave early, ask the head at your table
+for permission to be excused as you would at home. The seating
+arrangement in the messes is by order of seniority.</p>
+
+<p>Naval Officers are required to pay their mess bills in advance.
+The mess treasurer takes care of the receipts and expenditures
+and the management of the mess. The mess chooses him by
+election every month. When assigned to a mess you are an honorary
+member. Consult the mess treasurer as to when he will re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>ceive
+payment for mess bills. Your meals are served by stewards
+who in addition, clean your room, make up your bunk, shine
+your shoes. This is their regular work for which they draw the
+pay of their rating. They are not tipped.</p>
+
+<p>The Cigar Mess is the successor of the old Wine Mess. You
+may make purchases from this mess, for example, of cigarettes,
+cigars, pipe tobacco and candies. The cigar mess treasurer will
+make out your bill at the end of the month or before your detachment.
+Before you are detached be sure that the mess treasurer
+and the cigar mess treasurer have sufficient warning to make
+out your bills before you leave. Once a ship has sailed, long
+delays usually occur before your remittances can overtake it. The
+unpaid mess bill on board is a more serious breach of propriety
+than the unpaid club bill ashore because of the greater inconvenience
+and delay in settlement.</p>
+
+<p>Passenger officers should call on the captain of the ship. If
+there are many, they should choose a calling committee and consult
+the executive officer as to a convenient time to call. The
+latter will make arrangements with the captain.</p>
+
+<p>Gun salutes in the Navy are the same as in the Army, except
+that flag officers below the rank of fleet admiral or general of
+the Army are, by Navy regulations, given a gun salute upon
+departure only. By Army regulations gun salutes for the same
+officers are fired only on arrival.</p>
+
+<p>The rules governing saluting, whether saluting other individuals
+or paying honor to the color or National Anthem, are the
+same for the Air Force as in the Army, with the minor exceptions
+already noted. Because a most frequent contact between the
+Air Force and the other services comes of the operations of air
+transport, an officer should know what is expected of him when
+he travels as a passenger in military aircraft.</p>
+
+<p>It is assumed that the majority of officers visiting an Air
+Force base will arrive by air at the local military airfield. In addition
+to the Base Operations Officer, who is the commander's
+staff officer with jurisdiction over air traffic arriving and departing,
+the Airdrome Officer is charged with meeting all transient
+aircraft, determining their transportation requirements, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>
+directing them to the various base facilities. General officers and
+admirals will usually be met by the Base Commander if practicable.
+RON (Remaining Over Night) messages may be transmitted
+through Base Operations at the same time the arrival
+notice is filed.</p>
+
+<p>Pilots of transient aircraft carrying classified equipment are
+responsible for the safeguarding of that equipment unless it can
+be removed from the aircraft and stored in an adequately guarded
+area. Under unusual circumstances, it may be possible to
+arrange for a special airplane guard with the base commander.</p>
+
+<p>Passengers from other services, who desire to remain overnight
+at an air force station should make the necessary arrangements
+with the Airdrome Officer, and not attach themselves to the
+pilot who will be busy with his own responsibilities. By the
+same token, passengers of other services who have had a special
+flight arranged for them should make every effort to see that the
+pilot and crew are offered the same accommodations that they
+themselves are using, unless the particular base has adequate
+transient accommodations.</p>
+
+<p>Passenger vehicles are never allowed on the ramp or flight
+line unless special arrangements have been made with the Base
+Operations Officer; this permission will be granted only under
+the most unusual circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>The assigned first pilot, or the airplane commander, is the final
+authority on the operation of any military aircraft. Passengers,
+regardless of rank, seniority, or service, are subject to the orders
+of the airplane commander, who is held responsible for their
+adherence to regulations governing conduct in and around the
+aircraft. In the event it is impractical for the airplane commander
+to leave his position, orders may be transmitted through
+the copilot, engineer, or flight clerk, and have the same authority
+as if given by the pilot himself.</p>
+
+<p>The order of boarding and alighting from military aircraft&mdash;excluding
+the crew&mdash;will vary somewhat with the nature of the
+mission. If a special flight is arranged for the transportation of
+Very Important Persons, official inspecting parties, or other
+high ranking officers of any service, the senior member will enter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>
+first and take the seat of his choice, unless the aircraft is compartmented
+otherwise. Other members of the party will enter in
+order of rank, and precedence among officers of the same rank
+will be determined among the officers themselves. In alighting
+from the aircraft, the senior member will exit first, and the other
+members of the party will follow either in order of rank, or in
+order of seating, those nearest the hatch alighting first. The
+duties of the crew preclude their acting as arbiters in matters of
+precedence, and order of boarding and alighting will be decided
+among the members of the party.</p>
+
+<p>In routine flights, officers will normally be loaded in order of
+rank without regard for precedence, except that any VIP will
+be on- and off-loaded first; in alighting, officers will leave as they
+are seated from the exit forward&mdash;officers seated near the
+hatch will debark first, and so on to those who are seated farthest
+forward. In the event civilian dependents are being carried, or
+an enlisted man accompanied by dependents, they will be loaded
+after any VIP and before the officers, and leave in the same
+sequence.</p>
+
+<p>Aircraft carrying general or flag officers will usually be marked
+with a detachable metal plate carrying stars appropriate to the
+highest rank aboard, and will be greeted on arrival by the Air
+Force Base Commander, if the destination is an Air Force base.
+Other aircraft are usually met by the Airdrome Officer, who is
+appointed for one day only, and acts as the Base Commander's
+representative.</p>
+
+<p>Other personnel on active duty, seeking transportation on
+navigation or training missions, should realize that the flight is at
+the pilot's convenience. While the pilot will usually agree to any
+reasonable request, he can not deviate from his approved flight
+plan simply to accommodate a passenger. By the same token,
+passengers should be prompt, observe all pertinent safety regulations,
+and remain in the passengers compartment of the aircraft
+unless specifically invited to the flight deck or pilot's compartment.
+Under instrument conditions&mdash;so-called "blind"
+flying&mdash;continuous movement of the passengers of the aircraft
+makes unnecessary work for the pilot in maintaining balance,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>
+trim, and his assigned altitude. Passengers who are abnormally
+active while in the air are sometimes called&mdash;with exasperation&mdash;"waltzing
+mice."</p>
+
+<p>Since flights are somewhat dependent on weather, especially
+when carrying passengers, the decision of the pilot to fly or not to
+fly, or to alter his flight plan enroute will not be questioned by
+the passengers of whatever rank or service. Regulations governing
+the use of safety belts; wearing of parachutes; smoking
+during take-off, landing, fuel transfer, or in the vicinity of the
+aircraft on the ground are binding on all classes of passengers.</p>
+
+<p>When airplanes participate in the funeral of an aviator, it is
+customary to fly in a normal tactical formation, less one aircraft,
+to indicate the vacancy formerly occupied by the deceased. The
+flight should be so timed that it appears over the procession
+while the remains are being carried to the grave. Care should be
+exercised that the noise of the flight does not drown out the
+service at the edge of the grave.</p>
+
+<p>Other ceremonies, including Retreat and reviews, are the
+same for the Air Force as for the Army.</p>
+
+<p>By custom; and because it is the natural way of an American,
+the officers of the host service accord more than their average
+hospitality to the individual from any other service who may be
+visiting or doing duty among them. Even the young officer, having
+this experience for the first time, and in consequence feeling
+a little strange about it, is not permitted to feel that way long.
+He quickly finds a second home, provided there is that in his
+nature which responds to friendship.</p>
+
+<p>These amenities, carefully observed at all levels, contribute
+more directly to a spiritual uniting of American fighting forces
+than all of the policies which have been promulgated toward the
+serving of that object.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_SEVEN" id="CHAPTER_SEVEN"></a><span class="chapter_number">CHAPTER SEVEN</span><br /><br />
+
+KEEPING YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER</h3>
+
+
+<p>In one of Lord Chesterfield's letters to his son there is to
+be found this bit of wisdom: "Dispatch is the soul of business
+and nothing contributes more to dispatch than method. Fix one
+certain hour and day in the week for your accounts, keep them
+together in their proper order, and you can never be much
+cheated."</p>
+
+<p>Although that is good advice in any man's league, there is
+just a little more reason why the military officer should adopt
+a system of accounting whereby he can keep his record straight,
+his affairs solvent and his situation mobile than if he had remained
+in civil life.</p>
+
+<p>He rarely, if ever, becomes permanently fixed in one location
+or remains tied to one group of individuals who know his credit,
+his ability, his past accomplishments and his general reputation.
+In the nature of his work, these things have to be reestablished
+from point to point, and if he personally does not take pains to
+conserve them, he can be certain only that no one else ever will.</p>
+
+<p>On the whole, the attitude of the services toward the private
+affairs and nonduty conduct of their officers can be best set
+forth by once again employing Chesterfield's phrases: "If you
+have the knowledge, the honor, and probity which you may
+have, the marks and warmth of my affection will amply reward
+you; but if you have them not, my aversion and indignation will
+rise in the same proportion."</p>
+
+<p>Reassignment to a distant station is of course a day-to-day
+possibility in the life of any military officer. Far from this being a
+general hardship, it is because the pattern of work and environment
+changes frequently, and the opportunity to build new
+friendships is almost endless, that the best men are attracted
+to the services. To vegetate in one spot is killing to the spirit of
+the individual who is truly fitted to play a lead part in bold<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>
+enterprises, and for that reason there is something very unseemly
+and unmilitary about the officer who resists movement.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, a move order is like a club over the head
+to the officer who hasn't kept his own deck clean, has made no
+clear accounting of himself and is out of funds and harassed
+by his creditors.</p>
+
+<p>Concerning the evils of running into debt, there is hardly need
+for a sermon to any American male who has brains enough to
+memorize his general orders. As Mr. Micawber put it to David
+Copperfield, "The blossom is blighted, the leaf is withered, the
+god of days goes down upon the dreary scene, and&mdash;and in
+short, you are forever floored." The over-extension of credit is
+a not unknown American failing. It is now the nigh universal
+custom to overload the home with every kind of gadget,
+usually bought on time, and nearly all intended to provide the
+householder with every possible excuse for resisting human toil
+or for declining to use any personal ingenuity in making life interesting
+for his family. It is all good enough for those who
+must have it, but it is well for an officer to remember that the
+greater the accumulation, the less his chance of accommodating
+his personal establishment to the requirements of the service. All
+moves are costly, even though the government pays most of the
+freight.</p>
+
+<p>For these and many other reasons, the habit of systematic
+saving is an essential form of career insurance. The officer who
+will not deprive himself of a few luxuries to build up a financial
+reserve is as reckless of his professional future as the one who in
+battle commits his manpower reserve to front-line action without
+first weighing his situation.</p>
+
+<p>In the old days, keeping up with the Joneses was almost a
+part of service tradition. If the colonel's lady owned a bob-tailed
+nag, the major's wife could be satisfied with nothing less than a
+bay. And so on and on. Things are no longer that way. They
+have become much more sensible.</p>
+
+<p>There is one other kind of credit&mdash;the professional credit
+which an officer is entitled to keep with his own establishment.
+Junior officers are entitled to know that which their superiors<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>
+are often too forgetful to tell them&mdash;that if they have made
+some especially distinct and worthy contribution to the service, it
+belongs in the permanent record. If, for example, an officer has
+written part of a manual, or sat on a major board or committee
+or provided the idea which has resulted in an improvement of
+materiel, the fact should be noted in the 201 file, or its equivalent.
+Such things are not done automatically, as many an
+officer has learned too late and to his sorrow. But any officer is
+within propriety in asking this acknowledgment from his responsible
+superior.</p>
+
+<p>The legal assistance office in an officer's immediate organization
+will usually suffice his needs in the drawing of all papers
+essential to his personal housekeeping.</p>
+
+<p>To make a will is merely good business practice, and to neglect
+it simply because one's holdings are small is to postpone forming
+the habits which mark a responsible person. Because of
+superstition and a reluctance to think about death, about three
+out of every four Americans die intestate. That is about as
+foolish as leading men into battle without designating a second
+in command. The Armed Services counsel all officers to take the
+more responsible view, and make it easy for their officers to do
+this duty without cost.</p>
+
+<p>A power of attorney enables one person to take certain legal
+steps for another in his absence, and execute papers which would
+usually require his signature. When an officer is going on an
+extended tour overseas, his interests are apt to be left dangling
+unless he leaves such a power with his wife, mother, best friend
+or some other person, thereby avoiding loss of money and excess
+worry.</p>
+
+<p>Any citizen may draw up a will in his own handwriting, and if
+it is properly attested, it will have some standing in court. Likewise,
+a power of attorney can be executed on a blank form. But
+it is foolish for a military officer to do these things halfway when
+the legal offices of the service are available to him, not only for
+performing the work, but for counseling him as to its effect.</p>
+
+<p>There is one other step that the responsible man takes on his
+own. It is not likely that his wife or any other person knows at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>
+any one time the whole story of his interests, obligations and
+holdings, as to where goods may be stored, savings kept, insurance
+policies filed, what debts are owed and what accounts are
+receivable. In the event of his sudden death, next of kin would
+be at a loss to know whom and where to call to get the estate
+settled smoothly, and with all things accurately inventoried. So
+it is a practical idea to keep an up-to-date check list in ledger
+form, but containing all pertinent information whereby things
+may be made readily accessible. If for some private reason, it is
+preferred not to leave this with next of kin, it can be kept in a
+top drawer at the office, where it could scarcely escape attention.</p>
+
+<p>A current inventory of household goods is also a safety and
+time-saving precaution. As changes occur, the list can be corrected
+and kept fresh. Then in case of a sudden move, there is
+almost nothing to be done in preparation for the movers, and in
+the event of loss anywhere along the line, one's own tables will
+provide a basis for recovery. Goods are not infrequently mislaid,
+lost, or damaged when shipped or warehoused, and the more
+authentic the description of the goods in question, the better the
+chances for the claim.</p>
+
+<p>For any officer with dependents, insurance is of course a
+necessity. How much it should be, and what its form, are matters
+for his judgment and conscience, and according to his circumstances.
+The services do not try to tell a man how he should
+provide for his family. Men of honor need no such reminder,
+though they may be bothered by the question: "How much can
+I afford?" On that point, sufficient to say that it is <em>not</em> more
+blessed to be insolvent and worried about debts from being overloaded
+with insurance than for any other reason. Many retired
+officers supplement their pay by selling insurance. When a young
+service officer wants insurance counsel, he will find that they are
+disposed to deal sympathetically with his problem.</p>
+
+<p>A few recurrent expenses, such as insurance premiums and
+bond purchases, can be met with allotments through the Finance
+or Disbursing Officer. The forms for the starting of an allotment
+are quite simple. When an officer is going overseas, if his dependents
+are not to follow immediately, an allotment is the best<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>
+way to insure that they will get their income regularly. Overseas
+expenses are usually quite light, which means that the allotment
+may safely be made in larger amount than half the monthly pay.
+Under certain circumstances, it may also be arranged for allotments
+to be made to banks, as a form of steady saving.</p>
+
+<p>Adverting for a moment to the question of what happens to a
+service officer when he becomes ridden by debt and plagued by
+his creditors, it is a fair statement that the generality of higher
+commanders are not unsympathetic, that they know that shrewdness
+and thrift are quite often the product of a broadened experience,
+and that their natural disposition is to temper the
+wind to the shorn lamb, if there are signs that he is making a
+reasonable effort to recover. When it becomes clear that he is
+taking the service for a ride and cares nothing for the good
+name of the officer corps, they'll send him packing. A man
+harassed by debt, and not knowing how to meet his situation, is
+always well-advised to go to his commander, make a clean
+statement of the case, and ask for his counsel.</p>
+
+<p>Every officer should be absolutely scrupulous about keeping a
+complete, chronologically arranged file of all official papers having
+anything to do with his status, movements, duties, or possessions.
+That may seem burdensome, but it is well worth doing,
+since one never knows when an old paper will become germane
+to a current question or undertaking.</p>
+
+<p>Likewise, receipts are necessary whenever one spends money
+on anything (for instance, travel) on which reimbursement is
+expected from the Government. Regulations are clear on this
+point&mdash;the Government simply will not give the individual the
+benefit of the doubt. No receipt; no check from the Treasury.</p>
+
+<p>The military society is a little more tightly closed than a
+civilian society, particularly in posts, camps and stations. For
+that reason the pressure from the distaff side is usually a little
+heavier. Wives get together more frequently, know one another
+better, and take a more direct interest in their husbands' careers
+than is common elsewhere. That has its advantages, but also its
+headaches. There is an occasional officer who is so immature in
+his judgments as to permit his wife's feelings about a colleague<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>
+or a colleague's wife to supervene in the affairs of organization.
+This is one way to ask for trouble.</p>
+
+<p>Gossip is to be avoided because it is vicious, self-destructive,
+unmanly, unmilitary and, most of the time, untrue. The obligation
+of each officer toward his fellow officer is to build him up,
+which implies the use of moral pressure against whatsoever influence
+would pull him down. While the love of scandal is universal,
+and the services can not hope to rid themselves altogether
+of the average human failings, it is possible for any man
+to guard his own tongue and, by the example of moderation,
+serve to keep all such discussion temperate. Were all officers to
+make a conscious striving in this direction, the credit of the corps
+as a whole, and the satisfactions of each of its members in his
+service, would be tremendously increased. Besides, there is another
+point: gossip is the mark of the man insufficiently occupied
+with serious thought about his personal responsibilities. His
+carelessness about the destruction of the character of others is
+incidental to his indifference to those things which make for
+character in self.</p>
+
+<p>As for the rest of it, we can turn back to Chesterfield, with
+whom we started. For how might any man state it more neatly
+than with these words:</p>
+
+<p>"Were I to begin the world again with the experience which I
+now have of it, I would lead a life of real, not of imaginary
+pleasure. I would enjoy the pleasures of the table and of wine,
+but stop short of the pains inseparably annexed to an excess of
+either.</p>
+
+<p>"I should let other people do as they would without formally
+and sententiously rebuking them for it. But I would be most
+firmly resolved not to destroy my own faculties and constitution
+in complaisance to those who have no regard for their own.</p>
+
+<p>"I would play to give me pleasure, but not to give me pain.
+That is, I would play for trifles in mixed companies, to amuse
+myself and conform to custom. But I would take care not to
+venture for sums which if I won I would not be the better for,
+but if I lost, should be under a difficulty to pay."</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_EIGHT" id="CHAPTER_EIGHT"></a><span class="chapter_number">CHAPTER EIGHT</span><br /><br />
+
+GETTING ALONG WITH PEOPLE</h3>
+
+
+<p>The main answer can be stated almost as simply as doing
+right-face. Hear this:</p>
+
+<p>If you like people, if you seek contact with them rather than
+hiding yourself in a corner, if you study your fellow men
+sympathetically, if you try consistently to contribute something
+to their success and happiness, if you are reasonably generous
+with your thoughts and your time, if you have a partial reserve
+with everyone but a seeming reserve with no one, if you work to
+be interesting rather than spend to be a good fellow, you will
+get along with your superiors, your subordinates, your orderly,
+your roommate and the human race.</p>
+
+<p>It is easy enough to chart a course for the individual who is
+wise enough to make human relationships his main concern. But
+getting the knack of it is sufficiently more difficult that it is safe
+to say more talk has been devoted to this subject than to any
+other topic of conversation since Noah quit the Ark. From
+Confucius down to Emily Post, greater and lesser minds have
+worked at gentling the human race. By the scores of thousands,
+precepts and platitudes have been written for the guidance of
+personal conduct. The odd part of it is that despite all of this
+labor, most of the frictions in modern society arise from the individual's
+feeling of inferiority, his false pride, his vanity, his unwillingness
+to yield space to any other man, and his consequent
+urge to throw his own weight around. Goethe said that the
+quality which best enables a man to renew his own life, in his
+relation to others, is that he will become capable of renouncing
+particular things at the right moment in order warmly to embrace
+something new in the next.</p>
+
+<p>That is earthy advice for any member of the officer corps.
+For who is regarded as the strong man in the service&mdash;the individual
+who fights with tooth and nail to hold to a particular
+post or privilege? Not at all! Full respect is given only to him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>
+who at all times is willing to yield his space to a worthy successor,
+because of an ingrained confidence that he can succeed
+as greatly in some other sphere.</p>
+
+<p>For a fresh start in this study of getting along with people,
+we could not do better than quote what was published some
+time ago in the United States Coast Guard Magazine. Under
+the title "<em>Thirteen Mistakes</em>," the coast guardsmen raised their
+warning flares above the 13 pitfalls. It is a mistake:</p>
+
+
+<ol>
+<li>To attempt to set up your own standard of right and
+wrong.</li>
+
+<li>To try to measure the enjoyment of others by your own.</li>
+
+<li>To expect uniformity of opinions in the world.</li>
+
+<li>To fail to make allowance for inexperience.</li>
+
+<li>To endeavor to mold all dispositions alike.</li>
+
+<li>Not to yield on unimportant trifles.</li>
+
+<li>To look for perfection in our own actions.</li>
+
+<li>To worry ourselves and others about what can't be
+remedied.</li>
+
+<li>Not to help everybody wherever, however, whenever
+we can.</li>
+
+<li>To consider impossible what we cannot ourselves perform.</li>
+
+<li>To believe only what our finite minds can grasp.</li>
+
+<li>Not to make allowances for the weakness of others.</li>
+
+<li>To estimate by some outside quality, when it is that
+within which makes the man.</li>
+</ol>
+
+<p>The unobserving officer will no doubt dismiss this list as just
+so many clich&eacute;s. The reflective man will accept it as a negative
+guide to positive conduct, for it engages practically every principle
+which is vital to the growth of a strong spiritual life in
+relation to one's fellow men.</p>
+
+<p>Certain of these points stand out as prominently as pips on a
+radar screen to the military officer bent on keeping his own ship
+out of trouble. The morals contained in 4, 5, 12, and 13 all come
+to bear in the story told by Sgt. Fred Miller about Pvt. Fred
+Lang of Hospital No. 1 on Bataan. Miller had tried to do what
+he could for Lang, but no one else in the detachment was willing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>
+to give him a break. He was an unlettered hillbilly and, being
+ashamed of his own ignorance, he was shy toward other men.
+The rest of the story is best told in Miller's words.</p>
+
+<p>"When the Japs made their first bombing run on Marivales,
+most of us, being new at war, huddled together under such
+cover as we could find. Some people were hit outside. We stayed
+where we were. But we looked out and saw Lang. He was trying
+to handle a stretcher by himself, dragging one end along the
+ground in an effort to bring in the wounded. I remember one
+member of our group remarking, 'Look at old Lang trying to do
+litter drill right in the middle of a war.' Lang was killed by an
+enemy bomb that night. I guess he had to die to make us understand
+that he was the best man."</p>
+
+<p>There is hardly an American who has been in combat but can
+tell some other version of this same story, changing only the
+names and the surroundings. All too frequently it happens in the
+services&mdash;we look at a man, and because at a casual inspection
+we do not like the cut of his jib, or the manner of his response,
+or are over-persuaded by what someone else has said about
+him, we reach a permanent conclusion about his possibilities, and
+either mentally write him off, or impair our own capacity for
+giving him help.</p>
+
+<p>It suffices to say that when any officer has the inexcusable
+fault that he takes snap judgment on his <em>own</em> men, he will not
+be any different in his relations with all other people, and will
+stand in his own light for the duration of his career. Which
+leads to one other observation. When any man, bearing a bad
+efficiency report, comes to a new organization, it is a fact to be
+noted with mild interest, but <em>without any prejudice whatever</em>.
+Every new assignment means a clean slate, and there should be
+no hangover from what has happened, including the possible
+mistaken judgments of others. The system was never intended
+to give a dog a bad name. To be perpetually supervised, questioned
+and shadowed is to be doubted, and doubt destroys confidence
+and creates fear, slyness and discontent in the other individual.
+Every man is entitled to a fresh hold on security with his
+new superior. Any wise and experienced senior commander will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>
+tell you this, and will cite examples of men who came to him
+with a spotty record, who started nervously, began to pick up
+after realizing that they were not going to get another kick, and
+went on to become altogether superior. For any right-minded
+commander, it is far more gratifying to be able to salvage human
+material than to take over an organization that is sound from
+bottom to top.</p>
+
+<p>However, the truth in point 9 applies universally. The studied
+effort to be helpful in all of our relations with our fellow men,
+and to give help not grudgingly, but cheerfully, courteously and
+in greater measure than is expected, is the high road to wide
+influence and personal strength of character. More than all else,
+it is the little kindnesses in life which bind men together and
+help each wayfarer to start the day right. These tokens are like
+bread cast upon the water; they ultimately nourish the giver
+more than the direct beneficiary. One of our best-known corps
+commanders in the Pacific War made it a rule that if any man
+serving under him, or any man he knew in the service, however
+unimportant, was promoted or given any other recognition, he
+would write a letter to the man's wife or mother, saying how
+proud he felt. He was not a great tactician or strategist but,
+because of the little things he did, men loved him and would ride
+to hell for him, and their collective moral strength became the
+bastion of his professional success.</p>
+
+<p>Of Maj. Gen. Henry T. Allen, who commanded our first Army
+of Occupation in Germany, a distinguished contemporary once
+said: "It surprised us that Allen did so well; in the old Army
+we regarded him as a swashbuckler." Maybe that was because he
+was a cavalryman and liked to strut, and he liked to see chestiness
+in his own people, right down to the last file. But General
+Allen was infinitely considerate of the dignity of all other men,
+and he disciplined himself to further their growth and give
+them some mark of his thoughtful regard so far as lay within
+his power. It was because of his rich understanding humanity,
+and not through any genial slackness, that he kept a tight hold
+on discipline. To the units he commanded he gave his own tone.
+He warmed men instead of chilling them with fear. Thousands<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>
+returned to civil life better equipped for the passage because of
+what they had seen him do and heard him say.</p>
+
+<p>So we can link points 1, 6, 7, and 8 from the Coast Guard's
+list into one binding truth not less essential to sound officership
+than to action anywhere which seeks the cooperation and goodwill
+of men: <em>It is not more blessed to be right than to be loved</em>,
+Henry Clay's remark that he would rather be right than president
+notwithstanding. The absolute perfectionist is the most
+tiresome of men, and a waster of time and of nerves. The
+stickler, the fly-speckler, the bully and the sadist serve only to
+encumber those parts of the establishment which they touch;
+their subordinates spend part of their own strength clearing
+away the wreckage which these misfits make.</p>
+
+<p>Other than these comments, it is not necessary to say a great
+deal about the <em>inner qualities</em> which give an officer a free-wheeling
+adjustment with other persons in all walks of life. Once
+again, however, it might be well to speak of the importance of
+enthusiasm, kindness, courtesy, and justice, which are the safeguards
+of honor and the tokens of mutual respect between man
+and man. This last there must be if men are to go forward together,
+prosper in one another's company, find strength in the
+bonds of mutual service, and experience a common felicity in
+the relationship between the leader and the led.</p>
+
+<p>But it is sadly the case that the reputation of any man, as to
+what he is inside, forms in large measure from what others see
+of him from the outside. That is what makes poignant the story
+of Pvt. Fred Lang; like a singed cat, he was better than he
+looked. In the military service, more than elsewhere in life,
+manner weighs heavily in the balance, if only for the reason
+that from the public point of view, the military officer is supposed
+to look the part. He is expected to be the embodiment of
+character, given to forthright but amiable speech, capable of
+expressing his ideas and purpose clearly, careful of customs and
+good usage, and carrying himself with poise and assurance. For
+if he does not have the aura of vitality, confidence and reflection
+which is expected in a leader of men, it will be suspected that
+he is incapable of playing the part. However unfairly discrimi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>nating
+that judgment may seem to be, in comparison with the
+attitude toward other professions, it has a perfectly logical basis.
+The people are willing to forgive preoccupation in all others,
+since how an engineer dresses has no relation to his skill as a
+mathematician, and when a doctor mumbles it doesn't suggest
+that he would be clumsy with a scalpel. But when they meet an
+uncivil or unkempt officer, or see an untidy soldier or bluejacket
+on the street, they worry that the national defense is going to
+pot. One reason for the great prestige of the Marine Corps is
+that the public seldom, if ever, sees a sloppy marine, though its
+members do sometimes look a little gruesome on the field of
+battle.</p>
+
+<p>The officer corps does have its share of "characters." Some
+are men born in an uncommon mold, with a great deal of
+natural phlegm in their systems, a gift for salty speech and a
+tendency to drawl their words as if their thoughts were being
+raised from a deep well. Usually, they are men of extraordinary
+power, and are worth any dozen of that individual who scuttles
+about like a water bug, making an exhibition of great energy
+but, like the whirling dervish, keeping in such constant motion
+that he has no chance to observe what goes on under his nose.
+Here, as in all things, it is steadiness that does it. The blunt
+soldier, the old sea-dog type of naval officer, is endurable and
+even lovable in the eyes of most other people, when he has done
+his scrapping with fire rather than firewater, when his personal
+credentials are sound, and when his outward manner is bluff in
+both meanings of the word. But the fakers who affect the crusty
+manner, the glaring eye and the jutting jaw, simply because
+they are wearing military suits and think mistakenly that these
+things are in the tradition, will be recognized as counterfeit as
+quickly as a lead quarter.</p>
+
+<p>There is nothing else that serves as well as the natural manner,
+with some polishing of the surfaces here and there, and a
+general tightening at the corners.</p>
+
+<p>While a partial check list is not likely to reform the establishment
+overnight, if kept simple enough, it may afford help to an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>
+occasional individual, instead of giving him the fear that he is
+falling apart at the seams.</p>
+
+<p>The smartest physical culturists are swinging around to the
+idea that correct posture alone is the great secret of physical
+fitness, that if a man sits well, stands erect and walks correctly
+all the time, he is doing more for his health and longevity than
+all of the setting-up exercises and sweat baths yet devised. At the
+same time he is making a favorable impression on all who see
+him. Clumsy one-sided postures, fidgeting on a chair, slouching
+while sitting or standing, moving along at a shambling gait and
+speaking with the chin down on the chest produce quite the
+opposite effect. Right or wrong, they are taken as a sign of indolence,
+fatigue, or inattention. There is always an hour for
+complete physical relaxation, for stretching and letting the muscles
+melt; Winston Churchill attributed a large part of his vigor
+and recuperative powers to the habit of taking a 30-minute cat
+nap in midday. That is a smart trick if one can master it. But
+trying most of all for <em>physical ease</em> when in conversation, or at
+conference, or in attending to any matter wherein one comes
+under the surveillance of those whose good opinion is worth
+cultivating is as certain a handicap as putting excess weight on
+an otherwise good horse.</p>
+
+<p>In the services, as in any situation in life in which deference
+to higher opinion is compelled by the nature of an undertaking,
+the young will do well to consider the wisdom of the precept,
+"Be patient with your betters."</p>
+
+<p>It is lamentably bad judgment to act by any other rules.
+Where differences of opinion exist, time and forbearance not infrequently
+will work the desired change, where stubbornness or
+rudeness would utterly fail. More than that, a junior owes this
+much consideration to any senior whose heart is in the right
+place. It is bad manners, but even worse from the standpoint of
+tactics, to attempt publicly to score a victory over a senior in
+any dispute, or to attempt by wit to gain the upperhand of him
+in the presence of others. Though the point may be gained for
+the moment, it is usually at the cost of one's personal hold on the
+confidence of the senior.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>But there is also the other side of the case, that the superior
+should deal considerately with any earnest proposal from his
+subordinate, rather than dashing cold water in his face, just because
+he has not thought his proposition through. One of the
+best-loved editors of the United States, Grove Patterson, of
+Toledo, Ohio, was remembered by every young journalist who
+ever came under him because of the care with which he supported
+every man's pride. A youngster would go in to him, filled
+with enthusiasm for some idea, which he himself had not bothered
+to view in the round. Patterson would listen carefully, and
+would then say: "That's a corking idea. Take it and work it out
+carefully, going over every aspect of it. Then bring it back to
+me." On second thought, the youngster would begin having his
+own doubts, and would shortly begin hoping that the chief
+would forget all about the subject, which he invariably did.
+Many celebrated commanders in our military services have won
+the lasting affection of their subordinates by employing exactly
+this method.</p>
+
+<p>Men like the direct glance. They feel flattered by it, particularly
+when they are talking, and in conversation they like to be
+heard through, not interrupted in mid-passage. That is true
+whatever their station. Nobody likes to be bored, but fully half
+of boredom comes from lack of the habit of careful listening.
+The man who will not listen never develops wits enough to distinguish
+between a bore and a sage and therefore cannot pick
+the best company. The vacant stare, the drifting of eyes from the
+speaker to a window, or a picture or a passing blonde, though
+greatly tempting in the midst of long discourse, are taken only
+as signs of inattention. Many a young officer called to the carpet
+for some trivial business has managed to square himself with his
+commander just by looking straight and talking straight in the
+few moments that decided his future.</p>
+
+<p>Elsewhere in the book, a great deal has been said about the
+importance of the voice and of developing one's powers of conversation.
+Not a great deal more needs to be added here. But
+there is no excuse for the officer who talks so that others must
+strain to hear what he is saying&mdash;unless he is suffering from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>
+laryngitis. It is simple enough to keep the chin up and let the
+words roll out. Many persons have the bad habit of letting the
+voice drop at the end of a sentence; the effect on the other
+party is like watching a man run away from a fight. For clear
+understanding, and to create a good impression, there should be
+a cheerful lift upward at the end of a sentence.</p>
+
+<p>Also, officers who look at lecturing simply as part of the routine
+tend to fall into either the singsong rhythm which one frequently
+hears in college professors and certain radio announcers,
+or go all out for the sonorous intonations which are beloved by
+many of the clergy. Many young officers get into these same
+cadences whenever they talk to men, and before they know it,
+they are trying the same thing in the family circle. They sound
+like alarm clocks running down, but instead of arousing the
+house, they are an invitation to slumber. Either on the lecture
+platform, or in man-to-man conversation, there is no valid reason
+why it is ever necessary to take the tone which suggests that
+the talk is one-sided. Words can be crisply uttered and still be
+personally directed, but not if the speaker is looking at the floor,
+the moon or the rafters. To discuss a question amicably is the
+best way to gain clear insight into it; when a man argues violently,
+his purpose usually is not to serve wisdom but to prevail
+despite his lack of it, thus stultifying both himself and his adversary.</p>
+
+<p>Clothes are important. They have to be. One can't go very
+far without them, north of the Equator. But a fresh press counts
+more than a new suit by a Fifth Avenue tailor left unpressed,
+and neatness beats lavishness any day in the week.</p>
+
+<p>Carefulness in the little things counts much. Men develop an
+aversion to the individual who cannot remember their names,
+their titles or their stations, but they will warm to the person who
+remembers, and they will overlook most of his other shortcomings.
+Likewise, they are won by any words of appreciation or
+of interest in what they are doing. Get a man talking about his
+business, his golf game or his family, and you are on the inside
+track toward his friendship. As for senior commanders, when the
+hours comes for them to bat the ball back and forth in friendly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>
+conversation, there is nothing they enjoy more than reminiscing
+about experiences on the battlefield. Other than inveterate surgical
+patients, no one can outdo them in talking about their
+operations.</p>
+
+<p>It isn't lengthy advice which is needed on this subject, since
+a man commissioned is considered to have graduated from at
+least the kindergarten of good manners. What counts is simply
+caring about it, not to be ingratiating to other people, but for
+the sake of one's own dignity and self-respect.</p>
+
+<p>None of the oracles on winning friends and influencing people
+have said it in those few words, and if they had, there would
+have been no books to sell.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_NINE" id="CHAPTER_NINE"></a><span class="chapter_number">CHAPTER NINE</span><br /><br />
+
+LEADERS AND LEADERSHIP</h3>
+
+
+<p>In that gallery of Great Americans whose names are conspicuously
+identified with the prospering of the national arms in
+peace and war, there are almost as many types as there are men.</p>
+
+<p>There were a certain few qualities that they had to possess in
+common or their names would never have become known beyond
+the county line.</p>
+
+<p>But these were inner qualities, often deep buried, rather than
+outward marks of greatness which men recognized immediately
+upon beholding them.</p>
+
+<p>Some almost missed the roll call, either because in early life
+their weaknesses were more apparent than their strengths, or because
+of an outward seeming of insignificance which at first
+fooled their contemporaries.</p>
+
+<p>In the minority are the few who seemed marked for greatness
+almost from the cradle, and were acclaimed for leadership while
+still of tender years.</p>
+
+<p>Winfield Scott, a Brigadier in the War of 1812 when Brigadiers
+were few, and Chief of Staff when the Civil War began, is
+a unique figure in the national history.</p>
+
+<p>George Washington, Adjutant of the State of Virginia at 21, is
+one other military infant prodigy who never later belied his early
+fame.</p>
+
+<p>The majority in the gallery are not like these. No two of them
+are strikingly alike in mien and manner. Their personalities are
+as different, for most part, as their names. Their characters also
+ran the range of the spectrum, or nearly, if we are talking of
+moral habit, rather than of conscientious performance of military
+duty. Some drank their whiskey neat and frequently; others
+loathed it and took a harsh line with any subordinate who used
+it.</p>
+
+<p>One of the greatest generals in American history, celebrated
+for his fighting hardly more than for his tippling, would walk<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>
+from the room if any man tried to tell an off-color story in his
+presence.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most celebrated and successful of our Admirals
+endeared himself to millions of men in all ranks and services by
+his trick of gathering his chief subordinates together just prior
+to battle, issuing his orders sternly and surely, and then relaxing
+long enough to tell them his latest parlor story, knowing that
+finally it would trickle down through the whole command.</p>
+
+<p>Among the warriors in this gallery are men who would bet a
+month's pay on a horse race. There are duellists and brawlers,
+athletes and aesthetes, men who lived almost sainted lives and
+scholars who lived more for learning than for fame.</p>
+
+<p>Some tended to be so over-reclusive that they almost missed
+recognition; others were hail-fellow-well-met in any company.</p>
+
+<p>Their methods of work reflected these extreme variations in
+personal type, as did the means they used to draw other men to
+them, thereby setting a foundation for real success.</p>
+
+<p>Part of their number commanded mainly through the sheer
+force of ideas; others owed their fortune more to the magnetism
+of dynamic personality.</p>
+
+<p>In a few there was the spark of genius. All things seemed to
+come right with them at all times. Fate was kind, the openings
+occurred, and they were prepared to take advantage of them.</p>
+
+<p>But the greater number moved up the hill one slow step at a
+time, not always sure of their footing, buffeted by mischance,
+owning no exalted opinion of their own merits, reacting to discouragement
+much as other men would do, but finally accumulating
+power as they learned how to organize the work of other
+men.</p>
+
+<p>While a young lieutenant, Admiral Sims became so incensed,
+when the United States would not take his word on a voucher,
+that he offered to resign.</p>
+
+<p>General Grant signally failed to organize his life as an individual
+prior to the time when a turn of the wheel gave him his
+chance to organize the military power of the United States in
+war.</p>
+
+<p>General Sherman, who commanded the Army for almost 15<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>
+years, was considered by many of his close friends to be a fit
+subject for confinement as a mental case just prior to the Civil
+War.</p>
+
+<p>General Meade, one of the sweetest and most serene of men in
+his family relationships, lacked confidence in his own merits and
+was very abusive of his associates during battle.</p>
+
+<p>Admiral Farragut, whose tenderness as an individual are
+marked by the 16 years in which he personally nursed an invalid
+wife, was so independent in his professional thought and
+action that both in and out of the Navy he was disqualified as a
+"climber." He got into wretched quarrels with his superiors
+mainly because he felt his assignments afforded him no distinction.
+The Civil War gave him his opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>Admiral John Paul Jones, though an unusually modest man,
+was as redoubtable in the boudoir as at sea, and it would be hard
+to say which type of engagement most caught his fancy.</p>
+
+<p>General Winfield Scott, as firm a commander as ever drew on
+a glove, plagued the service with his petty bickering over rank,
+seniority, and precedent.</p>
+
+<p>They were all mortal. Being human, they had their points of
+personal weakness, just as any newly appointed ensign or second
+lieutenant also has weak spots in his armor, and sometimes
+views them in such false proportion that he doubts his own
+potential for high responsibility.</p>
+
+<p>There is not one perfect life in the gallery of the great. All
+were moulded by the human influences which surrounded them.
+They reacted in their own feelings, and toward other men, according
+as their personal fortunes rose and fell. They sought help
+where it could be found. When disappointed, they chilled like
+anyone else. But along with their professional talents, they
+possessed, in common, a desire for substantial recognition, accompanied
+by the will to earn it fairly, or else the nation would
+never have heard their names.</p>
+
+<p>All in all it is a multifarious gallery. If we were to pass it in
+review, and then inspect it carefully, it would still be impossible
+to say: "This is the composite of character. This is the proto<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>type
+of military success. Model upon it and you have the pinnacle
+within reach."</p>
+
+<p>The same thing would no doubt hold true of a majority of the
+better men who commanded ships, squadrons, regiments, and
+companies under these commanders, and at their own level were
+as superior in leadership as the relatively few who rose to
+national stature because of the achievements of the general body.</p>
+
+<p>The same rule will apply tomorrow. Those who come forward
+to fill these same places, and to command them with equal or
+greater authority and competence, will not be plaster saints,
+laden with all human virtue, spotless in character and fit to be
+anointed with a superman legend by some future Parson Weems.
+They will be men with a human quality, and a strong belief in
+the United States and the goodness of a free society. They will
+have some of the average man's faults, and maybe a few of his
+vices. But certainly they will possess the qualities of courage,
+creative intelligence and physical fitness in more than average
+measure.</p>
+
+<p>What we know of our great leaders in the current age should
+disparage the idea that only a superman may scale the heights.
+Trained observers have noted in their personalities and careers
+many of the plain characteristics which each man feels in himself
+and mistakenly believes is a bar to preferment.</p>
+
+<p>Drew Middleton, the British correspondent, wrote of Gen.
+Carl "Tooey" Spaatz: "This man, who may be a heroic figure
+to our grandchildren, is essentially an unheroic figure to his contemporaries.
+He is in fact such a friendly, human person that
+observers tend to minimize his stature as a war leader. He is not
+temperamental. He makes no rousing speeches, writes no inspirational
+orders. Spaatz, in issuing orders for a major operation
+involving 1,500 airplanes, is about as inspiring as a groceryman
+ordering another five cases of canned peas."</p>
+
+<p>In the files of the Navy Department there is a picture of
+Admiral Marc A. Mitscher, the famed commander of Task
+Force 58, coming on board a flagship to take command of a
+force of carriers. Officers and men are lined up at spick-and-span
+attention. The Admiral himself appears as a little man in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>
+a rumpled khaki uniform, tieless and wearing an informal garrison
+cap. Under his arm is a book, and in the photograph the
+title can be read as "Send Another Coffin." Mitscher liked detective
+stories; he didn't like ceremonial pomp.</p>
+
+<p>An interviewer who called on Gen. Ira C. Eaker when he was
+leading 8th Air Force against Germany found "a strikingly soft-spoken,
+sober, compact man who has the mild manner of a conservative
+minister and the judicial outlook of a member of the
+Supreme Court. But he is always about two steps ahead of
+everybody on the score, and there is a quiet, inexorable logic
+about everything he does." Of his own choice, Eaker would have
+separated from military service after World War I. He wanted to
+be a lawyer and he also toyed with the idea of running a country
+newspaper. In his off hours, he wrote books on aviation for
+junior readers. On the side, he studied civil law and found it
+"valuable mental training."</p>
+
+<p>On the eve of the Guadalcanal landing, Gen. A. A. Vandegrift's
+final order to his command ended with the stirring and
+now celebrated phrase: "God favors the bold and strong of
+heart." Yet in the afterglow of later years, the Nation read a
+character sketch of him which included this: "He is so polite
+and so soft spoken that he is continually disappointing the people
+whom he meets. They find him lacking in the fire-eating
+traits they like to expect of all marines, and they find it difficult
+to believe that such a mild-mannered man could really have led
+and won the bloody fight." When another officer spoke warmly
+of Vandegrift's coolness under fire, his "grace under pressure,"
+to quote Hemingway's phrase, he replied: "I shouldn't be given
+any credit. I'm built that way."</p>
+
+<p>The point is beautifully taken. Too often the man with great
+inner strength holds in contempt those less well endowed by
+nature than himself.</p>
+
+<p>While there are no perfect men, there are those who become
+relatively perfect leaders of men because something in their
+makeup brings out in strength the highest virtues of all who
+follow them. That is the way of human nature. Minor shortcomings
+do not impair the working loyalty, or growth, of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>
+follower who has found someone whose strengths he deems
+worth emulating. On the other hand, to recognize merit, you
+must yourself have it. <em>The act of recognizing the worthwhile
+traits in another person is both the test and the making of
+character.</em> The man who scorns all others, and thinks no one else
+worth following, parades his own inferiority before the world.
+He puts his own character into bankruptcy just as surely as does
+that other sad camp follower of whom Thomas Carlyle wrote:
+"To recognize false merit, and crown it as true, because a long
+tail runs after it, is the saddest operation under the sun."</p>
+
+<p>Sherman, Logan, Rawlins and the many others hitched their
+wagons to Grant's star because they saw in him a man who had
+a way with other men, and who commanded them not less by
+personal courage than by patient work in their interest. Had
+Grant spent time brooding over his civilian failures, he would
+have been stuck with a disorderly camp and would never have
+gotten out of Illinois.</p>
+
+<p>The nobility of the private life and influence of Gen. Robert
+E. Lee and the grandeur of his military character are known to
+every American school boy. His peerless gifts as a battle leader
+have won the tribute of celebrated soldiers and historians
+throughout the English-speaking world. Likewise, the deep religiosity
+of his great lieutenant, Stonewall Jackson, the latter's
+fiery zeal and the almost evangelical power with which he lifted
+the hearts of all men who followed him, are hallmarks of character
+that are vividly remembered in whatever context his name
+happens to be mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>If we turn for a somewhat closer look at Grant it is because he,
+more than any other American soldier, left us a full, clear
+narrative of his own growth, and of the inner thoughts and
+doubts pertaining to himself which attended his life experience.
+There was a great deal of the average man in Grant. He was
+beset by human failings. He could not look impressive. He had
+no sense of destiny. In his great hours, it was sweat, rather than
+inspiration, dogged perseverance, rather than the aura of power,
+which made the hour great.</p>
+
+<p>Average though he was in many things, there was nothing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>
+average about the strong way in which he took hold, applying
+massive common sense to the complex problems of the field.
+That is why he is worth close regard. His virtues as a military
+leader were of the simpler sort which plain men may understand
+and hope to emulate. He was direct in manner. He never
+intrigued. His speech was homely. He was approachable. His
+mind never deviated from the object. Though a stubborn man,
+he was always willing to listen to his subordinates. He never
+adhered to a plan obstinately, but nothing could induce him to
+forsake the idea behind the plan.</p>
+
+<p>History has left us a clear view of how he attained to greatness
+in leadership by holding steadfastly to a few main principles.</p>
+
+<p>At Belmont, his first small action, he showed nothing to indicate
+that he was competent as a tactician and strategist. But the
+closing scene reveals him as the last man to leave the field of
+action, risking his life to see that none of his men had been left
+behind.</p>
+
+<p>At Fort Donelson, where he had initiated an amphibious
+campaign of highly original daring, he was not on the battlefield
+when his army was suddenly attacked. He arrived to find
+his right wing crushed and his whole force on the verge of defeat.
+He blamed no one. Without more than a passing second's
+hesitation, he said quietly to his chief subordinates: "Gentlemen,
+the position on the right must be retaken." Then he
+mounted his horse, and galloped along the line shouting to his
+men: "Fill your cartridge cases quick; the enemy is trying to
+escape and he must not be permitted to do so." Control and
+order were immediately reestablished by his presence.</p>
+
+<p>At Shiloh, the same thing happened, only this time it was
+worse; the whole Union Army was on the verge of rout. Grant,
+hobbling on crutches from a recent leg injury, met the mob of
+panic-stricken stragglers as he left the boat at Pittsburgh Landing.
+Calling on them to turn back, he mounted and rode toward
+the battle, shouting encouragement and giving orders to all he
+met. Confidence flowed from him back into an already beaten
+Army and in this way a field near lost was soon regained.</p>
+
+<p>The last and best picture of Grant is on the evening after he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>
+had taken his first beating from General Lee in the campaign
+against Richmond. He was newly with the Army of the Potomac.
+His predecessors, after being whipped by Lee, had invariably retreated
+to safe distance. But this time as the defeated army took
+the road of retreat out of the Wilderness, its columns got only as
+far as the Chancellorsville House crossroad. There the soldiers
+saw a squat, bearded man, sitting horseback, and drawing on a
+cigar. As the head of each regiment came abreast him, he silently
+motioned it to take the right-hand fork&mdash;back toward Lee's
+flank and deeper than ever into the Wilderness. That night for
+the first time the Army sensed an electric change in the air over
+Virginia. It had a man.</p>
+
+<p>"I intend to fight it out on this line" is more revealing of the
+one supreme quality which put the seal on all other of U. S.
+Grant's great gifts for military leading than everything else that
+the historians have written of him. He was the epitome of that
+spirit which moderns call "seeing the show through." He was
+sensitive to a fault in his early years, and carried to his tomb a
+dislike for military uniform, caused by his being made the butt of
+ridicule the first time he ever donned a soldier suit. As a junior
+lieutenant in the Mexican War, he sensed no particular aptitude
+in himself. But he had participated in every engagement possible
+to a member of his regiment, and had executed every small duty
+to the hilt, with particular attention to conserving the lives of
+his men. This was the school and the course which later enabled
+him to march to Richmond, when men's lives had to be
+spent for the good of the Nation. In more recent times, one of the
+great statesmen and soldiers of the United States, Henry L.
+Stimson, has added his witness to the value of this force in all
+enterprise: "I know the withering effect of limited commitments
+and I know the regenerative effect of full action." Though he
+was speaking particularly of the larger affairs of war and nation
+policy, his words apply with full weight to the personal life.
+The truth seen only halfway is missed wholly; the thing done
+only halfway had best not be attempted at all. Men can be
+fooled but they can't be fooled on this score. They will know
+every time when the bolt falls short for lack of a worthwhile<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>
+effort. And when that happens, confidence in the leader is corroded,
+even among those who themselves were unwilling to try.</p>
+
+<p>There have been great and distinguished leaders in our military
+services at all levels, who had no particular gifts for administration,
+and little for organizing the detail of decisive action
+either within battle or without. They excelled because of a
+superior ability to utilize the brains and command the loyalty
+of well-chosen subordinates. Their particular function was to
+judge the mark according to their resources and audacity, and
+then to hold the team steady until the mark was gained. So
+doing, they complemented the power of the faithful lieutenants
+who might have put them in the shade in any I. Q. test. Wrote
+Grant: "I never knew what to do with a paper except put it in
+a side pocket or pass it to a clerk who understood it better than I
+did." There was nothing unfair or irregular about this; it was as
+it should be. All military achievement develops out of unity of
+action. The laurel goes to the man whose powers can most surely
+be directed toward the end purposes of organization. <em>The winning
+of battles is the product of the winning of men.</em> That aptitude
+is not an endowment of formal education, though the man
+who has led a football team, a class, a fraternity or a debating
+society is the stronger for the experience which he has gained.
+It is not uncustomary in those who have excelled in scholarship
+to despise those who have excelled merely in sympathetic understanding
+of the human race. But in the military services, though
+there are niches for the pedant, character is at all times at least
+as vital as intellect, and the main rewards go to him who can
+make other men feel toughened as well as elevated.</p>
+
+
+<ul>
+<li><em>Quiet resolution.</em></li>
+
+<li><em>The hardihood to take risks.</em></li>
+
+<li><em>The will to take full responsibility for decision.</em></li>
+
+<li><em>The readiness to share its rewards with subordinates.</em></li>
+
+<li><em>An equal readiness to take the blame when things go adversely.</em></li>
+
+<li><em>The nerve to survive storm and disappointment and to
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>
+face toward each new day with the scoresheet wiped
+clean, neither dwelling on one's successes nor accepting
+discouragement from one's failures.</em></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>In these things lie a great part of the essence of leadership, for
+they are the constituents of that kind of moral courage which
+has enabled one man to draw many others to him in any age.</p>
+
+<p>It is good, also, to look the part, not only because of its effect
+on others, but because from out of the effort made to <em>look it</em>,
+one may in time come <em>to be it</em>. One of the kindliest and most
+penetrating philosophers of our age, Abb&eacute; Ernest Dimnet, has
+assured us that this is true. He says that by trying to look and
+act like a socially distinguished person, one may in fact attain
+to the inner disposition of a gentleman. That, almost needless
+to say, is the <em>real</em> mark of the officer who takes great pains about
+the manner of his dress and address, for as Walt Whitman has
+said: "All changes of appearances without a change in that
+which underlies appearance, are without avail." All depends
+upon the spirit in which one makes the effort. By his own account,
+U. S. Grant, as a West Point cadet, was more stirred by
+the commanding appearance of General Winfield Scott than by
+any man he had ever seen, including the President. He wrote
+that at that moment there flashed across his mind the thought
+that some day he would stand in Scott's place. Grant was unkempt
+of dress. His physical endowments were such that he
+could never achieve the commanding air of Scott, but he left us
+his witness that Scott's military bearing helped kindle his own
+desire for command, even though he knew that he could not be
+like Scott.</p>
+
+<p>Much is said in favor of modesty as an asset in leadership. It
+is remarked that the man who wishes to hold the respect of
+others will mention himself not more frequently than a born
+aristocrat mentions his ancestor. However, the point can be
+labored too hard. Some of the ablest of the Nation's battlefield
+commanders have been anything but shrinking violets; we have
+had now and then a hero who could boast with such gusto that
+this very characteristic somehow endeared him to his men. But
+that would be a dangerous tack for all save the most exceptional
+individual. Instead of speaking of modesty as a charm that will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>
+win all hearts, thereby risking that through excessive modesty a
+man will become tiresome to others and rated as too timid for
+high responsibility, it would be better to dwell upon the importance
+of being natural, which means neither concealing nor
+making a vulgar display of one's ideals and motives, but acting
+directly according to their dictations.</p>
+
+<p>This leads to another point. In several of the most celebrated
+commentaries written by higher commanders on the nature of
+generalship, the statement is made rather carelessly that to be
+capable of great military leadership a man must be something of
+an actor. If that were unqualifiedly true, then it would be a
+desirable technique likewise in any junior officer that he too
+should learn how to wear a false face, and play a part which
+cloaks his real self. The hollowness of the idea is proved by the
+lives of such men as Robert E. Lee, W. T. Sherman, George C.
+Marshall, Omar N. Bradley, Carl A. Spaatz, William H. Simpson,
+Chester A. Nimitz, and W. S. Sims. As commanders, they
+were all as natural as children, though some had great natural
+reserve, and others were warmer and more outgiving. They expressed
+themselves straightforwardly rather than by artful striving
+for effect. There was no studied attempt to appear only in a
+certain light. To use the common word for it, their people did
+not regard them as "characters." This naturalness had much to
+do with their hold on other men.</p>
+
+<p>Such a result will always come. He who concentrates on the
+object at hand has little need to worry about the impression he
+is making on others. Even though they detect the chinks in the
+armor, they will know that the armor will hold.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, a sense of the dramatic values, coupled
+with the intelligence to play upon them skillfully, is an invaluable
+quality in any military leader. Though there was nothing of
+the "actor" in Grant, he understood the value of pointing things
+up. <em>To put a bold or inspiring emphasis where it belongs is not
+stagecraft, but an integral part of the military fine art of communications.</em>
+System which is only system is injurious to the
+mind and spirit of any normal person. One can play a superior
+part well, and maintain prestige and dignity, without being<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>
+under the compulsion to think, speak and act in a monotone. In
+fact, when any military commander becomes over-inhibited
+along these lines because of the illusion that this is the way to
+build a reputation for strength, he but doubles the necessity that
+his subordinates will act at all times like human beings rather
+than robots.</p>
+
+<p>Coupled with self-control, recollection and thoughtfulness
+will carry a man far. Men will warm toward a leader when they
+come to believe that all the energy he stores up by living somewhat
+within himself is at their service. But when they feel that
+this is not the case, and that his reserve is simply the outward
+sign of a spiritual miserliness and concentration on purely personal
+goals, no amount of restraint will ever win their favor.
+This is as true of him who commands a whole service as of the
+leader of a picket squad.</p>
+
+<p>To speak of the importance of a sense of humor would be
+unavailing if it were not that what cramps so many men isn't
+that they are by nature humorless but that they are hesitant to
+exercise what humor they possess. Within the military profession,
+it is as unwise as to let the muscles go soft and to spare the
+mind the strain of original thinking. Great humor has always
+been in the military tradition. The need of it is nowhere more
+delicately expressed than in Kipling's lines:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">My son was killed while laughing at some jest,<br /></span>
+<span class="i10">I would I knew<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">What it was, and it might serve me in a time<br /></span>
+<span class="i10">When jests are few.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Marcus Aurelius, Rome's soldier philosopher, spoke of his love
+for the man who "could be humorous in an agreeable way." No
+reader of Grant's <em>Memoirs</em> (one of the few truly great autobiographies
+ever written by a soldier) could fail to be impressed
+by his light touch. A delicate sense of the incongruous seems to
+have pervaded him; he is at his whimsical best when he sees
+himself in a ridiculous light. Lord Kitchener, one of the grimmest
+warriors ever to serve the British Empire, warmed to the
+man who made him the butt of a practical joke. There is the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>
+unforgettable picture of Admiral Beatty at Jutland. The <em>Indefatigable</em>
+has disappeared beneath the waves. The <em>Queen Mary</em>
+had exploded. The <em>Lion</em> was in flames. Then word came that
+the <em>Princess Royal</em> was blown up. Said Beatty to his Flag Captain
+"Chatfield, there seems to be something wrong with our ... ships
+today. Turn two points nearer the enemy." Admiral
+Nimitz, surveying the terrible landscape of the Kwajalein battlefield
+for the first time, said gravely to his Staff: "It's the worst
+devastation I've ever seen except for that last Texas picnic in
+Honolulu." There is a characteristic anecdote of General Patton.
+He had just been worsted by higher headquarters in an argument
+over strategy. So he sat talking to his own Staff about it,
+his dog curled up beside him. Suddenly he said to the animal:
+"The trouble with you, too, Willy, is that you don't understand
+the big picture." General Eisenhower, probably more than any
+other American commander, had the art of winning with his
+humor. He would have qualified under Sydney Smith's definition:
+"The meaning of an extraordinary man is that he is eight
+men in one man; that he has as much wit as if he had no sense,
+and as much sense as if he had no wit; that his conduct is as
+judicious as if he were the dullest of human beings, and his
+imagination as brilliant as if he were irretrievably ruined."</p>
+
+<p>There is hardly a soldier, marine, or bluejacket who has been
+long in battle but can tell some tale of an experience under fire
+when the pressure became almost unbearable, and then was
+suddenly relieved because somebody made a wisecrack or pulled
+something that was good for a laugh. At Bastogne the American
+headquarters was being shelled out of its position in the
+Belgian Barracks. The Commanding General called in his Chief
+Signal Officer and asked when it would be convenient to move.
+Said Lt. Col. Sid Davis, "Right now, while I've got one line
+left and you can still give the order." When the garrison was surrounded,
+and higher headquarters requested a description of the
+situation, the young G-3 of the operation, Col. H. W. O. Kinnard,
+radioed: "Think of a doughnut: we're the hole."</p>
+
+<p>Who hasn't heard of the top kick who got his men forward by
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>yelling: "Come on you &mdash;&mdash;! Do you want to live forever?"
+Both the Army and the Marine Corps claim him for their own,
+and it is possible that he was twins.</p>
+
+<p>If the American fighting man did not have an instinctive feeling
+for the moral value of that kind of thing, the story would be
+long since buried, for it is as ancient as the other tale which
+ends: "That was no lady; that was my wife."</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_TEN" id="CHAPTER_TEN"></a><span class="chapter_number">CHAPTER TEN</span><br /><br />
+
+MAINSPRINGS OF LEADERSHIP</h3>
+
+
+<p>To what has been said, just a few things should be added so
+that the problem of generating greater powers of leadership
+within the officer corps may be seen in its true light.</p>
+
+<p>The counselor says: "Be forthright! Be articulate! Be confident!
+Be positive! Possess a commanding appearance!" The
+young man replies: "All very good, so far as it goes. I will, if I
+can. But tell me, how do I get that way?" He sees rightly
+enough the main point, that these things are but derivatives of
+other inner qualities which must be possessed, if the leader is to
+travel the decisive mile between wavering capacity and resolute
+performance.</p>
+
+<p>So the need is to get down to a few governing principles.
+Finding them, we may be able to resolve finally any argument
+as to whether leadership is a God-given power, or may be bestowed
+through earnest military teaching.</p>
+
+<p>Two great American commanders have spoken their thoughts
+on this subject. The weight of their comment is enhanced by
+the conspicuous success of both men in the field of moral
+leading.</p>
+
+<p>Said Admiral Forrest P. Sherman, Chief of Naval Operations:
+"I concur that we <em>can</em> take average good men and, by
+proper training, develop in them the essential initiative, confidence,
+and magnetism which are necessary in leadership. I believe
+that these qualities are present in the average man to a
+degree that he can be made a good leader if his native qualities
+are properly developed; whether or not he becomes a <em>great</em>
+leader depends upon whether or not he possesses that <em>extra</em> initiative,
+magnetism, moral courage, and force which makes the
+difference between the average man and the above-average
+man."</p>
+
+<p>Said Gen. C. B. Cates, Commandant of the Marine Corps:
+"Leadership is intangible, hard to measure and difficult to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>
+describe. Its qualities would seem to stem from many factors.
+But certainly they must include a measure of inherent ability
+to control and direct, <em>self-confidence based on expert knowledge</em>,
+initiative, loyalty, pride, <em>and a sense of responsibility</em>.
+Inherent ability obviously cannot be instilled, but that which is
+latent or dormant can be developed. Other ingredients can be
+acquired. They are not easily taught or easily learned. <em>But
+leaders can be and are made.</em> The average good man in our
+service is and must be considered a potential leader."</p>
+
+<p>There are common denominators in these two quotations
+which clearly point in one main direction. When we accent the
+importance of extra initiative, expert knowledge and a sense of
+responsibility, we are saying in other words that out of unusual
+application to duty comes the power to lead others in the doing
+of it.</p>
+
+<p>The matter is as simple and as profound as that, and if we
+will consider for but a moment, we will see why it could hardly
+be otherwise.</p>
+
+<p>No normal young man is likely to recognize in himself the
+qualities which will persuade others to follow him. On the other
+hand, any man who can carry out orders in a cheerful spirit,
+complete this work step by step, use imagination in improving it,
+and then when the job is done, can face toward his next duty
+with anticipation, need have no reason to doubt his own
+capacity for leadership.</p>
+
+<p>The psychologists assure us that there is a sound scientific
+basis for what enlightened military trainers have long held to be
+true&mdash;that the first-class follower and the leader are one and
+the same. They say that this is literally true, and that their
+tests prove it so.</p>
+
+<p>But it does not follow that every man can be taught to lead.
+In the majority of men, success or failure is caused more by
+mental attitude than by mental capacity. Many are unwilling to
+face the ordeal of thinking for themselves and of accepting
+responsibility for others. But the man determined to excel at his
+own work has already climbed the first rung of the ladder; in
+that process he perforce learns to think for himself while set<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>ting
+an example to those who are around him. Out of application
+to work comes capacity for original and creative progress.
+The personality characteristics, emotional balance, etc., which
+give him excellence in those things which he does with his own
+brain and hand will enable him to command the respect, and in
+turn, the service of other men.</p>
+
+<p>To this extent, certainly leadership can be learned! It is a
+matter of mastering simple techniques which will give more
+effective expression to the character and natural talents of the
+individual.</p>
+
+<p>Said one of this Nation's great political leaders: "There is no
+more valuable subordinate than the man to whom you can give
+a piece of work and then forget it, in the confident expectation
+that the next time it is brought to your attention it will come
+in the form of a report that the thing has been done. When this
+self-reliant quality is joined to executive power, loyalty and
+common sense, the result is a man whom you can trust."</p>
+
+<p>Yes, indeed, and that is as it should be. For while no man can
+be sure of the possibilities of his influence over other men, every
+man knows by his own conscience when he is putting forth his
+best effort, and when he is slacking.</p>
+
+<p>It is therefore not an arbitrary standard for measuring leadership
+capacity in men which puts the ability to excel in assigned
+work above everything else. The willingness and ability to strive,
+and to do, are best judged by what we see of men in action. If
+they are indifferent to assigned responsibilities, they are bad
+risks for larger ones, no matter how charming their personalities
+or what the record says about their prior experience and educational
+advantages. Either that proposition is both reasonable
+and sound, or Arnold Bennett was singing off key when he
+said: "I think fine this necessity for the tense bracing of the
+will before anything worth doing can be done. It is the chief
+thing that distinguishes me from the cat by the fire."</p>
+
+<p>Love of work is the sheet-anchor of the man who truly aspires
+to command responsibilities; that means love of it, not
+for the reward, or for the skill exercised, but for the final and
+successful accomplishment of the work itself. For out of interest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>
+in the job comes thoroughness, and it is this quality above all
+which distinguishes the willing spirit. The willingness to learn,
+to study and to try harder are requisite to individual progress
+and the improvement of opportunity&mdash;the process that Thomas
+Carlyle described as the "unfolding of one's self." Thus it can
+be taken as an axiom that any man can lead who is determined
+to become master of that knowledge which an increased responsibility
+would require of him; and by the same token, that to
+achieve maximum efficiency at one's own working level, it is
+necessary to see it as if from the perspective of the next level up.
+To excel in the management of a squad, the leader must be
+knowledgeable of all that bears upon the command of a platoon.
+Otherwise the mechanism lacks something of unity.</p>
+
+<p>Mark Twain said at one point that we should be thankful for
+the indolent, since but for them the rest of us could not get
+ahead. That's on the target, and it emphasizes that how fast
+and far each of us travels is largely a matter of free choice.</p>
+
+<p>Personal advancement, within any worthwhile system, requires
+some sacrifice of leisure, and more careful attention to the
+better organization of one's working routine. But that does not
+entail heroic self-sacrifice or the forfeiting of any of life's truly
+enduring rewards. It means putting the completion of work
+ahead of golf and bridge. It means rejecting the convenient
+excuse for postponing solution of the problem until the next
+time. It means cultivating the mind during hours that would
+otherwise be spent in idleness. It means concentrating for longer
+periods on the work at hand without getting up from one's
+chair. But after all, these things do not require an extraordinary
+faculty. The ability of the normal man to concentrate his
+thought and effort are mainly the product of a personal conviction
+that concentration is necessary and desirable. Abb&eacute; Dimnet
+said: "Concentration is supposed to be exceptional only because
+people do not try and, in this, as in so many things, starve
+within an inch of plenty." And as to the mien and manner
+which will develop from firm commitments, another wise
+Frenchman, Honore Balzac, added this: "Conviction brings a
+silent, indefinable beauty into faces made of the commonest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>
+human clay." Here is a great part of the secret. It is in the
+exercise of the will that the men are separated from the boys,
+and that the officer who is merely anxious for advancement is
+put apart from the one who is truly ambitious to succeed in his
+life calling. Even a lazy-minded superior, in judging of his
+subordinates, will rarely mistake the one condition for the other.</p>
+
+<p>When within the services we hear the highest praise reserved
+for the man "with character," that is what the term means&mdash;application
+to duty and thoroughness in all undertakings,
+along with that maturity of spirit and judgment which comes by
+precept, by kindness, by study, by watching, and above all, by
+example. The numerous American commanders from all services
+who have been accorded special honor because they rose
+from the ranks have invariably made their careers by the extra
+work, self-denial and rigor which the truly good man does not
+hesitate to endure. The question facing every young officer is
+whether he, too, is willing to walk that road for the rewards,
+material and spiritual, which will surely attend it.</p>
+
+<p>There is of course that commonest of excuses for rejecting
+the difficult and taking life easy. "I haven't time!" But for the
+man who keeps his mind on the object, there is always time.
+Figure it out! About us in the services daily we see busy men
+who somehow manage to find time for whatever is worth doing,
+while at the adjoining desks are others with abundant leisure
+who can't find time for anything. When something important
+requires doing, it is usually the busy man who gets the call.</p>
+
+<p>Of the many personal decisions which life puts upon a service
+officer, the main one is whether he chooses to swim upstream.
+If he says yes to that, and means it, all things then begin to fit
+into place. Then will develop gradually but surely that well-placed
+inner confidence which is the foundation of military
+character. From the knowing of <em>what to do</em> comes the knowing
+of <em>how to do</em>, which is likewise important. Much is conveyed in
+few words in Army Field Forces' "Brief on Practical Concepts
+of Leadership." It is stressed therein that the preeminent quality
+which all great commanders have owned in common is a
+<em>positiveness</em> of manner and of viewpoint, the power to concen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>trate
+on means to a given end to the exclusion of exaggerated
+fears of the obstacles which lie athwart the course. Every word
+of that should be underscored, and above all, what it says
+about the need for affirmative thinking, and concentrating on
+how the thing can be done. The service is no place for those
+who hang back and view through a glass darkly. The man who
+falls into the vice of thinking negatively must perforce in time
+become fearful of all action; he lacks the power of decision,
+because it has been destroyed by his habit of thought, and even
+when circumstances compel him to say yes he remains uncommitted
+in spirit.</p>
+
+<p>But the shadow should not be mistaken for the substance.
+Positiveness of manner, and redoubtable inner conviction stem
+only from the mastery of superior knowledge, and this last is the
+fruit of application, preparation, thoroughness and the willingness
+to struggle to gain the desired end.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_ELEVEN" id="CHAPTER_ELEVEN"></a><span class="chapter_number">CHAPTER ELEVEN</span><br /><br />
+
+HUMAN NATURE</h3>
+
+
+<p>In the history of American arms, the most revealing chapter
+as to the nature of the human animal does not come from any
+story of the battlefield but from the record of 23 white men and
+two Eskimos who, on August 26, 1881, set up in isolation a
+camp on the edge of Lady Franklin Bay to attempt a Farthest
+North record for the United States.</p>
+
+<p>The Expedition under command of First Lt. A. W. Greeley,
+USA, expected to be picked up by a relief ship after 1 year, or
+2 years at most. Its supply could be stretched to cover the
+maximum period. But the winters were so unduly harsh that the
+rescue mission could not break through the ice to keep the
+rendezvous. During the first year, two members of the party had
+set a new Far North mark. The party as a whole&mdash;3 officers,
+19 enlisted men, 1 civilian surgeon and the 2 natives&mdash;had
+survived a winter closer to the Pole than civilized men had ever
+lived before. So doing, they had remained in reasonably good
+personal adjustment to each other, despite the Arctic monotony.
+The discipline of the camp had been strict. Rules of subordination,
+sanitation, work-sharing and religious observance had been
+maintained, without major friction occurring in the life of the
+group. Lectures were given regularly, and schools were organized.
+Though it is recorded that the men became melancholy,
+sleepless, and irritable because of the long Arctic night, temper
+was still in so good a state that an honor system within the
+camp meted out extra duty to any man using an oath.</p>
+
+<p>The comradely feeling remained alive within the party
+throughout the first winter, though morale had its first blow
+when Greeley issued an unwise order forbidding enlisted men to
+go more than 500 yards from the base without permission. The
+strain was beginning to tell, but there was no fatal rift in the
+working harmony of the group while supply and hope remained
+reasonably full.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>But June of the second year came and passed, and no relief
+ship arrived. In August, Greeley decided on a retreat, intending
+to fall back on bases which were supposed to hold food stores.
+Thereafter disaster was piled upon disaster, most of it having to
+do with the lack of food, and the varying animal and spiritual
+reactions of men to a situation of utmost desperation. When the
+Greeley Expedition was at last rescued at Cape Sabine on June
+22, 1884, by the third expedition&mdash;the <em>Revenue Cutter Bear</em>
+and the <em>Thetis</em> under Commander Winfield S. Schley, USN&mdash;only
+seven men remained alive. Even in these, the spark of life
+was so feeble that their tent was down over them and they had
+resigned themselves to death. Two died soon after the rescue,
+leaving five. Most of the other 20 had perished of slow starvation,
+but not all. Some had been shot. Others had met death
+with utmost bravery trying to save their failing comrades.</p>
+
+<p>All that happened to Greeley's party during the months of its
+terrible ordeal is known because of a diary which records the
+main things&mdash;the fight of discipline against the primal instincts
+in men, the reversion of the so-called civilized man to
+his real type when he knows that death is at his elbow, the
+strength of unity which comes of comradeship, and also the
+weakness in some individuals which makes it impossible for
+them to measure up to honor's requirements.</p>
+
+<p>Men are of all kinds. Some remain base, though given every
+opportunity to develop compassion. Others who may appear
+plodding and dull, and have been denied opportunity, still have
+in them an immortal spark of love for humanity which gives
+them an unbreakable bond with their fellows in the hours of
+crisis.</p>
+
+<p>What the case history of the Greeley Expedition proves is that
+<em>in the determining number of men, the potential is sound</em>.
+Given a wise, understanding leadership, they will stand together,
+and they will either persuade the others to go along, or they
+will help break them if they resist. If that were not the truth of
+the matter, no military commander in our time would be able
+to make his forces keep going into battle.</p>
+
+<p>Until the end, discipline was kept in Greeley's force. But this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>
+was not primarily due to Lieutenant Greeley, the aloof, strict
+disciplinarian who commanded by giving orders, instead of by
+trying to command the spirits and loyalties of men. That any
+survived was due to the personal force and example of Sgt. (later
+Brig. Gen.) David L. Brainard, who believed in discipline as
+did Greeley, and supported his chief steadfastly, but also supplied
+the human warmth and helping hand which rallied other
+men, where Greeley's strictures only made them want to fight
+back. Brainard was not physically the strongest man in the Expedition,
+nor necessarily the most self-sacrificing and courageous.
+But he had what counted most&mdash;mental and moral
+balance.</p>
+
+<p>Among the most fractious and self-centered of the individuals
+was the camp surgeon, highly trained and educated, and chosen
+because he seemed to have a way among men. Greeley was
+several times at the point of having him shot; the surgeon's
+death by starvation saved Greeley that necessity.</p>
+
+<p>Among the most decent, trustworthy, and helpful was Jens,
+the simple Eskimo, who died trying to carry out a rescue mission.
+He had never been to school a day in his life.</p>
+
+<p>There were soldiers in the party whom no threat of punishment,
+or sense of pity, could deter from taking advantage of
+their comrades, rifling stores, cheating on duty and even stealing
+arms in the hope of doing away with other survivors.
+When repeated offense showed that they were unreformable,
+they were shot.</p>
+
+<p>But in the greater number, the sense of pride and of honor
+was stronger even than the instinct for self-preservation, though
+these were <em>average</em> enlisted men, not especially chosen because
+their records proved they had unusual fortitude.</p>
+
+<p>Private Schneider, a youngster who loved dogs and played the
+violin, succumbed to starvation after penning one of the most
+revealing deathbed statements ever written: "Although I stand
+accused of doing dishonest things here lately, I herewith, as a
+dying man, can say that the only dishonest thing I ever did
+was to eat my own sealskin boots and the part of my pants."</p>
+
+<p>Private Fredericks, accused in the early and less-trying period<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>
+of meanness and injustice to his comrades, became a rock of
+strength in the weeks when all of the others were in physical
+collapse or coma, and was made a sergeant because of the
+nobility of his conduct. Yet this man's ambition was to be a
+saloonkeeper in Minneapolis.</p>
+
+<p>There is still an official report on file in the Department of
+the Army which describes Sergeant Rice as the "bravest and
+noblest" of the Expedition. He is identified with most of its
+greatest heroisms. The man was apparently absolutely indomitable
+and incorruptible. He died from freezing on a last forlorn
+mission into the Arctic storm to retrieve a cache of seal meat
+for his friends. Fredericks, who had accompanied him, was so
+grief-stricken at the tragedy that he contemplated dying at his
+side, then reacted in a way which signifies much in a few
+words, "Out of the sense of duty I owed my dead comrade, I
+stooped and kissed the remains and left them there for the
+wild winds of the Arctic to sweep over."</p>
+
+<p>Such briefly were the extremes and the middle ground in this
+body of human material. At one end were the amoral characters
+whose excesses became steadily worse as the situation blackened.
+At the other were Brainard and Rice&mdash;good all the way
+through, absolute in integrity and adjusted perfectly to other
+men. In between these wholly contrasting elements was the
+group majority, trying to do duty, with varying degrees of success.
+That would include Greeley, strong in self-discipline but
+likewise brittle. It would include Lieutenant Lockwood, a lion
+among men for most of the distance, but totally downcast and
+beaten in the last dreadful stretch, Israel, the youngest of the
+party who won the love of other men by his frankness and
+generosity, Sergeant Gardiner who was always ready to share his
+scraps of food with whoever he thought needed them more,
+Private Whisler who died begging his comrades to forgive him
+for having stolen a few slices of bacon, and Private Bender who
+alternated between feats of heroism and acts of miscreancy.</p>
+
+<p>Other than their common experience, there was probably
+nothing unusual about this group of men. They were an average
+slice of American manpower as found in the services of that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>
+day, and in the fundamentals, men have changed but little since.
+Those who had the chance to study American men under the
+terrible rigor of Japanese imprisonment during World War II
+give an analysis not unlike the chronicles of the Greeley party.
+In certain of the prisoners, character, and sanity with it, held
+fast against every circumstance. In others, some of whom had
+been well educated and came from gentle homes, the brute instinct
+was as uppermost as in an East African cannibal.</p>
+
+<p>From such crucibles as these, even more than from the remittent
+stresses of combat in war, comes the clearest light on
+the inner nature of man, insofar as it needs to be understood by
+the officer who may some day lead a force into battle.</p>
+
+<p>Snap judgment on the data might lead to the conclusion
+that every individual is exactly according to his own mould,
+that influence from without can not catalyze character, and
+that hence training has little to do with winning loyalty and instilling
+dutifulness. That would be as radically false as to believe
+that training, when properly conducted, can make all men
+alike and can infuse all ranks with the desire for a high standard.
+The vanity of that hope can be read out of what happened
+to the force at Cape Sabine. But the positive lesson glows even
+more strongly. The good Sergeant, Brainard, wrote of his Lieutenant,
+Lockwood, that he "loved him more than a brother."
+It was the service which taught him the worth of that attachment;
+Brainard's superb courage developed initially out of his
+unbounded admiration for Lockwood's dauntlessness, and in
+time the copyist outdistanced the model. Emotionally, Greeley
+and Brainard were quite unlike. One was a New England Puritan,
+the other a hard-boiled sergeant. But they became as one
+in the interests of the force; service training had made that
+possible.</p>
+
+<p>Psychologists tell us that every sense impression leaves a trace
+or imprint of itself on the mind, or in other words, what we
+are, and what we may become, is influenced in some measure by
+everything touching the circumference of our daily lives. The
+imprints become memories and ideas, and in their turn build up
+the consciousness, the reason and finally the will, which trans<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>lates
+into physical action the psychological purpose. In the process,
+moral character may be shaped and strengthened; but it
+will not be transformed if it is dross in the first place. That is
+something which every combat leader has learned in his tour
+under fire; the man of whom nobody speaks good, who is regarded
+as a social misfit, unliked and unliking, of his comrades,
+will usually desert them under pressure. There are others
+who have the right look but will be just as quick to quit, and
+look to themselves, in a crisis; underneath, they are made of the
+same shoddy stuff as the derelict, but have learned a little more
+of the modern art of getting by. Leadership, be it ever so inspired,
+can not make a silk purse from a sow's ear. But as shines
+forth in the record of Greeley and his men, it can reckon with
+the fact that the majority is more good than mean, and that
+from this may be developed the strength of the whole. In the
+clutch, the men at Cape Sabine who believed in the word "duty,"
+and who understood spiritually that its first meaning was mutual
+responsibility, remained joined in an insoluble union. That
+was the inevitable outcome, leadership doing its part. The
+minority had no basis for organic solidarity, as each of its number
+was motivated only by self-interest. Goodwill and weakness
+may be combined in one man; bad will and strength in another.
+High moral leading can lift the first man to excel himself; it
+will not reform the other. But there is no other sensible rule
+than that all men will be approached with trust, and treated as
+trustworthy until proved otherwise beyond reasonable doubt.</p>
+
+<p>To transfer this thought to even the largest element in war,
+it will be seen that <em>it is not primarily a cause which makes men
+loyal to each other, but the loyalty of men to each other which
+makes a cause</em>. The unity which develops from man's recognition
+of his dependence upon his fellows is the mainspring of
+every movement by which society, or any autonomy within it,
+moves forward.</p>
+
+<p>It is a common practice to say "Men are thus-and-so."
+Nothing is more attractive than to make some glittering generalization
+about the human race, and from it draw a moral for
+the instruction of those who work with human material. But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>
+from all that we have learned from the experience of men
+under inordinate pressure, either in war or wherever else military
+forces have been sorely tested, it would be false to say
+either that the desire for economic security or the instinct for
+self-preservation is the driving force in every man's action. To
+those who possess the strength of the strong, honor is the main
+shaft; and they can carry a sufficient number of the company
+along with them to stamp their mark upon whatever is done
+by the group. No matter what their personal strength, however,
+they too are dependent on the others. There is no possibility of
+growth for any man except through the force, and by the works
+of those about him, though the manner of his growth is partly
+a matter of free choice. To most men, the setting of the good
+example is a challenge to pride and a stimulus to action. To
+nearly every member of the race, confidence and inspiration
+come mainly from the influence which living associates have
+upon them. That training is most perfect which takes greatest
+advantage of this truth, employing it in balance toward the development
+of a spirit of comradeship and the doing of work
+with a manifestly military purpose. Peace training is war training
+and nothing less. There is no other basis for the efficient
+operation of military forces even when the skies are clear. <em>But
+no commander or instructor can convince men of the decisive
+importance of the object if he himself regards it as only an
+intellectual exercise.</em></p>
+
+<p>The Army's "Brief on Practical Concepts of Leaderships,"
+published 1 January 1950, well points out the desirability of
+leaders realizing it is vain to expect that training can bring men
+forward uniformly. The better men advance rapidly; the men of
+average attainments remain average; the below-average lose additional
+ground to the competition. In consequence, the chance
+for balance in the organizational structure depends upon the
+leader progressing in such close knowledge of his men that
+those who are strong in various aspects of the team's general
+requirements compensate for the weaknesses of others, irrespective
+of MOS numbers. It is not less essential that the followers
+know each other and prepare themselves to complement each<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>
+other. Obviously, this cannot be done when personnel changes
+are so frequent that those concerned have no chance to see
+deeper than the surface.</p>
+
+<p>Even when to do any labor meant sapping the small store of
+energy deriving from a few ounces of food each day, Greeley's
+men kept alive the spark of morale and mutual support by
+maintaining a work schedule, until the day came when there
+was no longer a man who could stand. To fight off despondency,
+they held to a nightly schedule of lectures and discussions
+in their rude shelters, until speech became an agony because of
+throats poisoned by eating of caterpillars, lichens and saxifrage
+blossoms. In their worst extremity, Private Fredericks, unlettered
+but a man of great common sense and moral power, became
+the doctor, cook and forager for the party.</p>
+
+<p>Men do not achieve a great solidarity, or preserve it, simply
+by <em>being</em> together. Their mutual bonds are forged only by <em>doing</em>
+together that which they have been made convinced is constructive.
+Their view of its importance is usually contingent
+upon what others tell them, and upon a continuing emphasis
+thereof. <em>Unity is all at one time a consequence of, and a cause
+and condition for great accomplishment.</em> Toward that end, it
+is neither vital nor desirable that all members of the group coincide
+in their motives, ideas and methods of expression. What is
+important is that each man should know, and to a reasonable
+extent incorporate into his own life the thoughts, desires and
+interests of the others. Such sentiments, fixed by repetition, remain
+as a habit during the life of the group, and provide the
+base for disciplined action. But when men are not thus drawn
+together and the cord of sympathy remains unstrung, there is no
+basis for control, nor any element of contact by which the
+group may identify itself with some larger entity and profit by
+transfusion of its moral strength.</p>
+
+<p><em>The absence of a common purpose is the chief source of unhappiness
+in any collection of individuals.</em> Lacking it, and the
+common standard of justice which is one of its chief agents,
+men become more and more separate units, each fighting for
+his own rights. Yet paradoxically, if an organic unity is to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>
+develop within any body of free men, drawn from a free society
+to serve its military institutions, and if the fairest use is to be
+made of their possibilities, the processes of the institution must
+embody respect for the dignity of the individual, for his rights,
+and not less, for his desire for worthwhile recognition. The
+profile of every man depends upon the space which others leave
+him. "Of himself," said Napoleon, "a man is nothing." But
+every man also contributes with his every act to the level of what
+his group may attain. One of the foremost leaders in the United
+States Navy in World War II said this about the integrity of
+personality: "Every person is unique. Human talents were never
+before assembled in exactly the same way that they have been
+put together in yourself. Nothing like you ever happened before.
+No one can predict with accuracy how you will grow in
+your particular combination of skills if allowed complete freedom
+of movement." If there is one word out of place in that
+statement, it is "complete;" no one has complete freedom but a
+buccaneer, and it is for the exercise of it that organized society
+swings him from a gibbet. It is only when personal freedom of
+action operates within an area limited by the rights and welfare
+of others that subordination, in its best sense, takes place. To
+direct a body of men toward the acceptance of this principle,
+so that thereby they may attain social coherence as a group and
+greater strength of personal character, is the most solid contribution
+that an officer can make to the arms of his country.</p>
+
+<p>He can succeed in this without being godlike in wisdom or
+pluperfect in temper. But it is necessary at least that he be interesting,
+and that he know how to get out of his own tracks,
+lest he be over-run by his own organization. Whatever his
+rank, <em>it is impossible for any man to lead if he is himself running
+behind</em>. This bespeaks the need of constant study, the constant
+use of one's personal powers and the exercise of the
+imagination. As men advance, that which was good soon ceases
+to be good simply because something better is possible. Once
+men begin to acquire a sense of organization, they also come to
+take the measure of those who are over them. They will then
+move instinctively toward the one man who possesses the great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>est
+measure of social energy. The accolade of leadership is not
+inherent in the individual but is conferred on him by the
+group. It does not always follow that a man can develop an
+influence with others which is proportionate to his talents and
+capacity for work. Leadership in work is a main requirement,
+but if the group does not warm toward the appointed leader,
+if its members can not feel any enthusiasm about him, they will
+be hypercritical of whatever he does.</p>
+
+<p>History confirms, and a study of the workings of the human
+mind supports one proposition which many of the great captains
+of war have accepted as a truism. "There are no bad troops:
+there are only bad leaders." Taking on percentage what we already
+know of our average American raw material, as it had
+proved itself in every war, and as it has been studied in such a
+laboratory as the camp at Cape Sabine, no exception can be
+taken to that statement. On the other hand, we know equally
+well that leadership can be taught and it can be acquired.
+Much of our best material lies fallow, awaiting a hand on the
+shoulder, and the touch of other men's confidence, before it
+can step forward. This is not because men with a sound potential
+for leading must necessarily have an outward air of modesty
+among their major virtues, but because a man&mdash;particularly
+a young man&mdash;cannot gain a sense of his power among his
+fellows except as they give him their confidence, and vivify his
+natural desire to be something better than the average. There
+is no indication that at any stage of his career Gen. George S.
+Patton was an outwardly modest man. But in reviewing the
+milestones in his own making, he underscored the occasion
+when General Pershing, then commanding the Punitive Expedition
+into Mexico, supported Lieutenant Patton's judgment
+against that of a major. These are his words: "My act took
+high moral courage and built up my self-confidence." It would
+seem altogether clear, however, that Pershing had more than a
+little to do with it. Col. W. T. Sherman had to be kindled by
+the warm touch of Mr. Lincoln and steeled by the example and
+strong faith of Gen. U. S. Grant before he could believe in his
+own capacity for generalship. We all live by information and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>
+not by sight. We exist by faith in others, which is the source
+toward knowing greater faith in ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>About the elements of human nature, it is good that an
+officer should know enough that he will be able to win friends
+and influence people. But it is folly to believe that he should
+pursue his studies in this subject until he habitually looks at
+men as would a scientist putting some specimen under a powerful
+microscope.</p>
+
+<p>Self-consciousness is by no means a serious fault in anyone
+confronted by a new set of responsibilities, and working among
+new companions. There is scarcely an officer who has not felt
+it, particularly in the beginning, before he is assured in his own
+presence. But if the greater part of the officer corps were ever to
+become absorbed in the business of taking men apart to see what
+makes them tick, thereby superinducing self-consciousness all
+down the line, an irremediable blight would come upon the
+services. There is no need to look that deeply. What matters
+mainly is that an officer will know how men are won to accept
+authority, how they can be made to unify their own strength,
+how they can be helped to find satisfaction and success in their
+employment, how the stronger men can be chosen for preferment
+from among them, and finally, how they can be conditioned
+to face the realities of combat.</p>
+
+<p>The chronicles of effective military leadership date back to
+Gideon and his Band. Therefore any notion that it is impossible
+for an officer to make the best use of his men unless he is armed
+with all available research data and can talk the language of the
+philosopher and modern social scientist is little more than a
+twentieth century conceit. To seek and use all pertinent information
+is commendable, but truth comes of seeing all things in
+their natural proportion. To know more than is necessary blunts
+one's own weapons. The application of common sense to the
+problem is more vital than the possession of an inexhaustible
+store of data which has no practical bearing upon the matter at
+hand. As was said by a philosopher three centuries ago: "It is
+remarkable in some that they could be so much better if they
+could but be better in some thing."</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_TWELVE" id="CHAPTER_TWELVE"></a><span class="chapter_number">CHAPTER TWELVE</span><br /><br />
+
+GROUP NATURE</h3>
+
+
+<p>In the same way that knowledge of individual nature becomes
+the key to building strength within the group, an understanding
+of crowd nature is essential to the preservation of the unique
+power within the group, particularly under conditions of extreme
+pressure.</p>
+
+<p>Whereas the central object of a training discipline is to raise
+a safeguard against any military body reverting to crowd form
+under trial by fire, history shows that paralysis both of leadership
+and of the ranks, obliviousness to orders, forgetfulness of
+means of communication, disintegration and even panic are the
+not uncommon reactions of military forces when first entering
+into battle.</p>
+
+<p>From Bunker Hill and Brandywine down to Pearl Harbor and
+the fight at Kasserine Pass, the American battle record shows
+that our own troops are by no means immune to these ill effects,
+and that our peace time training needs, therefore, always to be
+reappraised with a critical eye to the main issue.</p>
+
+<p>Any of these unsteadying reactions can be prevented, or at
+least minimized, by training which anticipates the inevitable
+disorders of battle&mdash;including those who are of material sort
+as well as the disorders of the mind&mdash;and acclimates men to
+the realities of the field in war. All may be averted if leadership
+is braced to the shock and prepared to exercise strong control.
+Indeed, it is a truth worthy of the closest regard that the greater
+number of the disarrangements which take place during
+combat are due to leadership feeling a tightening of the throat,
+and a sticking of the palate, and failing to do that which the
+intellect says should be done.</p>
+
+<p>To take any action, when even to think of action is itself
+difficult, is the essential step toward recovery and the surmounting
+of all difficulty. It is not because of a babel of mixed voices
+and commands that military bodies not infrequently relapse<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>
+into helplessness and stagnation in the face of the enemy.
+From that cause there may occur an occasional minor dislocation.
+Their total effect is trivial compared to the failures which
+come of leadership, at varying levels, failing promptly to exercise
+authority when nothing else can resolve the situation.
+Among the commonest of experiences in war is to witness troops
+doing nothing, or worse, doing the wrong thing, without one
+commanding voice being raised to give them direction. In such
+circumstance, any man who has the nerve and presence to step
+forward and give them an intelligent order in a manner indicating
+that he expects to be obeyed, will be accepted as a
+leader and will be given their support.</p>
+
+<p>For this reason, under the conditions of modern battle, the
+coherence of any military body comes not only of men being
+articulate all down the line but of building up the dynamic
+power in each individual. It is a thoroughly sound exercise in
+any unit to give every man a chance to take charge, and give
+orders in drill, or other limited exercises, once he had learned
+what the orders mean. By the same token, it is good practice
+for the junior leader to displace a file in a training exercise, and
+become commanded for a time, to sharpen his own perspective.</p>
+
+<p>Progress comes of making the most of our strengths rather
+than looking for ways to repair weaknesses. This is true in
+things both large and small. The platoon leader who permits
+himself to be bedeviled by the file who won't or can't keep step
+cannot do justice to the ambitions of the 10 strongest men
+beneath him, upon whom the life of the formation would depend,
+come an emergency. To nourish and encourage the top
+rather than to concentrate effort and exhaust nerves in trying to
+correct the few least likely prospects is the healthy way of
+growth within military organization.</p>
+
+<p>Not all men are fitted by nature for the precisions of life in a
+barracks. They may accept its discipline while not being able
+to adjust to its rhythm. The normal temptation to despair of
+them needs to be resisted if only for the reason experience has
+proved they sometimes make the best men in combat. There
+are many types which fit into this category&mdash;the foreigner<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>
+but recently arrived in America, the miner who has spent most
+of his years underground, the boy from the sticks who has known
+only the plough and furrow, the woodsman, the reservation
+Indian, and the men of all races who have had hard taskmasters
+or other misfortune in their civilian sphere, and expect
+to be hurt again. It is not unusual for this kind of material to
+show badly in training because of an ingrained fear of other
+men. At the same time, they can face mortal danger. <em>To
+harass the man who is trying, but can't quite do it, therefore
+cuts double against the strength of organization. It may ruin
+the man; it may also give his comrades the feeling that he isn't
+getting a decent break.</em></p>
+
+<p>The military crowd requires, above all, maturity of judgment
+in its leaders. It cannot be patronized safely. Nor can it be
+treated in the classroom manner, as if wisdom were being dispensed
+to schoolboys. When it has been remiss, it expects to
+catch unshirted hell for its failings, and though it may smart
+under a just bawling out, it will feel let down if the commander
+quibbles. But any officer puts himself on a skid, and impairs
+the strength of his unit, if he takes to task all hands
+because of the wilful failings of a minority. Strength comes to
+men when they feel that they are grown up and as a body are
+in control and under control, since it amounts to the same
+thing; it is only when men unite toward a common purpose
+that control becomes possible. In this respect, the servant is in
+fact the master of the situation, fully realizes it, and is not
+unprepared to accept proportionate responsibility.</p>
+
+<p>It is a sign of a good level of discipline in a command when
+orders are given and faithfully carried out. But it is a sign of a
+vastly superior condition when men are prepared to demand
+those orders which they know the situation requires, if it is to
+be helped. No competent subordinate sits around waiting for
+someone else to give impulse to movement if his senses tell him
+that things are going to pot. He either suggests a course of
+action to his superior, or asks authority to execute it on his own,
+or in the more desperate circumstances of the battlefield, gives
+orders on his own initiative. To counsel any lesser theory of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>
+individual responsibility than this would leave every chain of
+command at the complete mercy of its weakest link, and
+throughout the general establishment, would choke the fount
+of inspiration which comes of the upward thrust of energy and
+of ideas.</p>
+
+<p>This latter characteristic in the masses of men composing any
+organization is the final statement of moral responsibility for
+success. Within military forces, an element of command is owned
+by every man who is doing his duty with intelligence and
+imagination. That puts him on the side of the angels, and the
+pressure which he exerts is felt not only by his subordinates but
+by those topside who are doing less. Many a lazy skipper has
+snapped out of it and at last begun to level with his organization
+because he felt the hot breath of a few earnest subordinates
+on his neck. Many a battle unit has held to ground which it
+had been ready to forsake because of the example of an aid man
+who stayed at his work and refused to forsake the wounded.
+Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was thinking on these things when
+he said during World War II: "There is among the mass of
+individuals who carry rifles in war a great amount of ingenuity
+and efficiency. If men can talk naturally to their officers, the
+product of their resourcefulness becomes available to all." But
+the art of open communication requires both receiving and sending,
+and the besetting problem is to get officers to talk naturally
+to men.</p>
+
+<p>In the seventeenth century Marshal Maurice de Saxe rediscovered
+cadenced marching which, along with the hard-surfaced
+roads of France, had remained buried since the time of the
+Romans. He reinstituted precision marching and drill within
+military bodies, and by that action changed European armies
+from straggling mobs into disciplined troops. The effects of that
+reform have been felt right down to the present. Baron von
+Steuben, the great reorganizer of the forces in George Washington's
+Army, simply built upon the principles which de Saxe had
+set forth one century earlier. These two great architects of military
+organization founded their separate systems upon one controlling
+idea&mdash;that <em>if men can be trained to think about mov<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>ing
+together, they can then be led to move toward thinking together</em>.
+De Saxe wanted keen men, not automatons; in that, he
+was singular among the captains of his day. He started the numbering
+of regiments so that they would have a continuing history
+and thereby benefit from <em>esprit de corps</em>. He was the first to see
+the great importance of battle colors and to standardize their
+use. Of his own military opinions he wrote: "Experts should not
+be offended by the assurance with which I deliver my opinions.
+They should correct them; that is the fruit I expect from my
+work."</p>
+
+<p>Now to take a look at von Steuben. He was the drillmaster of
+the American Revolution, but he was also its greatest student of
+the human mind and heart. He wrote the drill regulations of the
+Army, and as he wrote, committed them to memory. Of his labors
+he said: "I dictated my dispositions in the night; in the
+day I had them performed." But he learned the nature of the
+human material for which he thought these exercises were suited
+by visiting the huts of the half-clad soldiers of Valley Forge,
+personally inspecting their neglected weapons and hearing from
+their own lips of their sufferings. His main technic in installing
+his system was to depend upon the appeal of a powerful
+example; to allay all doubt of exactly what was wanted, he
+formed a model company and drilled it himself. He was a
+natural man; troops warmed to him because of an unabashed
+use of broken English and his violently explosive use, under
+stress, of "gottam!" which was his only quasi-English oath. In
+countenance he was strikingly like Gen. George S. Patton and
+there were other points of resemblance. A private soldier at
+Valley Forge was impressed with "the trappings of his pistols,
+the enormous holsters of his pistols, his large size, his strikingly
+martial aspect." But while he liked to dine with great men at
+his table, he chose to complete his list with officers of inferior
+rank. Once at Valley Forge he permitted his aides to give a
+dinner for junior officers on condition that none should be admitted
+that had on a whole pair of breeches. This was making
+the most of adversity. While wearing two stars and serving as
+Inspector General of the Army, he would still devote his whole<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>
+day to the drilling of a squad of 10 or 12 men to get his system
+going. To a former Prussian associate he wrote this of Americans:
+"You say to your soldier, 'Do this!' and he doeth it; but
+I am obliged to say, 'This is the reason that you ought to do
+that,' and then he does it."</p>
+
+<p>This was the key to the phenomenal success of his system.
+Within 6 weeks after he began work at Valley Forge, the Continental
+Army was on a new footing of self-confidence. His
+personal diligence in inquiring into the conduct of all officers
+toward their men, and his zeal in checking the accoutrement
+and carriage of every soldier established within the Army its
+first standard of inspection. Officers began to divide their scant
+rations with their men so that they would look better. But
+though he drilled the men of Valley Forge in marching and
+maneuver, Steuben paid no attention to the manual of arms,
+and let that wait until after he had gone into battle with these
+same forces. He explained why in these words: "Every colonel
+had introduced a system of his own and those who had taken
+the greatest pains were naturally the most attached to their
+work. Had I destroyed their productions, they would have detested
+me. I therefore preferred to pay no special attention to
+this subject until I had won their confidence." To take hold at
+the essential point and postpone action on the relatively unimportant,
+to respect a worthy pride and natural dignity in other
+men, and finally, to demonstrate that there is a better way in
+order to win men's loyalty and to use loyalty as the portal to
+more constructive collective thought&mdash;all of these morals shine
+in this one object lesson. The most revealing light upon the
+character of Steuben comes of the episode in which he had one
+Lieutenant Gibbons arrested for an offense, which he later
+learned another had committed. He then went before the Regiment.
+It was raining hard, but he bared his head and asked
+Gibbons to come forward. "Sir," he said, "the fault which was
+committed might, in the presence of an enemy, have been fatal.
+Your Colonel tells me you are blameless. I ask your pardon.
+Return to your command."</p>
+
+<p>Mistakes will occur. Tempers will go off half-cocked even<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>
+among men of good habit. Action will be taken on impulse
+rather than full information, despite every warning as to its
+danger. But no officer who has ever done serious injustice to a
+subordinate can do less than Steuben did, if he wants to keep
+respect. Admiral Halsey wrote about how he had once relieved
+one of his Captains in battle, found months later that he had
+misjudged him, and then tried by every means within his power
+to make redress.</p>
+
+<p>The main connecting link between the perfecting of group
+action in training and the end product of unity and economy
+of operations in battle has never been better than imperfectly
+expressed even by such masters as de Saxe and von Steuben,
+who felt it by profound instinct. The time-honored explanation
+is that when men accustom themselves to obeying orders, the
+time ultimately arrives when they will obey by habit, and that
+the habit will carry over into any set of circumstances requiring
+response to orders. This has the quality of relative truth; it
+is true so far as it goes, but it undersells the major values.</p>
+
+<p>The heterogeneous crowd is swayed by the voices of instinct.
+Properly trained, any military unit, being a homogeneous body,
+should be swayed by the voice of training. Out of uniformity of
+environment comes uniformity of character and spirit. From
+moving and acting together men grow to depend upon, and to
+support, each other, and to subordinate their individual wills
+to the will of the leader. And if that were all that training
+profited them, they would rarely win a battle or a skirmish
+under modern conditions!</p>
+
+<p>Today the supreme value of any training at arms which fixes
+habit is that, under conditions of absolute pressure, it enables
+men to take the primary steps essential to basic security without
+too great taxing of their mental faculties and moral powers; this
+leaves their senses relatively free to cope with the unexpected.
+The unforeseen contingency invariably happens in battle, and
+its incidence supplies the supreme test of the efficacy of any
+training method. Surprise has no regard for the importance of
+rank; in combat any unit's fortune may pivot on the judgment
+and initiative of the file who has last joined it. Therefore the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>
+moral object in training is stated without any qualification in
+words once used by a wise Frenchman, Dr. Maurice Campeaux:
+"<em>It should be the subordination of the individual's will to the
+leader's, and not its surrender or destruction.</em>" All training at
+all levels has a dual object&mdash;to develop us all as leaders of
+men and followers of leaders. Its technics are most perfect when
+they serve evenly these parallel purposes. In consequence, when
+any officer thinks only on: "What is policy?" rather than:
+"What should policy be for the good of the service?" he has
+trained his sights too low.</p>
+
+<p>Even in modern warfare, however, there are exceptional circumstances
+in which success is altogether dependent upon the
+will and judgment of the leader, and undeviating response to
+his orders. The commander of a buttoned-up tank is the master
+of its fortunes, and what happens for better or worse is according
+to the strength of his personal control. Within a submerged
+submarine during action, the situation is still more remarkable.
+Only one man, the commander of the ship, can see what is
+occurring, and he only with one eye; the resolving of every
+situation depends on his judgment as to what should be done.
+Yet those who have the surest knowledge of this service have
+said that the main problem in submarine warfare is to find a
+sufficient body of officers who will rise superior to the intricacies
+of their complicated machines, and will make their own
+opportunities and take advantage of them. That is hardly
+unique. The same quality is the hallmark of greatness in any
+individual serving with a combat arm. The military crowd will
+double its effort for a leader when success rides on his coattails;
+but he needs first to capture their loyalty by keeping his contracts
+with them, sweetening the ties of organization, and convincing
+them that he is a man to be followed. His luck (which
+despite all platitudes to the contrary is an element in success)
+begins when his men start to believe that he was born under a
+lucky star. But they are not apt to be so persuaded unless he can
+make his outfit shine in comparison with all others. The best
+argument for establishing a low VD score and a high disciplinary
+and deportment record within any unit is that it convinces<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>
+higher authority that the unit is well run and is trying, and is
+therefore entitled to any extra consideration that may be requested.
+All who have been closely identified with the inner
+working of any higher headquarters in the American establishment
+know that it works this way. On the other hand, the
+fundamental idea is almost as old as the hills. Turning back
+to Cicero, we will find these words: "Neither the physician nor
+the general can ever, however praiseworthy he may be in the
+theory of his art, perform anything highly worthwhile without
+experience in the rules laid down for the observation of all
+small duties." The Old Roman added that between men nothing
+is so binding as a similarity of good dispositions.</p>
+
+<p>Within the military crowd, and granting to each the same
+quality of human material, the problem of achieving organic
+unity in the face of the enemy is one thing on a ship, and quite
+another among land-fighting forces. Loyalty to the ship itself
+provides an extra and incisive bond among naval forces. Given
+steadiness in the command, men will fight the ship to the limit,
+if only for the reason that if they fail to do so, there is no place
+to go but down. The physical setting of duty is defined by
+material objects close at hand. The individual has only to fit
+himself into an already predetermined frame. He knows when
+he is derelict, and he knows further that his dereliction can
+hardly escape the eye of his comrades. The words: "Now Hear
+This!" have the particular significance that they bespeak the
+collected nature of naval forces, and the essential unifying force
+of complete communications.</p>
+
+<p>If the situation were as concrete, and the integrating influences
+as pervading among field forces as in the Navy, land
+warfare would be relieved of a great part of its frictions. Except
+among troops defending a major fortress with all-around protection,
+there is no such possibility. Field movement is always
+diffusing. As fire builds up against the line, its members have
+less and less a sense of each other, and a feeling that as individuals
+they are getting support. Each man is at the mercy of
+the contact with some other file, and when the contact breaks,
+he sees only blackness in the enveloping situation. Men then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>
+have to turn physically back toward each other to regain the
+feeling of strength which comes of organization. That, in brief,
+is the mathematical and psychological reason why salients into
+an enemy line invariably take the form of a wedge; it comes of
+the movements of unnerved and aimless men huddling toward
+each other like sheep awaiting the voice of the shepherd. The
+natural instincts intervene ever in the absence of strong leadership.
+Said the French General de Maud'huy: "However perfectly
+trained a company may be it always tends to become once
+again the crowd when suddenly shocked."</p>
+
+<p>But the priceless advantage which may be instilled in the
+military crowd by a proper training is that it also possesses the
+means of recovery. That possibility&mdash;the resolution of order out
+of chaos&mdash;reposes within every file who has gained within the
+service a confidence that he has some measure of influence
+among his fellows. The welfare of the unit machinery depends
+upon having the greatest possible number of human shock absorbers&mdash;men
+who in the worst hour are capable of stepping
+forward and saying: "This calls for something extra and that
+means me." The restoration of control upon the battlefield, and
+the process of checking fright and paralysis and turning men
+back to essential tactical duties, does not come simply of constituted
+authority again finding its voice and articulating its
+strength to the extremities of the unit boundary. Control is a
+man-to-man force under fire. No matter how lowly his rank, any
+man who controls himself contributes to the control of others. A
+private can steady a general as surely as a cat can look at a
+king. There is no better ramrod for the back of a senior, who is
+beginning to buckle, than the sight of a junior who has kept
+his nerve. Land battles, as to the fighting part, are won by the
+intrepidity of men in grade from private to captains mainly.
+Fear is contagious but courage is not less so. The courage of any
+one man reflects in some degree the courage of all those who are
+within his vision. To the man who is in terror and bordering on
+panic, no influence can be more steadying than that of seeing
+some other man near him who is retaining self-control and
+doing his duty.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>The paralysis which comes of fear can be lifted only through
+the resumption of action which will again give individuals the
+feeling of organization. This does not mean ordering a bayonet
+charge, or the firing of a volley at such-and-such o'clock. It
+may mean only patting one man on the back, "talking it up"
+to a couple of others, sending someone out to find a flank, or
+turning one's self to dig-in, while passing the word to others to
+do likewise. This is action in the realest sense of the term. <em>Out
+of reinvigorating men toward the taking of many small actions
+develops the possibility of large and decisive action.</em> The unit
+must first find itself before doing an effective job of finding the
+enemy. Out of those acts which are incidental to the establishing
+of order, a leader reaffirms his own power of decision.</p>
+
+<p>Such things are elementary, and of the very nature of the
+fire fight. While there is much more to be said about the play of
+moral forces in the trial and success of the group under combat
+conditions, most of it is to be learned from other sources, and
+it is the duty of every officer to study all that he can of this
+subject, and apply it to what he does in his daily rounds.</p>
+
+<p><em>There is no rule pertaining to the moral unifying of military
+forces under the pressures of the battlefield which is not equally
+good in the training which conditions troops for this eventuality.</em>
+For the group to feel a great spiritual solidarity, and for its
+members to be bound together by mutual confidence and the
+satisfactions of a rewarding comradeship, is the foundation of
+great enterprise. But it is not more than that. Unaccompanied
+by a strengthening of the military virtues and a rise in the
+martial spirit, a friendly unity will not of itself point men directly
+toward the main object in training, nor enable them to dispose
+themselves efficiently toward each other on entering battle.</p>
+
+<p>It does not make the military man less an agent of peace and
+more a militarist that he relishes his membership within a fighting
+establishment and thinks those thoughts which would best
+put his arms to efficient use. The military establishment neither
+declares nor makes war; these are acts by the nation. But it is
+the duty of the military establishment primarily to succor the
+nation from any great jeopardy.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_THIRTEEN" id="CHAPTER_THIRTEEN"></a><span class="chapter_number">CHAPTER THIRTEEN</span><br /><br />
+
+ENVIRONMENT</h3>
+
+
+<p>The saying of the Old Sergeant that, "It takes a war to knock
+the hell out of the Regular Army," applies as broadly to war's
+effects upon the general peacetime establishment.</p>
+
+<p>In the rapid expansion of the armed service which comes of a
+national emergency, nothing seems to remain the same. Old
+units fill up, and change their character. By the time they have
+sent out three or four cadres of commissioned and enlisted
+leaders to form the base for entirely new organizations, little
+remains of the moral foundation of the parent unit except an
+honored name.</p>
+
+<p>Promotion is rapid and moves are frequent among the higher
+commanders. No sooner does a man feel fairly settled under a
+new commander, and confident that he will get along, than he
+looks up to see someone else filling the space.</p>
+
+<p>Installations grow like mushrooms. Schools multiply at a
+phenomenal rate. The best qualified men are taken away so that
+they will become better qualified, either by taking an officers'
+course or through specialist training. Their places are taken by
+men who may have an equal native ability, but haven't yet
+mastered the tricks of the trade. This piles high the load of
+work on those who command.</p>
+
+<p>The intake and the pipelines in all services fill with men of
+a quite different fiber and outlook than those which commonly
+pass through the peacetime training establishment.</p>
+
+<p>Particularly in the drafts which flow to the army there is a
+curious mixture of the good with the bad. The illiterates, the
+low IQs and the men who are physically a few notches below
+par are passed for service, though under normal conditions the
+recruiting standards shut them out. At the other end of the
+scale are the highly educated men from the colleges, and the
+robust individuals from the factory and farm. In natural quality
+they are as well suited to the service as any who seek it out in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>
+peacetime, but in disposition they are likely to be a little less
+tractable. On the whole, however, there is no radical difference
+between them, if we look at both groups simply as training
+problems for the study of the officer.</p>
+
+<p>In the midst of war, when all else is in flux, at least one thing
+stands fast. The methods, the self-discipline, and the personality
+which will best enable the officer to command efficiently during
+peace are identical with the requirements which fit him to
+shape new material most perfectly under the conditions of war.</p>
+
+<p>This is only another way of saying that for his own success, in
+addition to the solid qualities which win him the respect of
+other men, when war comes, he needs a vast adaptability and a
+confidence which will carry over from one situation to another,
+or he will have no peace of mind.</p>
+
+<p>It is only to the man who is burdened with unnecessary and
+exaggerated fears, and who mistakes for a fancied security the
+privilege of sitting quietly in one place, that the uprooting
+which comes with war is demoralizing. The natural officer sees
+it as an hour of opportunity, and though he may not like
+anything else about war, he at least relishes the strong feeling
+of personal contention which always develops when there are
+many openings inviting many men. As one World War II
+commander expressed it: "During war the ball is always kicking
+around loose in the middle of the field and any man who has
+the will may pick it up and run with it."</p>
+
+<p>Promotion, however, and the invitation to try one's hand at
+some greater venture, do not come automatically to an officer
+because of the onset of war. The man who had marked time on
+his job becomes relatively worse off, not only because the competition
+is keener, but because in lieu of anything which marks
+him for preferment, there is no good reason why he should get
+it. Years of service are not to a man's credit short of some
+positive proof that the years have been well used. The following
+are among the reasons why certain officers are marked for
+high places and find the door wide open, come an emergency:</p>
+
+
+<ul>
+<li>A consistently superior showing in the efficiency reports.</li>
+
+<li><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>
+A record showing that they have done well in service schools.</li>
+
+<li>The ability to attract the eye of some high-placed superior by
+exceptional performance on maneuvers, in committee work or
+any other testing problem.</li>
+
+<li>In addition to general dutifulness, the development to a conspicuous
+degree of the special talents such as writing, instructing,
+lecturing and staff administration.</li>
+
+<li>Fluency in other languages.</li>
+
+<li>Wide and resourceful study in the fields of military history,
+military geography, national military policy and logistics.</li>
+
+<li>The advancement of an original idea which has led to a
+general improvement in any one service.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>Any and all of these are extra strings to one's bow. They are
+the means to greater satisfaction during peacetime employment
+and the source of great personal advantage during the shooting
+season. But they should not be mistaken for the main thing. <em>To
+excell in command, and to be recognized as deserving of it, is
+the rightful ambition of every service officer and his main hold
+on the probabilities of getting wider recognition.</em></p>
+
+<p>This holds true of the man who is so patently a specialist
+that it would be wrong to waste him in a command responsibility.
+If he understands the art of command, and his personality
+and moral fortitude fit him for the leading of men, he will
+be in better adjustment with his circumstances anywhere in the
+services, and will be given greater respect by his superiors.
+This rule is so absolute in its workings as to warrant saying that
+<em>every man who wears the insignia of an officer in the armed
+forces of the United States should aspire to the same bearing
+and the same inner confidence as to his power to meet other
+men and move them in the direction he desires that is to be
+marked in a superior company commander</em>.</p>
+
+<p>The natural leader is the real specialist of the armed services.
+He is as prodigious, and as much a man apart, as the wizard
+who has mastered supersonic speeds. Here we speak not alone
+of the ability of an officer fully to control and develop his element
+under training conditions, but to take the same element
+into battle and conserve the total of its powers with complete
+efficiency. The man who resolves to develop within himself the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>
+prerequisite qualities which serve such an object is moved by
+the worthiest of all ambitions, for he has submitted himself to
+the most complex task within human reach.</p>
+
+<p>The self-assurance that one has promise in the field of command
+is in part a derivative of growth and in part a matter of
+instinct. But to the normal young officer, it comes as something
+of a delightful surprise to learn that when he speaks other men
+will listen, when he reasons they will become convinced, and
+when he gives an order his authority is accepted. Far from
+being a bad quality, this ingenuousness is wholesome because it
+reflects warm appreciation of what has been given him. It does
+not lessen confidence if a commander feels this way about those
+who are within his charge throughout his service. The best results
+flow when the working loyalty of other men is accepted
+like manna from heaven, with gratitude rather than with gratification.
+<em>Simply to feel that it is one's rightful portion is the
+best proof that it is not, and leads to cockiness, windiness, and
+self-adulation, with attendant loss of the sympathy of other men.</em>
+The consequence to the individual whose dream of success is
+only that he will take on more and more authority is that he will
+suffer from a more and more one-sided development. The great
+philosopher, Albert Schweitzer, holds up to other self-reliant
+men the example of Defoe's hero, Robinson Crusoe, because he
+is continually reflecting on the subject of human conduct and
+he feels himself so responsible for this duty that when he gets
+in a fight he thinks about how he can win it with the smallest
+loss of human life. <em>The conservation of men's powers, not the
+spending thereof, is the object of main concern to the truly
+qualified military commander.</em></p>
+
+<p>At the same time, there should be no mistake about the
+manner in which command is exercised. To command is not
+simply to compel or to convince but a subtle mixture of both.
+Moral suasion and material compulsion are linked in its every
+act. <em>It involves not only saying that this is the best thing to do
+but inferring that the thing had best be done.</em> Force and reason
+are inseparably linked in its nature, and the force of reason is
+not more important than the reason of force, if the matter is to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>
+be brought to a successful issue. <em>The very touchstone of loyalty
+is that just demands will be put upon it.</em> It cannot endure and
+strengthen except through finding material means of expression.
+When men are given absolute freedom, with no compulsion upon
+them but to eat and sleep, as with a group of South Sea savages,
+there can be no strong, uniting bond between them. As for absolute
+security, outside of the walls of a penitentiary it is virtually
+nonexistent, though one would scarcely look inside the walls expecting
+to find loyalty. In brief, being an active force in the
+lives of humankind, <em>loyalty is developed through the unifying
+of action</em>. <em>The more decisive the action becomes, the greater becomes
+the vitality of the bond.</em> Service men look back with an
+esteem, amounting almost to the love that a son feels for his
+father, toward the captains who led them well on the battlefield.
+But the best skipper they ever had on a training detail gets
+hardly more than a kind word.</p>
+
+<p>It has already been said that the man with a preeminent
+ability to organize and direct the action of the military group
+has an outstanding and greatly prized talent. The assumption
+that the holder of a commission in an armed service of the
+United States is possessed of this quality to a degree goes with
+the commission; lacking it, the warrant would have been withheld.
+But all men vary in their capacities to respond confidently
+to any particular situation. Some, no matter how hard they try,
+lack the keen edge.</p>
+
+<p>To the officer who discovers that he is especially suited, by
+temperament and liking, to the leading of combat forces, it
+comes, therefore, almost as a personal charge that he will let
+nothing dissuade him from the conviction that his post of duty
+is with the line. Though he may seek other temporary duty to
+advance his own knowledge and interests, he should remain
+mentally wedded to that which he does best, and which most
+other men find difficult.</p>
+
+<p>If it is a good rule for him, it applies just as well to all others
+within his charge. This means close attention to the careers of
+all junior leaders from the enlisted ranks, toward the end that
+the fighting strength of the establishment will be conserved. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>
+personnel people will sometimes scuttle a fine natural leader of
+a tactical platoon, simply because they have discovered that in
+civilian life he ran a garage and there is a vacancy for a motor
+pool operator, or switch a gunner who is zealous for his new
+work back to a place in the rear, because the record book says
+that he is an erstwhile, though reluctant, keeper of books.
+From their point of view, this makes sense. But they are not
+always aware of how difficult and essential it is to find men who
+can lead at fighting. It is a point which all officers need ponder,
+for in our modern enthusiasm over the marvels that can be
+worked by a classification system, we tend to overlook that
+fighting power is the main thing, and that the best hands are
+not to be found behind every bush.</p>
+
+<p>When war comes, there are vast changes in the tempo and
+pressure of life within the armed establishment. Faced with
+new and unmeasured responsibility, almost every man would
+be depressed by the feeling that he is out far beyond his depth,
+if he were not buoyed by the knowledge that every other man
+is in like case, and that all things are relative. Once these points
+are recognized, the experience becomes exalting. A relatively
+junior officer finds himself able confidently to administer a policy
+applying to an entire service; a bureau, which might have been
+laboring to save money in the purchase of carpet tacks and
+pins, becomes suddenly confronted with the task of spending
+billions, and of getting action whatever the cost.</p>
+
+<p>But despite the radical change in the scale of operations, the
+lines laid down for the conduct of business remain the same.
+The regulations under which the armed services proceed are
+written for peace and war, and cover all contingencies in either
+situation. The course of conduct which is set forth for an officer
+under training conditions is the standard he is expected to follow
+when war comes. Administration is carried out according to
+the same rules, though it is probably true that there is less
+"paper doll cutting"&mdash;meaning that the tide of paper work,
+though larger in volume, is more to the point. To the young
+officer, it must oftentime seem that, under peacetime training
+conditions, he is being called on constantly to read reports<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>
+which should never have been written in the first place and is
+required to write memoranda which no one should be forced
+to read in the second place. For that matter, the same thought
+occurs not infrequently to many of his seniors. But there is this
+main point in rebuttal&mdash;it is all a part of the practice and
+conditioning for a game which is in deadly earnest when war
+comes. If the armed services in peace were to limit correspondence
+up and down the line to those things which were either
+routine or altogether vital, few men would develop a facility
+at staff procedures.</p>
+
+<p>In one sense, the same generalization applies to the workings
+of the security system. There is the common criticism that the
+services always tend to over-classify papers, and make work for
+themselves by their careful safeguarding of "secrets" in which
+no one is interested. The idea is not without warrant; part of
+the trouble stems from the fact that the line between what can
+safely be made of public knowledge and what can not is impossible
+of clear definition. Hence the only safe rule-of-thumb is,
+"When in doubt, classify." There is, however, the other point
+that it is only through officers learning how to safeguard security,
+handle papers according to the regulations, and keep a
+tightly buttoned lip on all things which are essentially the
+business of the service during peacetime that they acquire the
+disciplined habit of which matures not only their personal success
+but the national safety when war comes.</p>
+
+<p>Oftentimes the rules seem superfluous. A man scans a paper
+and sees that the contents are innocuous, and ignoring the
+stamp, he leaves the document on his desk, because he is too
+lazy to unlock the file. <em>But the rules mean exactly what they
+say, and because their purpose is of final importance to the
+nation, they will be enforced.</em> There is no surer way for an
+officer to blight an otherwise promising career than to become
+careless about security matters. The superior who looks lightly
+on such an offense is but seeking trouble for himself.</p>
+
+<p>Even so, it is to be observed that regulations are a general
+guide to conduct, and though they mean what they say they are
+not utterly inflexible. One must not be like the half-wit de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>scribed
+by Col. George F. Baltzell to his trainees during World
+War I. Joe had attached himself to the Confederate command
+of the Colonel's father, whose last chore before turning in was
+to post the boy. One night in a Virginia Tidewater operation,
+Joe was told to stay by a stump until morning. At dawn the unit
+was moving out in a fog when the elder Baltzell bethought
+himself of Joe. Down by the riverside his cries finally brought a
+faint answer through the mist, "Here I is." "What are you doing
+there, boy?" barked the officer, "I told you not to move." "I
+hain't moved, sir," replied the invisible Joe, up to his neck in
+water, "the river done riz." An occasional unforeseen circumstance
+arises in which it is nonsensical, or even impossible, to
+adhere to the letter of regulations, as of orders. It is then essential
+that an officer use plain common sense, acting according to
+the spirit of the regulation, so that it is clearly manifest he did
+the best possible thing within the determining set of conditions.
+For example, in the European Theater, the Historian had
+charge of 32 tons of documents, all classified "Confidential,"
+"Secret" or "Top Secret." There were not enough safes or
+secured files in the whole of France to hold this material, which
+meant that established procedures could not be followed. A
+permanent guard and watch was put on the archive. Wooden
+cases were made from scrap lumber. Ample fire-fighting equipment
+was brought in. Personnel was drilled in evacuating the
+material in its order of importance, should fire occur. The setup
+was inspected twice daily by the commander or his executive.
+Though these arrangements still fell short of the letter of regulations,
+they perforce had to satisfy any inspector because there
+was no sounder alternative.</p>
+
+<p>When circumstances require any officer to take a course
+which, while appearing in his view to be in the best interests of
+the service, runs counter to the lines of action laid down by
+constituted authority, he has the protection that he may always
+ask for a court to pass judgment on what he had done. We are
+all prone to associate the court martial process only with the
+fact of punishment, but it is also a shield covering official integrity.
+The privilege of appealing to the judgment and sense<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>
+of fair play in a group of one's fellow officers is a very comforting
+thing in any emergency situation, requiring a desperate decision,
+and engaging conflicting interests. It gives one a feeling
+of backing even when circumstances are such that one is making
+a lonely decision. Almost needless to say, cases of this sort
+are far more likely to occur in war than during peace.</p>
+
+<p>Inspection takes on a somewhat different hue during war. It
+becomes more frequent but, on the whole, less zealous with
+respect to spit-and-polish and less captious about the many
+little things which promote good order and appearance throughout
+the general establishment. This condition is accentuated as
+organizations move closer to the zone of fire. Higher authority
+becomes more engrossed in the larger affairs of operation.
+At all levels more and more time is taken in dealing with the
+next level above, which means that less and less can be given
+to looking at the structure down below.</p>
+
+<p>What then is the key to over-all soundness in the services in
+any hour of great national peril? This, that in all services, at
+all times and at all levels, each officer is vigilant to see that his
+own unit, section or office is inspection-proof by every test
+which higher authority might apply.</p>
+
+<p>It should not require the visit of an inspector to any installation
+to apprise those who are in charge as to what is being
+badly done.</p>
+
+<p>The standards are neither complex nor arbitrary. They can
+be easily learned. Thereafter, all that is needed are the eyes to
+see and the will to insist firmly that correction be made.</p>
+
+<p>In officership, there is simply no substitute for personal
+reconnaissance, nor any other technique that in the long run
+will have half its value. Gen. Carl A. Spaatz, the first leader of
+our independent Air Force, was so renowned for this disciplined
+habit of getting everywhere and seeing everything that,
+even when he was a relatively young major, a story about his
+ubiquitousness gained service-wide fame. An ailing recruit was
+being examined by a doctor at March Field. "Do you see spots
+before your eyes?" the doctor asked. "Heavens," groaned the
+recruit. "Do I have to see him in here, too?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>Once formed, the habit of getting down to the roots of organization,
+of seeing with one's own eyes what is taking place,
+of measuring it against one's own scale of values, of ordering
+such changes as are needed, and of following-through to make
+certain that the changes are made, becomes the mainspring of
+all efficient command action.</p>
+
+<p>In battle, there is no other way to be sure. In training, there
+is no better way to move toward self-assurance.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_FOURTEEN" id="CHAPTER_FOURTEEN"></a><span class="chapter_number">CHAPTER FOURTEEN</span><br /><br />
+
+THE MISSION</h3>
+
+
+<p>There is a main reason why the word "mission" has an
+especial appropriateness to the military services and implies
+something beyond the call of duty. The arms of the United
+States do not advance simply through the process of correct
+orders being given and then executed with promptness, vigor,
+and intelligence.</p>
+
+<p>That is the greater part of the task, but it is by no means all.
+Military systems reflect the limitations and imperfections of
+their human material. Whatever his station, and experience, no
+man is wise enough and all-seeing enough that he can encompass
+every factor in a given problem, take correct judgment on
+every area of weakness, foresee all of that which has not yet
+happened, and then write the perfect analysis and solution for
+the guidance of his subordinates.</p>
+
+<p>The perfecting of operations, and the elimination of grit
+from the machinery, therefore become the concern of <em>all</em>, directing
+their thought and purpose to the doing of whatever needs to
+be done to further the harmony and efficiency of the establishment,
+taking personal action where it is within their province,
+or calling the matter to the attention of higher authority when
+it is not. In this direct sense, every ensign and second lieutenant
+has a personal responsibility for the general well-being of the
+security structure of the United States. This is fact, and not
+theory. In World War II, many of the practical ideas which
+were made of universal application in the services were initiated
+by men of very junior rank. But the extent to which any man's
+influence may be felt beyond his immediate circle depends first
+of all upon the thoroughness with which he executes his assigned
+duties, since nothing else will give his superiors confidence in his
+judgments. It is only when he is exacting in small things, and is
+careful to "close the circuit" on every minor assignment, that he
+qualifies himself to think and act constructively in larger mat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>ters,
+through book study and imaginative observation of the
+situation which surrounds him. At this stage, an officer is well
+on the road to the accomplishment of his general mission.</p>
+
+<p>When an order is given, what are the responsibilities of the
+man who receives it? In sequence, these:</p>
+
+
+<ul>
+<li>To be certain that he understands what is required.</li>
+
+<li>To examine and organize his resources as promptly as
+possible.</li>
+
+<li>Fully to inform his subordinates on these points.</li>
+
+<li>To execute the order without waste of time or means.</li>
+
+<li>To call for support if events prove that his means are inadequate.</li>
+
+<li>To fill up the spaces in the orders if there are developments
+which had not been anticipated.</li>
+
+<li>When the detail is complete, to prepare to go on to something
+else.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>Lt. Gen. Sir Frederick Morgan, who planned the invasion of
+Normandy, put the matter this way: "When setting out on any
+enterprise, it is as well to ask oneself three questions. To whom
+is one responsible? For precisely what is one responsible? What
+are the means at one's disposal for discharging this responsibility?"</p>
+
+<p>Nothing so warms the heart of a superior as that, on giving an
+order, he sees his subordinate salute, say "Yes sir," then about
+face and proceed to carry it out to the hilt, without faltering or
+looking back. This is the kind of man that a commander will
+choose to have with him every time, and that he will recommend
+first for advancement.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, clarification of the object is not only a
+right but a duty, and it cuts both ways. Orders are not always
+clear, and no superior is on firm ground when he is impatient
+of questions which are to the point, or resentful of the man who
+asks them. But it is natural that he will be doubtful of the man
+whose words show either that he hasn't heard or is concerned
+mainly with irrelevencies. The cultivation of the habit of careful,
+concentrated listening, and of collected thought in reading
+into any problem, is a principal portal to successful officership.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>To say that promptness and positiveness in the execution of a
+mission are at all times major virtues does not imply that the
+good man, like an old fire horse, moves out instantly at the clang
+of a bell. Soundness of action involves a sense of timing. Thoroughness
+is the way of duty, rather than a speed which goes off
+half-cocked. There is frequently a time for waiting; there is always
+time for acute reflection. The brain which works "like a
+steel trap" exists only in fiction. Even such men as General
+Eisenhower, or Admiral Nimitz, or for that matter, Gen. U. S.
+Grant, have at times deferred decision temporarily while waiting
+for a change in tide or circumstance to help them make up
+their minds. This is normal in the rational individual; it is not
+a sign of weakness. Rather than to cultivate a belief in one's
+own infallibility, the mature outlook for the military man is best
+expressed in the injunction of the Apostle Paul: "<em>Let all things
+be done decently and in order.</em>" Grant, wrote of the early stage
+of his advance on Richmond: "At this time I was not entirely
+decided as to how I should move my Army." From the pen of
+General Eisenhower come these words: "The commander's success
+will be measured more by his ability to lead than by his
+adherence to fixed notions." Thus, in the conduct of operations
+not less than in the execution of orders, it is necessary that the
+mind remain plastic and impressionable.</p>
+
+<p>Within military organization, to refuse an order is unthinkable,
+though to muster a case showing why some other order
+would serve in its place is not undutiful in an individual
+subordinate, any more than in a staff. By the same rule, insistence
+that an order be carried out undeviatingly, simply because
+it has been given, does not of itself win respect for the
+authority uttering it. Its modification, however, should never
+be in consequence of untempered pressure from below. To
+change or rescind is justified only when reestimate of all of the
+available facts indicates that some other order will serve the
+general purpose more efficiently.</p>
+
+<p>Taking counsel of subordinates in any enterprise or situation
+is therefore a matter of giving them full advantage of one's own
+information and reasoning, weighing with the intellect whatever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>
+thought or argument they may contribute to the sum of considerations,
+and then making, without compromise, a clean decision
+as to the line of greatest advantage. To know how to
+command obedience is a very different thing from making men
+obey. Obedience is not the product of fear, but of understanding,
+and understanding is based on knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>On D-day in Normandy, Lt. Turner B. Turnbull undertook
+to do with his platoon of 42 men a task which had been intended
+for a battalion; he was to block the main road to enemy
+forces pressing south from the Cherbourg area against the
+American right flank. In early morning he engaged a counterattacking
+enemy battalion, supported by mortars and a self-propelled
+gun at the village of Neuville au Plain. The platoon
+held its ground throughout the day. By dusk the enemy had
+closed wide around both its flanks and was about to cut the
+escape route. Turnbull had 23 men left. He said to the others,
+"There's one thing left to do; we can charge them." Pfc. Joseph
+Sebastian, who had just returned from reconnoitering to the
+rear, said, "I think there's a chance we can still get out; that's
+what we ought to do." Turnbull asked of his men, "What's
+your judgment?" They supported Sebastian as having the
+sounder idea. In a twinkling Turnbull made his decision. He
+told the others to get set for the run; he was losing men even
+while he talked; he ordered that the 12 wounded were to be
+left behind. Corp. James Kelly, first aid man, said he would
+stay with the wounded. Pfc Sebastian, who had argued Turnbull
+into a withdrawal, volunteered to stand his ground and
+cover the others with a BAR. Corp. Raymond Smitson said he
+would stay by Sebastian and support him with hand grenades.
+Sgt. Robert Niland started for one of the machine guns, to
+help Smitson and Sebastian in covering the withdrawal, but was
+shot dead by a German closing in with a machine pistol before
+he could reach it. The 16 remaining survivors took off like so
+many shots fired from a pistol, at full speed but at intervals, to
+minimize the target. All got back to their Battalion, though
+Turnbull was killed in action a few days later. Their 1-day
+fight had preserved the flank of an Army. For economy of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>
+effort, and power of decision, there is not a brighter example in
+the whole book of war.</p>
+
+<p>To encourage subordinates to present their views, and to
+weigh them in the light of reason, is at the same time the surest
+way to win their confidence and to refine one's own information
+and judgments. However, to leave final decision to them in
+matters which are clearly in the area of one's own responsibility,
+is fatal to the character of self and to the integrity of the force.</p>
+
+<p>Any officer is one among many. Behind the smallest unit is the
+total power of the combined services. In the main, effectiveness
+develops out of unity of effort. To commit one's force to desperate,
+unhelped enterprises, when there is support at hand
+which may be had for the asking, may be one road to glory,
+but it is certainly not the path to success in War. The Charge of
+the Light Brigade at Balaklava was made immortal by Tennyson's
+poem, but it was as foolhardy as asking a troop of Boy
+Scouts to capture Gibraltar. In battle, a main obligation of those
+who lead is to make constant resurvey of the full horizon of their
+resources and means of possible support. This entails in time of
+peace the acquisition of a great body of knowledge seemingly
+unrelated to the administration of one's immediate affairs. It
+entails, also, facing forthrightly toward every task, or assignment,
+giving it a full try, sweating out every obstacle, but not
+being ashamed to ask for help or counsel if it proves to be
+beyond one's powers. <em>To give it everything, though not quite
+making the grade personally, is merely an exercise in character
+building. But to have the mission fail because of false pride is
+inexcusable.</em></p>
+
+<p>The prayer that Sir Francis Drake wrote down for his men as
+he led them forth to a great adventure might well be repeated
+by any leader in the hour when he begins to despair because in
+spite of his striving he has not gained all he sought: "O Lord
+God, when Thou givest to thy servants to endeavour any great
+matter, grant us also to know that it is not the beginning, but the
+continuing of the same until it is thoroughly finished, which
+yieldeth the true glory."</p>
+
+<p>The courage to start will carry a man far. Under the condi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>tions
+of either war or peace, it is astonishing how many times
+all things come in balance for the man who is less fearful of
+rebuff than of being counted a cypher. One of Britain's great
+armored leaders, Lt. Gen. Sir Giffard Martel, digested the
+lesson of his whole life experience into this sentence: "If you
+take a chance, it usually succeeds, presupposing good judgment."
+Finally, it comes to that, for the willingness to accept
+calculated risks is of the essence of effective personal performance
+within the military profession. There must be careful collection
+of data. There must be weighty consideration of all
+known and knowable factors in the given situation. But beyond
+these things, what?</p>
+
+<p>To convey the idea that an officer must by ingrained habit
+dispose himself to take action only after he has arrived at an
+exact formula, pointing exclusively in one direction, would mean
+only that under the conditions of war he could never get off
+his trousers-seat. For such fullness of information and confidence
+of situation are not given to combat commanders once in
+a lifetime.</p>
+
+<p>It is customary to treat "estimate of situation" as if it were
+pure mathematical process, pointing almost infallibly to a definite
+result. But this is contrary to nature. The mind of man does
+not work that way, nor is it consistent with operational realities.
+Senior commanders are as prone as even the newest junior
+lieutenant to labor in perplexity between two opposing courses
+of action during times of crisis, and then make their decisions
+almost with the abruptness of an explosion. <em>It is post-decision
+steadiness more than pre-decision certitude which carries the
+day.</em> A large part of decision is intuitive; it is the byproduct of
+the subconscious. In war, much of what is most pertinent lies
+behind a drawn curtain. The officer is therefore badly advised
+who would believe that a hunch is without value, or that there
+is something unmilitary about the simple decision to take some
+positive action, even though he is working in the dark.</p>
+
+<p>The youthful Col. Julian Ewell of the 501st Parachute Infantry
+Regiment, reaching Bastogne, Belgium, on the night of
+December 18, 1944, with only his lead battalion at hand, in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>sisted
+that he be given orders, even though higher headquarters
+could tell him almost nothing about the friendly or enemy
+situations. He got his orders, and with the one battalion moved
+out through the dark to counter-attack. So doing, he stopped
+cold the German XXXXVII Panzer Corps, and compelled
+Hitler to alter his Ardennes plan.</p>
+
+<p>To grasp the spirit of orders is not less important than to
+accept them cheerfully and keep faith with the contract. But
+the letter of an instruction does not relieve him who receives it
+from the obligation to exercise common sense. In the Carolina
+maneuvers of 1941, a soldier stood at a road intersection for 3
+days and nights directing civilian traffic, simply because the man
+who put him there had forgotten all about it. Though he was
+praised at the time, he was hardly a shining example to hold
+up to troops. Diligence and dullness are mutually exclusive
+traits. The model who is well worth pondering by all services
+is Chief Boatswain L. M. Jahnsen who on the morning of
+Pearl Harbor was in command of the yard garbage scow YG-17.
+She was collecting refuse from the fleet when the first Japanese
+planes came over. As the West Virginia began to burn, Jahnsen
+headed his scow into the heat and smoke and ordered his men
+to man their single fire hose. The old assignment forgotten,
+with overheated ammunition exploding all around him, he stood
+there directing his men in all that could be done to lessen the
+ruin of the fleet.</p>
+
+<p>Within the services, a special glory attends those whose
+heroism or service is "above and beyond the call of duty." But
+they owe their fundamental character to the millions of men
+who have followed the path of duty above and beyond the call
+of orders.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever the nature of an officer's assignment, there are compensations.
+The conventional attitude is to speak disparagingly
+of staff duty, sniff at service with a higher administrative headquarters
+as if it were somehow lacking in true masculine appeal,
+and express a preference for duty "at sea," "with troops" or
+"in the field." Although most of this is flapdoodle, it probably
+does no more harm than Admiral William F. Halsey's grimace<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>
+over the fact that he once "commanded an LSD&mdash;Large Steel
+Desk." He is a poor stick of a military man who has no natural
+desire to try his hand at the direct management of men, if for
+no better reason than to test his own mettle. Even the avowed
+specialist is better equipped for his own groove if he has proved
+himself at the other game.</p>
+
+<p>Staff work, however, has its own peculiar rewards. Chief
+among them are the broadening of perspective, a more intimate
+contact with the views, working methods and personality characteristics
+of higher commanders and the chance to become acquainted
+with administrative responsibility from the viewpoint
+of policy. Although it sounds mysterious and even forbidding,
+until one has done it, the procedures are not more complex nor
+less instructive than in any other type of assignment.</p>
+
+<p>There are no inside secrets about what goes here that is different,
+or will not work equally well elsewhere. The staff is simply
+the servant of the general force; it exists but to further the
+welfare of the fighting establishment. Those within it are remiss
+if they fail to keep this rule uppermost. Consequently, no special
+attitude is called for, other than an acute receptiveness. The
+same military bearing, the same naturalness of manner which
+enable an officer to win the confidence and working loyalty of
+his men will serve just as well when he is dealing with higher
+authority.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_FIFTEEN" id="CHAPTER_FIFTEEN"></a><span class="chapter_number">CHAPTER FIFTEEN</span><br /><br />
+
+DISCIPLINE</h3>
+
+
+<p>Though many of the aspects of discipline can be discussed
+more appropriately in other sections of this book, an officer
+must understand its particular nature within American military
+forces if he is to win from his men obedience coupled with
+activity at will.</p>
+
+<p>It frequently happens that the root meaning of a word more
+nearly explains the whole context of ideas with which it is
+legitimately associated than the public's mistaken use of the
+same word. Coming from the Latin, "to discipline" means "to
+teach." Insofar as the military establishment of the United
+States is concerned, nothing need be added to that definition.
+Its discipline is that standard of personal deportment, work
+requirement, courtesy, appearance and ethical conduct which,
+inculcated in men, will enable them singly or collectively to
+perform their mission with an optimum efficiency.</p>
+
+<p>Military discipline, in this respect, is no different than the
+discipline of the university, a baseball league or a labor union.
+It makes specific requirements of the individual; so do they. It
+has a system of punishments; so do they. These things are but
+incidental to the end result. Their main object is to preserve
+the interests and further the opportunity of the cooperative
+majority. But the essential difference between discipline in the
+military establishment and in any other free institution is this,
+that if the man objects, he still does not have the privilege of
+quitting tomorrow, and if he resists or becomes indifferent and
+is not corrected, his bad example will be felt to the far end of
+the line.</p>
+
+<p>Though the failure to stop looting by our forces during
+World War II, and the redeployment riots which followed it,
+are both unpleasant memories, they underscored a lesson already
+affirmed by every American experience at arms. The most
+contagious of all moral diseases is insubordination, and it has no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>
+more respect for rank than the plague. When higher authority
+winks at its existence among the rank and file, it will contaminate
+upward as well as down. Once a man condones remissness,
+his own belief in discipline begins to wither. The
+officer who tolerates slackness in the dress of his men soon
+ceases to tend his own appearance, and if he is not called to
+account, his sloppy habits will shortly begin to infect his
+superior. There is only one correct way to wear the uniform.
+When any deviations in dress are condoned within the services,
+the way is open to the destruction of all uniformity and unity.
+This continuing problem of stimulating all ranks to toe-up to
+that straight line of bearing and deportment which will build
+inner confidence and win public respect is the main reason why,
+as George Washington put it: "To bring men to a proper degree
+of subordination is not the work of a day, a month, or a year."
+It calls not simply for a high-minded attitude toward the profession
+of arms but for infinitely patient attention to a great
+variety of detail. An officer has a disciplined hold upon his own
+job only when, like the air pilot preparing to take off, he
+makes personal check of every point where the machinery might
+fail. The stronger his example of diligence, the more earnestly
+will it be followed by the ablest of his subordinates, and they
+in turn will carry other men along. No leader ever fails his men&mdash;nor
+will they fail him&mdash;who leads them in respect for the
+disciplined life. Between these two things&mdash;discipline in itself
+and a personal faith in the military value of discipline&mdash;lies
+all the difference between military maturity and mediocrity. A
+salute from an unwilling man is as meaningless as the moving
+of a leaf on a tree; it is a sign only that the subject has been
+caught by a gust of wind. But a salute from the man who takes
+pride in the gesture because he feels privileged to wear the
+uniform of the United States, having found the service good, is
+the epitome of military virtue. Of those units which were most
+effective, and were capable of the greatest measure of self-help
+during World War II combat, it was invariably remarked
+that they observed the salute and the other rules of courtesy
+better than the others, even when engaged.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>The level of discipline is in large part what the officers in any
+unit choose to make it. The general aim of regulations is to
+set an over-all standard of conduct and work requirement for all
+concerned. Training schedules, operational directives and other
+work programs serve the same end. <em>But there is still a broad
+area in which the influence of every officer is brought to bear.
+To state what is required is only the beginning; to require
+what has been stated is the positive end.</em> The rule of courtesy
+may be laid down by the book; it remains for the officer to rule
+by work rather than working by rules, and by setting the good
+example for his men, stimulate their acceptance of orderly military
+habits. A training schedule may stipulate that certain tasks
+be carried out but only the officer in charge can assure that the
+work will be accomplished with fidelity.</p>
+
+<p>The level of discipline should at all times be according to
+what is needed to get the best results from the majority of dutiful
+individuals. There is no practical reason for any sterner
+requirement than that. There is no moral justification for countenancing
+anything less. <em>Discipline destroys the spirit and
+working loyalty of the general force when it is pitched to the
+minority of malcontented, undutiful men within the organization,
+whether to punish or to appease them.</em> When this common
+sense precept is ignored, the results invariably are unhappy.</p>
+
+<p>However, it is not here inferred that what has to be done to
+build strong discipline in forces will at all times be welcomed
+by the first-class men within a unit, or that their reaction will
+always be approval. Rather, it is to say that they will accept
+what is ordered, even though they may gripe about it, and that
+ultimately their own reason will convince them of the value of
+what is being done.</p>
+
+<p>Until men are severely tried, there is no conclusive test of
+their discipline, nor proof that their training at arms is satisfying
+a legitimate military end. The old game of follow-the-leader
+has no point if the leader himself, like the little girl in a
+Thomas Hardy novel, is balked by insuperable obstacles one-quarter
+inch high. <em>All military forces remain relatively undisciplined
+until physically toughened and mentally conditioned to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>
+unusual exertion.</em> Consider the road march! No body of men
+could possibly enjoy the dust, the heat, the blistered foot and the
+aching back. But hard road marching is necessary if a sound
+foundation is to be built under the discipline of fighting forces,
+particularly those whose labors are in the field. And the gain
+comes quickly. The rise in spirits within any organization
+which is always to be observed after they rebound from a hard
+march does not come essentially from the feeling of relief
+that the strain is past, but rather from satisfaction that a goal
+has been crossed. <em>Every normal man needs to have some sense
+of a contest, some feeling of resistance overcome, before he can
+make the best use of his faculties. Whatever experience serves
+to give him confidence that he can compete with other men
+helps to increase his solidarity with other men.</em></p>
+
+<p>It must be accepted that discipline does not break down
+under the strain of placing a testing demand upon the individual.
+It is sloth and not activity that destroys discipline.
+Troops can endure hard going when it serves an understandable
+end. This is what they will boast about mainly when the
+fatigue is ended. A large part of training is necessarily directed
+toward conditioning them for unusual hardship and privation.
+They can take this in stride. But no power on earth can reconcile
+them to what common sense tells them is unnecessary hardship
+which might have been avoided by greater intelligence in
+their superiors. When they are overloaded, they know it. When
+they are required to form for a parade two hours ahead of
+time because their commander got over-anxious, or didn't know
+how to write an order, again they know it! <em>And they are perfectly
+right if they go sour because this kind of thing happens
+a little too often within the command.</em></p>
+
+<p>Within our system, that discipline is nearest perfect which
+assures to the individual the greatest freedom of thought and
+action while at all times promoting his feeling of responsibility
+toward the group. <em>These twin ends are convergent and
+interdependent for the exact converse of the reason that it is
+impossible for any man to feel happy and successful if he is in
+the middle of a failing institution.</em> War, and all training oper<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>ations
+in preparation for it, have become more than ever a
+problem of creating diversity of action out of unity of thought.
+Its modern technological aspects not only require a much keener
+intelligence in the average file but a higher degree of initiative
+and courageous confidence in his own judgments. If the man is
+cramped by monotonous routine, or made to feel that he cannot
+move unless an order is barked, he cannot develop these
+qualities, and he will never come forward as a junior leader.
+<em>On the other hand, the increased utilization of the machine in
+military operations, far from lessening the need of mutual support
+and unified action, has increased it.</em> One of the hazards of
+high velocity warfare is that reverse and disaster can occur
+much more swiftly than under former systems. Thus the need
+for greater spiritual integration within forces, and increased
+emphasis upon the values of more perfect communication in all
+forms, at the same time that each individual is trained to
+initiate action for the common good. Only so can the new
+discipline promote a higher efficiency based on a more steadfast
+loyalty of man to man. In the words of Du Picq, who saw so
+deeply into the hearts of fighting men: "If one does not wish
+bonds broken, one should make them elastic and thereby
+strengthen them."</p>
+
+<p>The separate nature of military service is the key to the
+character of the discipline of its several forces. In the United
+States, we have fallen into the sloppy habit of saying that a
+soldier, bluejacket, airman, coast guardsman or marine is only
+an American civilian in uniform. The corollary of this quaint
+notion is that all military organization is best run according to
+the principles of business management. The truth of either of
+these ideas is to be disputed on two grounds: both are contrary
+to truth and contrary to human nature. An officer is not only
+an administrator but a magistrate, and it is this dual role which
+makes his function so radically different than anything encountered
+in civil life&mdash;to say nothing of the singleness of purpose
+by which the service moves forward. Moreover, the armed service
+officer deals with the most plastic human material within
+the society&mdash;men who, in the majority, the moment they step<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>
+into uniform, are ready to seek his guidance toward a new
+way of life.</p>
+
+<p>However, these fancies are but tangential aspects of a much
+larger illusion&mdash;that the Armed Services of the United States,
+since they serve a democracy, can better perfect themselves
+according to the measure that they become more and more
+democratic. Authority is questioned in democratic countries
+today, not only in government, but in industry, the school,
+the church and the home. But to the extent that military
+men lose their faith in its virtue and become amenable to
+ill-considered reforms simply to appease the public, they relinquish
+the power to protect and nurture that growth of free
+men, free thought and free institutions which began among a
+handful of soldiers in Cromwell's Army and was carried by
+them after the Restoration to the North American mainland.
+The relation of the military establishment to American democracy
+is as a shield covering the body. But no wit of man can
+make it a wholly "democratic" institution as to its own processes
+without vitiating its strength, since it progresses through the
+exercise of unquestioned authority at various levels.</p>
+
+<p>One of these levels is the plane on which an ensign or second
+lieutenant conducts his daily dealings with his men. George
+Washington left behind these words, which are as good today
+as when he uttered them from his command post: "Whilst men
+treat an officer as an equal, regard him no more than a broomstick,
+being mixed together as one common herd, no order nor
+discipline can prevail." Out of his experience in the handling
+of deck divisions during World War II, Edmund A. Gibson,
+Boatswain's Mate, First Class, also said something which, put
+alongside Washington's words, brings the whole subject of
+officer-man relationships into clear focus: "Speaking for Navy
+men, I am certain that they are entirely without any feeling of
+inferiority, social or otherwise, to their officers. If superiority
+or inferiority of any kind enters into their contemplation at all,
+it is in the shape of a conviction, doubtless a wrong one, that
+every serviceman, as a professional warrior, is above the narrow
+interests which obsess the civilian."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>Those who have served both as officer and under-officer well
+understand the appropriateness of these two ideas, each to the
+other, that the superior position of the officer must be preserved
+for the good of the service, but that this engages recognition
+of the individual equality of the enlisted man. They know, if
+they have observed well and truly during their service in the
+ranks, that the highest type enlisted man wants his officer to act
+the part, maintain dignity and support the ideals which are
+consonant with the authority vested in him by the Nation. But
+this same man at the same time expects his officers to concede
+him his right to a separate position and to respect his privacy.
+It is a pitiable eminence that is not well founded upon sure
+feeling for the value of its own prestige and the importance
+of this factor at all levels.</p>
+
+<p>In the military service of the United States, there is always
+room for firm and forthright friendship between officer and
+man. There is room for a close, uniting comradeship. There is
+room for frank intellectual discussion and the exchange of
+warm humor; no man goes far if he is all salt and no savor.
+There is room for that kind of intimacy which enables each to
+see the other as a human being, know something of the other's
+emotions and help clear the atmosphere for honest counsel on
+personal and organizational problems.</p>
+
+<p>But there is no room for familiarity, since as in any other
+sphere, it breeds contempt. When it occurs, respect flies out the
+window, the officer loses part of his command authority and
+discipline breaks down. Familiarity cannot obtain between the
+superior and the subordinate without the vice of favoritism
+entering into the conduct of organizational matters, even though
+the former is guilty only of an over-zealous goodwill and the
+latter is otherwise sensible to the interests of the unit. The
+chief damage comes from the effect upon all others. It is when
+all the bars are let down that men communicate those inner
+failings which a greater reserve would keep under cover. Familiarity
+toward a superior is a positive danger; toward a subordinate,
+it is unbecoming and does not increase his trust. In excess,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>
+it can have no other effect than a breach of confidence on
+both sides.</p>
+
+<p>Changes in the environmental situation do not alter the
+natural proprieties of this relationship between any two men, the
+one having higher authority and the other having the obligation
+of obedience. Under the conditions of modern war, the
+two not infrequently may be required to work together as a unit,
+almost apart from the influence of organizational discipline.
+Hardship and necessity may compel them to extend the limit of
+personal accommodation to each other. They may go into battle
+together. They may sleep in the same bed or foxhole. They
+may drink from a common bottle and draw upon each other
+for the means to keep going. But in adapting one's course according
+to the rigors of any unconventional situation, authority
+is maintained only through the exercise of a higher sense of
+responsibility. However, the rule is applied according to the
+circumstance, the rule itself remains inflexible.</p>
+
+<p>Officers and men working together as a compact team, in any
+type of military operation where success, and coordinated action
+in the face of danger, depend mainly upon the moral resources
+within one small group, develop a closer camaraderie and become
+less formal than is normal elsewhere throughout the
+services. The close confinement in which tank forces, airplane
+crews and submarine crews must operate would stifle morale
+and torture nerves otherwise. Whatever the patience of men
+under such conditions, sooner or later they get on each other's
+nerves. Therefore that system of relationships is best which is
+least artificial and most relaxing to the spirit of the natural
+man. But to construe this as a deviation from the standards of
+discipline is to mistake the shadow for the substance.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_SIXTEEN" id="CHAPTER_SIXTEEN"></a><span class="chapter_number">CHAPTER SIXTEEN</span><br /><br />
+
+MORALE</h3>
+
+
+<p>To grow in knowledge of how to win a loyal and willing
+response from military forces, there must first be understanding
+of the springs of human action, what they are, and how they
+may be directed toward constructive ends. This done, the course
+which makes for the perfecting of forces during peacetime
+training need only be extended to harden them for the risk and
+stress of war.</p>
+
+<p>The mainspring is morale. The meaning of the word is
+already known in a general way to every man who has qualified
+for officership, so it is hardly necessary to redefine it. A World
+War II bluejacket said it this way: "Morale is when your hands
+and feet keep working when your head says it can't be done."
+That says it just as well as anything written by du Picq or
+Baron von Steuben. Nothing new need be added.</p>
+
+<p>The handiest beginning is to consider morale in conjunction
+with discipline, since in military service they are opposite sides
+of the same coin. When one is present, the other will be also.
+But the instilling of these things in military forces depends upon
+leadership understanding the nature of the relationship.</p>
+
+<p>As to discipline, until recent years, military forces tended to
+stress the pattern rather than the ideal. The elder Moltke, one
+of the great masters of the military art, taught his troops that it
+was of supreme importance that they form accurately in training,
+since the perfection of their formations would determine
+their efficiency in battle. Yet in the Franco-Prussian War, these
+formations proved utterly unsuited to the heavily wooded terrain
+of the theater, and new ones had to be devised on the
+spur of the moment.</p>
+
+<p>This is the familiar story. It was repeated by United States
+forces in World War II during the Normandy hedgerow fighting
+and the invasions of the Central Pacific atolls. Troops had
+to learn the hard way how to hit, and how to survive, in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>
+moving through jungle or across the mountains and desert.
+When that happened, the only disciplinary residue which mattered
+was obedience to orders. The movements they had learned
+by rote were of less value than the spiritual bond between one
+man and another. The most valuable lesson was that of mutual
+support. And unless this lesson was supported by confidence in
+the judgment of those in authority, it is to be doubted that
+they were helped at all.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, that confidence is the <em>sine qua non</em> of all useful
+military power. The moral strength of an organic unity comes
+from the faith in ranks that they are being wisely directed and
+from faith up top that orders will be obeyed. When forces are
+tempered by this spirit, there is no limit to their enterprise.
+They become invincible. Lacking it, however, any military body,
+even though it has been compelled to toe the mark in training,
+will deteriorate into a rabble under conditions of extraordinary
+stress in the field, as McDowell's Army did at Bull Run in the
+American Civil War, and as Hitler's Armies did in 1945 after
+the Rhine had been crossed at Remagen.</p>
+
+<p>In its essentials, discipline is not measured according to how
+a man keeps step in a drill yard, or whether he salutes at just
+the right angle. The test is how well and willingly he responds
+to his superiors in all <em>vital</em> matters, and finally, whether he
+stands or runs when his life is at stake. History makes this
+clear. There are countless examples of successful military forces
+which had almost no discipline when measured by the usual
+yardsticks, yet had a high battle morale productive of the kind
+of discipline which beats the enemy in battle. The French at
+Valmy, the Boers in the South African War, and even the
+men of Capt. John Parker, responding to his order on the
+Lexington Common, "Don't fire unless fired upon, but if they
+mean to have a war, let it begin here," instance that men who
+lack training and have not been regimented still may express
+themselves as a cohesive force on the field of fire, provided
+that they are well led.</p>
+
+<p>If we will accept the basic premise that discipline, even within
+the military establishment of the United States, is not a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>
+ritual or a form, but is simply that course of conduct which is
+most likely to lead to the efficient performance of an assigned
+responsibility, it will be seen that morale does not come of discipline,
+but discipline of morale.</p>
+
+<p>True enough, our recruits are given a discipline almost from
+the moment that they take the oath. Their first lesson is the
+necessity for obedience. They are required immediately to conform
+to a new pattern of conduct. They respond to disciplinary
+treatment even before they learn to think as a group and before
+the attitude of the group has any influence upon them. Discipline
+bears down before morale can lift up. Momentarily, they
+become timid before they have felt any pain. These first reactions
+help condition the man to his new environment. They are
+in part demoralizing, but on the upswing he begins to realize
+that half the fun in life comes of seeing what one can do in a
+new situation. The foundation of his morale is laid when he
+begins to think of himself as a member of the fighting establishment,
+rather than as a civilian. Thereafter all that is done
+to nourish his military spirit and to arouse his thirst for professional
+knowledge helps to build his moral power.</p>
+
+<p>But follow the man a little longer. The time quickly comes
+when he knows his way around in the service. His earlier fears
+and hesitations are largely gone. He acquires strength and wisdom
+from the group. He becomes able to judge his own situation
+against an attainable standard within the service. He is
+critically conscious of the merits of his superiors from what he
+has himself experienced and what others tell him. He knows
+what is boondoggling and what is not.</p>
+
+<p>From that point on, discipline has little part in alerting the
+man or in furthering the building of his moral power. That
+which moves him mainly is the knowledge that he is a personal
+success, and that he belongs to an efficient unit which is in
+capable hands. Certain of the outer signs of discipline, such as
+the cadence of the march or snap in the execution of the
+manual, he may subconsciously reenforce his impression of these
+things. But if he feels either that he is an outsider or that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>
+club isn't worth joining, no amount of spit and polish will alter
+his opinion.</p>
+
+<p>He is able to recognize a right and reasonable discipline as
+such, even though it causes him personal inconvenience, because
+he has acquired a sense of military values. But if it is
+either unduly harsh or unnecessarily lax, he likewise knows it
+and wears it as a hairshirt, to the undoing of his morale.
+Though the man, like the group, can be hurt by being pushed
+beyond sensible limits, his spirit will suffer even more sorely if
+no real test is put upon his abilities and moral powers. The
+greater his intelligence, the stronger will be his resentment.
+That is a law of nature. The enlightened mind has always the
+greatest measure of self-discipline but it also has a higher sense
+of what constitutes justice, fairplay and a reasonable requirement
+in the performance of duty. If denied these things, he
+will come to hold his chief, his job, and himself in contempt.
+The greater part of man's satisfactions comes of activity and
+only a very small remnant comes of passive enjoyment. Forgetting
+this rather obvious fact in human nature, social reformers
+aim at securing more leisure, rather than at making work
+itself more satisfactory. But it need not be forgotten in the
+military service.</p>
+
+<p>Even to those who best understand the reasons for the regimenting
+of military forces, a discipline wrongfully applied is
+seen only as indiscipline. Invariably it will be countered in its
+own terms. No average rank-and-file will become insubordinate
+as quickly, or react as violently, as a group of senior noncommissioned
+officers, brought together in a body, and then
+mishandled by officers who are ignorant of the customs of the
+service and the limits of their own authority. Not only are they
+conscious of their rights, but they have greater respect for the
+state of decency and order which is the mark of a proper military
+establishment than for the insignia of rank. It is this firm
+feeling of the fitness of things, and his unbounded allegiance
+to an authority when it is based on character which makes the
+NCO and the petty officer the backbone of discipline within
+the United States fighting establishment. Sergeant Evans of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>
+"Command Decision" was an archtype of the best ball carriers
+among them. In a sense, they remain independent workmen,
+rather than a tool of authority, until the hour comes when they
+fall in completely with someone their own nature tells them is
+good. In the past, we have not always made the wisest use of
+this latent strength. The normal desire of the veteran who has
+won his stripes by hard service is to support his officers and
+reduce the friction down below. Whatever is done to lessen his
+dignity and prestige damages morale and creates new stresses in
+the relations between the officer corps and the ranks. When he
+is rebuffed, either because those above him are indifferent to
+his pride or are unaware that he is their chief advocate among
+the men, the military machinery loses its cushion and becomes
+subject to increasing shock. Said a newly arrived lieutenant to
+an old sergeant of the 12th Cavalry: "You've been here a long
+time, haven't you?" "Yes sir," replied the sergeant. "The troop
+commanders, they come and they go, but it don't hurt the
+troop."</p>
+
+<p>To comment on these things, however, is to emphasize once
+again the supreme importance of the judgment of the officer in
+dealing with all of his military associates in such way that he
+will support that native pride, without which a man cannot
+remain whole, and at the same time direct it toward the betterment
+of the organization. To lecture troops about the importance
+of morale and discipline serves no earthly purpose,
+if the words are at odds with the general conditions which have
+been imposed on the command. They impose their values only
+as reflection of the leader's entire thought concerning his men.
+At the same time, there is this to be remembered, that even
+when things are going wrong at every other level, men will
+remain loyal and dutiful if they see in the one junior officer who
+is nearest them the embodiment of the ideals which they believe
+should apply throughout the service. That is the main object
+lesson in that remarkable novel written around a World War II
+Navy auxiliary, "Mister Roberts." But it holds just as true in
+our ground and air forces as for those afloat.</p>
+
+<p>Morale comes of the mind and of the spirit. The question is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>
+how it is to be developed. Admiral Ben Moreell has stated a
+formula in understanding terms by his explanation of what
+made the Seabees notable for competence and devotion to duty
+during World War II. This is what he said: "We used artisans
+to do the work for which they had been trained in civil life.
+They were well led by officers who 'spoke their language.'
+We made them feel that they were playing an important
+part in the great adventure. And thus they achieved a high
+standard of morale." The elements underscored by Admiral
+Moreell deserve special note.</p>
+
+
+<ul>
+<li>Satisfaction in a work program.</li>
+
+<li>Mutual confidence between leaders and ranks.</li>
+
+<li>Conviction that all together were striving for something
+more important than themselves.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>True, that was wartime, and the challenge was apparent to
+all concerned. But the principles hold good under any and all
+conditions, and can be applied to any organization by the officer
+who approaches his task with enthusiasm and imagination.
+The mission of keeping the world at peace, through a moral
+strengthening of the security structure of the United States, is a
+more difficult objective than that which confronted fighting
+forces after Pearl Harbor. In his book, "World War: Its Cause
+and Cure," Lionel Curtis stated our problem in its broadest
+and most challenging terms: "Civilization began with a war
+between freedom and despotism: we are now fighting its latest
+campaign, and our task is to make it the last."</p>
+
+<p>Under training conditions or in combat, the mental ills and
+the resulting moral and physical deterioration which sometimes
+beset military forces cannot be cured simply by the intensification
+of disciplinary methods. It is true that the signs of a recovery
+will sometimes attend the installation of a more rigid,
+or less rigid, discipline. This onset is in fact usually due to the
+collateral influence of an increased confidence in the command,
+whereby men are made to feel that their own fortunes are on
+the mend. Then discipline and morale are together revitalized
+almost as if by the throwing of an electric switch.</p>
+
+<p>In Army history, there is no better example of the working of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>
+this principle than the work of Brig. Gen. Paul B. Malone of
+St. Aignan-sur-Cher, France, in 1919. He took over a command
+where slackness and indiscipline were general. The men were
+suffering terrible privation and too many of their officers were
+indifferent to their needs. Many of the men had been battle
+casualties. Some had been discharged from hospitals before their
+wounds were healed. The mess was abominable. The camp was
+short of firewood and other supply. In freezing weather, men
+were sleeping on the ground with only a pair of blankets
+apiece. The death toll from influenza, pneumonia, and the aggravation
+of battle wounds rose daily. Despair and resentment
+over these conditions began to express itself in semiviolent
+form. Every fresh breach of discipline was countered with harassing
+punishments until an air of wretched stagnation hung
+over the whole camp. General Pershing visited the base. The
+men refused to form for him. When he tried to address them
+at a mass meeting, they wouldn't hear him out. Instead of taking
+any action against the men, he sent for General Malone.</p>
+
+<p>The new commander arrived without any instructions except
+to determine what was wrong and correct it. With soldierly instinct,
+he recognized that the indiscipline of the camp was an
+effect and not a cause. But even as he gave orders for relieving
+the physical distress of the men, he demanded that they return
+to orderly habits.</p>
+
+<p>He walked around the areas. Already, on his order, duck-boards
+were being laid through the mud, and the whole physical
+setup was in process of reorganization. The men, grown
+listless from weeks of mistreatment, paid no heed. "Get on
+your feet! I'm your general. I respect you but I want your
+respect," were his words. They restored the situation. The first
+impact of this one man on that camp was never forgotten by
+anyone who saw it. It is a point to remember: <em>A firm hold at
+the beginning pays tenfold the dividend of a timid approach,
+followed by a show of firmness later on.</em> Within 48 hours the
+physical condition of the camp was showing improvement and
+60,000 men were again doing their duty and bearing themselves<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>
+in a military manner. The lessons from this one incident stand
+out like beams from a searchlight battery.</p>
+
+<p><em>One man is able to accomplish a miracle by an act of will
+accompanied by good works.</em></p>
+
+<p><em>The morale of the force flows from the self-discipline of the
+commander, and in turn, the discipline of the force is reestablished
+by the upsurge of its moral power.</em></p>
+
+<p><em>The inculcation of military habits and thoughts is the only
+means by which these forces may be made to work together
+toward more perfect ends, so that control can be exercised
+promptly.</em></p>
+
+<p>When the redeployment period which followed World War II
+threatened a complete collapse to the morale of the general
+military establishment, the remedy attempted by some unit leaders
+was to relax discipline and the work requirement all around.
+Other officers met this crisis by improving the conditions of
+work, setting an example which proved to the men that they
+believed in its importance and paying sedulous attention to the
+personal problems of those within the unit. They found that
+they could still get superior performance in the midst of chaos.
+Organic strength materializes in the same way on the field of
+war. <em>However adverse the general situation, men will stick to
+the one man who knows what he wants to do and welcomes
+them to a full share in the enterprise.</em></p>
+
+<p>The rule applies in matters great and small. No man who
+leads a squad or a squadron, a group of men or a group of
+armies, can develop within his force a well-placed confidence
+in its own powers, if he is uncertain of himself or doubtful of his
+object. The moral level of his men is mainly according to the
+manner in which he expresses his personal force working with,
+and for, them. If he is timid or aloof, uncommunicative and
+unenthusiastic, prone to stand on his dignity and devoid of
+interest in the human stuff of those who are within his charge,
+they will not respond to him, and he will have raised a main
+barrier to his own success. If, given a course or taking one of
+his own choice, he worries so greatly about the obstacles in his
+way that he cannot make penetrating search for the clear chan<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>nel,
+he will waste the powers of his men even though he may
+have won their sympathy.</p>
+
+<p>It would be futile to make these comments on the nature of
+moral leading if it were not fully within the power of the
+average young officer to cut his cloth according to the suggested
+pattern. The commonplace that human nature cannot
+be changed is untrue. The characters of each of us, and of
+all of our acquaintances, are greatly affected by circumstances.
+No man's impulses are fixed from the beginning by his native
+disposition; they remain plastic until the hour of his death, and
+whatever touches his circumference, influences them for better
+or worse. <em>The power of decision develops only out of practice.
+There is nothing mystic about it. It comes of a clear-eyed willingness
+to accept life's risks, recognizing that only the enfeebled
+are comforted by thoughts of an existence devoid of struggle.</em></p>
+
+<p>Nothing more radical is being suggested here than that the
+officer who would make certain that the morale of his men will
+prove equal to every change cannot do better than concentrate
+his best efforts upon his primary military obligation&mdash;his duty
+to them. They dupe only themselves who believe that there is a
+brand of military efficiency which consists in moving smartly,
+expediting papers and achieving perfection in formations, while
+at the same time slighting or ignoring the human nature of
+those whom they command. The art of leadership, the art of
+command, whether the forces be large or small, is the art of
+dealing with humanity. Only the officer who dedicates his
+thought and energy to his men can convert into coherent military
+force their desire to be of service to the country. Such
+were the fundamental values which Napoleon had in mind
+when he said that those who would learn the art of war should
+study the Great Captains. He was not speaking of tactics and
+strategy. He was pointing to the success of Alexander, Caesar,
+and Hannibal in moulding raw human nature, and to their
+understanding of the thinking of their men and of how to direct
+it toward military advantage. These are the grand objects.</p>
+
+<p>Diligence in the care of men, administration of all organizational
+affairs according to a standard of resolute justice, mili<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>tary
+bearing in one's self, and finally, an understanding of the
+simple facts that men in a fighting establishment wish to think
+of themselves in that light and that all military information is
+nourishing to their spirits and their lives, are the four fundamentals
+by which the commander builds an all-sufficing morale
+in those within his charge.</p>
+
+<p>There are other motor forces and mechanisms, most of which
+come under the heading of management principles, and are
+therefore discussed in other portions of this volume. The exception
+is the greatest force of all&mdash;patriotism. It may be
+deemed beyond argument that belief in the social order and
+political doctrine of their country is the foundation of a loyal,
+willing spirit in military forces. Yet this alone cannot assure
+efficiency in training or a battle <em>elan</em> which is the result of
+proper training methods. There is nothing more soulless than a
+religion without good works unless it be a patriotism which
+does not concern itself with the welfare and dignity of the individual.
+This is a simple idea though wise men in all ages have
+recognized it as one of the most profound truths. From Aristotle
+on down the philosophers have said that the main force in
+shaping the characters of men is not teaching and preaching,
+though these too are important, but the social framework in
+which a man lives. In an age when there is widespread presumption
+that practical problems can be solved by phrases, the
+military body needs more than ever to hold steadfastly to first
+principles. It does no good for an officer to talk patriotism to
+his men unless he stands four-square with them, and they see in
+him a symbol of what is right with the country. Under those
+circumstances, he can always talk to them about the cause, and
+what he says will be a tonic to morale.</p>
+
+<p>In the Normandy invasion, a young commander of paratroops,
+Lt. Col. Edward C. Krause, was given the task of capturing
+a main enemy communications center. Three hours before the
+take-off he assembled his Battalion, held a small American flag
+in front of them and said these words; "This is the first flag
+raised over the city of Naples. You put it there. I want it to be
+the first flag raised over a liberated town in France. The mis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>sion
+is that we will put it up in Ste. Mere Eglise before dawn.
+You have only one order&mdash;to come and fight with me wherever
+you land. When you get to Ste. Mere Eglise, I will be
+there."</p>
+
+<p>The assignment was kept. Next morning, Krause and his
+men raised the flag together, even before they had completed
+capture of the town. As Americans go, they were extremely
+rugged individualists. But they were proud of every line of that
+story.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_SEVENTEEN" id="CHAPTER_SEVENTEEN"></a><span class="chapter_number">CHAPTER SEVENTEEN</span><br /><br />
+
+ESPRIT</h3>
+
+
+<p>To proceed toward a better understanding of <em>esprit</em> and its
+part in the building of military forces, it is necessary to look
+beyond the organization and consider the man.</p>
+
+<p>The life of any socially upright individual is organized
+around only a few basic loyalties and the degree of satisfaction
+which he derives from existence can usually be measured
+in terms of his service to them. He is loyal first to himself, for
+failing that, he fails in loyalty to all else. If he cannot acquit
+himself ably for his own sake, he cannot do honor to anything
+less personal. Along with loyalty to self come loyalty to our
+beliefs, loyalty to family, loyalty to country, loyalty to friends,
+and loyalty to humanity in general.</p>
+
+<p>Stated as a factual and not as an ideal matter, the interesting
+and important thing that happens to a man when he enters
+military service is that, the moment he takes the oath, loyalty to
+the arms he bears ranks first on the list, above all other loyalties.
+To get ahead, to serve himself well, he must persevere in
+ways that are most useful to the organization. If the circumstances
+of his family are reduced because of this new loyalty,
+his means of compensating them is to strive for such honor as
+may come to him through service to the United States. In his
+life, service to country is no longer a beautiful abstraction; it
+is the sternly concrete and unremitting obligation of service to
+the regiment, the group or the ship's company. He parts with
+old friends and finds new ones.</p>
+
+<p>In this radical reorientation of the individual life and the
+arbitrary imposition of a commanding loyalty is to be found
+the key to the esprit of any military organization. Too long
+esprit has been regarded as something bequeathed to the unit
+by the dead hand of tradition. There is nothing moribund
+about it. It is a dynamic and vital substance conducted to the
+living by the living. We can banish from our minds the idea<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>
+that esprit is what the regiment, the ship or the company gives
+the man because of some spark which its past deeds and the
+legends thereof have lighted in him. Esprit, at all times, is what
+the unit gives the man, in terms of spiritual force translated
+into constructive good. Considering what the unit has taken
+from him initially, its obligation is great indeed.</p>
+
+<p>To see this clearly, we need to look once again at what
+happens to the individual when he puts on the uniform. The
+basis of his life changes in broad and fundamental ways. His
+legal status is changed; the extent and intensity of his obligations
+are magnified. He puts aside the banner of individualism
+for that of obedience. Yet in the words of Chester Barnard:
+"Scarcely a man, I think, who has felt the annihilation of his
+personality in some organized system, has not also felt that the
+same system belonged to him because of his own free will he
+chose to make it so."</p>
+
+<p>To that must be added the further thought that while the
+military service is antecedent to the individual who enters it,
+that individual is also in a sense antecedent to the service. He
+becomes a factor in the equation which expresses the achievement
+or the failure of the service in its particular mission. The
+thoughtful commander will give careful regard to that relationship.
+One man cannot make or break an Army or a Navy, but
+he can help break it, since each service at all times derives its
+nature from the quality and wills of its men. General Harbord,
+in <em>The American Army in France</em>, expressed it this way: "Discipline
+and morale influence the inarticulate vote that is constantly
+taken by masses of men when the order comes to move
+forward&mdash;a variant of the crowd psychology that inclines it to
+follow a leader. But the Army does not move forward until the
+motion has carried. 'Unanimous consent' only follows cooperation
+between the individual men in ranks."</p>
+
+<p>But we can go one step beyond General Harbord's suggestion
+that the multiplied individual acceptance of a command alone
+gives that command authority. It is not less true that the multiplied
+rejection of a command nullifies it. In other words,
+authority is the creature rather than the creator of discipline<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>
+and obedience. In the more recent experiences of our arms,
+under the stresses of battle, there are many instances of troops
+being given orders, and refusing to obey. In every case, the
+root cause was lack of confidence in the wisdom and ability of
+those who led. When a determining number of men in ranks
+have lost the will to obey, their erstwhile leader has <em>ipso facto</em>
+lost the capacity to command. <em>In the final analysis, authority
+is contingent upon respect far more truly than respect is founded
+upon authority.</em> In the words of Col. G. F. R. Henderson:
+"It is the leader who reckons with the human nature of his
+troops, and of the enemy, rather than with their mere physical
+attributes, numbers, armament and the like, who can hope to
+follow in Napoleon's footsteps."</p>
+
+<p><em>Esprit</em> then is the product of a thriving mutual confidence
+between the leader and the led, founded on the faith that together
+they possess a superior quality and capability. The failure
+of the spirit of any military organization is less frequently due
+to what men have forgotten than to what they can't forget.
+No "imperishable record" of past greatness can make men serve
+with any greater vigor if they are being served badly. Nor can
+it sustain the fighting will of the organization so much as one
+mil beyond the radius within which living associations enable
+men to think great thoughts and act with nobility toward their
+fellows. Unless the organization's past conveys to its officers a
+sense of having been especially chosen, and unless they respond
+to this trust by developing a complete sense of duty toward
+their men, the old battle records might as well be poured down
+the drain, since they will not rally a single man in the hour of
+danger. Said Col. LeRoy P. Hunt in a mimeographed notice to
+his troops just prior to the Guadalcanal landing: "We are
+meeting a tough and wily opponent but he is not sufficiently
+tough and wily to overcome us because We Are Marines."
+(The capitals are Hunt's.)</p>
+
+<p>Personality plays a part in the ability to command, both
+under training conditions and under fire. But though a man
+be a veritable John Paul Jones or Mad Anthony Wayne in the
+time of action, his hardihood will never wholly undo any prior<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>
+neglect of his men. While men may be rallied for a short
+space by someone setting an example of great courage, they can
+be kept in line under conditions of increasing stress and mounting
+hardship only when loyalty is based upon a respect which
+the commander has won by consistently thoughtful regard for
+the welfare and rights of his men, and a correct measuring of
+his responsibility to them.</p>
+
+<p>There are a few governing principles, and before considering
+their application in detail we should think first about the file.
+He is a Man; he expects to be treated as an adult, not as a
+schoolboy. He has rights; they must be made known to him and
+thereafter respected. He has ambition; it must be stirred. He
+has a belief in fair play; it must be honored. He has the need
+of comradeship; it must be supplied. He has imagination; it
+must be stimulated. He has a sense of personal dignity; it must
+not be broken down. He has pride; it can be satisfied and made
+the bedrock of his character once he gains assurance that he is
+playing a useful and respected part in a superior and successful
+organization. To give men working as a group the feeling of
+great accomplishment together is the acme of inspired leadership.</p>
+
+<p>In the degree that the disciplinary method and the training
+procedure of the military service, and the common sense of his
+superiors, combine to nourish these satisfactions in the individual,
+<em>esprit de corps</em> comes into being and furthers his advance
+in the practice of arms and his potential usefulness as a
+fighting man. He becomes loyal because loyalty has been given
+to him. He learns to serve an ideal because an ideal has served
+him. For it is to be remembered that it is always the Army, the
+Navy or the nation that disengages the man from his old moorings,
+but it is the regiment or the ship's company which gives
+him a fresh anchor and enables him to feel secure again. The
+service cancels out the man's old life; the unit gives him a
+fresh start in a new environment, which may prove salutary or
+utterly damnable, as the man and the unit together make it.
+Where there is enlightened leading, neither can fail the other.
+<em>The majority of men, so long as they are treated fairly and feel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>
+that good use is being made of their powers, will rejoice in a
+new sense of unity with new companions even more than they
+will mind the increased separation from their old associations.</em>
+The ability to adjust is itself a landmark of success in the life
+of a normal individual.</p>
+
+<p>This is the primary gift of the organization to the man and
+the primary advantage of its relationship to him. Once it has
+given the file a sense of belonging, it restores his balance. It is
+this feeling of possession which is the beginning of true esprit.
+Without it, the man becomes a derelict. Indeed, we may go so
+far as to say that the man who lacks it, and does not aspire
+to it, will almost invariably be unsuited for combat or any military
+responsibility of consequence, not because he is disrespectful
+of tradition, but because he is a social outcast with no
+sense of duty to his fellows.</p>
+
+<p>Referring once again to the list of satisfactions due the man,
+it will be noted that they differ little, if at all, from the demands
+of his spirit before he has put on the uniform. But
+there should be marked also the vital difference that whereas
+a complex of social and economic forces and of totally disconnected
+influences contribute to his outlook so long as he is a
+civilian, the measure of his satisfactions is almost wholly in the
+hands of the organization once he has raised his right hand and
+taken the oath of military service to country. The condition of
+his health, the amount of his pay, the organization of his leisure
+time, his diet, his sleeping habits, his sex problems, even
+the manner in which he shaves and wears his hair, are matters
+of organizational concern. Within the new company, he may
+either attain greatly, or miserably fail. It should speak to him
+with the voice of Stentor, the bronze voice of 10,000 men&mdash;meaning
+the thousand or so who are still with the ship, the
+group or the regiment, and the thousands who are in the
+shadows but who once served it well, thereby inspiring those
+who follow to give an extra portion of service to their fellows.
+Unless tradition has that effect upon the living, it will not
+produce esprit, but military "mossbackism."</p>
+
+<p>What does this imply in terms of practical application? Simply<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>
+that the custodianship of esprit must ever be in the hands of
+the officer corps. When the heart of the organization is sound,
+officership is able to see its own reflection in the eyes of the
+enlisted man. For this simple reason: insofar as his ability to
+mould the character of troops is concerned, the qualifying test
+of the leader is the judgment placed upon his military abilities
+by those who serve under him. If they do not deem him fit to
+command, he cannot train them to obey. But if they see in one
+man directly over them a steady example, the strongest of
+their number will model after him, instead of sagging because of
+weakness elsewhere in the command structure.</p>
+
+<p>This point is irreducible. Though an officer have absolute
+confidence in himself, and though he have an instinct amounting
+to genius for the material things of war, these otherwise
+considerable gifts will avail him little or nothing if his <em>manner</em>
+is such that his troops remain unconvinced of his capacity and
+doubtful of his power to maintain command in periods of extreme
+trial. He will fail because he has not sufficiently regarded
+the <span class="law_of_personality">LAW OF PERSONALITY&mdash;LOOKS, ACTIONS, WORDS</span>.</p>
+
+<p>Among military men, there has been much mistaken praise
+for the virtue of "mechanical obedience." There is no such
+thing. Men think in their smallest actions; if this were not so,
+it would not be possible to lead them. What has been blindly
+termed "mechanical response" requires perhaps a higher concentration
+of will than any other type of action, and hence
+of thought itself, since the two are inseparable. The forces in
+which this characteristic was outstanding have been those which
+were led with the highest degree of intelligence and of understanding
+of human nature. For unity of spirit and of action,
+which is the essence of <em>esprit de corps</em>, is of all military miracles
+the most difficult to achieve.</p>
+
+<p>Yet its abiding principle is simple. It comes of integrity and
+clarification of purpose. The able officer is not a Saul waiting
+for the light to strike him on the Damascus road, but a Paul
+having a clear understanding that unless the trumpet give forth
+a certain sound at all times, none shall prepare himself for the
+battle.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>Given such officers, the organization comes to possess a sense
+of unity and of fraternity in its routine existence which expresses
+itself as the force of cohesion in the hour when all
+ranks are confronted by a common danger. It is not because of
+mutual enthusiasm for an honored name but because of mutual
+confidence in one another that the ranks of old regiments or
+the bluejackets serving a ship with a great tradition are able to
+convert their esprit into battle discipline. Under stress they
+move and act together because they have imbibed the great
+lesson, and experience has made its application almost instinctive,
+that only in unity is there safety. They believe that they
+can trust their comrades and commanders as they would trust
+their next of kin. They have learned the necessity of mutual
+support and a common danger serves but to bind the ranks
+closer.</p>
+
+<p>But the race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the
+strong. The newest unit&mdash;one born only yesterday&mdash;is as
+susceptible to a vaulting esprit as any which traces its founding
+to the beginnings of the Republic. Led by those who themselves
+are capable of great endeavour, who are quick to encourage
+and slow to disparage, and are ever ready to make due acknowledgment
+of worthy effort and to let men know wherein
+they are forging ahead, any military organization serving our
+flag will come to count this among its strengths.</p>
+
+<p>There are no tricks to the building of esprit. Its techniques
+are those which come naturally in the course of stimulating the
+interest of ranks in all of the great fundamentals of the military
+profession, rather than selling short their intelligence, and
+taking it for granted that they want nothing beyond the routine
+of work, liberty, mess call, and payday.</p>
+
+<p>But there is one pitfall. Toward the growth of esprit, the
+attitude, "My organization first, and the rest nowhere," never
+pays off. It begins with the idea, "<em>The service first, and my unit
+the best in the service.</em>" In all human enterprise, the whole is
+greater than the sum of the parts. The citizen who thinks most
+deeply about his country will be the first to share the burdens
+of his community and neighborhood. The man who feels the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>
+greatest affection for the service in which he bears arms will
+work most loyally to make his own unit know a rightful pride
+in its own worth. Among all of the military services from out
+of the present and past, none has been more faithful to this
+principle than the United States Marine Corps. Among its
+members, being a Marine is the thing that counts mainly; after
+that comes service to the Regiment or Battalion. Even the other
+services marvel at the result. Though they take due pride in
+their own virtues and accomplishments, they still regard the
+esprit of the Marine with admiration, and more than a little
+envy. What is the secret? Perhaps it is this, that the Corps
+emphasizes the rugged outlet for men's energies, and never permits
+its members to forget that the example of courage is their
+most precious heritage.</p>
+
+<p>Six years after his defeat at Wake Island, the things that
+remained uppermost in the mind of Col. James P. S. Devereux,
+as he put together the story of the most tragic hours of his life,
+were the heroisms of the individuals who had been trained in
+a tradition to which he had fully committed his own purpose.
+One incident of that day, typical of many, is best related in
+Devereux's own words.</p>
+
+<p>"Master Sergeant J. Paszkiewicz, a Marine for 20 years, was
+caught in the first blast at the airfield. Bombs shattered his
+right leg. He started crawling off, dragging his smashed leg
+limply behind him. The second wave of bombers came in.
+Paszkiewicz reached a little pile of wreckage and found what he
+wanted, a piece of wood. With a little fixing it could serve as
+a crutch. The bombs were dropping again. Paszkiewicz started
+hobbling off. He seemed to be going the wrong way. Somebody
+tried to help him, but he wasn't having any. Lieutenant
+David D. Kliewer saw him stumbling along on his makeshift
+crutch, giving first aid to the wounded or trying to make a
+dying man a little easier."</p>
+
+<p>Could a man give that much, and could his superior, Devereux,
+have remembered it so vividly from amid his own personal
+trials, unless both had been inspired by the traditions of
+the Corps?</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_EIGHTEEN" id="CHAPTER_EIGHTEEN"></a><span class="chapter_number">CHAPTER EIGHTEEN</span><br /><br />
+
+KNOWING YOUR JOB</h3>
+
+
+<p>In one of his little-known passages, Robert Louis Stevenson
+did the perfect portrait of the man who finally failed at everything,
+because he just never learned how to take hold of his
+work.</p>
+
+<p>It goes like this: "His career was one of unbroken shame. He
+did not drink. He was exactly honest. He was never rude to his
+employers. Yet he was everywhere discharged. Bringing no interest
+to his duties, he brought no attention. His day was a
+tissue of things neglected and things done amiss. And from
+place to place and from town to town he carried the character
+of one thoroughly incompetent."</p>
+
+<p>No one would say that the picture is overdrawn or that the
+poor devil got other than his just deserts. In the summing up,
+the final judgment that is put on a man by other men depends
+on his value as a working hand. If he has other serious personality
+faults, they will be overlooked as somewhat beside the
+point, provided that he levels with his job. But if he embodies
+all of the surface virtues, and is shiftless, any superior with sense
+will mark him for the discard, and his coworkers will breathe
+a sigh of relief when he has gone on his way.</p>
+
+<p>Within the armed services, the tone of grudging admiration
+is never missing from such altogether familiar comments as:</p>
+
+<p>"He's a queer duck but he has what it takes."</p>
+
+<p>"We can't get along with him but we can't get along without
+him."</p>
+
+<p>By such words, we unconsciously yield the palm to the man
+who, whatever his other shortcomings, excels us in application
+to duty. One of the worst rascals ever raised in Britain said that
+while he wouldn't give a farthing for virtue, he would pay
+10,000 pounds for character, because, possessing it, he would be
+able to sell it for much more.</p>
+
+<p>Is it possible then that men of thoroughly good intentions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>
+will neglect the one value which a knave says is worth prizing?
+Not only is it possible; it happens every day! We see officers
+of the armed establishment who, thinking themselves employed
+all day, would still, if they had to make an honest reckoning
+of the score after tattoo sounded, be compelled to say that they
+had done exactly nothing. Lacking some compelling duty, they
+may have read several hours mechanically, neither studying
+what was said, making notes, nor reflecting on the value and
+accuracy of it. Such papers as they signed, they had glanced
+over perfunctorily. If any subordinate approached them with
+some small matter, they reacted by trying to get rid of him as
+quickly as possible. When they entered the company of their
+fellow officers, they partook of it as little as they could, not
+bothering to enter vigorous conversation, failing to make any
+note of the character and manner of their associates, and learning
+not at all from the words that were said.</p>
+
+<p>It is all good enough, and yet strangely it is neither good nor
+is it enough. That idea of what life in the officer corps is meant
+to be simply cannot stand up under the pressures of modern
+operations. True enough, assignments do not all have the same
+level of work requirement, and one is sometimes handed a wide
+open opportunity to goldbrick. But taking advantage of it is
+like the dope habit; the more that it is sniffed, the greater becomes
+the craving of the nervous system. It is harder to throw
+off sloth than to keep it from climbing onto one's back in the
+first place. And finally, the truth of the matter is this, that there
+is never any assignment given an armed service officer which
+entitles him to waste any of the working hours of his day.
+Though he be marking time in a casual depot or replacement
+center, there still awaits his attention the entire range of military
+studies, through which he can advance his own abilities.
+And if he is not of a mind for tactics, map-reading, military
+law, and training doctrine, it still follows that the study of
+applied psychology, English composition, economic geography
+and foreign languages will further his career. Just as a rough
+approximation, any officer's work week should comprise about
+50 percent execution and the other half study, if he is to make<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>
+the best use of his force. The woods are loaded with go-getters
+who claim they are men of action and therefore have no need
+of books; that they are "the flat-bottoms who can ride over
+the dew." Though they are a little breezier, they are of the
+same bone and marrow as the drone who is always counseling
+halfspeed. "Don't sweat; just get by; extra work means short
+life; you're better off if they don't notice you." This chant can
+be heard by anyone who cares to listen; it's the old American invitation
+to mediocrity. But while mediocre, as commonly used,
+means "indifferent, ordinary," it also has in old English the odd
+meaning "a young monk who was excused from performing part
+of a monk's duties." And that, too, fits. It is always worthwhile
+to ask a few very senior officers what they think of these jokers
+who refuse to study. They will say that the higher up you go,
+the more study you have to make up, because of what you
+missed somewhere along the line. They will say also that when
+they got to flag or star rank, things didn't ease off a bit.</p>
+
+<p>But not all wisdom is to be found in books, and at no time is
+this more true than when one is breaking in. What is expected
+of the novice in any field is that he will ask questions, <em>smart ones
+if possible</em>, but if not, then questions of all kinds until he learns
+that there is no such item as reveille oil and that skirmish line
+doesn't come on spools. For on one point there should be no
+mistake: the newly appointed officer is a novice. Though many
+things go with the commission, the assumption that he is all
+wise to all ways of the service, and will automatically fit into
+his element as neatly as a loaded ship settles down to its
+Plimsoll's mark, just isn't among them. Within the services,
+seniors are rarely, if ever, either patronizing or intolerant of the
+greenness of a new officer; they just stand ready to help him.
+And if he doesn't permit them to have that chance, because he
+would rather pretend that he knows it all, they will gradually
+become bored with him because of the manifest proof that he
+knows so very little.</p>
+
+<p><em>Wisdom begins at the point of understanding that there is
+nothing shameful about ignorance; it is shameful only when a
+man would rather remain in that state than cultivate other<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>
+men's knowledge.</em> There is never any reason why he should hesitate,
+for it is better to be embarrassed from seeking counsel
+than to be found short for not having sought it.</p>
+
+<p>In one of the toughest trades in the world of affairs&mdash;that
+of the foreign correspondent&mdash;initial dependence upon one's
+professional colleagues is the only certain stepping stone to
+success. A man arrives in strange country feeling very much
+alone. His credentials lack the weight they had at home. The
+prestige of his newspaper counts for almost nothing. Even the
+name of his home city stirs little respect. The people, their ways,
+their approaches and their taboos are foreign to him. This
+sweeping environmental change is crushing to the spirit; it
+would impose an almost insuperable moral handicap if the newcomer
+could not go to other Americans who have already
+worked the ground, ask them how the thing is done, seek
+their advice about dealing with the main personalities, learn
+from them about the facilities for processing copy, and soak up
+everything they have to say about private and professional procedures.
+Then as the ropes grow gradually familiar in the
+grasp, confidence and nervous energy come flooding back.</p>
+
+<p>Surely there is a close parallel between this experience and
+that of the journeyman moving from the familiar soil of civilianism
+to the <em>terra incognita</em> of military life. But there is also
+the marked difference that everyone he meets can tell him
+something that he needs to know. More particularly, if he has
+the ambition to excel as a commander of men, rather than as a
+technician, then the study of human nature and of individual
+characteristics within the military crowd become a major part
+of his training. That is the prime reason why the life of any
+tactical leader becomes so very interesting, provided he possesses
+some imagination. Everything is grist for his mill. Moreover,
+despite the wholesale transformation in the scientific and industrial
+aspects of war, there has been no revolution in the one
+thing that counts most. Ardant du Picq's words, "The heart of
+man does not change," are as good now as when he said them
+in an earlier period of war. Whatever one learns for certain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>
+about the nature of man as a fighting animal can be filed for
+ready reference; the hour will come when it will be useful.</p>
+
+<p>We have emphasized the value of becoming curious, and of
+asking questions about what one doesn't know, and have said
+that even when the questions are a little on the dumb side,
+it does no harm. But the ice gets very thin at one point. The
+same question asked over and again, like the same error made
+more than once, will grate the nerves of any superior. It is the
+mark of inattention, and the beginning of that "tissue of things
+neglected and things done amiss" which put Stevenson's oddball
+character in the ditch. When an officer lets words go in one
+ear and out the other like water off a duck's back, to quote the
+Dutch janitor, he is chasing rainbows by rubbing fur in the
+wrong direction.</p>
+
+<p>Ideally, an officer should be able to do the work of any man
+serving under him. There are even some command situations in
+which the ideal becomes altogether attainable, and a wholly
+practicable objective. For it may be said without qualification,
+that if he not only has this capability, but demonstrates it, so
+that his men begin to understand that he is thoroughly versed
+in the work problems which concern them, <em>he can command
+them in any situation</em>. This is the real bedrock of command
+capacity, and nothing else so well serves to give an officer an
+absolutely firm position with all who serve under him. As said
+elsewhere in this book, within the armed establishment, administration
+is not of itself a separate art, or a dependable prop
+to authority. When administrators talk airily of things that they
+clearly do not understand, they are simply using the whip on
+the team without having control of the reins.</p>
+
+<p>However, the greater part of military operation in present
+days is noteworthy for the extreme diversity and complexity of
+its parts, and instead of becoming more simplified, the trend is
+toward greater elaboration. It is obviously absurd to expect that
+any officer could know more about radio repair than his repairman,
+more about mapping than his cartographical section,
+more about moving parts than a gunsmith, more about radar
+than a specialist in electronics and more about cypher than a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>
+cryptographer. If the services were to set any such unreasonable
+standard for the commissioned body, all would shortly move
+over into the lunatic fringe. Science has worked a few wonders
+for the military establishment but it hasn't told us how to
+produce that kind of man.</p>
+
+<p>Plainly, there must be a somewhat different approach to the
+question of what kind of knowledge an officer is expected to
+possess, or the requirement would be unreasonable and unworkable.</p>
+
+<p><em>The distinction lies in the difference between the power to
+do a thing well and that of being able to judge when it is
+well done.</em> A man can say that a book is bad, though not
+knowing how to write one himself, provided he is a student
+of literature. Though he has never laid an egg, he can pass
+fair judgment on an omelette, if he knows a little about cookery,
+and has sampled many good eggs, and detected a few that
+were overripe.</p>
+
+<p>"He who lives in a house," said Aristotle, "is a better judge
+of it being good or bad than the builder of it. He can say not
+only these things, but wherein its defects consist. Yet he might
+be quite unable to cure the chimney, or to draw out a plan for
+his rooms which would suit him better. Sometimes he can
+even see where the fault is which caused the mischief, and yet
+he may not know practically how to remedy it."</p>
+
+<p>Adjustment to a job, and finally, mastery of it, by a service
+officer, comes of persistent pursuit of this principle. The main
+technique is study and constant reexamination of criteria. To
+take the correct measure of standards of performance, as to the
+value of the work itself, and as to the abilities of personnel,
+one must become immersed in knowledge of the nature, <em>and
+purpose</em>, of all operations. There is no shortcut to this grasp
+of affairs. The sack is filled bean by bean. Patient application
+to one thing at one time is the first rule of success; getting on
+one's horse and riding off in all directions is the prelude to
+failure. All specialists like to talk about their work; the interest
+of any other man is flattering; all men grow in knowledge
+chiefly by picking other men's brains. Book study of the subject,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>
+specialized courses in the service schools, the instructive comments
+of one's superiors, the informed criticism of hands further
+down the line and the weighing of human experience, at every
+source and by every recourse, are the means of an informed
+judgment. It was the scientist, Thomas Huxley who reminded
+us that science is only "organized common sense."</p>
+
+<p>Other things being equal, the prospect for any man's progress
+is largely determined by his attitude. It is the receptive mind,
+rather than the oracle, which inspires confidence. General Eisenhower
+said at one point that, after 40 years, he still thought of
+himself as a student on all military questions, and that he consciously
+mistrusted any man who believed he had the full and
+final answer to problems which by their nature were ever-changing.</p>
+
+<p>But priggishness about knowledge is not more hurtful than is
+the arbitrary use of it to limit action. <em>To rule by work rather
+than to work by rules</em> must be the abiding principle in military
+operations, for finally, when war comes, nothing else will
+suffice. In peacetime, absolute accountability is required, because
+dollar economy in operations is a main object. This entails
+adherence to rigid forms, time-consuming, but still necessary.
+In many of war's exigencies, these forms frequently have to be
+swept aside, to bring victory as quickly as possible and to save
+human life. In the book, "General Kenney Reports," that great
+air commander spoke at one point of a difficulty in one of his
+combat groups. "It was a lot of hard-working earnest kids,
+officers and enlisted men, who were doing the best they could
+under poor living and eating conditions. But their hands were
+tied by the colonel in command whose passion for paper work
+effectually stopped the issuing of supplies and the functioning
+of the place as an air depot should. He told me that he thought
+'it was about time these combat units learned how to do their
+paper work properly.' I decided that it would be a waste of time
+to fool with him so I told him to pack up to go home on the
+next plane."</p>
+
+<p>Though this is a tragic example of wrong-headedness, it is by
+no means unique. The profession moves ahead, and national<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>
+security advances with it, because of men who have the confidence
+and courage to toss the rule book out the window when
+it doesn't fit the situation, and who dare to trust their own
+decisions and improvise swiftly.</p>
+
+<p>But in all walks of life, this willingness to take hold of the
+reins firmly is by no means common among men in relatively
+subordinate positions who can play it safe by falling back on
+"SOP."</p>
+
+<p>But there is also a far wider vista than that which is to be
+viewed only within the services themselves, and its horizons are
+almost infinite. The American way in warfare utilizes everything
+within the national system which may be applied to a
+military purpose toward the increase of training and fighting
+efficiency. Much of our potential strength lies in our industrial
+structure, our progress in science, our inventiveness and our
+educational resources. Toward the end that all of these assets
+will be given maximum use, and every good idea which can be
+converted to a military purpose will be in readiness to serve
+the nation when war comes, there must be a continuing meeting
+of minds between military leadership and the leaders and
+experts in these various fields during peace.</p>
+
+<p>That union cannot be perfected, however, unless there is a
+sufficient number of men on both sides of the table who can
+think halfway into the field of the man opposite. Just as the
+civilian expert in electronics, airplane manufacture or motion
+picture production needs to know more about the military
+establishment's problem and requirements if he is to do his
+part, the service officer with whom he is dealing needs to be
+informed on industry's resources, possibilities and limitations if
+he is to enable the civilian side to do its part well. The same for
+science. The same for education, and all other backers of the
+fighting force.</p>
+
+<p>An enlightened Englishman, D. W. Brogan, in a book written
+during World War II, "The American Character," gave us this
+thought: "The American officer must think in terms of material
+resources, existing but not organized in peacetime and taking
+much time and thought and experiment by trial and error to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>
+make available in wartime. He finds that his best peacetime plans
+are inadequate for one basic reason: that any plan which in
+peacetime really tried to draw adequately on American resources
+would cause its author to be written off as a madman; and in
+wartime, it would prove to have been inadequate, pessimistic,
+not allowing enough for the practically limitless resources of
+the American people&mdash;limitless once the American people get
+ready to let them be used. And only war can get them ready for
+that. The American officer can draw then, but not before, on
+an experience in economic improvization and in technical adaptation
+which no other country can equal."</p>
+
+<p>This is true to the last syllable, and it means in essence that
+unless the American officer can think of the whole nation as his
+workshop, and along with his other duties, will apply himself as
+a student, seeking to understand more and more about the
+richness and the adaptability of our tremendous resources, neither
+he nor the country will be relatively ready when war comes.</p>
+
+<p>There is a last point to be made on the matter of attitude.
+The most resolute opposition to changes in any system usually
+comes from those who control them. That is universally true,
+and not peculiar to military systems; but the services are foremost
+in recognizing that, as a consequence, the encouragement
+of original thought at the lower levels is essential to over-all
+progress.</p>
+
+<p>All depends upon the manner. We can ponder the words of
+William Hazlitt, "A man who shrinks from a collision with his
+equals or superiors will soon sink below himself; we improve
+by trying our strength with others, not by showing it off." They
+are good so far as they go, but something new should be added.
+There is a vast difference between contending firmly for ideas
+that seem progressive when one is reasonably sure of one's data,
+and the habit of throwing one's weight around through a mistaken
+belief that this of itself manifests an independence of
+spirit which inspires respect.</p>
+
+<p>Truculence can never win the day. Restraint, tolerance, a
+sense of humor and of proportion and the force of logic are the
+marks of the man qualified for intellectual leading. Within the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>
+services, even though he has no great rank, there is practically
+nothing he cannot carry through, if his proposals have the color
+of reason and propriety, and if he will keep his head, keep his
+temper, and keep his word.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_NINETEEN" id="CHAPTER_NINETEEN"></a><span class="chapter_number">CHAPTER NINETEEN</span><br /><br />
+
+KNOWLEDGE OF YOUR MEN</h3>
+
+
+<p>An admiring contemporary spoke of Paul G. Hoffman, the
+director of the European Recovery Program, as "the kind of
+man who if tossed through the air would always pick out the
+right trapeze."</p>
+
+<p>Within any military organization, there is always a number of
+such men, enlisted and commissioned. They know how and
+where to take hold, even in the face of a totally unexpected and
+unnerving situation, and they have what amounts to an instinct
+for doing the right thing in a decisive moment.</p>
+
+<p>If it were not so, no captain of the line would ever be able to
+manage a company in battle, and no submarine commander
+would be able to cope with an otherwise overwhelming danger.
+These men are the foundation of unit integrity. The successful
+life of organization depends upon husbanding, and helping them
+to cultivate, their own powers, which means that their initiative
+and vigor must never be chilled by supercilious advice and
+thoughtless correction.</p>
+
+<p>They will go ahead and act responsibly on their own when
+given the confidence, and if they want it, the friendship, of their
+commander. But they cannot be treated like little children. The
+lash will ruin them and the curb will merely subdue that which
+needs to be brought forward. As in handling a horse with a
+good temper and a good mouth, nothing more is needed than
+that gentle touch of the rein which signals that things are
+under control.</p>
+
+<p>From where the executive sits, the main secret of building
+strength within organization comes of identifying such men, and
+of associating one's authority with theirs, so it is unmistakable
+in whose name they are speaking and acting. One of the
+acid tests of qualification in officership is the ability properly
+to delegate authority, to put it in the best hands, and thereafter
+to uphold them. If an officer cannot do that, and if he is mis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>trustful
+of all power save his own, he cannot command in
+peace, and when he goes into battle, his unit strength will
+fragment like an exploding bomb, and the parts will not be rewelded
+until some stronger character takes hold.</p>
+
+<p><em>Command is not a prerogative, but rather a responsibility to
+be shared with all who are capable of filling up the spaces in
+orders and of carrying out that which is not openly expressed
+though it may be understood.</em> Admittedly, it is not easy for a
+young officer, who by reason of his youth is not infrequently
+lacking in self-assurance and in the confidence that he can
+command respect, to understand that as a commander he can
+grow in strength in the measure that he succeeds in developing
+the latent strength of his subordinates. But if he stubbornly
+resists this premise as he goes along in the service, his personal resources
+will never become equal to the strain which will be imposed
+upon him, come a war emergency. The power to command
+resides largely in the ability to see when a proper initiative
+is being exercised and in giving it moral encouragement.
+When an officer feels that way about his job and his men, he
+will not be ready to question any action by a junior which
+might be narrowly construed as an encroachment upon his own
+authority. Of this last evil come the restraints which reduce
+men to automatons, giving only that which is asked, or less,
+according to the pressing of a button.</p>
+
+<p>There are other men who have as sound a potential as these
+already-made leaders, but lack the initial confidence because
+they were not constructively handled in earlier years. They require
+somewhat more personal attention, for the simple reason
+that more frequent contact with their superiors, words of approval
+and advice as needed, will do more than all else to
+put bottom under them. They must be encouraged to think for
+themselves as well as to obey orders, to organize as well as to
+respond, if they are to become part of the solution, rather than
+remaining part of the problem, of command. If left wholly to
+their own devices, or to the ministrations of less thoughtful
+subordinates, they will remain in that majority which moves
+only when told. It takes no more work, though it does require<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>
+imagination, to awaken the energies of such men by appealing
+to their intelligence and their self-interest, than to nauseate
+them with dull theory, and to cramp them by depriving them
+of responsibility.</p>
+
+<p>Careful missionary work among these "sleepers" is as productive
+as spading the ground, and sprinkling a garden patch.
+When an officer takes hold in a new unit, his main chance of
+making it better than it was comes of looking for the overlooked
+men. He uses his hand to give them a firm lift upward,
+but it will not be available for that purpose if he spends any
+of his time tugging at men who are already on their feet and
+moving in the right general direction.</p>
+
+<p>In the words of a distinguished armored commander in our
+forces: "To the military leader, men are tools. He is successful
+to the extent that he can get the men to work for him. Ordinarily,
+and on their own initiative, people run on only 35 percent
+capacity. The success of a leader comes of tapping the
+other 65 percent." This is a pretty seasoned judgment on men
+in the mass, taking them as they come, the mobile men, the
+slow starters, the indifferent and the shiftless. Almost every man
+wants to do what is expected of him. When he does not do so,
+it is usually because his instructions have been so doubtful as
+to befog him or give him a reasonable excuse for noncompliance.
+This view of things is the only tenable attitude an officer
+or enlisted leader can take toward his subordinates. He will
+recognize the exceptions, and if he does not then take appropriate
+action, it is only because he is himself shiftless and is
+compassionate toward others of his own fraternity.</p>
+
+<p>It is the military habit to "plow deep in broken drums and
+shoot crap for old crowns," as the poet, Carl Sandburg, put it.
+As much as any other profession, and even possibly a little
+more, we take pride in the pat solution, and in proof that long-applied
+processes amply meet the test of newly unfolding experience.
+But despite all the jests about the Gettysburg Map,
+we wouldn't know where we're going if we couldn't be reasonably
+sure of where we've been.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore, it is as well to say now that from all of the careful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>
+searching made by the armed services as to the fighting characteristics
+of Americans during World War II, not a great deal
+was learned in addition to what was already well known, or
+surmised. The criteria that had been used in the prior system
+of selection proved to be substantially correct; at least, if it
+had faults, they were innate in the complex problem of weighing
+human material, and were beyond correction by any rule of
+thumb or judgment. Men were chosen to lead because of
+personality, intelligence at their work, response to orders, ability
+to lead in fatigues or in the social affairs of organization, and
+disciplinary record. In combat these same men carried 95 percent
+of the load of responsibility and provided the dynamic for
+the attack. But in every unit, there was almost invariably a
+small sprinkling of individuals, who having shown no prior
+ability when measured by the customary yardsticks of courtesy,
+discipline and work, became strong and vital in any situation
+calling for heroic action. They could fight, they could lead,
+they knew what should be done, they could persuade other men
+to rally around, and by these things, they could command instantly
+the previously withheld respect of their superiors.</p>
+
+<p>Neither the scientific nor the military mind has yet been able
+to provide the answer as to how men of this type&mdash;so indispensable
+to the fighting establishment in the thing that matters
+most, though lacking in strong surface characteristics&mdash;can be
+detected beforehand, and conserved, instead of being wasted
+possibly in a labor or housekeeping organization.</p>
+
+<p>All concerned recognize the extreme importance of the problem,
+and would like to do something about it. What is as yet
+not even vaguely seen is the large possibility that the problem
+might be self-liquidating if all junior officers became more concerned
+with learning all they could about the private character
+and personal nature of their subordinates. This does not mean
+invading their privacy; but it implies giving every man a fair
+chance to open up and to talk freely, without fear of contempt.
+It means studying the background of a man even more
+carefully than one would read a map, looking for the key to
+command of the terrain. These are usually repressed men; many<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>
+of the foreign-born are to be found among them; they cover up
+because of pride, but they are not afraid of physical danger.
+Once any man, and particularly a superior, gets through the
+outer shell, he may have the effect of a catalyst on what is
+happening inside. If such men did not have basic loyalty, they
+would never fight. When at last they give their loyalty to an
+individual, they are usually his to command and will go through
+hell for him.</p>
+
+<p>There was an Oklahoma miner named Alvin Wimberley in
+90th Division during World War I. On the drill field, he could do
+nothing correctly. He couldn't step off on the left foot; he would
+frequently drop his piece while trying to do right shoulder. Solely
+because his case was unfathomable, his platoon leader asked
+that he be taken to France with the unit instead of separated
+with the culls. At the front, Wimberley immediately took the
+lead in every detail of a dangerous sort, such as exploding a
+mine field, or hunting for traps and snares. His nerve was inexhaustible;
+his judgment sure. There was, after all, a simple
+key to the mystery. Wimberley had led a solitary life as a dynamiter,
+deep under ground. He was frightened of men, but danger
+was his element. When he saw other men recoil at the thing
+which bothered him not at all, he realized that he was the big
+man, though he only stood 5 feet 3 inches in issue socks.</p>
+
+<p>To know men, it is not necessary to wet-nurse them, and no
+officer can make a sorrier mistake than to take the overly nice,
+worrying attitude toward them. This, after all, is simply the rule
+of the well-bred man, rather than an item peculiar to the code
+of the military officer. But it is a little less becoming in a service
+officer than in anyone else, because, when a man puts on
+fighting clothes in the name of his country, it is an insult to treat
+him as if he were a juvenile.</p>
+
+<p>In any situation where men need to know one another better,
+someone has to break the ice. Where does the main responsibility
+lie within a military unit? True enough, the junior has to
+salute first, and in some services is supposed to say, "Good
+morning!" first, though beating a man to the draw with a greeting
+is one way to win him.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>However, the main point is this: unless an officer has himself
+been an enlisted man, it is almost impossible for him to
+know how formidable, and even forbidding, rank at first seems
+to the eyes of the man down under, even though he would be
+loath to say so.</p>
+
+<p>Many recruits have such a mistaken hearsay impression of
+the United States military system, that it is for them a cause for
+astonishment that any officer enjoys free discussion with them.
+They feel at first that there is a barrier there which only the
+officer is entitled to cross; it takes them a little while to learn
+better.</p>
+
+<p>But in the continuing relationship, it is the habit of the
+average well-disciplined enlisted man to remain reticent, and
+talk only on official matters, unless the officer takes the lead in
+such way as to invite general conversation. For that matter, the
+burden is the same anywhere in the service in relations between
+a senior officer and his subordinates, and the former
+must take the lead if he expects to really know his men.</p>
+
+<p>Many newly joined officers believe, altogether mistakenly, that
+there is some strange taboo against talking to men except in line
+of duty, and that if caught at it, it will be considered <em>infra dig</em>.
+There is always the hope that they will remain around long
+enough to learn better.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_TWENTY" id="CHAPTER_TWENTY"></a><span class="chapter_number">CHAPTER TWENTY</span><br /><br />
+
+WRITING AND SPEAKING</h3>
+
+
+<p>Other things being equal, a superior rating will invariably
+be given to the officer who has persevered in his studies of the
+art of self-expression, while his colleague, who attaches little
+importance to what may be achieved through working with the
+language, will be marked for mediocrity.</p>
+
+<p>A moment's reflection will show why this has to be the case
+and why mastery of the written and spoken word is indispensable
+to successful officership.</p>
+
+<p>As the British statesman, Disraeli, put it, "Men govern with
+words." Within the military establishment, command is exercised
+through what is said which commands attention and
+understanding and through what is written which directs, explains,
+interprets or informs.</p>
+
+<p>Battles are won through the ability of men to express concrete
+ideas in clear and unmistakable language. All administration is
+carried forward along the chain of command by the power of
+men to make their thoughts articulate and available to others.</p>
+
+<p>There is no way under the sun that this basic condition can
+be altered. Once the point is granted, any officer should be
+ready to accept its corollary&mdash;that superior qualification in the
+use of the language, both as to the written and the spoken
+word, is more essential to military leadership than knowledge
+of the whole technique of weapons handling.</p>
+
+<p>It then becomes strictly a matter of personal decision whether
+he will seek to advance himself along the line of main chance or
+will take refuge in the excuse offered by the great majority:
+"I'm just a simple fighting file with no gift for writing or
+speaking."</p>
+
+<p>How often these or similar words are heard in the armed
+services! And the pity of it is that they are usually uttered in a
+tone indicating that the speaker believes some special virtue
+attaches to his kind of ignorance. There is the unmistakable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>
+innuendo that the man who pays serious attention to the fundamentals
+of the business of communication is somehow less
+possessed of sturdy military character than himself. There could
+hardly be a more absurd or disadvantageous professional conceit
+than this. It is the mark only of an officer who has no
+ambition to properly qualify himself, and is seeking to justify
+his own laziness.</p>
+
+<p>Not all American military leaders have been experts at polishing
+a phrase or giving clear expression and continuity to the
+thoughts which made them useful in command. But of those
+who have excelled in the conduct of great operations, at least
+four out of five made some mark in the field of letters. A long
+list would include such names as U. S. Grant, W. T. Sherman,
+Robert E. Lee, John J. Pershing, James G. Harbord, Henry
+T. Allen, Dwight D. Eisenhower, George S. Patton, Jr., H. H.
+Arnold, Douglas MacArthur, William F. Halsey, W. B. Smith,
+Joseph W. Stilwell, Holland M. Smith, and Robert L. Eichelberger
+among many others.</p>
+
+<p>Of them all, it can be said without exception that they
+acquired their skill at self-expression by sustained practice which
+was part of a self-imposed training in the interests of furthering
+their military efficiency. No one of them was a born writer.
+There is no such thing. Nor did any one of them owe his
+abilities as a writer to any other person. Writers are self-made.
+But it is a reasonable speculation that history might never
+have heard of the greater number of these men had they not
+worked sedulously to become proficient with the pen as well as
+with the sword. Granting that they had other sound military
+qualities in the beginning, an acquired ability to express themselves
+lucidly and with force became a touchstone to preferment.
+The same thing holds true of their celebrated military
+contemporaries almost without exception. Even those who had
+no public reputation for authorship, and would have been ill at
+ease if called upon to speak to an average audience, knew how
+to use the language in presenting their thoughts to their staffs
+and their troops, whether the occasion called for a succinct<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>
+operational order, a doctrinal exposition or an inspirational
+message on the eve of battle.</p>
+
+<p>Wherever one looks, the same precept may be noted. It was
+not coincidence merely, but related cause and effect, that
+Ferdinand Foch was one of the ablest military writers of the
+twentieth century before he won immortality on the field of
+war, that the elder von Moltke was as skilled with ink as with
+powder, and that we still marvel at the picture of the great
+von Steuben dictating drill manuals far into the night so that
+there would be greater perfection in his formations on the following
+day. The command of language was one of the main
+sources of their power over the multitude.</p>
+
+<p>As it was with these commanders, so it is with leadership at
+every level: <em>Men who can command words to serve their
+thoughts and feelings are well on their way to commanding men
+to serve their purposes.</em></p>
+
+<p>All senior commanders respect the junior who has a facility
+for thinking an idea through and then expressing it comprehensively
+in clear, unvarnished phrases. Moreover, even when
+they are stilted in their own manner of expression, they will
+warm to the man whose style achieves strength through its ease
+and naturalness. They will quickly make note of any young
+officer who is making progress in this direction and will want to
+have him around. He is a rare bird in the services, and for that
+reason his opportunities are far above the average. Staff work
+could not be carried forward at any of its levels if it were not
+for this particular talent, and command would lose a great
+part of its magnetism.</p>
+
+<p>Toward the building of a career, the best break that can come
+to any young man is to have three or four places bidding
+simultaneously for his services. There are possibly better arguments
+than that as to why perfection in writing should be a
+main pursuit of the service officer, such as the sense of personal
+attainment which comes of it.</p>
+
+<p>Any man who has the brain to qualify for commission can
+make of himself a competent writer. Because of natural limitations,
+he may never come to excel in this art. But if he has had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>
+average schooling, knows how to open a dictionary, can find his
+way to a library, is willing to commit himself to long study and
+practice, particularly in nonduty hours, and will finally free himself
+of the superstition that writing is a game only for specialists,
+he can acquire all the skill that is necessary to further his advance
+within the military profession.</p>
+
+<p>That is the great difference between writing ability and
+specialized knowledge in such fields as electronics and atomic
+research.</p>
+
+<p>But where should work begin? How about a little practical
+advice?</p>
+
+<p>The only way to learn to write is to write. That is it&mdash;there
+is no other secret than hard, unremitting practice. Most
+writers at the start are mentally muscle-bound, and poorly coordinated.
+They have thoughts in their heads. They think they
+can develop them clearly. But when they try to apply a largely
+dormant vocabulary to the expression of these thoughts, the
+result is stiff and selfconscious.</p>
+
+<p>The only cure for this is constant mental exercise, with one's
+pen, or over one's typewriter. After a man has written perhaps
+a half million relatively useless words there comes, sometimes
+almost in a flash, and at other times gradually, a mastery not
+only of words, but of phrases, sentences and the composition of
+ideas. It is a kind of rhythmic process, like learning to swim, or
+to row a boat, or navigate an airplane. When a writer has at
+last conquered his element, his personality and his character
+can be transmitted to paper. What is said will reflect the force,
+adaptability, reason and musing of the writer. In fact, the
+discipline through which one learns to write adds substance
+to thought, whereby one's ideas are given body and connection.
+Such common faults as wordiness, overstatement, faulty sentence
+structure and weak use of words are gradually corrected.
+With their passing, confidence grows. This does not mean, however,
+that the task then becomes easy. Though its rewards will
+increase, good writing continues to be a strain even to the man
+who does it well. Many celebrated men of letters never get
+beyond the "sweating" stage, but have to fight their way<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>
+through a jungle of words, and rewrite almost endlessly, before
+finding satisfaction in their product.</p>
+
+<p>This description makes it all seem more than a little formidable.
+But what was promised in the first place was that any
+service officer, who will accept the necessary discipline, can
+make himself reasonably proficient as a writer, and thereby
+further his professional progress. What he writes about during
+the conditioning period makes very little difference. It might
+be an operational order one night, a treatise on discipline the
+next, a lecture to his men on the elements of combat the third.
+Fortunately, the list of topics within the services and directly
+applicable to their operations, is practically inexhaustible. That
+is a main reason why the military establishment is a better
+school for writing than perhaps any other place in our society.</p>
+
+<p>Winston Churchill, whose gift of forceful expression is the
+envy of all other writing men, won his literary spurs in his
+early twenties as a soldier with the Malakand Field Force. He
+saw the essential idea&mdash;that to learn English, he had literally
+to learn, just as though he had been acquiring Latin or
+French. As a writer, his main strength is his employment of
+Anglo-Saxon, the words of our common speech.</p>
+
+<p>But simply to take regular exercise in composition is not
+quite enough. Of it would come the shadow but not the substance.
+To progress as a writer, one must become a student of
+the best things which have been written by men who understand
+their craft. A military officer can do that without going
+beyond the field of military studies, if that should be his disposition,
+such is the richness and variation of available works
+in this realm of literature. The purpose at hand is not only to
+seek great ideas for their own sake but to make careful note of
+the manner in which they are expressed. So doing, one unconsciously
+invigorates his own powers and adopts techniques
+which the masters have used to great advantage.</p>
+
+<p>To paraphrase what a distinguished journalist once said on
+this subject in a speech to young writers: "For an officer it is
+in the first place a shame to be ignorant&mdash;ignorant, as not a
+few are, of history and geography: and in the second place, it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>
+is a pity that any officer should lack a vigor in writing which
+can be produced through imitation of vigorous writers."</p>
+
+<p>As to what is best worth seeking, a man can not go wrong by
+"falling in love" with the works of a relatively limited number
+of authors who kindle him personally. It is all right to widen
+the field occasionally, for diversion, for contrast, for sharpening
+style, and for balancing of ideas, but strength comes of finding a
+main line and holding to it. No man can read a book with
+sympathetic understanding without taking from it something
+that makes him more complex and more potent.</p>
+
+<p>The main test is in this: if you read a book and feel stirred
+by it, even though alternately you strongly agree with certain of
+its passages and warmly contend against others, something
+new has been added. The writer is making you see things. Your
+own powers of observation are being made more acute. All
+good writers are in a sense hitch-hikers. While going along for
+the ride, and enjoying the essence of some highly developed
+mind, they are not loath to study the technique by which some
+other man develops his driving power, and to make note of his
+strong words and best phrases for possible future use.</p>
+
+<p>It is a good habit to underscore passages in books which have
+contributed something vital to one's own thought&mdash;always
+provided that the books have not been borrowed.</p>
+
+<p>Without mentioning names, we can take a cue from a man
+who some years ago entered one of the services while still a
+youth. He had had little formal education, but he began an
+earnest study of military literature, and the search for knowledge
+whetted his thirst to join the company of those who could speak
+to the world because they had something to say. He read such
+books as were at hand, and clipped pieces from magazines and
+newspapers which had particularly appealed to him, for one
+reason or another. Whenever he saw a new word, he wrote it
+down and sought the meaning in the dictionary, considering
+whether it had a shade of meaning which added anything
+important to his vocabulary. This done, he wrote sentences,
+many sentences, employing his new words in various ways, until
+their use became instinctive. On this foundation alone, he built<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>
+his career as a national writer. There was nothing extraordinary
+about this start and the ultimate result. Literally thousands of
+Americans have qualified themselves for one branch or another
+of the writing profession by what they learned to do in military
+service. Too, an ability to "organize a good paper" has been a
+large element in the success of most of the men who have moved
+from the military circle into top posts in the diplomatic service,
+in education or in industrial administration. Had they been
+capable only of delegating this kind of work, their powers
+would never have been recognized.</p>
+
+<p>As a practical matter, it is better to concentrate on a few
+elementary rules-of-thumb, such as are contained in the following
+list, than to bog down attempting to heed everything that
+the pedants have said about how to become a writer.</p>
+
+<ul>
+<li>The more simply a thing is said the more powerfully it
+influences those who read. Plain words make strong writing.</li>
+
+<li>There is always one best word to convey a thought or a
+feeling. To accept a weaker substitute, rather than to
+Search for the right word, will deprive any writing of force.</li>
+
+<li>Economy of words invigorates composition.</li>
+
+<li>To quote Carl Sandburg: "Think twice before you use
+an adjective."</li>
+
+<li>It is better to use the adverb because an adverb enhances
+the verb and is active, whereas the adjective simply
+loads down the noun.</li>
+
+<li>On the other hand, it is the verb that makes language
+live. Nine times out of ten the verb is the operative word
+giving motion to the sentence. Hence, placing the verb is
+of first importance in giving strength to sentence structure.</li>
+
+<li>In all writing, but in military writing particularly, there
+is no excuse for vague terminology or phrases which do not
+convey an exact impression of what was done or what is
+intended. The military vocabulary is laden with words and
+expressions which sound professional but do not have
+definite meaning. They vitiate speech and the establishment
+would gladly rid itself of them if a way could be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>
+found. Men fall into the habit of saying "performed,"
+"functioned" or "executed" and forget that "did" is in the
+dictionary. A captain along the MLR (main line of resistance)
+notifies his battalion commander that he has "advanced
+his left flank" when all that has actually occurred
+is that six riflemen from the left have crawled forward to
+new, and possibly, untenable ground.</li>
+
+<li>It is better at all times to <em>rein in</em>. The strength of military
+writing, like the soundness of military operations, does
+not gain through overstatement and artificial coloring. The
+bigger the subject, the less it needs embroidery.</li>
+
+<li>For lucidity and sincerity, the important thing is to say
+what you have to say in whatever words most accurately
+express your own thoughts. That done, it is pointless to
+worry about the effect on the audience.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>The list of suggestions could be extended indefinitely. But
+enough has already been said to stake out a main line for those
+who have already decided that this subject deserves their interest.</p>
+
+<p>A majority of the world's most gifted writers would in all
+probability be struck dumb if put before an audience; though
+dealing confidently with ideas, they lack confidence when dealing
+with people. The military officer has need of both talents,
+and as to where the accent should be placed, it is probably more
+important that he should speak well than that his writing prose
+should be polished. A unit commander may permit a clerk or
+a subordinate to do the greater part of his paper work, either
+because his own time is taken with other duties or because he
+is awkward at it, but if he permits any other voice to dominate
+the councils of the organization, he soon ceases to exercise moral
+authority over it.</p>
+
+<p>Of this there is no question. The judgment men take of their
+superior is formed as much by what he says and how he says
+it as by his action.</p>
+
+<p>The matter of nerve is a main element in speaking. When an
+officer is ill at ease, fidgety and not to the point, the vote of his
+command for the time being is "no confidence," and so long as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>
+he remains that way, they will not change, no matter though
+his good will shines forth through other acts.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, the military crowd is an extremely sympathetic
+audience. It has to be; it is drawing pay for so being.
+But even if that were not true, the ranks have a generous spirit
+and are ever disposed to give the newcomer an even break.
+If he meets them confidently and calmly, measures his words,
+smiles at his own mistakes and breaks it off when he has
+covered his subject, they'll pay no attention to his little fumbles,
+and they'll approve him. There is no better way to pick up
+prestige than through instruction or discourse which commands
+attention, for despite all that is said in favor of the "strong,
+silent man," troops like an officer who is outgiving, and who
+has an intelligence that they can respect because they have seen
+it at work.</p>
+
+<p>As for <em>how</em> an officer should talk to men, his manner and
+tone should be no different than if he were addressing his fellow
+officers, or for that matter, a group of his intellectual and
+political peers from any walk of life. If he is stuffy, he will not
+succeed anywhere. If he affects a superior manner, that is a
+mark of his inferiority. If he is patronizing, and talks to grown
+men as a teacher might talk to a class of adolescents, the rug,
+figuratively, will be pulled from under him. His audience will
+put him down as a chump.</p>
+
+<p>It is curiously the case that the junior officer who can't get the
+right pitch when he talks to the ranks will also be out of tune
+when he talks to his superiors. This failing is a sign mainly that
+he needs practice in the school of human nature. By listening a
+little more carefully to other men, he may himself in time attain
+maturity.</p>
+
+<p>Concerning subject matter, it is better always to aim high
+than to take the risk of shooting too low. It is too often the
+practice to spell out everything in words of one syllable so that
+the more witless files in the organization will be able to understand
+it. When that is done, it insults the intelligence of the
+keenest men, and nothing is added to their progress. The target
+should be the intellect of the upper 25 or 30 percent. When<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>
+they are stimulated and informed, they will bring the others
+along, and even those who do not fully understand all that was
+under discussion will have heard something to which to aspire.
+<em>The habit of talking down to troops is one of the worst vices
+that can afflict an officer.</em></p>
+
+<p>There are no dull lecture topics; there are only dull lecturers.
+A little eager research will enliven any subject under the sun.
+Good lecturing causes men's imaginations to be stirred by vivid
+images. Real good is accomplished only when they talk to
+each other of what they have heard and sharpen their impressions.
+Schopenauer somewhere observes that "people in
+general have eyes and ears, but not much else&mdash;little judgment
+and even little memory," which isn't far wrong. Consequently,
+competent lecturing entails the employment of every technique
+which can be used to hammer a point home. In this way, a
+truth or a lesson has a better chance of adhering because it is
+identified with some definite image. Simply to illuminate this
+point, it is noted that the jests which best stick in the memory
+are those which are associated with some incongruous situation.
+To relate a pertinent anecdote, to provide an apt quotation
+from some well-known authority and to draw upon our own
+rich battle history for illustrative materials are but a few of the
+means of freshening any discussion and sharpening its purpose.
+Men are always ready to listen to the story of other men's experience
+provided that it is told with vigor. And insofar as combat
+is concerned, such teaching is in point, for what has happened
+once will happen again.</p>
+
+<p>For his way as an instructor of young infantry officers of the
+A. E. F. in 1918, Lt. Col. H. M. Hutchinson of the British Army
+was awarded our D. S. M. Officers who sat at his feet at
+Gondrecourt were unlikely ever to forget the point of such an
+anecdote as:</p>
+
+<p>"There will be no 'Stack arms' in my army. It is a thing one
+sees on a brewer's calendar&mdash;The Soldier's Dream&mdash;showing
+a brave private sleeping under a stack of rifles which it will
+take him a good half-hour to untangle when the call comes to
+stand to. No, a soldier had better carry the rifle with him to his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>
+meals, have it beside him always, lavish his care upon it, and
+in short treat it more like a wife than a weapon.</p>
+
+<p>"I am reminded of the times in South Africa when we would
+come to a country inn where a chap could stop for beer. Well,
+a soldier would walk into the place, and immediately he would
+stand his rifle in a corner&mdash;like an umbrella, you know&mdash;'We've
+arrived!'&mdash;and he'd get well into his beer and a song,
+say, and suddenly firing would break out on the inn from four
+sides.</p>
+
+<p>"It seemed that a Boer had slipped into the entry and picked
+up all the rifles and passed them around to his mates in the
+bushes, and&mdash;well&mdash;there you are!"</p>
+
+<p>As a cadet and later as an instructor at Sandhurst, Colonel
+Hutchinson well knew the usefulness of the anecdote in catching
+and holding the attention of the young. Who could forget
+the lesson in this, related at Gondrecourt:</p>
+
+<p>"In my youth I was a dashing ignoramus with clearer ideas
+than I now have on the line of demarcation between the officer
+and his men. They sent me out to South Africa during the
+trouble and I brought a detachment into a country village. It
+seemed quite unpromising but I was told of a sort of place 3
+miles in the country that you would call a chateau in France.
+So I cantered out and spent the night, turning my men over
+to a sergeant-major. After a refreshing breakfast along in the
+middle of the morning&mdash;the late middle of the morning&mdash;I
+rode back into town, but try as I might I could not locate a
+single one of my men.</p>
+
+<p>"Now nothing, you know, is as ineffective in a war as an
+officer without his men. Well, I spent the day in agony and it
+was not until along at dusk that the first of the blighters
+straggled in&mdash;quite drunk, all of them, and swearing to a man
+that they had engaged in five ferocious battles. It seems that
+about 2 miles away, in a barn, they had come on a hogshead of
+ginger brandy, and had stayed with it to the bitter end. Need
+I say that it was a great lesson to me, and that from then on I
+was never billeted farther than 15 rods from my men.</p>
+
+<p>"As a matter of fact, I love ginger brandy."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>Or this, in which the whole lesson of exactitude in the written
+communication is implicit:</p>
+
+<p>"Now on the subject of messages, it might be well to say
+immediately that as far as I know no one ever received a written
+message during a battle. They may be written, but that I
+think is as far as it goes. However, they are occasionally received
+before and after battles, and in this connection let me
+say that it is no earthly good writing generalities to signify
+times and places.</p>
+
+<p>"I mean to say, suppose you are writing a message and you
+write 'Report after breakfast.' Well, to Sergeant Ramrod it
+might mean stand-to at 3 in the morning; while to Captain
+Brighteyes it would mean, say, 8 o'clock. But to Colonel Blue-fish
+it would signify some time after 11, depending quite a bit
+on how the old fellow felt.</p>
+
+<p>"So it is better to say 7 o'clock in the morning, if that is
+what you mean, for after all there is only one 7 o'clock in the
+morning. And, by the way, I must warn you chaps against the
+champagne on sale in the Cafe de l'Univers down here in the
+square. It is made in the basement&mdash;of potatoes."</p>
+
+<p>On as simple and basic a thing as continuing liaison between
+small units, the Colonel's listeners never forgot his elementary
+parable:</p>
+
+<p>"One rule is about all a chap can handle in a battle, and as
+good a one as any to remember is to keep in some sort of touch
+with the chaps to your right and left. If you do this&mdash;and I
+dare say you Americans will have as much trouble as ourselves
+in remembering to&mdash;then a great deal of distress to yourselves
+and all hands will be obviated.</p>
+
+<p>"Now here we have a triangular wood. There is to be an
+attack, and the objective is this line beyond the wood. So on
+this side of the wood at the hour of attack the Welsh Guards
+go forward&mdash;and on this side, here, the Inniskilling Fusiliers,
+and a tremendous battle ensues. Well, after an hour or two,
+with not much progress, it is discovered that the Welsh Guards
+have been firing into the Inniskilling Fusiliers, and the Fusiliers
+have been firing into the Welsh. This is thought a bit thick,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>
+you know, even in the confusion of battle. So eventually it is
+stopped."</p>
+
+<p>Some of the experts warn the lecturer who is only a beginner
+against the use of humor, commenting that if a joke is
+unlaughed at, it is disconcerting to all concerned. The only
+intelligent answer to that is: "Well, what of it?" The speaker
+who is going to cringe every time one of his passages falls a little
+flat had best not start. This happens at times to every lecturer;
+there are good days and bad days, live audiences and sour ones.
+If a man takes his work seriously, it is hardly within nature for
+him to harden his emotions against an unexpectedly dull reaction.
+But he can keep from ever showing that he is upset if as
+a speaker he consciously forms the habit of rapidly driving on
+from one point to another.</p>
+
+<p>Thus as to the use of humor in public address, it is not only
+an asset but almost a necessity. It is better to try with it, and
+to fall flat occasionally, thereby sharpening one's own wit
+through better understanding of what goes and what does not,
+than to attempt to go along humorlessly. Said William Pitt:
+"Don't tell me of a man's being able to talk sense. Everyone can
+talk sense. Can he talk a little nonsense?" Even more to the
+point is the remark of Thomas Hardy that men thin away to
+insignificance quite as often by not making the most of good
+spirits when they have them as by lacking good spirits when
+they are indispensable. Fighting is much too serious a trade to
+have a large place for men who are dry as dust.</p>
+
+<p>One of the spellbinders of ancient Greece, we are told,
+orated on the sands with his mouth filled with pebbles. In
+World War I, it was the custom of many higher commanders
+to take their officers out for voice exercises and have them talk
+through 150 feet of thicket; they were not satisfied unless the
+words came through distinctly on the far side. If, under average
+acoustical conditions, a military officer cannot get across to five
+hundred men, he needs to improve his voice placement. It is
+remarkable what miracles can be worked by consistent exercise
+of the vocal cords.</p>
+
+<p>The final thought is that it is all a matter of buildup. An<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>
+officer can cut his audience to his own size, and strengthen his
+powers and his confidence as he goes along. That is his supreme
+advantage. He can start with a short talk to a minor working
+detail and move from that to a more formal address before a
+slightly larger group. By taking it gradually, and increasing his
+store of knowledge in the interim period, he will see the time
+come when he can hold any audience in the hollow of his hand.
+This is precisely the routine which was followed by most of
+the military leaders who have been celebrated for their command
+of speech.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_TWENTY-ONE" id="CHAPTER_TWENTY-ONE"></a><span class="chapter_number">CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE</span><br /><br />
+
+THE ART OF INSTRUCTION</h3>
+
+
+
+<ul>
+<li><em>Keep it simple.</em></li>
+
+<li><em>Have but one main object.</em></li>
+
+<li><em>Stay on the course.</em></li>
+
+<li><em>Remain cheerful.</em></li>
+
+<li><em>Be enthusiastic.</em></li>
+
+<li><em>Put it out as if the ideas were as interesting and novel to you,
+as to your audience.</em></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>By abiding by these few simple rules you will keep cool,
+preserve continuity and hold your audience.</p>
+
+<p>Instruction is just about the begin-all and end-all of every
+military officer's job. He spends the greater part of his professional
+life either pitching it or catching it, and the game
+doesn't stop until he is at last retired. Should he become a
+Supreme Commander, even, this is one thing that does not
+change; it remains a give-and-take proposition. Part of his
+time is taken instructing his staff as to what he wants done
+and just as much of it is spent in being instructed by his staff
+as to the means available for the doing of it.</p>
+
+<p>Instruction is the generator of unified action. It is the transmission
+belt by which the lessons of experience are passed to
+untrained men. Left uninstructed, men may progress only by
+trial-and-error and the hard bumps which come of not knowing
+the way.</p>
+
+<p>Need more than that be said to suggest that the officer who
+builds a competent skill in this field, so that it becomes a part
+of his reputation, has at the same time built the most solid
+kind of a foundation under his service career?</p>
+
+<p>The services do not discard that kind of man when the
+economy pinch comes and the establishment has to contract.
+The Reservist, who is known as a good instructor, is always on
+the preferred list. In any period of emergency, such officers
+move rapidly to the top; there are always more good jobs than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>
+there are good men. Look back over the lineup of distinguished
+commanders from World War II! It will be found that the
+high percentage of them first attracted notice by <em>being good
+school men</em>.</p>
+
+<p>Within the services, in all functions related to the passing
+on of information, the accent is on "knowing your stuff." The
+point is substantial, but not conclusive. It is upon the way that
+instruction is delivered rather than upon its contents as such
+that its moral worth rests. The pay-off is not in what is said,
+but in what sinks in. <em>A competent instructor will not only
+teach his men but will increase his prestige in the act.</em> There
+are many inexpressibly dull bores who know what they're talking
+about, but still haven't learned how to say it, because they
+are contemptuous of the truth that it is the dynamic flow of
+knowledge, rather than the static possession of it, which is the
+means to power and influence. As technicians, they have their
+place. As instructors, they would be better off if they knew
+only half as much about their subject, and twice as much
+about people.</p>
+
+<p>To know where truth lies is not more important than knowing
+how to pitch it. Take the average American military audience:
+what can be said fairly of its main characteristics?
+Perhaps this&mdash;that it is moderately reflective; that it is ready
+to give the untried speaker a break; that it does not like
+windiness, bombast or prolonged moralizing; that it refuses to be
+bullied; and that it can usually be won by the light touch and
+a little appeal to its sporting instinct. It is the little leavening in
+the bread which makes all the difference in its savor and
+digestibility.</p>
+
+<p>In World War I an American major, name now long forgotten,
+was given the task of making the rounds of the cantonments,
+talking to all combat formations, and convincing
+them that the future was bright&mdash;no Boy Scout errand.
+But wherever he went, morale was lifted by his words. In substance,
+what he said was this:</p>
+
+<p>"None of us cares about living with any individual who
+wants every break his own way. But when the odds are even,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>
+the gamble is worth any good man's time. So let's look at the
+proposition. You now have one chance in two; you may go
+overseas, you may not. Suppose you do. You still have one
+chance in two. You may go to the front, or you may not. If
+you don't, you'll see a foreign country at Uncle Sam's expense;
+if you do, you'll find out about war, which is the toughest
+chance of them all. But up there, you still have one chance
+in two: you may get hit, or you may not. If you breeze through
+it, you'll be a better man for all the rest of your life. And if you
+get hit, you still have one chance in two. You may get a
+small wound, and become a hero to your family and friends.
+Or there is always the last chance that it may take you out
+altogether. And while that is a little rugged, it is at least worth
+remembering that very few people seem to get out of this life
+alive."</p>
+
+<p>There was as simple an idea as any military instructor ever
+unloaded, and yet troops cheered this man wherever he went.</p>
+
+<p>Lt. Col. H. M. Hutchinson, of the British Army, already described
+in this book as an instructor who made a powerful impression
+on the American Army in World War I because of his
+droll wit, was a master hand at taking the oblique approach to
+teach a lesson. Old officers still remember the manner and the
+moral of passages such as this one:</p>
+
+<p>"On the march back from Mons&mdash;and I may say that a very
+good army sometimes must retreat, though no doubt it wounds
+the sensibilities to consider it&mdash;we did rather well. But I
+noticed often the confusion caused by marching slowly up one
+side of a hill and dashing down the other. It is a tendency of
+all columns on foot.</p>
+
+<p>"A captain is sitting out in front on a horse, with a hell of
+a great pipe in his mouth and thinking of some girl in a cafe,
+and of course he moves slowly up the hill. He comes to the
+top and his pace quickens. Well, then, what happens? The
+taller men are at the top of the column, and they lengthen their
+stride&mdash;but what becomes of Nipper and Sandy down in
+the twentieth squad? Half the time, you see, they are running
+to catch up. So the effect is to jam the troops together on an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>
+upgrade and to stretch them out going down&mdash;you know&mdash;like
+a concertina."</p>
+
+<p>Where then is the beginning of efficiency in the art of instruction?
+It resides in becoming diligent and disciplined about
+self-instruction. No man can develop great power as an instructor,
+or learn to talk interestingly and convincingly, until
+he has begun to think deeply. And depth of thought does not
+come of vigorous research on an assignment immediately at
+hand, but from intensive collateral study throughout the course
+of a career. We are all somewhat familiar with the type of
+commander who, when asked: "What are your officers doing
+about special studies, so that they may better their reading
+habits and further their powers of self-expression?" will puff
+himself up by replying, "They are kept so busily employed that
+they have no time for any such exercise." This is one way of
+saying that his subordinates are kept too busy to get essential
+work done.</p>
+
+<p>Research, on the spot and at the time, is vital and necessary
+so that the presentation of any subject will be factually freshened
+and documented. But its nature and object should not be
+overrated. The real values can be compared to what happens
+to a pitcher when he warms up before a game. This is merely
+an act of suppling the muscles; the real conditioning process
+has already taken place, and it has been long and arduous.</p>
+
+<p>Even so is it with immediate research, in its relation to continuing
+military study, in the perfecting of instructorship. That
+which gives an officer power, and conviction, on the platform,
+or before a group, is not the thing which he learned only
+yesterday, having been compelled to read it in a manual or
+other source, but the whole body of this thought and philosophy,
+as it may be directed toward the invigorating of any
+presentation of any subject. If he forms the habit of careful
+reflection, then almost everything that he reads and hears
+other people say that arouses his own interest becomes grist for
+his mill.</p>
+
+<p>Like 10 years in the penitentiary, it's easy to say but hard
+to do. So much time, seemingly, has to be wasted in profitless<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>
+study to find a few kernels amid much chaff. Napoleon said at
+one point that the trouble with books is that one must read so
+many bad ones to find something really good. True enough
+but, even so, there are perfectly practical ways to advance
+rapidly without undue waste motion. Consider this: Among
+one's superiors there are always discriminating men who have
+"adopted" a few good books after reading many bad ones.
+When they say that a text is worthwhile, it deserves reading
+and careful study.</p>
+
+<p>The junior who starts building a working library for his professional
+use cannot do better than to consult those older men
+who are scholars as well as leaders, and ask them to name
+five or six texts which have most stimulated their thought. It
+comes as a surprising discovery that some of the titles which
+are recommended with the greatest enthusiasm are not among
+the so-called classics on war. The well-read man need not have
+more than a dozen books in his home, provided that they all
+count with him, and he continues to pore over them and to
+ponder the weight of what is said. On the other hand, the ignorant
+man is frequently marked by his bookshelf stocked with
+titles, not one of which suggests that he has any professional
+discernment.</p>
+
+<p>The notebook habit is invaluable, nay, indispensable, to any
+young officer who is ambitious to perfect himself as an instructor.
+Most men who are distinguished for their thinking
+ability are inveterate keepers of scrapbooks and of reference
+files where they have put clippings and notes which jogged their
+own thoughts. This is not a cheap device leading to the parroting
+of other men; the truth is that the departure line toward
+original thinking by any man is established by the mental energy
+which he acquires by imaginative observation of other men's
+ideas.</p>
+
+<p>To get back to the notebook, it should be loose-leaf and
+well-bound, else it is not likely to be given permanent use.
+Whether it is kept at home or the office is immaterial. What
+matters is that it be made a receptacle for everything that one
+hears, reads or sees which may be of possible future value in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>
+preparation of classroom work. Books can't be clipped; but
+short, decisive passages can be copied, and longer ones can be
+made the subject of a reference item. Copying is one way of
+fixing an idea in the memory. While on the subject of books,
+it is all right to quote the classics and to be able to refer to the
+great authorities on the science of war. But it is more effective
+by far to read deeply into such writers as Clausewitz, Mahan
+and Fuller, and to find some of their strongest but least-known
+passages for one's self, than to rely on the more popular but
+shop-worn quotations which are in general circulation. Such old
+chestnuts as, "The moral is to the material as three to one,"
+do not refresh discourse.</p>
+
+<p>Even so, the classics are only one small field worth cultivating.
+Nearly every major speech by current military leadership
+contains a passage or two well worth salting away. The
+writings of the philosophers, the publications of the industrial
+world, the daily press and the scientific journals are goldmines
+containing rich nuggets of information and of choice expression
+worth study and preservation.</p>
+
+<p>In fact, the military instructor has the whole world as his
+workshop. His notebook should be as ready to receive some
+especially apt saying by a new recruit as the more ponderous
+words uttered by the sages. And it should contain, not less,
+comments on techniques and methods used by other speakers
+and instructors, which were visibly unusually effective.</p>
+
+<p>Above all, the consistent use of obvious and stereotyped devices
+and methods of presentation should be avoided. For the
+fact is that <em>no one has yet discovered the one best way</em>. In our
+service thinking, we tend to get into a rut, and to use none but
+the well-tried way. For example, we overwork the twin principles
+of thought-surprise and thought-concentration, and in the
+effort to produce dramatic effect, we sometimes achieve only an
+anticlimax. Using the techniques of the advertising world, the
+military instructor puts his exhibits behind a screen, in order
+to buildup anticipation, and at the appropriate moment he
+yanks the cover off. This is perfectly effective, in some instances.
+But it becomes a <em>reductio ad absurdum</em> when he is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>
+working with only one chart, or a pair or so of objects. Let's
+say that he is talking about one machine gun, and he has one
+chart highlighting its characteristics. How much more impressive
+it would be if they were in the open at the beginning and he
+were to start by saying: "Gentlemen, I am talking about this
+one gun and what keeps it going. It is more important that you
+see and know this gun from this moment than that you be
+persuaded by what I am about to say!"</p>
+
+<p>It is a very simple but inviolable rule that where there is
+an obvious straining to produce an effect by the use of any
+training aid, then the effect of the training aid is lost and the
+speaker is proportionately enfeebled. A famous World War II
+commander said of all operations: "It is the chaps, not the
+charts, that get the job done."</p>
+
+<p>What needs to be kept in mind is the psychological object in
+their use. The scientists tell us, and we can partly take their
+word for it, that people learn about 75 percent of what they
+know through their sight, 13 percent through their hearing, and
+12 percent through their other senses. But this is a relative
+and qualitative, rather than an absolute, truth. It has to be so.
+Otherwise, book study, which employs sight exclusively, would
+be the only efficient method of teaching, and oral instruction,
+which depends primarily on sound impact, would be a wasteful
+process.</p>
+
+<p>The more fundamental truth is that when oral instruction is
+properly done, the mind becomes peculiarly receptive because
+it is being bombarded by both sight and sound impressions.
+Nor is this small miracle wrought primarily by what we call
+training aids. The thoughts and ideas which remain most vivid
+in the memory get their adhesive power because some particular
+person said them in a graphic way in a pregnant moment.
+Our working thoughts are more often the product of an association
+with some other individual than not. We remember
+words largely because we remember an occasion. We believe
+in ideas because first we were impressed by the source whence
+they came.</p>
+
+<p>The total impression of a speaker&mdash;his sincerity, his knowl<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>edge,
+his enthusiasm, his mien, and his gestures&mdash;is what
+carries conviction and puts an indelible imprint on the memory.
+Man not only thinks, but he moves, and he is impressed most
+of all by animate objects. Vigorous words mean little or nothing
+to him when they issue from a lack-luster personality.</p>
+
+<p>Artificiality is one of the more serious faults, and it is unfortunately
+the case that though an instructor may be solid
+to the core, he will seem out of his element, unless he is careful
+to avoid stilted words and vague or catch-all phrases and connectives.
+Strength in discourse comes of simplicity.</p>
+
+<p>But it has become almost an American disease of late that we
+painfully avoid saying it straight. "We made contact, and upon
+testing my reaction to him, found it distinctly adverse" is substituted
+for "I met him and didn't like him." But what is equally
+painful is to hear public remarks interlarded with such phrases
+as "It would seem," "As I was saying," "And so, in closing,"
+"Permit me to call your attention to the fact" and "Let us reflect
+briefly"&mdash;which is often the prelude to a 2-hour harangue.</p>
+
+<p>Not less out of place in public address is the apologetic note.
+The man who starts by explaining that he's unaccustomed to
+public speaking, or badly prepared, is simply asking for the
+hook. "To explain what I mean" or "to make myself clear"
+makes the audience wonder only why he didn't say it that way
+in the first place. But the really low man on this totem pole is
+the one who says, "Perhaps you're not getting anything out of
+this."</p>
+
+<p>A man does not have to go off like a gatling gun merely because
+he is facing the crowd. Mr. Churchill, one of the great
+orators of the century, made good use of deliberate and frequent
+pauses. It is a trick worth any young speaker's cultivation,
+enabling the collection of thought and the avoiding of
+tiresome "and ah-h-h's."</p>
+
+<p>Likewise, because a man is in military uniform does not require
+that his speech be terse, cold, given to the biting of words
+and the overemployment of professional jargon. Training instruction
+is not drill. Its efficiency does not come of its in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>cisiveness
+but of the bond of sympathy which comes to prevail
+between the instructor and his followers.</p>
+
+<p>Another main point: It is disconcerting to talk about the
+ABCs, if the group already knows the alphabet. To devote any
+great part of a presentation to matters which the majority
+present already well understand is to assure that the main
+object will receive very little serious attention. Thus in talking
+about the school of the rifle, only a fool would start by explaining
+what part of it was the trigger and from which end
+the bullet emerged, though it might be profitable to devote a
+full hour to the discussion of caliber. Likewise, in such a field
+as tactical discussion, the minds of men are more likely to be
+won, and their imagination stirred, through giving them the
+reasoning behind a technique or method than by telling them
+simply how a thing is done.</p>
+
+<p>In talk, as in tactics, at the beginning the policy of the
+limited objective is a boon to confidence. It scares any green
+man to think about talking for an hour. But if he starts with a
+subject of his own choice and to his liking, and works up to
+15-minute talk for a group of platoon size, he will quickly
+develop his powers over the short course; the switch from
+sprinting to distance running can be made gradually and without
+strain. But it's easy that does it, and one step at a time.</p>
+
+<p>Excessive modesty is unbecoming. No matter how firm his
+sources, or complex the subject, any instructor should form the
+habit of adding a few thoughts of his own to any presentation.
+It is not a mark of precocity but of interest when an instructor
+knows his material, and its application to the human element,
+sufficiently well to express an occasional personal opinion. Since
+he is not a phonograph record, he has a right to say, "I think"
+or "I believe." Indeed, if he does not have his subject sufficiently
+in hand that it has stirred his own imagination, he is
+no better than a machine.</p>
+
+<p>That leads to a discussion of outlines. They are necessary, if
+any subject is to be covered comprehensively. But if they are
+overelaborated, the whole performance becomes automatic and
+dull. A little spontaneity is always needed. Even when working<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>
+from a manuscript, a speaker should be ever-ready to depart
+from his text if a sudden idea pops into his mind. It is better
+to try this and to stumble now and then than to permit the
+mind to be commanded by words written on paper.</p>
+
+<p>Likewise, revision of outline between talks is the way of the
+alert mind. A man cannot do this work without seeing, in the
+midst of discussion, points which need strengthening, and bets
+which have been missed. Notes should be revised as soon as
+the period is completed.</p>
+
+<p>There are many methods of instruction, among them being
+the seminar, critique, group discussion and conference. They
+are not described here for the reason that every young officer
+quickly learns about them in the schools, and gets to know
+the circumstances under which one form or another can be used
+to greatest advantage.</p>
+
+<p>It suffices to say that their common denominator, insofar as
+personal success and ease of participation are concerned, is the
+ability to think quickly and accurately on one's feet; the one
+best school for the sharpening of this faculty is the lecture
+platform. Keenness is a derivative of pressure.</p>
+
+<p>Use of a wire recorder or a platter, so that one can get a
+playback after talking, is an aid to self-criticism. But it is not
+enough. A man will often miss his own worst faults, because
+they came of ignorance in the first place; too, voice reproduction
+proves nothing about the effectiveness of one's presence,
+expression and gesture. It is common-sense professional procedure
+to ask the views of one or two of the more experienced
+members of the audience as to how the show went over, and
+what were its weak points.</p>
+
+<p>There is one hidden danger in becoming too good at this
+business. Too frequently, polished speakers fall in love with the
+sound of their own voices, and want to be heard to the exclusion
+of everyone else. In the military establishment, where
+the ideal object is to get 100 percent participation from all
+personnel, this is a more serious vice than snoring in a pup tent.</p>
+
+<p>When an officer feels any temptation to monopolize the discussion,
+it is time to pray for a bad case of bronchitis.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_TWENTY-TWO" id="CHAPTER_TWENTY-TWO"></a><span class="chapter_number">CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO</span><br /><br />
+
+YOUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH YOUR MEN</h3>
+
+
+<p>Inasmuch as most of this book has been directed toward
+covering the various approaches to this subject, there is need to
+discuss here only a relatively few points which could not conveniently
+be treated elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>This is the touchstone of success.</p>
+
+<p>To any officer starting on a life career, it is impossible to
+overstate its importance. For the moment, we can forget the
+words duty and responsibility. The question is: "How do I get
+ahead?" And for a junior there is one main road open&mdash;he
+will strive to achieve such a communion of spirit with his
+subordinates that he will know the personality and character of
+every one of his men, will understand what moves and what
+stops them, and will be sympathetic to their every impulse.</p>
+
+<p>This is the main course. The great principles of war have
+evolved from centuries of observation on how men react in the
+mass. It could not be otherwise than that any officer's growth
+in knowledge of when and how these principles apply to varying
+situations, strategical and tactical, come primarily of the
+acuteness of his powers of observation of individual men, and of
+men working together in groups, and responding to their leadership,
+under widely different conditions of stress, strain and
+emotion.</p>
+
+<p>The roots of this kind of wisdom are not to be acquired
+from book study; books are a help only as they provide an index
+to what should be sought. The sage who defined strategy as
+"the art of the possible" (the art of politics has been defined in
+the same words) wrote better than he knew. The cornerstone
+of the science of war is knowledge of the economy of men's
+powers, of their physical possibilities and limitations, of their
+response to fatigue, hope, fear, success and discouragement,
+and of the weight of the moral factor in everything they do.
+Man is a beast of burden; he will fail utterly in the crisis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>
+of battle if there is no respect for his aching back. He is also
+one of a great brotherhood whose mighty fellowship can make
+the worst misery tolerable, and can provide him with undreamed
+strength and courage. These are among the things that
+need to be studied and understood; they are the main score.
+It is only when an officer can stand and say that he is first of
+all a student of human material that all of the technical and
+material aspects of war begin to conform toward each other and
+to blend into an orderly pattern. And the laboratory is right
+outside the office door. Either an officer grows up with, and
+into, this kind of knowledge through reflecting on everything
+that he can learn of men wherever he fits himself into a new
+environment, or because of having neglected to look at trees,
+he will also miss the forest.</p>
+
+<p>By the numbers, it isn't a difficult assignment. The schools
+have found by experiment that the average officer can learn
+the names of 50 men in between 7 and 10 days. If he is in daily
+contact with men, he should know 125 of them by name and
+by sight within 1 month. Except under war conditions, he is
+not likely to work with larger numbers than that.</p>
+
+<p>This is the only way to make an intelligent start. So long as a
+man is just a number, or a face, to his officer, there can be no
+deep trust between them. Any man loves to hear the sound of
+his own name, and when his superior doesn't know it, he feels
+like a cypher.</p>
+
+<p>As with any other introduction, an officer meeting an enlisted
+man for the first time is not privileged to be inquisitive about
+his private affairs. In fact, nosiness and prying are unbecoming
+at any time, and in no one more than in a military officer.
+On the other hand, any man is flattered if he is asked about
+his work or his family, and the average enlisted man will feel
+complimented if an officer engages him in small talk of any
+kind. Greater frankness, covering a wide variety of subjects,
+develops out of longer acquaintance. It should develop as
+naturally and as easily as in civilian walks of life; rank is no
+barrier to it unless the officer is overimpressed with himself
+and bent on keeping the upper hand; the ranks are wiser about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>
+these things than most young officers; they do not act forward
+or presumptuous simply because they see an officer talking and
+acting like a human being. But they aren't Quiz Kids. Informal
+conversation between officer and man is a two-way street. The
+ball has to be batted back and forth across the net or there isn't
+any game. An officer has to extend himself, his thoughts, his
+experiences and his affairs into the conversation, or after his
+first trial or two, there will be nothing coming back.</p>
+
+<p>It is unfortunately the case that many young officers assume
+that getting acquainted with their men is a kind of interrogation
+process, like handling an immigrant knocking for admission
+to the United States. They want to know everything, but
+they stand on what they think is their right to tell a man
+nothing. That kind of attitude just doesn't wash. In fact, the
+chief value of such conversations is that it permits the junior
+to see his superior as a man rather than as a boss.</p>
+
+<p>An officer should never speak ironically or sarcastically to an
+enlisted man, since the latter doesn't have a fair chance to
+answer back. The use of profanity and epithets comes under
+the same heading. The best argument for a man keeping his
+temper is that nobody else wants it; and when he voluntarily
+throws it away, he loses a main prop to his own position.</p>
+
+<p>Meeting one of his own enlisted men in a public place, the
+officer who does not greet him personally and warmly, in addition
+to observing the formal courtesies between men in service,
+has sacrificed a main chance to win the man's abiding esteem.
+If the man is with his family, a little extra graciousness will go
+a long way, and even if it didn't, it would be the right thing.</p>
+
+<p>In any informal dealing with a number of one's own men, it
+is good judgment to pay a little additional attention to the
+youngest or greenest member of the group, instead of permitting
+him to be shaded by older and more experienced men. They
+will not resent it, and his confidence will be helped.</p>
+
+<p>It should go without saying that an officer does not drink
+with his men, though if he is a guest of honor at an organizational
+party where punch or liquor is being served, it would
+be a boorish act for him to decline a glass, simply because of this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>
+proscription. Sometimes in a public cocktail bar an officer will
+have the puzzling experience of being approached by a strange
+but lonely enlisted man who, being a little high, may have got
+it into his head that it is very important to buy an officer a drink.
+What one does about that depends upon all of the surrounding
+circumstances. It is better to go through with it than create a
+scene which will give everyone a low opinion of the service.
+Irrespective of rules, there are always situations which are resolved
+only by good judgment. And, of course, the problem can
+be avoided by staying away from cocktail bars.</p>
+
+<p>Visiting men in hospital is a duty which no officer should
+neglect. Not only does it please the man and his family; it is
+one of the few wide open portals to a close friendship with
+him. It is strange but true that the man never forgets the officer
+who was thoughtful enough to call on him when he was down.
+And the effect of it goes far beyond the man himself. Other
+men in the unit are told about it. Other patients in the ward
+see it and note with satisfaction that the corps takes its responsibilities
+to heart. If the man is in such shape that he can't write
+a letter, it is a worthy act to serve him in this detail. By the
+same token when a man goes on sick call, the officer's responsibility
+does not end at the point where the doctor takes over.
+His interest is to see that the man is made well, and if he has
+reason to think that the treatment he is receiving falls short
+of the best possible, it is within his charge to raise the question.
+The old saw about giving the man CC pills and iodine and
+marking him duty is now considerably outdated. But it is not
+assumed that every member of the medical staff serving the
+forces will at all times do his duty with the intelligence and
+reverence of a saint.</p>
+
+<p>A birthday is a big day in any man's life. So is his wedding.
+So is the birth of a child. By making check of the roster and
+records, and by keeping an ear to the ground for news of what
+is happening in the unit, an officer can follow these events.
+Calling the man in and giving him a handclasp and word of
+congratulation, or writing a note to the home, takes very little
+time and is worth every moment of it. Likewise, if he has won<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>
+some distinction, such as earning a promotion, a letter of appreciation
+to his parents or his wife will compound the value of
+telling the man himself that you are proud of what he has done.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing is more pleasing or ingratiating to any junior than
+to be asked by his superior for his opinion on any matter&mdash;provided
+that it is given a respectful hearing. Any man gets a
+little fagged from being <em>told</em> all the time. When he is consulted
+and asked for a judgment, it builds him up.</p>
+
+<p>There is absolutely no point in visiting kitchens or quarters
+and asking of the atmosphere if everything is all right. Men
+seldom complain, and they are loath to stick their necks out
+when there are other enlisted men within hearing. It is the task
+of the officer to <em>see</em> that all is right, and to take whatever
+trouble is necessary to make certain. If he is doubtful about the
+mess, then a mere pecky sampling of it will do no good. Either
+he will live with it for a few meals, or he won't find the "bugs"
+in it.</p>
+
+<p>An officer should not ask a man: "Would you like to do such-and-such
+a task?" when he has already made up his mind to
+assign him to a certain line of duty. Orders, hesitatingly given,
+are doubtfully received. But the right way to do it is to instill
+the idea of collaboration. There is something irresistably appealing
+about such an approach as: "I need your help. Here's what
+we have to do."</p>
+
+<p>An officer is not expected to appear all-wise to those who
+serve under him. Bluffing one's way through a question when
+ignorant of the answer is foolhardy business. "I'm sorry, but I
+don't know," is just as appropriate from an officer's lips as from
+any other. And it helps more than a little to be able to add,
+"But I'll find out."</p>
+
+<p>Rank should be used to serve one's subordinates. It should
+never be flaunted or used to get the upper hand of a subordinate
+in any situation save where he had already discredited himself
+in an unusually ugly or unseemly manner.</p>
+
+<p>When suggestions from any subordinate are adopted, the
+credit should be passed on to him publicly.</p>
+
+<p>When a subordinate has made a mistake, but not from any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>
+lack of good will, it is common sense to take the rap for him
+rather than make him suffer doubly for his error.</p>
+
+<p>An officer should not issue orders which he cannot enforce.</p>
+
+<p>He should be as good as his word, at all times and in any
+circumstance.</p>
+
+<p>He should promise nothing which he cannot make stick.</p>
+
+<p>An officer should not work, looking over his men's shoulder,
+checking on every detail of what they are doing, and calling
+them to account at every furlong post. This maidenly attitude
+corrodes confidence and destroys initiative.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, contact is necessary at all times. Particularly
+when men are doing long-term work, or are operating in
+detachment at a remote point, they will become discouraged
+and will lose their sense of direction unless their superior looks
+in on them periodically, asks whether he can be of any help,
+and, so doing, gets them to open up and discuss the problem.</p>
+
+<p>The Navy says, "It isn't courtesy to change the set of the sail
+within 30 minutes after relief of the watch." Applied to a
+command job, this means that it is a mistake for an officer, on
+taking a new post, to order sweeping changes affecting other
+men, in the belief that this will give him a reputation for action
+and firmness. The studying of the situation is the overture to
+the steadying of it. The story is told of Gen. Curtis E. LeMay of
+the Air Force. Taking over the 21st Bomber Command in the
+Marianas, he faced the worried staff officers of his predecessor
+and said quietly, "You're all staying put. I assume you know
+your jobs or you wouldn't be here."</p>
+
+<p>The identity of the officer with the gentleman should persist
+in his relations with men of all degree. In the routine of daily
+direction and disposition, and even in moments of exhortation,
+he had best bring courtesy to firmness. The finest officers that
+one has known are not occasional gentlemen, but in every circumstance:
+in commissioned company and, more importantly,
+in contact with those who have no recourse against arrogance.</p>
+
+<p>The traditional wisdom of addressing Judy O'Grady with the
+same politeness as one would the Colonel's Lady applies equally
+in all situations in life where one is at arbitrary advantage in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>
+dealing with another. To press this unnecessarily is to sacrifice
+something of one's quality in the eyes of the onlooker. Besides,
+there is always the better way.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_TWENTY-THREE" id="CHAPTER_TWENTY-THREE"></a><span class="chapter_number">CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE</span><br /><br />
+
+YOUR MEN'S MORAL AND PHYSICAL WELFARE</h3>
+
+
+<p>To put it in a nutshell, the moral of this chapter is that
+when men are moral, the moral power which binds them together
+and fits them for high action is given its main chance
+for success.</p>
+
+<p>There should therefore be no confusion about how the word
+is being used. We are speaking both of training in morals for
+every day living, and of moral training which will harden the
+will of a fighting body. One moment's reflection will show why
+they need not be considered separately, and why we can leave
+it to Webster to do the hairsplitting.</p>
+
+<p>It is the doctrine of the armed establishment of the United
+States that when American men lead a personal life which is
+based on high moral standards, and when their aim is equally
+high as to physical fitness and toughness, under training conditions
+they will mature those qualities which are most likely
+to produce inspired leading and stout following within the
+forces.</p>
+
+<p>There is nothing panty-waist about this doctrine. It was not
+pronounced to gratify the clergy or to reassure parents that
+their sons would be in good hands, even though these things,
+too, are important.</p>
+
+<p>The doctrine came of the experience of the Nation in war,
+and of what the services learned by measuring their own men.
+But it happened, also, that the facts were consistent with a
+common sense reckoning of the case.</p>
+
+<p>Let's figure it out. To be temperate in all things, to be
+continent, and to refrain from loose living of any sort, are acts
+of the will. They require self-denial, and a foregoing of that
+which may be more attractive, in favor of the thing which
+should be done. Granted that there are a few individuals who
+are so thin-blooded that they never feel tempted to digress
+morally, men in the majority are not like that. What they re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>nounce
+in the name of self-discipline, at the cost of a considerable
+inner stress, they endeavour to compensate by their gains in
+personal character. Making that grade isn't easy; but no one
+who is anyone has yet said that it isn't worthwhile. In the armed
+services there is an old saying that an officer without character
+is more useless than a ship with no bottom.</p>
+
+<p>In the summing up, the strength of will which enables a
+man to lead a clean life is no different than the strength of
+purpose which fits him to follow a hard line of duty. There are
+exceptions to every rule. Many a lovable rounder has proved
+himself to be a first-class fighting man. But even though he had
+an unconquerable weakness for drink and women, his resolution
+had to become steeled along some other line or he would
+have been no good when the pay-off came.</p>
+
+<p>Putting aside for the moment the question of the vices, and
+regarding only the gain to moral power which comes of bodily
+exercise and physical conditioning, it should be self-evident that
+the process which builds the muscle must also train and alert
+the mind. How could it be otherwise? Every physical act must
+have as its origin a mental impulse, conscious or unconscious.
+Thus in training a man to master his muscles we also help
+him to master his brain. He comes out of physical training not
+only better conditioned to move but better prepared to think
+about how and why he is moving, which is true mobility.</p>
+
+<p>In military organizations, "setting-up" and other formation
+exercises are usually a drag and a bore. Men grumble about
+them, and even after they are toughened to them, so that they
+feel no physical distress, they rarely relish them. The typical
+American male would much rather sit on his pants along the
+sidelines and watch someone else engage in contact sports. It's
+almost the national habit. Despite our athletic prowess, about 56
+percent of American males grow to manhood without having
+ever participated in a group game.</p>
+
+<p>But no matter how great the inertia against it, there must be
+unremitting perseverance in the physical conditioning of military
+forces. For finally, it is killing men with kindness to relax
+at this point. If life is to be conserved, if men are to be given a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>
+fair chance to play their parts effectively, the physical standards
+during training cannot be less than will give them a maximum
+fitness for the extraordinary stresses of campaigning in war.</p>
+
+<p>When troops lack the coordinated response which comes of
+long, varied and rigorous exercises, their combat losses will be
+excessive, they will lack cohesion in their action against the
+enemy, and they will uselessly expend much of their initial
+velocity. In the United States service, we are tending to forget,
+because of the effect of motorization, that the higher value of
+the discipline of the road march in other days wasn't that it
+hardened the muscles, but that, short of combat, it was the
+best method of separating the men from the boys. This is true
+today, despite all of the new conditions imposed by technological
+changes. A hard road march is the most satisfactory training
+test of the moral strength of the individual man.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time, to senselessly overload men for road marching
+hurts them two ways. It weakens their faith in the sense of
+the command, thereby impairing morale, and it breaks down
+their muscle and tendon. Enough is known about the average
+American male to provide a basic logistical figure. He stands
+about 5 feet 8 inches, and weighs about 153 pounds. The
+optimum load for a man is about one-third of body weight,
+the same as for a mule. That means that for a training march,
+approximately 50 pounds over-all, including uniform, blankets
+and everything, is the most that a man should be required to
+carry. If he gets so that he can handle that load easily, over let
+us say a 10-mile road march, then the thing to do, further to
+build up his power, is not to increase the weight that he
+carries, but to lengthen the march. Military men have known
+that this is the underlying principle for better than half a
+century. But the principle has not always been observed.</p>
+
+<p>There is another not infrequent cause of breakdown&mdash;the
+leader who makes the mistake of thinking that every man's
+limit is the same as his own. Some come into the officer corps
+fresh from the stadia and cinderpaths of the colleges, in the
+pink of condition. They take charge of a group of men, some
+not yet seasoned, and others somewhat older and more wind-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>broke
+than themselves. They shag them all over the lot at
+reveille or take them on a cross-country chase like a smart
+rabbit trying to outrun hounds. The poor devils ultimately get
+back, some with their corks completely pulled, a few feeling too
+nauseated to eat their breakfast, and others walking in, feeling
+whipped because they couldn't keep up with the group.</p>
+
+<p>When an officer does this kind of thing thoughtlessly, he
+shows himself to be an incompetent observer of men. When he
+does it to show off, he deserves to be given 10 days in the
+electric chair.</p>
+
+<p><em>It is the steadiness and the continuity of exercise, not the
+working of men to the point of exhaustion and collapse, which
+keeps them upgrading until they are conditioned to the strain of
+whatever comes.</em> To do it the other way around simply makes
+them hospital patients before their time, and fills them with
+resentment against the service.</p>
+
+<p>In the nature of things, the officer who has been an athlete
+can fit himself into this part of the program with little difficulty
+and with great credit, provided he acts with the moderation that
+is here suggested. The armed services put great store by this.
+A man with a strong flair for physical training can usually
+find a good berth.</p>
+
+<p>By the same token, the officer who has shunned sports in
+school, either because he didn't have the size or the coordination,
+or was more interested in something else, will frequently
+have an understandable hesitation about trying to play a lead
+hand in anything which he thinks will make him look bad. Of
+this comes much buck-passing. There is often a singular courtesy
+between officers within a unit, and they'll switch details, just
+to be friendly. So it frequently happens that the man who has
+no great knack at leading in exercise and recreation gets the
+mouse's share of it. And thereby the whole point is missed. For
+it should be perfectly clear that the man who has had the least
+active experience in this field is usually the one in greatest need
+of its strengthening effects. His case is no different than that of
+the enlisted man. If he has not kept himself in good physical<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>
+shape, his nerves will not be able to stand the strain of combat,
+to say nothing of his legs.</p>
+
+<p>It can be said again and again: <em>The highest form of physical
+training that an officer can undergo is the physical conditioning
+of his own men.</em> Nothing else can give him more faith in
+his own ability to stay the course and nothing else is likely to
+give him a firmer feeling of solidarity with his men. Study, and
+an active thirst for wider professional knowledge, have their
+place in an officer's scheme of things. But there is something
+about the experience of bodily competition, of joining with,
+and leading men in strenuous physical exercise, which uniquely
+invigorates one's spirit with the confidence: "I can do this! I
+can lead! I can command!" Military men have recognized this
+since long before it was said that Waterloo was won on the
+playing fields of Eton. Bringing it down to the present, Gen.
+Sir Archibald Wavell said: "The civil comparison to war must
+be that of a game, a very rough and dirty game, for which a
+robust body and mind are essential." Even more emphatic are
+the words of Coach Frank Leahy of Notre Dame, an officer of
+the United States Navy in World War II: "The ability to rise
+up and grasp an opportunity is something that a boy cannot
+learn in lecture rooms or from textbooks. It is on the athletic
+field primarily that Americans acquire the winning ways that
+play such an important part in the American way of life. The
+burning desire to emerge the victor that we see in our contact
+sports is the identical spirit that gave the United States Marines
+victory at Iwo Jima. If we again know war, the boys who have
+received sound training in competitive athletics will again fight
+until the enemy has had enough."</p>
+
+<p>Men like to see their officers competing and "giving it a
+good college try" no matter how inept, or clumsy they may
+be. But they take a pretty dim view of the leader who perennially
+acts as if he were afraid of a sweat or a broken thumb. In
+team sports, developing around interorganized rivalry, the
+eligibility of an officer to participate among enlisted men is a
+matter of local ground rules, or special regulations. There is
+nothing in the customs of the services which prohibit it. To<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>
+the contrary, it has been done many times, and is considered
+to be altogether within an officer's dignity. Where there is a
+flat ruling against it, it is usually on the theory that the officer,
+by competing, is robbing some enlisted man of his chance.</p>
+
+<p>Need it be said that in any event, going along with the team,
+and taking an active interest in its ups-and-downs, is not only
+a service officer's duty, but a rewarding privilege, if he is a real
+leader? In this respect, he has a singular relationship to any
+group that represents his unit. He becomes part of their force,
+and his presence is important not only to the team but to the
+gallery. It is not unusual to hear very senior officers excuse
+themselves from an important social function by saying, "I'm
+sorry, but my team is playing tonight." That is a reason which
+everybody understands and accepts.</p>
+
+<p>As for the ranks, even among those men who have had no
+prior acquaintance with organized sports, there is a marked
+willingness to participate, if given just a little encouragement.
+This is one of the effects of getting into military uniform. As
+someone said about gunpowder, "it makes all men alike tall,"
+and provides a welcome release from former inhibitions. The
+military company is much more tightly closed than any other.
+When men are thinking and working together in a binding association,
+they will seek an outlet for their excess spirits, and will
+join together in play, even under the most adverse circumstance.
+During World War I, it was common to see American troops
+playing such games as duck-on-the-rock, tag and touch football
+with somebody's helmet in close proximity to the front.
+Because no other equipment was available, they improvised.
+So it is that in any situation, the acme in leadership consists,
+not in screaming one's head off about shortages, but in using
+a little imagination about what can be done.</p>
+
+<p>The really good thing about the gain in moral force deriving
+from all forms of physical training is that it is an unconscious
+gain. Will power, determination, mental poise and muscle control
+all march hand-in-hand with the general health and well-being
+of the man, with results not less decisive under training
+conditions than on the field of battle. A man who develops<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>
+correct posture and begins to fill out his body so that he looks
+the part of a fighter will take greater pride in the wearing of
+the uniform. So doing, he will take greater care so to conduct
+himself morally that he will not disgrace it. He will gain confidence
+as he acquires a confident and determined bearing. This
+same presence, and the physical strength which contributes to
+it, will help carry him through the hour of danger. Strength of
+will is partly of the mind and partly of the body. In combat,
+fatigue will beat men down as quickly as any other condition,
+for fatigue inevitably carries fear with it. Tired men are men
+afraid. There is no quicker way to lose a battle than to lose it
+on the road for lack of preliminary hardening in troops. Such
+a condition cannot be redeemed by the resolve of a commander
+who insists on driving troops an extra mile beyond their general
+level of physical endurance. Extremes of this sort make men
+rebellious and hateful of the command, and thus strike at
+tactical efficiency from two directions at once. For when men
+resent a commander, they will not fight as willingly for him,
+and when their bodies are spent, their nerves are gone.</p>
+
+<p>Looking after the welfare of men, however, does not connote
+simply getting them into the open air and giving them a chance
+to kick the ball around. The services are pretty well organized
+to provide their personnel with adequate sport and recreational
+facilities, and to insure an active, balanced program, in any
+save the most exceptional circumstance. Too, the provisions
+made for the creature comforts of men are ample, experience-tested,
+and well-regulated.</p>
+
+<p>It is not so much that a young officer needs to have book
+instruction about the detail of these things. Such is the system
+that they can hardly escape his notice, any more than he can
+escape knowing where to get his pay check and by which path
+he goes to the barbershop.</p>
+
+<p>What counts mainly is that he should fully understand the
+prime importance of a personal caring for his men, so that
+they cannot fail of a better life if it is within his power and
+wisdom to lead them to it.</p>
+
+<p>Once the principle is grasped, and accepted without any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>
+mental reservation, time and experience will educate him in
+the countless meetings of situations which require its application.</p>
+
+<p>There are times and situations which require that all men be
+treated identically, for the good of organization. There are also
+occasions when nothing else suffices but to give the most help,
+the most encouragement, the most relief to those who are most
+greatly in need. Grown men understand that, and the officer,
+approaching every situation with the question in his mind:
+"What does reason say about what constitutes fair play in this
+condition?" cannot go far wrong in administering to the welfare
+of those who serve under him.</p>
+
+<p><em>It is moral courage, combined with practice, which builds in
+one a delicate sense of the eternal fitness of things.</em></p>
+
+<p>One example: Under normal training conditions, it would be
+fair play, and the acceptable thing, to rotate men and their
+junior leaders to such an onerous task as guard duty. But if a
+unit was "dead beat" after a hard march, and an officer, pursuing
+his line of duty, walked among his men, inspecting their
+blistered feet and doing all he could to ease each man's physical
+discomfort, he would then be using excessively poor judgment
+if he did not pick out the men most physically fit to do whatever
+additional duty was required that night.</p>
+
+<p>But infinite painstaking in attending to the physical welfare
+of men is not more important than thoughtful attention to their
+spiritual wants, and their moral needs. In fact, if we would give
+a little more priority to the latter, the former would be far more
+likely to come along all right.</p>
+
+<p>The average American enlisted man is quite young when he
+enters service, and because he is young, he is impressionable.
+What his senior tells him becomes a substitute for the influence
+and teaching that he shed when he left his home or school.
+That need not mean a senior in age! <em>He looks to his officer,
+even though the latter may be junior in years, because he believes
+that the man with rank is a little wiser, and he has faith
+that he will not be steered wrong.</em></p>
+
+<p>Despite all the publicity given to VD, American kids don't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>
+know a great deal about its reality, and even though the greater
+number of them like to talk about women, what they have to
+say rarely reveals them as worldly-wise.</p>
+
+<p>If an officer talks straight on these subjects, and believes in
+what he says sufficiently to set the good example, he can convince
+his better men that the game isn't worth the candle,
+and can save even some of the more reckless spirits from a
+major derail.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_TWENTY-FOUR" id="CHAPTER_TWENTY-FOUR"></a><span class="chapter_number">CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR</span><br /><br />
+
+KEEPING YOUR MEN INFORMED</h3>
+
+
+<p>Nobody ever told the South Sea savage about the nature of
+air in motion. He had never heard of wind and therefore could
+not imagine its effects. Thus when he heard strange noises in
+the treetops and there was a howling around certain headlands,
+while other headlands were silent, he could believe only that
+the spirits were at work. He would strain his ear to hear what
+they had to say to him, and never being able to understand,
+he would become all the more fearful.</p>
+
+<p>It all sounds pretty silly. And yet civilization is a great deal
+like that. We pride ourselves today in saying, particularly within
+the western nations, that men and women are better informed
+than ever before in the history of the world. What we
+really mean by that is that they are overburdened with more
+kinds of fragmentary information than any people of the past.
+They know just enough about many major questions of the
+day that either they are driven to the making of fearful guesses
+about the unknown, or they try to close their minds to the
+subject, vainly seeking consolation in the half-truth, "What I
+don't know can't hurt me."</p>
+
+<p>Therein lies a great part of the problem. For it is a fair
+statement that if all of the mystery could be stripped from such
+a complex topic as the nature of atomic power, so that men
+everywhere would understand it, universal fear would be displaced
+by universal confidence that something could be done,
+and society would be well along the road toward its control.</p>
+
+<p>In World War I, the men who had the least fear of the
+effects of gas warfare were the gas officers who understood their
+subject right down to the last detail of the decontamination
+process and the formula for dichlorethylsulphide (mustard gas).
+The man to whom the dangers of submarine warfare seem
+least fearsome is the submariner. Of all hands along the battle
+line, the first aid man has the greatest calm and confidence in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>
+the face of fire, largely because he has seen the miracles worked
+by modern medicine in the restoring of grievously wounded
+men. The general or the admiral who is most familiar with the
+mettle of his subordinate commands will also have the most relaxed
+mind under battle pressure.</p>
+
+<p>This leads to a point, which it is better to state here than
+anywhere else. In all military instruction pertaining to the
+weapons and techniques of war, the basis of sound indoctrination
+is the teaching that weapons when rightly used will invariably
+produce victory, and preventive measures, when
+promptly and thoroughly taken, will invariably conserve the
+operational integrity of the defense. It is wrong, <em>dead wrong</em>, to
+start, or carry along, on the opposite track, and try to persuade
+men to do the right thing, by dwelling on the awful consequence
+of doing the wrong thing. Confidence, not fear, is the keynote
+of a strong and convictive doctrine.</p>
+
+<p>In war, in the absence of information, man's natural promptings
+alternate between unreasoning fears that the worst is likely
+to happen, and the wishful thought that all danger is remote.
+Either impulse is a barrier to the growth of that condition of
+alert confidence which comes to men when they have a realization
+of their own strength and a reasonably clear concept of the
+general situation.</p>
+
+<p>Man is a peculiar animal. He is no more prone to think about
+himself as the central figure amid general disaster than he is to
+dwell morbidly upon thoughts of his own death. Left in the
+dark, he will get a certain comfort out of that darkness, at the
+same time that it clouds his mind and freezes his action. Disturbed
+by bad dreams about what might happen, he nonetheless
+will not plan an effective use of his own resources against
+that which is very likely to happen. Only when he is given a
+clear view of the horizon, and is made animated by the general
+purpose in all that moves around him, does he understand the
+direction in which he should march, and taking hold, begin to
+do the required thing.</p>
+
+<p>It is almost gratuitous that this even needs to be stated. No
+high commander would think of moving deliberately into the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>
+fog of war if he was without knowledge of either the enemy
+or friendly situation. Even to imagine such a contingency is
+paralyzing. But in their nervous and spiritual substance, admirals
+and generals are no different than the green men who
+have come most recently to their forces. Such men can not
+stand alone any more than can the recruit. They draw their
+moral strength and their ability to contend intelligently against
+adverse circumstance largely from what is told them by the men
+who surround them. That is why they have their staffs. They
+could not command even themselves if they were deprived of
+all information.</p>
+
+<p>Toward the assuring of competent, collected action, the first
+great step is to remove the mystery. This is a process which
+must be mastered in peacetime, if it is to stand the multiplied
+strains of war. What mystery? Let it be said that it surrounds
+the average file on every hand, even though the average junior
+officer does not realize it, while at the same time he himself is
+completely mystified by much that transpires above him. For
+example, we all like to throw big words about, to air our professional
+erudition; and we do not understand that to the man
+who does not know their meaning, the effect is a blackout
+which makes even the simplest object seem formidable. To illustrate,
+we can take the word "bivouac," common enough in
+military parlance, but rare in civilian speech. When green men
+are told, "We are going into bivouac," and they are not sufficiently
+grounded in the service to know that this means simply
+going into camp for the night without shelter, their instinctive
+first thought is, "This is another complex military process that
+will probably catch me short." Similarly if told that they are
+detailed "on a reconnaissance mission along the line of communications
+with a liaison function," they could not fail to be
+"flummoxed." And if then instructed to take a BAR up to the
+MLR and follow SOP in covering a simulated SFC party, they
+wouldn't be far from justified if they blew their tops, and ran
+shrieking from the place.</p>
+
+<p>These are horrible examples, put forward only to illuminate
+a fairly simple point. Exaggerated though they may be, some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>thing
+of the same sort happens in almost every installation
+nearly every day. The difference is only in degree. <em>Every man
+in the service has an inalienable right to work and to think
+in the clear.</em> He is entitled to the why and the wherefore of
+whatever he is expected to do, as well as the what and the
+how. His efficiency, his confidence and his enthusiasm will wax
+strong in almost the precise measure that his superior imparts
+to him everything he knows about a duty which can be of
+possible benefit to the man. Furthermore, this is a two-way current.
+Any officer who believes in the importance of giving
+full information in a straight-forward manner, and continues
+to act on that principle, will over the long run get back more
+than he gives. But the chump who incontinently brushes off his
+subordinates because he thinks his time is too valuable to spend
+any great part of it putting them on the right track dooms
+himself to work in a vacuum. He is soon spotted for what he is,
+and if his superiors can't set him straight, they will shrug him
+aside.</p>
+
+<p>These are pretty much twentieth century concepts of how
+force is articulated from top to bottom of a chain of command.
+Yet the ideas are as old as the ages. Ecclesiastes is filled with
+phrases pointing up that clarification is the way of strength
+and of unity. "All go unto one place." "Two are better than
+one." "Woe to him that is alone when he falleth." "A threefold
+cord is not quickly broken." "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to
+do, do it with thy might." "Folly is set in great dignity." "Truly
+the light is sweet." Great commanders of the past have reflected
+that knowledge is the source of the simplifying and
+joining of all action and have pondered how better to resolve
+the problem. But it is only in our time that this great principle
+in military doctrine has become rooted deep enough to stay,
+because the technological complexity of modern war is such as
+to permit of no other course.</p>
+
+<p>It is folly to attempt to oversimplify that which is of its
+nature complex. War cannot be made less intricate by conjuring
+everyone to return to kindergarten and henceforth use
+only one-syllable words. No such counsel is here intended. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>
+one thought worth keeping is that the military system, as we
+know it, will prove far more workable, and its members will
+each become a stronger link in the chain of force, if all hands
+work a little more carefully toward the growth of a common
+awareness of all terminology, all process and all purpose.</p>
+
+<p>Once pronounced, the object also requires to be seen in due
+proportion. The principle does not entail that a corporal must
+perforce know everything about operation of a company which
+concerns his captain, to be happy and efficient in his own job.
+But it does set forth that he is entitled to have all information
+which relates to his personal situation, his prospects and his
+action which it is within his captain's power to give him. A
+coxswain is not interchangeable with a fleet admiral. To "bigot"
+him (make available complete detail of a total plan) on an
+operation would perhaps produce no better or worse effect than
+a slight headache. But if he is at sea&mdash;in both senses of that
+term&mdash;with no knowledge of where he is going or of his
+chances of pulling through, and having been told of what will
+be expected of him personally at the target, still has no picture
+of the support which will be grouped around him, he is apt to
+be as thoroughly miserable and demoralized as were the sailors
+under Columbus, when sailing on and on, they came to fear
+that they would override the horizon and go tumbling into
+space.</p>
+
+<p>Lt. Gen. Sir Frederick Morgan wrote of the policy applied at
+his COSSAC planning headquarters during World War II:
+"Right down to the cook, they were told what had happened,
+what was happening, along with their part in it, and what it
+was proposed to do next."</p>
+
+<p>Paraphrasing Montaigne, President Roosevelt told the American
+people during a great national crisis that the main thing
+they need fear was fear itself. In matters great and small, the
+fears of men arise chiefly from those matters they have not been
+given to understand. Fear can be checked, whipped and driven
+from the field when men are kept informed.</p>
+
+<p>The dynamics of the information principle lies in this simple
+truth. We look at the object through the wrong end of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>
+telescope when in the military service we think of information
+only as instruction in the cause of country, the virtues of the
+free society and the record of our arms, in the hope that we
+will make strong converts. These are among the things that
+every American needs to know, but of themselves they will not
+turn an average American male into an intelligent, aggressive
+fighter. Invigorated action is the product of the free and well-informed
+mind. The "will to do" comes of the confidence that
+one's knowledge of what requires doing is equal to that of any
+other man present.</p>
+
+<p>This is the controlling idea and all constructive planning
+and work in the field of information is shaped around it.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_TWENTY-FIVE" id="CHAPTER_TWENTY-FIVE"></a><span class="chapter_number">CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE</span><br /><br />
+
+COUNSELING YOUR MEN</h3>
+
+
+<p>Among the ever-pressing problems of the commander, and
+equally of the young officer schooling himself to the ways of
+the service, is the seeking of means to break down the natural
+timidity and reticence of the great majority of men.</p>
+
+<p>This he can never do unless he is sufficient master of himself
+that he can come out of his own shell and give his men a chance
+to understand him as a human being rather than as an autocrat
+giving orders. Nothing more unfortunate can happen to an
+officer than to come to be regarded by his subordinates as unapproachable,
+for such a reputation isolates him from the main
+problems of command responsibility as well as its chief rewards.
+So holding himself, he will never be able to see his forces in
+their true light, and will either have to exercise snap judgment
+upon the main problems within his own sphere, or take the
+word of others as to the factors on which promotions, rewards
+and punishments are based within the unit.</p>
+
+<p>When the block is due to an officer's own reticence, mistaken
+ideas about the requirements of his position, or feeling of
+strangeness toward his fellows, the only cure for him is to dive
+head-first into the cold, clear water, like a boy at the old
+swimming hole in the early spring. Thereby he will grow in
+self-confidence even as he progresses in knowledge of the character
+of his men and of human nature in general.</p>
+
+<p>If an officer is senior, and is still somewhat on the bashful
+side, by watching the manner of his own seniors when he gets
+counsel, and thawing toward his immediate juniors, thereby increasing
+his receptiveness toward them, there will occur a chain
+reaction to the bottom level.</p>
+
+<p>The block, however, is not always of the mind and heart. No
+man can help his own face, but it can sometimes be a barrier to
+communication. One commander in European Theater was told
+by his Executive that his subordinates were fearful to approach<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>
+him because of his perpetual scowl. He assembled his officers
+and he said to them: "I have been told that my looks are forbidding.
+The mirror reminds me of that every morning. Years
+ago I was in a grenade explosion, and a consequent eye injury
+and strain have done to me what you have to see every time we
+get together. But if you cannot look beyond the face, and judge
+my disposition by all else that you see of me in our work together,
+you do not yet have the full perception that is commensurate
+with your responsibility."</p>
+
+<p>The too-formal manner, the overrigid attitude, the disposition
+to deal with any human problem by-the-numbers as if it
+were only one more act in organizational routine, can have
+precisely the same chilling effect upon men as came of this
+officer's scowl. Though no man may move wholly out of his
+own nature, a cheerfulness of manner in the doing of work is
+altogether within any individual's capabilities, and is the highest-test
+lubricant of his human relationships.</p>
+
+<p>As a further safeguard against making himself inaccessible,
+the officer needs to make an occasional check on the procedures
+which have been established by his immediate subordinates. At
+all levels of command it is the pet task of those "nearest the
+throne" to think up new ways to keep all hands from "bothering
+the old man." However positive an order to the contrary,
+they will not infrequently contrive to circumvent it, mistakenly
+believing that by this act they save him from himself. Many
+a compassionate commander leads an unwontedly lonely life because
+of the peculiar solicitude of his staff in this matter and
+his own failure to discover what is happening to him. In this
+way the best of intentions may be thwarted. There is no sure
+cure for the evil but personal reconnaissance.</p>
+
+<p>It is never a waste of time for the commander, or for any
+officer, to talk to his people about their personal problems.
+More times than not, the problem will seem small to him, but
+so long as it looms large to the man, it cannot be dismissed
+with a wave of the hand. Ridicule, sarcasm and the brush-off
+are equally inexcusable in any situation where one individual
+takes another into his confidence on any matter which does<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>
+not involve bad faith on the part of the petitioner. Even then,
+if the man imparts that which shows that his own conduct has
+been reprehensible or that he would enlist the support of his
+superior in some unworthy act, it is better to hear him through
+and then skin him, than to treat what he says in the offhand
+manner. An officer will grow in the esteem of his men only as
+he treats their affairs with respect. The policy of patience and
+goodwill pays off tenfold because what happens to one man is
+soon known to the others.</p>
+
+<p>In this particular there has been a radical change within the
+services during the current century, simply because of broader
+understanding of human relationships. In the Old Army, the
+man could get through to his commander only if he could
+satisfy the First Sergeant as to the nature of his business; this
+was a roadblock for the man who either was afraid of the
+First Sergeant, or was loath to let the latter know about his
+affairs. Custom dies hard and this one has not been entirely
+uprooted. But the distance we have traveled toward humanizing
+all command principles is best reflected by the words of
+General Eisenhower in "Command in Europe": "Hundreds of
+broken-hearted fathers, mothers, and sweethearts wrote me personal
+letters begging for some hope that a loved one might still
+be alive, or for additional detail as to the manner of his death.
+Every one of these I answered."</p>
+
+<p>It is not necessary that an officer wet-nurse his men in order
+to serve well in the role of counsel. His door should be open,
+but he does not play the part either of a father confessor or of
+a hotel greeter. Neither great solemnity nor effusiveness are
+called for, but mainly serious attention to the problem, and then
+straight-forward advice or decision, according to the nature
+of the case, <em>and provided that from his own knowledge and
+experience he feels qualified to give it</em>. If not, it is wiser to
+defer than to offer a half-baked opinion. To consider for a
+time, and to seek light from others, whether higher authority
+or one's closer associates, is the sound alternative when there is
+a great deal at stake for the man and the problem is too complex
+for its solution to be readily apparent. The spirit in which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>
+this work should be undertaken is nowhere more clearly indicated
+than in the words of Schuyler D. Hoslett who in his
+book, "Human Factor in Management," said this: "Counseling
+is advising an individual on his problem to the extent that an
+attempt is made to help him understand it so he may carry
+out a plan for its solution. It is a process which stimulates the
+individual's ability for self-direction."</p>
+
+<p>Family affairs, frictions within the organization, personal entanglements
+which prey upon the mind, frustrations and anxieties
+of varying kind, the sense of failure and other nameless
+fears which are rooted deep in the consciousness of nearly every
+individual, are the more general subjects in counseling.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever impairs the man that he wishes to take up with his
+officer becomes ipso facto the officer's rightful business. Equally
+so, on the positive side, when his only desire is to bring forward
+something that he believes would serve the interests of organization,
+he should be heard.</p>
+
+<p>In either case, the perfecting of counsel develops around two
+controlling ideas, stated in the order of their importance: (1)
+what is in the best interests of the unit, and (2) what is for the
+good of the man. In this particular, the officer as counselor is
+rarely in the role of a disinterested party. Unlike the preacher,
+the lawyer, the teacher or the best friend, he has to look beyond
+what is beneficial simply to the spiritual, mental and moral need
+of one individual. There is an abiding necessity to equate the
+personal problem to the whole philosophy within which a
+command operates. <em>To keep in mind that every individual has
+his breaking point is everlastingly important. But to remember
+that the unit is also made of brittle stuff is not less so.</em></p>
+
+<p>When undue personal favors are granted, when precedents
+are set without weighing the possible effects upon all concerned,
+when men are incontinently urged, or even sympathetically
+humored by their superiors toward the taking of a weak personal
+course, the ties of the organization are injured, tension
+within it mounts and the ranks lose respect for the manhood
+of their leaders.</p>
+
+<p>All things are to be viewed in moderation, and with com<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>passion,
+but with a fine balance toward the central purpose. Let
+us take one example. Within a given command, at a particular
+time, leaves have been made so restricted, for command reasons,
+that there must be a showing of genuine urgency. One
+man comes forward and says that he is so sick for the sight of
+home that he can no longer take duty. As certainly as his
+superior tries to facilitate this man's purpose because of fear
+that he will break, the superior will be harassed by other requests
+with no better basis, and if they are not granted, there
+will be general discontent. On the other hand, suppose another
+man comes forward. A wire from home has informed him that
+his mother is dying. If the superior will not go to bat on such
+a case, he will win the deserved contempt of the same men
+who were ready to take advantage of the other opening, but in
+this instance would seek nothing for themselves.</p>
+
+<p>To know the record, the character and the measure of goodwill
+of the subject is all-important in counseling. It puts the
+matter in much too dim a light to say that after the call comes,
+the officer should check up on these points so that he can deal
+knowledgeably with the man. That is his first order of business
+within the unit&mdash;to learn all that he can about the main
+characteristics of his men. This general duty precedes the detail
+work of counseling. Under normal circumstances, no officer is
+likely to have more than 250 men in his immediate charge.
+There are exceptions, but this is broadly the rule. It is by no
+means an excessive task for one individual to learn the names
+and a great part of the history of the men he sees daily, when
+not knowing them means that he has neglected the heart of
+operations.</p>
+
+<p>What the man says of himself, in relation to the problem,
+deserves always to be judged according to his own record. If he
+has proved himself utterly faithful, action can be taken on the
+basis of his word. If he is known to be a corner-cutter and a
+cheat, his case, though listened-to with interest and sympathy,
+needs to be taken with a grain of salt, pending further investigation.</p>
+
+<p>World War II officers had to abide by this standard in deal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>ing
+with the general malaise which arose out of redeployment.
+When a man came forward and said that he couldn't take it
+any more, and the commander knew that he had always been
+a highly dutiful individual, it became the commander's job to
+attempt to get the man home. But when a second man came
+forward with the same story, and the record showed that he had
+always shirked his work, the question was whether he should be
+given the final chance to shirk it again. To favor the first man
+meant furthering discipline; his comrades recognized it as a
+fair deal. To turn back the second man was equally constructive
+to the same end. In a general situation of unique
+pressure, commanders found that these principles worked.</p>
+
+<p>Many of the problems on which men seek advice of their
+officers are of a legal nature; unless an officer is versed in the
+law, the inquiry must be channeled to a qualified source. Other
+problems are of a kind that use should be made of the home
+services of such an organization as the Red Cross. A knowledge
+of the limits beyond which the help of a special office or
+agency must be sought is therefore as important to the officer-consultant
+as an ability to give the man full information about
+the whereabouts and use of these facilities.</p>
+
+<p>The Red Cross is usually an effective agent in checking the
+facts of a home situation and returning the data. But at the end
+of the line where officer and man sit together, its resources for
+helping the individual (when what is needed mainly is advice
+on a human equation) are not likely to be any better than what
+his military superiors can do for him. In any time of crisis, the
+normal human being can draw strength and composure far
+more surely from a person he well knows than from a stranger.</p>
+
+<p>There is this illustration. During World War II, many a man
+overseas got word that his home had been broken up. The
+counselor could talk the thing out with him, learn whether a
+reconciliation was the one most important thing, or whether the
+man was groping his way, looking for a friend who could help
+him see the matter in proportion, and weigh, among other
+things, his duty to himself. The Red Cross could check the
+facts of the home situation. But the man's readjustment de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>pended
+in the main on what was done by those who were
+closest to him.</p>
+
+<p>Sooner or later every commander has to deal with some refraction
+of this kind of problem. When it comes, moralizing and
+generalizing about the weakness of human nature does no good
+whatever. To call the man a fool is as invidious as to waste
+indignation upon the cause of his misfortune. Likewise, any
+frontal approach to the problem, such as telling the man,
+"Here's what you should do," should be shunned, or used most
+sparingly. The more effective attitude can be expressed in these
+words: "If it had happened to me instead of to you, and I
+were in your same situation, here are the things I would consider,
+and here are the points to which I would give greatest
+weight." To tell any subject to brace up and be a man is a
+plain inference that he is not one. To reflect with him on the
+things which manhood requires is the gentle way toward stirring
+his self-respect. So doing, a counselor renews his own character.
+<em>Also worth remembering is that in any man's dark hour, a pat
+on the back and an earnest handclasp may work a small miracle.</em></p>
+
+<p>There is much counseling over the subject of transfer. Herein
+lies an exception to a general rule, for in this case the good of
+the man takes precedence over the good of organization. No
+conscientious officer likes to see a good man depart from his
+organization. Nevertheless, the service is not in competition with
+itself, and it advances as a whole in the measure that all men
+find the niche where they can serve most efficiently, and with
+the greatest satisfaction. There are officers who hold to every
+able subordinate like grim death, seeing no better way to advance
+their personal fortunes. This is a sign of moral weakness,
+not of strength, and its inevitable fruit is discontent within the
+organization. <em>The sign of superiority in any officer, at whatever
+level, is his confidence that he can make another good man to
+fill any vacancy.</em> When it is self-evident that a man can better
+himself and profit the service through transfer, it is contrary to
+all principle to deny him that right. This does not mean that
+the unit's exit door should be kept open, but only that it should
+be ready to yield upon a showing of competent proof. It is not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>
+unusual that when the pressure mounts and war danger rises,
+many a man develops a sudden conviction that he would be
+more useful in a noncombat arm. The officer body itself is not
+unsusceptible to the same temptation. Unless the great majority
+are held to that line of duty which they had accepted in less
+dangerous circumstance, the service would soon cease to have
+fighting integrity. But it makes no point to keep men in a combat
+arm or service who are quite obviously morally and physically
+unequipped for its rigor, and it is equally wasteful to
+deny some other arm or service the use of a specialist whose
+skills fill it particularly. Some of the ablest commanders in our
+service have abided by this rule: They never denied the man
+who had a legitimate reason for transfer, and they never shuffled
+off their lemons and goldbricks under a false label. Though
+seemingly idealistic, the rule is also practical. The time wasted
+in excessive worry over a discard is sometimes better spent by
+concentrating on the value of trumps.</p>
+
+<p>Men tend to seek officer counsel when they feel discriminated
+against by lesser authority. When that happens, it is the duty of
+the officer to get at the facts, and act according to them. Complaints
+against any junior are always unpleasant to hear because
+of their air of intrigue. Tactlessly handled, without due weighing
+of the case from both sides, they turn one blunder into two.
+But no officer is well-advised if he believes that his duty automatically
+is to uphold the arm of a subordinate when the facts
+say that the latter is dead wrong. His duty is to reduce friction
+wherever it is caused by a misuse of power. This implies dealing
+discreetly with the offender instead of directly discountenancing
+him.</p>
+
+<p>There are a few broad, common-sense rules which, when followed,
+will enable any officer to play his part more effectively
+in the counseling of men.</p>
+
+
+<ul>
+<li>Privacy is requisite and the interview should not be held
+at an hour when interruptions are likely.</li>
+
+<li>A listless manner spoils everything, diminishes the force of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>
+reason and discourages confidence.</li>
+
+<li>To put the man at ease immediately by some personal
+gesture is more important than observing forms.</li>
+
+<li>Thereafter the situation is best served by relaxation of
+bearing rather than by tension.</li>
+
+<li>All excess of expression is a failing, but above all in the
+man to whom another looks for guidance.</li>
+
+<li>To listen well is the prelude toward pondering carefully
+and speaking wisely.</li>
+
+<li>No counsel is worthy that has any lower aim than one's own
+ideals of self-respect.</li>
+
+<li>Early enough is well; quickly done can be quickly undone.</li>
+
+<li>To refuse with kindness is more winning than to acquiesce
+ungraciously.</li>
+
+<li>To note another man's mood, and to become congenial to
+it, is the surest way to engage his confidence.</li>
+
+<li>Decisions which are wholly of the heart and not of the
+mind will ultimately do hurt to both places.</li>
+
+<li>No man will talk freely if met by silence, but an intelligent
+question encourages frankness above all else.</li>
+
+<li>When one man loses possession of himself it is the more
+reason that the other should tighten his reserve.</li>
+
+<li>Affectation in one's own manner gives the lie to one's own
+credit and destroys it with others.</li>
+
+<li>To express pity for a man does not serve to restore him
+and put him above pity.</li>
+
+<li>When a man is so burdened by a personal problem that it
+shuts out all else, he must be led to something else.</li>
+
+<li>Imprudent tactics can undo the wisest strategy.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>While these dispositions have particular value in relation to
+the counseling of one's subordinates, they also have some application
+to any situation in which men work and commune together.
+Men at any level do not mistake the touch of sincerity,
+nor fail to mark as unworthy of trust the man who pays only a
+superficial regard to a matter which they deem important.</p>
+
+<p>For the officer already burdened with other duties, counseling
+may seem like a waste of time, and an activity that more properly
+belongs to the chaplain. The wise and understanding "padre"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>
+may sometimes counsel men on their material problems and
+thereby assist the officer who is over troops. But so doing, he is
+committing a trespass unless he acts with the commander's
+knowledge and consent. The commander is the foster father of
+the men in his organization. When he renounces this role, he
+neglects a trust.</p>
+
+<p>That neglect cuts the fighting efficiency of the unit at its
+root. Finally, counseling, like all else in military life, has a
+combat purpose. Other things being equal, the tactical unity of
+men working together in combat will be in ratio to their knowledge
+and sympathetic understanding of each other. Whatever
+the cause, aloofness on the part of the officer can only produce
+a further withdrawal on the part of the man. Finally, the cost
+comes high. In battle, and out of it, the failure to act and to
+communicate is more often due to timidity in the individual
+than to fear of physical danger.</p>
+
+<p>Described in cold type, the counseling process probably appears
+a little sticky. Actually, it is nothing of the sort. For it has
+been going on ever since man became civilized. It is a force in
+all organized human relationships, beginning in infanthood
+and lasting through old age. Because of the nature of a military
+group, and particularly because of the deriving of united
+strength from well-being in each of the component parts, there
+is much more need to regularize it and to qualify all men in a
+knowledge of those things which will enable them to assist a
+fellow in need of help. But in the military society, far more
+than in civil life, confidence is a two-way street. It would be
+almost impossible to express the collective gratitude of tens of
+thousands of lieutenants and ensigns who in times past have
+learned to rely on the friendly counsel of a veteran sergeant or
+petty officer, and have usually gotten it straight from the shoulder,
+<em>but with respect</em>. The breaking-in of most young officers,
+and the acclimating of them to their role in a command system,
+is due, in large measure, to support from this source. Nor are
+senior commanders reluctant to receive moral comfort of this
+same kind in periods of crisis.</p>
+
+<p>When the planes of the First Tokyo Raid under Col. James<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>
+H. Doolittle, crashed among the mountains and along the sea-coast
+of Eastern China, after one of the most valiant strokes in
+our military annals, their commander was among the few who
+had the added misfortune of coming to earth within the Japanese
+lines. By fate's mercy, he just happened to escape by walking
+between the enemy outposts. Farther along, he saw the
+wreck of another of his planes. Then he came to a third; it was
+smashed beyond hope. But its crew had already heard from
+several other parties. They too had lost their B-25's to the fog,
+the night and the crags. Doolittle realized then that everything
+was gone, lives saved yes, but otherwise the expedition was a
+total ruin.</p>
+
+<p>The Commander sat for a long time in the cockpit of the
+wrecked plane, terribly depressed, thinking only of how totally
+he had failed.</p>
+
+<p>At last one of the younger men, Sgt. Paul Leonard walked
+up to him and said: "What's the matter, Colonel?"</p>
+
+<p>Doolittle said: "It couldn't be worse. We've lost everything.
+We've let the country down."</p>
+
+<p>The kid said: "Why, Colonel, you've got this all wrong. You
+have no idea how this looks to the United States. Don't you
+realize that right now they're getting ready to make you a
+general? Why I'll make you a bet they give you the Congressional
+Medal."</p>
+
+<p>Doolittle thanked him. He thought it was a nice thing for
+the boy to say. That kind of loyalty was worth having in a bad
+hour. The boy started to walk away; he could tell that Doolittle
+didn't believe a word of it. Then suddenly he turned and came
+on back.</p>
+
+<p>"Colonel," he said, "I'd like to make a deal with you. Suppose
+I'm right about it and you're wrong. So they give you a star
+and the Congressional Medal. If that happens, will you agree
+to take me with you wherever you go?"</p>
+
+<p>Doolittle made him a solemn promise. Fresh courage came to
+him out of the boy's tremendous earnestness.</p>
+
+<p>And of course the boy was right, and the contract was kept,
+and all things went well until, by a savage irony, Sgt. Leonard<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>
+was killed in the last German raid against Doolittle's headquarters
+in Europe shortly before the war ended.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_TWENTY-SIX" id="CHAPTER_TWENTY-SIX"></a><span class="chapter_number">CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX</span><br /><br />
+
+USING REWARD AND PUNISHMENT</h3>
+
+
+<p>One of the illusions having greatest currency among our
+people is that any green member of the fighting establishment
+is merely an American civilian in a uniform, and that therefore,
+his spirit is nourished to the extent that accommodations and
+usages of the service most nearly duplicate what he has known
+elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>This belief is especially prevalent during wartime when every
+mother's son puts on a new suit; it is natural to think that
+everything in the service will better suit the boy if it smells
+like home. The corollary of this rather quaint idea is that military
+organization is therefore most perfect when it operates in
+the same way as the civil society.</p>
+
+<p>Earlier in this book it has been suggested that these ideas
+need to be questioned on two broad grounds: Do not both of
+them run counter to the facts of encharged responsibility, and
+to human nature itself?</p>
+
+<p>To emphasize it once again, the military officer is not alone
+an administrator: <em>he is a magistrate</em>. There are special powers
+given him by the President. It is within these powers that he
+will sit in judgment on his men and that he may punish them
+when they have been grievously derelict. This dual role makes
+his function radically different from anything encountered in
+civil life&mdash;to say nothing of the singleness of purpose which a
+fighting service is supposed to move forward.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, the military officer is dealing with men who are
+submitted to him in a binding relationship which by its nature
+is not only more compelling but more intimate than anything
+elsewhere in society. As much as the parent in the home, and
+far more than the teacher in the school or the executive in business,
+he is directed to center his effort primarily on the building
+of good character in other individuals.</p>
+
+<p>One need only compare a few points of advantage and dis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>advantage
+to see why a better balanced sense of justice and fair
+play is required of the military officer than of his brother in
+civil life, and why the aim would be far too low if the fighting
+services did not shoot for higher standards of personnel direction
+than are common in the management of American business.
+Here are the points:</p>
+
+
+<ul>
+<li>If any subordinate in the civilian vineyard feels that he is getting a bad
+deal from his boss, and has become the object of unfair discrimination,
+it is his royal American privilege to quit on the spot, be he a policeman,
+a government factotum or a hod carrier. He can then maintain himself
+by carrying his skill into a new shop. But an enlisted member of the
+armed establishment cannot quit summarily, and finally, if his commander
+is just wrong-headed and arbitrary, it can be made almost impossible for
+him to transfer out. However bad his fortune, he's stuck with it.</li>
+
+<li>Nepotism is so general in our business and political life that the people
+who suffer from its effect accept it more or less as the working of nature;
+the results are therefore less destructive of efficiency than they might
+be otherwise. It is common to see the boss's nephew or his son get a good
+spot in the office and then rise like a rocket, even though he is a third-rater.
+And it is not less common to see a straw boss in a factory favor
+the man whom he thinks might grease the wheels for him on the outside.
+But in the armed establishment, favoritism on any grounds, and
+particularly on such treacherous grounds as these, will destroy the foundations
+of work and of control.</li>
+
+<li>The armed establishment has its own body of law. Therein, too, it
+differs from any civilian autonomy except the state itself. The code is
+intended to enable a uniform standard of treatment to all individuals
+in the regulating of all interior affairs. The code is not rigid; its provisions
+are not absolute. It specifies the general nature of offenses against
+society, and special offenses against the good of the service. But, except
+for the more serious offenses, particularly those which by their nature
+also violate the civil code, it does not flatly prescribe trial and punishment.
+Military law, in this respect, has more latitude, and is more congenial,
+than civil law covering minor offenders. Rarely arbitrary in its
+workings, it premises the use of corrective good judgment at all times.
+It regards force as an instrument only to be used for conserving the general
+good of the establishment. The essential power behind the force is something
+spiritual&mdash;the will and conscience of the great majority, expressing
+itself through the action of one or several of their number. Its major
+object is not punishment of the wrong-doer but protection of the interests
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>
+of the dutiful. This view of military law is four-square with the basic
+principle of all action within the armed services&mdash;<em>that in all cases the</em>
+<em>best policy is one which depends for its workings on the sense of duty in</em>
+<em>men toward each other, and thereby strengthens that sense through its</em>
+<em>operations.</em></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>Put in these terms, the attitude of the service toward the
+problem of correction as a means of promoting the welfare of
+the general establishment obviously reposes a tremendous burst
+in the justice and goodwill of the average officer. It would be
+useless to blink the fact. But there is this to be said unalterably
+in favor of the military system's way of handling things: If the
+organization of the whole human family into an orderly unit is
+ever to be made possible, it will be done only because many men,
+of all ages and working at many different levels, develop this
+faculty for passing critical, impartial judgment on the conduct
+and deserts of those whom they lead, instead of regarding it
+as a special kind of wisdom, given only to the few anointed.
+Nor is that all. Not only the knowledge but the sense of duty in
+men is imperfect. In every society are men who will not obey
+the law of their own accord. Unless the authority which receives
+and interprets the law will also impose it, by force if
+necessary, the reign of law soon ceases. Whether an ordered
+society is to exist thus depends upon whether there are citizens
+enough, fixed with a sense of duty, to obey it and to enforce it.</p>
+
+<p>At first glance, the responsibility seems extraordinarily heavy
+and difficult. But with broadening experience, it becomes almost
+second nature to an officer quickly to set a course by
+which to judge individual men in relation to the affairs of organization,
+provided that he has steered all along in the light
+of a few elementary principles.</p>
+
+<p>Concerning reward, and equally with respect to punishments,
+no more pertinent words could be said than those uttered long
+ago by Thomas Carlyle: "What a reflection it is that we cannot
+bestow on an unworthy man any particle of our benevolence,
+our patronage or whatever resource is ours&mdash;without withdrawing
+it, and all that will grow out of it, from one worthy, to
+whom it of right belongs! We cannot, I say; impossible; it is
+the eternal law of things."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>He said a number of important things in this one brief paragraph.
+There is first the thought that when any reward, such
+as a promotion, a commendation or a particularly choice assignment
+is given other than to the man who deserves it on sheer
+merit, some other man is robbed and the ties of organization
+are weakened.</p>
+
+<p>Next, there is this proposition: if, in the dispensing of punishment,
+undue leniency is extended to an individual who has
+already proved that he merits no special consideration, in the
+next round a bum rap will be given some lesser offender who is
+morally deserving of a real chance. The Italians have an epigram:
+"The first time a dog bites a man, it's the dog's fault;
+the second time, it's the man's fault."</p>
+
+<p>According to Carlyle, these things have the strength of a
+natural law. Nor is it necessary to take his word for it. Any
+wise and experienced military administrator will say approximately
+the same thing and will tell of some of the bad examples
+he has met along his way.... The commander who was afraid
+to punish anybody and by his indecision punished everybody....
+The lieutenant who had such a bad conscience about his
+own weak handling of a bad case of indiscipline that he threw
+the book at the next offender and thereby spoiled a good man
+and gained the ill will of the company.... The old timer who
+smarted under excessive punishment for a trivial offense, broke
+under it, got into worse trouble, and became a felon.... The
+officer who promoted his pets instead of his good men and at
+last found that there were no good men left.... The skipper who
+condoned a small case of insolence until it swelled into a
+mutiny.... The fool who handled every case alike, as if he were
+an animal trainer instead of a builder of human character ...
+and so on, ad infinitum. It is a long and sorry list, but the
+overwhelming majority of dutiful executives in the armed services
+avoid these stupid blunders by following a Golden Rule
+policy toward their men.</p>
+
+<p>If lack of obedience is the most frequent cause of service men
+being brought on the carpet, then as obedience is a moral
+quality, so should punishment be employed as a moral act, its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>
+prime purpose being to nourish and foster obedience. Before
+meting punishment, it is necessary to judge a man, and judgment
+means to think over, to compare, to weigh probable effects
+on the man and on the command, and to give the offender
+the benefit of any reasonable doubt. Before any punishment is
+given, the questions must be faced: "What good will it achieve?"
+If the answer is none, then punishment is not in order. Punishment
+of a vindictive nature is a crime; when it is given uselessly,
+or handed out in a strictly routine manner, it is an immoral act.</p>
+
+<p>But when punishment has to be awarded, the case must be
+handled promptly, and its issue must be stated incisively, so that
+there is no room for doubt that the officer is certain about his
+judgments. Men know when they are in the wrong, and even
+when it works to their disadvantage, they will feel increased
+respect toward the officer who knows what should be done, and
+states it without hemming and hawing. The showing of firmness
+is the first requirement in this kind of action. It is as foolish
+to go back on a punishment as to threaten it and not follow
+through. The officer who is always running around threatening
+to court martial his subordinates is merely avowing his own
+weakness, and crying that he has lost all of his moral means.
+Even the dullest men do not mistake vehemence and abuse
+for signs of strength.</p>
+
+<p>To punish a body of men, for offenses committed by two or
+three of their number, even though the offense is obnoxious and
+it is impossible to put the finger on the culprits, is the act of
+a sadist, and is no more excusable within military organization
+than in civilian society. Any officer who resorts to this stupid
+practice will forfeit the loyalty of the best men in his command.
+There is no reason why it should be otherwise.</p>
+
+<p>As a general rule, it is a serious error to reprimand a subordinate
+in the presence of any other person, because of the unnecessary
+hurt to his pride. But circumstances moderate the
+rule. If the offense for which he is being reprimanded involves
+injury of any sort to some other person, or persons, it may be
+wholly proper to apply the treatment in their presence. For example,
+the bully or the smart-aleck who wantonly humiliates<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>
+his own subordinates is not entitled to have his own feelings
+spared. However, in the presence of his own superior, an officer
+is always ill-advised to administer oral punishment to one of
+his own juniors, since the effect is to destroy confidence both up
+and down the line.</p>
+
+<p>It is always the duty of an officer to intervene, toward the
+protection of his own men against any manifest injustice, whatever
+its source. In fact, this trust is so implicit that he should be
+ready to risk his professional reputation upon it, when he is
+convinced beyond doubt that the man is being unfairly assailed,
+or that due process is not being followed. Both higher authority
+and civil authority occasionally overreach; an officer stands as
+a shield protecting his men against unfair treatment from any
+quarter. <em>But it is decidedly not his duty to attempt to cheat
+law or thwart justice for the sake of his men simply because
+they are his men.</em> His job, as Shakespeare puts it, is "to unmask
+falsehood and bring truth to light, to wrong the wronger till
+he render right."</p>
+
+<p>Finally, the best policy on punishments is to eliminate the
+frictions which are the cause of most transgressions. When a
+ship is happy, men do their duty. Scarcely anything will cross
+them up more quickly than to see rewards given with an uneven
+hand. Even the stinker who has no ambition but to duck work
+can recognize a deserving man, and will burn if that man is
+bypassed in favor of a bootlicker or some other lightweight.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing is more vain than to give a promotion, or any reward,
+in the hope, or on the promise, that the character who
+receives it will hit the sawdust trail and suddenly reform.</p>
+
+<p>Duty is the only sure proving ground. Men, like motors,
+should be judged on their all-around performance. There is no
+other way to generate the steady pull over the long grind.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_TWENTY-SEVEN" id="CHAPTER_TWENTY-SEVEN"></a><span class="chapter_number">CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN</span><br /><br />
+
+FITTING MEN TO JOBS</h3>
+
+
+<p>In civilian society, what amounts to a cult has developed
+around the idea that the average person has a natural bent for
+some particular job or profession, which if thwarted will
+fill him with those frustrations which are conceded to be the
+cause of most of the mental and moral disorders of mankind.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore if all men could become rightly placed, we would
+have Utopia tomorrow.</p>
+
+<p>This theory of what humanity mainly cries for is perforce
+rejected by the military establishment, for several eminently
+practical as well as ideal reasons.</p>
+
+<p>It discounts man, his plastic and impressionable nature, his
+response to all that goes on around him and his marked ability
+to adjust to any environment. He is not like a bolt fitted into a
+hole by a riveter, nor merely clay in the hands of the potter.
+What he becomes is mainly of his own making.</p>
+
+<p>Further, the theory does not meet the needs of the situation,
+since in the services, as elsewhere, there are not enough better
+holes to go around, and no man is ready to say that he is good
+for nothing but life as a file-closer.</p>
+
+<p>But the last and main reason why the theory is no good is
+that it doesn't square with human experience. A narrow classification
+system invites the danger of overspecialization and lessens
+the team play which is so indispensable to all military
+enterprise. It is possible for the machine to break down totally
+from lack of interchangeability in its parts.</p>
+
+<p>We learn much from war, but some of the most obvious lessons
+are disregarded. One of the things that it should teach us
+is the tremendous adaptability of the average intelligent man, his
+ability to take hold of work altogether remote from any prior
+experience, master it, and find satisfaction in it, provided he is
+given help and encouragement by those who already know.</p>
+
+<p>This is the great phenomenon of war&mdash;greater than the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>
+atomic bomb or supersonic flight. Former bookkeepers emerge
+as demolitions men. Divinity students become pharmacist's
+mates. School teachers operate tanks. Writing men turn into
+navigators. Woodsmen become lecturers. Longshoremen specialize
+in tactics. And all goes well.</p>
+
+<p>Then when it is all over, and everyone gets back in his
+well-worn groove, the social scientists explain that these miracles
+occurred because under the stimulus of great fear and excitement
+which attends a period of national emergency, individuals
+will sublimate their main drives, and adjust temporarily to what
+would be otherwise an onerous personal difficulty. Sheer poppycock!
+Normal men do not feel pressed by fear simply because a
+state of war exists; their chief emotions change scarcely at all.
+These transformations occur only because the man had the
+potential all along, and with someone backing him up <em>and giving
+him the feeling of success</em>, his incentives became equal, at
+least, to anything he had known in his peacetime occupation.</p>
+
+<p>That is the long-and-short of it. If our average man couldn't
+become a jack of many trades, and a master of several, the
+United States would never be able to meet a major war emergency.</p>
+
+<p>For these reasons, service concepts of how men should be
+fitted to jobs do not develop around the simple notion that it
+is all a matter of putting a square peg in a square hole&mdash;which
+is the one best way to deny the peg any room for expansion.
+The doctrine is that <em>men are many sided, that they learn their
+own powers and likes through experiment, that they are entitled
+to find what is best for them, and that having found it, their
+satisfactions will still derive mainly from intelligent and interested
+treatment by their superiors</em>.</p>
+
+<p>Every officer arrives sooner or later at the point where he
+has a direct hand in the placement of men. By way of preparation
+for that responsibility he should do two things mainly&mdash;learn
+all that he can from his superiors about its technical
+aspects, and in his own thinking, concentrate on principles to
+the exclusion of detail.</p>
+
+<p>The fundamental purpose of all training today is to develop<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>
+the natural faculties and stimulate the brain of the individual
+rather than to treat him as a cog which has to be fitted into a
+great machine.</p>
+
+<p>The true purpose of <em>all</em> rules covering the conduct of warfare
+and all regulations pertaining to the conduct of its individuals
+is to bring about order in the fighting machine rather than to
+strangle the mind of the man who reads them.</p>
+
+<p>Thus in the assignment of men to work within any military
+organization, no amount of perfection in the analysis of skills
+and aptitudes can compensate for carelessness in their subsequent
+administration. The uniformed ranks are not mechanics,
+storekeepers and clerks primarily, but fighting men. This makes
+a difference. The optimum over-all results do not come from
+the care exercised in seeing that every man is placed at exactly
+the right job but from the concern taken that in whatever job
+he fills, he will feel that he is supported and that his efforts are
+appreciated. There is scarcely a good man who has served long
+within the profession without filling a half-dozen roles requiring
+vastly different skills. And looking back, what would the
+average one say about it? Not that he was happiest where the
+nature of the task best suited his hand, but happiest where his
+relations with his superiors gave him the greatest sense of accomplishment.</p>
+
+<p>That is the human nature of the equation. We can let the
+economist argue that what a man puts into a job is largely
+dependent on what he takes out of it. And we can let the
+philosopher answer him that the fault in his proposition is that
+he has turned it the wrong way 'round. Regardless of which
+man has put the cart before the horse, there are two basic
+truths which outweigh the merits of the argument.</p>
+
+<p>First. <em>All human progress has come of the willingness of a
+man at a particular time to undertake a job which no one had
+ever done before.</em></p>
+
+<p>Second. <em>The main reward of any job is the knowledge that
+worthwhile work has been accomplished.</em></p>
+
+<p>This last may sound like a corny maxim, but it's true. The
+reason maxims become corny is because they're true.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>Despite all of the present-day emphasis on paycheck security
+as the mainspring of human action, the far stronger force which
+moves man as a social being is his desire for a secure place in the
+respect and affections of his associates, including his chief or
+his employer. Gary Cooper, playing in "The Cowboy and the
+Lady," used the line, "I aims, ma'm, to be high-regarded."
+Except for the few wrong-headed people, he was speaking for
+the whole human family.</p>
+
+<p>The man who can get along without wanting or needing
+words of approval from other people is fit for a cell by himself,
+either padded or barred.</p>
+
+<p>Loyalty in the masses of men waxes strong in the degree
+that they are made to believe that real importance is attached
+to their work and to their ability to think about their work. It
+weakens at every point where they consider that there is a negative
+respect for their intelligence; the dignity in any work is not
+inherent in the job itself but in the attitude of others toward
+it. Cabinet ministers, college presidents and industrial magnates
+will quit their jobs when they feel they no longer have the
+confidence of those to whom they are responsible. That experience
+is as demoralizing to great men as to the mine-run.
+Equally, the feeling of compensation which comes with any
+token of recognition is one of those touches of human nature
+which make all men akin. If men of genius and good works did
+not find Nobel prizes and honorary college degrees highly gratifying,
+this custom would have faded long ago. It is as rewarding
+to them to be called good at their job as it was to the
+New Jersey street sweeper who pushed his broom so diligently
+that he swept halfway into the next town before discovering
+his mistake.</p>
+
+<p>The far inferences of these things should be reasonably clear
+to every officer of the fighting establishment. It makes little
+difference whether a man is digging a ditch or is working up a
+loading table for an invasion: what he thinks about his work
+will depend in large measure upon the attitude of his superiors.
+He will develop no great conviction about what he is doing
+except as it is transmitted to him. <em>The fundamental cause of any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>
+breakdown of morale and discipline within the armed service
+usually comes of this, that a commander or his subordinates
+transgress by treating men as if they were children or serfs
+instead of showing respect for their adulthood.</em></p>
+
+<p>The requirements of modern war are such that we certainly
+do not want to turn out one man exactly like another, or turn
+the majority into mechanical men, capable of one set function.
+But the rule applies to officers as well as men. The greater
+freedom which is needed has nothing to do with social behavior
+or privilege. It is the freedom to think boldly and originally for
+the common good, for, to quote Kant again: "What one learns
+the most fixedly and remembers the best is what one learns
+more or less by oneself."</p>
+
+<p>Thus in the matter of sizing up men, judging of their capacities
+and trying to get them rightly placed, the need is not a
+formula, since no formula will work. It is only by keeping
+principles uppermost in our thoughts that the greatest measure
+of common sense will prevail in our actions. That is what is
+needed, rather than clairvoyant powers, or a master's degree in
+psychology, if the service officer is to handle personnel efficiently.
+There are no great wizards in this field: there are only men
+who know more about the human nature of the problem than
+others because they have had a zest for meeting humanity and
+have built a text out of what others have told them.</p>
+
+<p>The job begins by the search for data on the individual&mdash;all
+of the data that may be obtained. It goes on from that to
+sitting down with the subject, getting him to open up and talk
+freely about himself, what he has done, what he would like to
+do with his life, and his reasons for so feeling, et cetera. But the
+information from all sources has to be balanced against one's
+impression of the outer man, not just what he says but how he
+talks, the degree of his attentiveness, his bearing, his eye, his
+self-control. The decision is made on the basis of all these
+reckonings. This is common sense in action, and the only alternatives
+to it are to act upon a hunch or purely emotional
+grounds; one might, with better reason, determine another man's
+fortune by the flip of a coin.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>Let's see briefly how the method works out in practice.</p>
+
+<p>If the record shows that a man is a bad speller, careless
+about punctuation, not interested in writing, non-experienced
+at clerkship, and something of a rough diamond in his nature,
+he would be a bad bet for the administrative side, or in supply
+work, or in a communications role, though with a little polishing,
+and provided that he seems self-assured and is what we
+would call a "likeable" man, he might become a capital leader
+of a tactical group.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, the man who says he had tried in vain
+to develop a manual skill, but has always been clumsy with his
+hands, and is supported in what he says by the records of his
+service, isn't necessarily excluded from becoming a good weapons
+or demolitions man, if he seems strong in body and nerve,
+though he would hardly do for a mechanic's berth, or a carpenter's
+assistant or as a radio repairman. Weapons and demolitions
+require strength, carefulness and good sense rather than
+great dexterity.</p>
+
+<p>Take the man who is uncommunicative, or morose or unusually
+shy. From the day that he starts his service, his superiors
+should do their best to help him to change his ways; these ingrown
+men are roadblocks to group cooperation. But if he does
+not pick up and become outgiving, he hasn't the quality of a
+junior leader and there is no point in wasting space by sending
+him to any school or course out of which it would be expected
+that duties as an instructor would devolve upon him.</p>
+
+<p>However, there is one word of extreme caution on this point.
+For as long as 6 months after entering service, some men are
+under abnormal constraint because they are in a new element,
+and feel a little frightened inside. Whether this is the case is to
+be judged best by getting full information on the man. If the
+record shows that he had led his class in college, managed an
+athletic team, headed a debating team in high school, been the
+main wheel in a boy's club or a Scout troop, or led any kind of
+group, this is to be taken as a sign that the potential is there
+and that he is a sleeper. The most common error made in the
+services is that we are prone to underscore that a man was a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>
+lieutenant in a cadet company while taking no note of the file
+who had greater prestige in other activities because of his
+natural qualities as a leader.</p>
+
+<p>These are only a few average samples of personnel handling,
+and of elementary reasoning. As Mother Goose might say, if the
+list had been longer, the case still wouldn't have been stronger.
+Far more profitably, we can dig a little deeper into the subject
+of principles.</p>
+
+<p>In two senses, every decision as to the placing of men in the
+armed service is a moral decision, and therein it differs from
+average civilian responsibility. What is best for the man has
+always to be measured against the ultimate security and fighting
+objects of the establishment.</p>
+
+<p>For example, it is dead wrong, even in time of peace, to
+commit tactical leadership to the hands of the man whose
+moral force clearly falls short of what is required on the field
+of war, no matter how congenial he may be. And it is just as
+wrong to let a blabbermouth work his way into security channels,
+even though the hour is such that he can do no immediate
+harm.</p>
+
+<p>What importance should be attached to a man's estimate of
+his own capabilities? It is always pertinent, but it is by no
+means decisive. This is so for two reasons, the first being that the
+majority of men tend to over-sell themselves on the thing they
+like to do, and the second, that very few men know their own
+dimensions. Almost consciously, men resist the thing that they
+do not know, because of premonitory fears of failure. When the
+Armored Force School was first organized in 1941, a private
+from a unit stationed in Georgia was arbitrarily assigned to take
+the radio course. He protested, saying that he did not like
+anything about the field and therefore had no talent for it. But
+his commander sent him along. Within 1 week after arriving
+at Fort Knox, he was operating at a faster rate than any man
+in the history of the Army. Every service could tell stories
+of this kind; they are not miracles; they are regular features of
+the daily show.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time, the man who volunteers for a particular<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>
+line of duty&mdash;especially if it is a hard duty&mdash;already has
+one mark in his favor. The fact that he wants to do it is one-half
+of success. Before turning him down, there must be a substantially
+clear showing that he lacks the main qualifications.
+It must be a <em>compelling</em> reason, rather than the overweening
+excuse that it is more convenient to keep him where he is. In
+any case, he should be thanked for coming forward, and earmarked
+as a good prospect for the next likely opening.</p>
+
+<p>There is a slack saying in the services that "the good man
+never volunteers." That is an outright canard. The best men
+still do.</p>
+
+<p>In job placement, mistakes are inevitable. Any authority in
+this work will say so. Every experienced man who has had
+conspicuous success in picking the right men, and in getting
+scores of individuals started up the right ladder, will also shudder
+a little as he recalls his particularly atrocious blunders.
+Outward appearances are so greatly deceiving! The prior estimates
+placed on men are so frequently highly colored or outright
+dishonest!</p>
+
+<p>As to the making of mistakes, it is just not enough to comment
+that they have value, provided one has sufficient breadth
+to learn from hard experience. What is vastly more important is
+that the mistake, once made, will not be needlessly compounded.
+That is a normal, human temptation. The attitude, "I don't
+care if he is a chump; he's my chump," has nothing in its favor.
+Yet it becomes a point of pride in some men that they will
+not admit their judgments are fallible. Consequently, having
+chosen the wrong man for a given responsibility, they will sustain
+him there, come hell or high water, rather than make
+public acknowledgement of error.</p>
+
+<p>With what result? Mainly this, that for the sake of the point,
+they win, with it, the contempt of their other subordinates.
+For there is something very childish about this form of weakness,
+though it is a failing not unknown in many men otherwise
+qualified for high responsibility. To put it plainly, <em>no man</em>
+has the moral right to suffer this upon any organization he is
+professing to serve.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>The advice of one's subordinates, as to the placement and
+promotion of men with whom they are in close contact, is
+not to be followed undeviatingly. Men play favorites: they will
+sometimes back an individual for no better reason than that
+they "like the guy." Too, each small group leader, even the
+best one, will work to advance the interests of his own men,
+because so doing is part of his own buildup. Unless decisions
+are made from a central point of view, the subordinate who
+talks the most convincingly will get an extra portion of favor
+for his men, and jealousies will wrack the organization.</p>
+
+<p>There is one last point. No officer can progress in fitting men
+to jobs except as he becomes better informed about job requirements.
+This is an essential part of his education. There is
+no administrative technique which is separate and apart from
+knowledge of how basic work is performed in the fields which
+have to be administered. A great many officers resist this truth,
+but it is nonetheless valid.</p>
+
+<p>What is eternally surprising in the fighting services is how
+the aggressive questing for knowledge continues to pay large
+dividends, and leads, in the average case, to a general forgiveness
+of one's little sins and vices.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_TWENTY-EIGHT" id="CHAPTER_TWENTY-EIGHT"></a><span class="chapter_number">CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT</span><br /><br />
+
+AMERICANS IN COMBAT</h3>
+
+
+<p>The command and control of men in combat <em>can</em> be mastered
+by the junior leaders of American forces short of actual
+experience under enemy fire.</p>
+
+<p>It is altogether possible for a young officer his first time in
+battle to be in total possession of his faculties and moving by
+instinct to do the right thing, provided that he has made the
+most of his training opportunities.</p>
+
+<p>Exercise in the maneuvering of men is only an elementary
+introduction to this educational process. The basic requirement
+is a continuing study, first of the nature of men, second
+of the techniques which produce unified action, and last, of the
+history of past operations, which are covered by an abundant
+literature.</p>
+
+<p>Provided always that this collateral study is sedulously carried
+forward by the individual officer, at least 90 percent of all
+that is given him during the training period becomes applicable
+to his personal action and his power to lead other men when
+under fire.</p>
+
+<p>Each service has its separate character. The fighting problem
+of each differs in some measure from those of all others. In the
+nature of things, the task of successfully leading men in battle
+is partly conditioned by the unique character and mission of
+each service.</p>
+
+<p>It would therefore be gratuitous, and indeed impossible, to
+attempt to outline a doctrine which would be of general application,
+stipulating methods, techniques, etc., which would apply
+to all Americans in combat, no matter in what element they
+engaged.</p>
+
+<p>There are, however, a few simple and fundamental propositions
+to which the Armed Services subscribe in saying to the
+officer corps what may be expected of the average man of the
+United States under the conditions of battle. Generally speak<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span>ing,
+they have held true of Americans in times past from Lexington
+to Okinawa. The fighting establishment builds its discipline,
+training, code of conduct and public policy around
+these ideas, believing that what served yesterday will also be
+the one best way tomorrow, and for so long as our traditions
+and our system of freedoms survive. These propositions are:</p>
+
+<p class="proposition">I</p>
+
+<p>When led with courage and intelligence, an American will
+fight as willingly and as efficiently as any fighter in world
+history.</p>
+
+<p class="proposition">II</p>
+
+<p>His keenness and endurance in war will be in proportion to
+the zeal and inspiration of his leadership.</p>
+
+<p class="proposition">III</p>
+
+<p>He is resourceful and imaginative, and the best results will
+always flow from encouraging him to use his brain along with
+his spirit.</p>
+
+<p class="proposition">IV</p>
+
+<p>Under combat conditions he will reserve his greatest loyalty
+for the officer who is most resourceful in the tactical employment
+of his forces and most careful to avoid unnecessary losses.</p>
+
+<p class="proposition">V</p>
+
+<p>He is to a certain extent machine-bound because the nature
+of our civilization has made him so. In an emergency, he tends
+to look around for a motor car, a radio or some other gadget
+that will facilitate his purpose, instead of thinking about using
+his muscle power toward the given end. In combat, this is a
+weakness which thwarts contact and limits communications.
+Therefore it needs to be anticipated and guarded against.</p>
+
+<p class="proposition">VI</p>
+
+<p>War does not require that the American be brutalized or
+bullied in any measure whatever. His need is an alert mind and
+a toughened body. Hate and bloodlust are not the attributes of
+a sound training under the American system. To develop clearly
+a line of duty is sufficient to point Americans toward the
+doing of it.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span></p>
+<p class="proposition">VII</p>
+
+<p>Except on a Hollywood lot, there is no such thing as an
+American fighter "type." Our best men come in all colors,
+shapes, and sizes. They appear from every section of the Nation,
+including the territories.</p>
+
+<p class="proposition">VIII</p>
+
+<p>Presupposing soundness in their officer leadership, the majority
+of Americans in any group or unit can be depended upon
+to fight loyally and obediently, and will give a good account of
+themselves.</p>
+
+<p class="proposition">IX</p>
+
+<p>In battle, Americans do not tend to fluctuate between emotional
+extremes, in complete dejection one day and in exultation
+the next, according to changes in the situation. They continue,
+on the whole, on a fairly even keel, when the going is tough
+and when things are breaking their way. Even when heavily
+shocked by battle losses, they tend to bound back quickly.
+Though their griping is incessant, their natural outlook is on
+the optimistic side, and they react unfavorably to the officer
+who looks eternally on the dark side.</p>
+
+<p class="proposition">X</p>
+
+<p>During battle, American officers are not expected either to
+drive their men or to be forever in the van, as if praying to be
+shot. So long as they are with their men, taking the same
+chances as their men, and showing a firm grasp of the situation
+and of the line of action which should be followed, the
+men will go forward.</p>
+
+<p class="proposition">XI</p>
+
+<p>In any situation of extreme pressure, or moral exhaustion,
+where men cannot otherwise be rallied and led forward, officers
+are expected to do the actual physical act of leading, such as
+performing as first scout, or point, even though this means
+taking over what normally would be an enlisted man's function.</p>
+
+<p class="proposition">XII</p>
+
+<p>The normal, gregarious American is not at his best when
+playing a lone-handed or tactically isolated part in battle. He is
+not a kamikaze or a one-man torpedo. Consequently, the best<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>
+tactical results obtain from those dispositions and methods which
+link the power of one man to that of another. Men who feel
+strange with their unit, having been carelessly received by it,
+and indifferently handled, will rarely, if ever, fight strongly and
+courageously. But if treated with common decency and respect,
+they will perform like men.</p>
+
+<p class="proposition">XIII</p>
+
+<p>Within our school of military thought, higher authority does
+not consider itself infallible. Either in combat or out, in any
+situation where a majority of militarily-trained Americans become
+undutiful, that is sufficient reason for higher authority to
+resurvey its own judgments, disciplines and line of action.</p>
+
+<p class="proposition">XIV</p>
+
+<p>To lie to American troops to cover up a blunder in combat
+rarely serves any valid purpose. They have a good sense of combat
+and an uncanny instinct for ferreting out the truth when
+anything goes wrong tactically. They will excuse mistakes but
+they will not forgive being treated like children.</p>
+
+<p class="proposition">XV</p>
+
+<p>When spit-and-polish are laid on so heavily that they become
+onerous, and the ranks cannot see any legitimate connection
+between the requirements and the development of an attitude
+which will serve a clear fighting purpose, it is to be questioned
+that the exactions serve any good object whatever.</p>
+
+<p class="proposition">XVI</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, because standards of discipline and courtesy
+are designed for the express purpose of furthering control
+under the extraordinary frictions and pressures of the battlefield,
+their maintenance under combat conditions is as necessary
+as during training. Smartness and respect are the marks of
+military alertness, no matter how trying the circumstances. But
+courtesy starts at the top, in the dealing of any officer with his
+subordinates, and in his decent regard for their loyalty, intelligence,
+and manhood.</p>
+
+<p class="proposition">XVII</p>
+
+<p>Though Americans enjoy relatively a bountiful, and even
+luxurious standard of living in their home environment, they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>
+do not have to be pampered, spoon-fed and surfeited with
+every comfort and convenience to keep them steadfast and
+devoted, once war comes. They are by nature rugged men, and
+in the field will respond most perfectly when called on to play
+a rugged part. Soft handling will soften even the best men.
+But even the weak man will develop a new vigor and confidence
+in the face of necessary hardship, if moved by a leadership
+which is courageously making the best of a bad situation.</p>
+
+<p class="proposition">XVIII</p>
+
+<p>Extravagance and wastefulness is somewhat rooted in the
+American character, because of our mode of life. When our
+men enter military service, there is a strong holdover of their
+prodigal civilian habits. Even under fighting conditions, they
+tend to be wasteful of drinking water, food, munitionment and
+other vital supply. When such things are made <em>too</em> accessible,
+they tend to throw them away, rather than to conserve them in
+the general interests. This is a distinct weakness during combat,
+when conservation of all supply is the touchstone of success.
+The regulating of all supply, and the preventing of waste in any
+form, is the prime obligation of every officer.</p>
+
+<p class="proposition">XIX</p>
+
+<p>Under the conditions of battle, any extra work, exercise,
+maneuver or <em>marching which does not serve a clear and direct
+operational purpose</em> is unjustifiable. The supreme object is to
+keep men as physically fresh and mentally alert as possible.
+Tired men take fright and are half-whipped before the battle
+opens. Worn-out officers cannot make clear decisions. The conservation
+of men's powers, not the exhaustion thereof, is the
+way of successful operation.</p>
+
+<p class="proposition">XX</p>
+
+<p>When forces are committed to combat, it is vital that not
+one unnecessary pound be put on any man's back. Lightness of
+foot is the key to speed of movement and the increase of firepower.
+In judging of these things, every officer's thought should
+be on the optimistic side. It is better to take the chance that
+men will manage to get by on a little less than to overload them,
+through an over-cautious reckoning of every possible contin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>gency,
+thereby destroying their power to do anything effectively.</p>
+
+<p class="proposition">XXI</p>
+
+<p>Even a thorough training and long practice in weapons handling
+will not always insure that a majority of men will use their
+weapons freely and consistently when engaging the enemy. This
+is particularly true of Americans. In youth they are taught that
+the taking of human life is wrong. This feeling is deep-rooted
+in their emotions. Many of them cannot shake it off when the
+hour comes that their own lives are in danger. They fail to
+fire, though they do not know exactly why. In war, firing at an
+enemy target can be made a habit. Once required to make the
+start, because he is given personal and intelligent direction, any
+man will find it easier to fire the second and third time, and
+soon thereafter his response will become automatic in any tactical
+situation. When engaging the enemy, the most decisive task
+of all junior leaders is to make certain that <em>all</em> men along the
+line are employing their weapons, even if this means spending
+some time with each man and directing his fire. Reconnaissance
+and inspection toward this end, particularly in the early stages
+of initial engagement, are far more important than the employment
+of weapons by junior leaders themselves, since this latter
+tends to distract their attention from what the men are doing.</p>
+
+<p class="proposition">XXII</p>
+
+<p>Unity of action develops from fullness of information. In
+combat, all ranks have to know what is being done, and why
+it is being done, if confusion is to be kept to a minimum. This
+holds true in all types of operation, whatever the service.
+However, a surfeit of information clouds the mind and may
+sometimes depress the spirit. We can take one example. A commander
+might be confronted by a complex situation, and his
+solution may comprise a continuing operation in three distinct
+phases. It would be advisable that all hands be told the complete
+detail of "phase A." But it might be equally sensible that
+only his subordinates who are closest to him be made fully informed
+about "phase B," and "phase C." All plans in combat
+are subject to modification as circumstances dictate; this be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span>ing
+the case, it is better not to muddle men by filling their minds
+with a seeming conflict in ideas. More important still, if the
+grand object seems too vast and formidable, even the first step
+toward it may appear doubly difficult. Fullness of information
+does not void the other principle that one thing at a time,
+carefully organized all down the line, is the surest way.</p>
+
+<p class="proposition">XXIII</p>
+
+<p>There is no excuse for malingering or cowardice during battle.
+It is the task of leadership to stop it, by whatever means would
+seem to be the surest cure, always making certain that in so
+doing it will not make a bad matter worse.</p>
+
+<p class="proposition">XXIV</p>
+
+<p>The Armed Services recognize that there are occasional individuals
+whose nervous and spiritual makeup may be such that,
+though they erode rapidly and may suffer complete breakdown
+under combat conditions, they still may be wholly loyal and
+conscientious men, capable of doing high duty elsewhere. Men
+are not alike. In some, however willing the spirit, the flesh may
+still be weak. To punish, degrade or in any way humiliate such
+men is not more cruel than ignorant. When the good faith of
+any individual has been repeatedly demonstrated in his earlier
+service, he deserves the benefit of the doubt from his superior,
+pending study of his case by medical authority. But if the man
+has been a bad actor consistently, his officer is warranted in
+proceeding on the assumption that his combat failure is just
+one more grave moral dereliction. To fail to take proper action
+against such a man can only work unusual hardship on the
+majority trying to do duty.</p>
+
+<p class="proposition">XXV</p>
+
+<p>The United States abides by the laws of war. Its armed forces,
+in their dealing with all other peoples, are expected to comply
+with the laws of war, in the spirit and to the letter. In waging
+war, we do not terrorize helpless non-combatants, if it is within
+our power to avoid so doing. Wanton killing, torture, cruelty or
+the working of unusual and unnecessary hardship on enemy
+prisoners or populations is not justified in any circumstance.
+Likewise, respect for the reign of law, <em>as that term is under<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>stood
+in the United States</em>, is expected to follow the flag wherever
+it goes. Pillaging, looting and other excesses are as unmoral
+where Americans are operating under military law as when they
+are living together under the civil code. None the less, some
+men in the American services will loot and destroy property,
+unless they are restrained by fear of punishment. War looses
+violence and disorder; it inflames passions and makes it relatively
+easy for the individual to get away with unlawful actions.
+But it does not lessen the gravity of his offense or make it less
+necessary that constituted authority put him down. The main
+safeguard against lawlessness and hooliganism in any armed body
+is the integrity of its officers. When men know that their commander
+is absolutely opposed to such excesses, and will take
+forceful action to repress any breach of discipline, they will conform.
+But when an officer winks at any depradation by his men,
+it is no different than if he had committed the act.</p>
+
+<p class="proposition">XXVI</p>
+
+<p>On the field of sport Americans always "talk it up" to keep
+nerves steady and to generate confidence. The need is even
+greater on the field of war, and the same treatment will have
+no less effect. When men are afraid, they go silent; silence of
+itself further intensifies their fear. The resumption of speech is
+the beginning of thoughtful, collected action, for self-evidently,
+two or more men cannot join strength and work intelligently
+together until they know one another's thoughts. <em>Consequently,
+all training is an exercise in getting men to open up and become
+articulate even as it is a process in conditioning them physically
+to move strongly and together.</em></p>
+
+<p class="proposition">XXVII</p>
+
+<p>Inspection is more important in the face of the enemy than
+during training because a fouled piece may mean a lost battle,
+an overlooked sick man may infect a fortress and a mislaid
+message can cost a war. In virtue of his position, every junior
+leader is an inspector, and the obligation to make certain that
+his force at all times is inspection proof is unremitting.</p>
+
+<p class="proposition">XXVIII</p>
+
+<p>In battle crisis, a majority of Americans present will respond<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>
+to any man who has the will and the brains to give them a clear,
+intelligent order. They will follow the lowest-ranking man present
+if he obviously knows what he is doing and is morally the
+master of the situation, but they will not obey a chuckle-head
+if he has nothing in his favor but his rank.</p>
+
+<p class="proposition">XXIX</p>
+
+<p>In any action in which the several services are joined, any
+American officer may expect the same measure of respect from
+the ranks of any other service as from his own, provided he
+conducts himself with a dignity and manner becoming an
+American officer.</p>
+
+<p>For all officers, due reflection on these points, relating to the
+character of our men in war, is not more important than a
+continuing study of how they may be applied to all aspects of
+training, toward the end that we may further strengthen our
+own system. This is the grand object in all military studies.
+That service is most perfect which best holds itself, at all times
+and at all levels, in a state of readiness to move against and
+destroy any declared enemy of the United States.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="APPENDIX_ONE" id="APPENDIX_ONE"></a><span class="chapter_number">APPENDIX ONE</span><br /><br />
+
+RECOMMENDED READING</h3>
+
+
+<div id="appendix">
+<p class="author">Army Historical Division&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Okinawa: The Last Battle, 1949.<br />
+Omaha Beachhead, 1946.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">H. H. Arnold&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Global Mission, 1949.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Basil Bartlett&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">My First War, 1941.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">William Liscum Borden&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">There Will Be No Time, 1946.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">David L. Brainard&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">The Outpost of the Lost, 1929.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Bernard Brodie&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">A Guide to Navy Strategy, 1944.<br />
+The Absolute Weapon, 1946.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Vannevar Bush&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Modern Arms and Free Men, 1949.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Winston S. Churchill&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">The World Crisis, 1931.<br />
+The Unknown War, 1931.<br />
+The River War, 1933.<br />
+Marlborough: His Life and Times, 1933&ndash;35.<br />
+A Roving Commission, 1939.<br />
+The Second World War, 1948&mdash;.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Hugh M. Cole&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">The Lorraine Campaign, 1950.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">W. F. Craven and J. L. Cate&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">The Army Air Forces in World War II, 1948&mdash;.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Edward S. Creasy&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Decisive Battles of the World, 1862.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">James P. S. Devereux&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">The Story of Wake Island, 1947.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Giulio Douhet&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Command of the Air, 1927.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Clifford Dowdey&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Experiment in Rebellion, 1946.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Theodore Draper&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">The Six Weeks' War, 1944.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Dwight D. Eisenhower&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Crusade in Europe, 1948.<br />
+Report by the Supreme Commander, 1946.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">George Fielding Eliot&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">The Ramparts We Watch, 1938.<br />
+If Russia Strikes, 1949.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Charles W. Elliott&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Winfield Scott, 1937.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Cyril Falls&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">The Nature of Modern Warfare, 1941.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>Ferdinand Foch&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">The Principles of Warfare, 1913.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">J. F. C. Fuller&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Decisive Battles, 1940.<br />
+The Generalship of Ulysses S. Grant, 1929.<br />
+Armament and History, 1946.<br />
+The Second World War, 1948.<br />
+Armored Warfare, 1943.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Douglas F. Freeman&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">R. E. Lee, 1934.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">William A. Ganoe&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">History of the United States Army, 1942.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">James M. Gavin&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Airborne Warfare, 1947.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Joseph I. Greene&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">The Living Thoughts of Clausewitz, 1943.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Russell Grenfell&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">The Bismarck Episode, 1949.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">U. S. Grant&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Personal Memoirs, 1885.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Augustin Guillaume&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Soviet Arms and Soviet Power, 1949.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Francis de Guingand&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Operation Victory, 1947.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">W. F. Halsey&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Admiral Halsey's Story, 1947.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Gordon A. Harrison&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">The Cross-Channel Attack, 1950.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">B. H. Liddell Hart&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Sherman, 1934.<br />
+The Future of Infantry, 1934.<br />
+The German Generals Talk, 1949.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">G. F. R. Henderson&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War, 1898.<br />
+The Science of War, 1905.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Pendleton Herring&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">The Impact of War, 1941.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">R. D. Heinl, Jr.&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">The Defense of Wake, 1947.<br />
+Marines at Midway, 1948.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">John Hersey&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Into the Valley, 1943.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Russell Hill&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Desert War, 1942.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Max von Hoffmann&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">The War of Lost Opportunities, 1925.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Ralph Ingersoll&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">The Battle Is the Pay-Off, 1943.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Douglas Wilson Johnson&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Topography and Strategy in the War, 1917.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Melvin M. Johnson and Charles T. Haven&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Automatic Arms, 1941.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Walter Karig, Russell L. Harris and Frank A. Manson&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Battle Report, 1944&ndash;1949.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">George C. Kenney&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">General Kenney Reports, 1949.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Roger Keyes&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Naval Memoirs, 1933.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>Alexiei Kuropatkin&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">The Russian Army and the Japanese War, 1909.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Lee J. Levert&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Fundamentals of Naval Warfare, 1947.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Bert Levy&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Guerilla Warfare, 1942.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Charles B. MacDonald&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Company Commander, 1947.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">A. T. Mahan&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Influence of Seapower Upon History.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">George McMillan&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">The Old Breed, 1949.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">George C. Marshall&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">General Marshall's Report, 1946.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">S. L. A. Marshall&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Island Victory, 1944.<br />
+Bastogne: The First Eight Days, 1946.<br />
+Men Against Fire, 1948.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Giffard Martel&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">An Outspoken Soldier, 1944.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Walter Millis&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">The Last Phase, 1946.<br />
+This Is Pearl, 1947.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">John Miller, Jr.&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Guadalcanal: The First Offensive, 1949.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Drew Middleton&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Our Share of Night, 1946.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Samuel Taylor Moore&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">America and the World War, 1937.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Samuel Eliot Morison&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">History of United States Naval Operations in World War II (14 vols.), 1947&mdash;.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">W. F. P. Napier&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">History of the War in the Peninsula (6 vols.) 1828.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">James R. Newman&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">The Tools of War, 1942.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Frederick Palmer&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">America in France, 1921.<br />
+John J. Pershing, 1921.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">George S. Patton, Jr.&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">War As I Knew It, 1947.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Thomas R. Phillips&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Roots of Strategy, 1940.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Frederick Pile&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Ack-Ack, 1949.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Fletcher Pratt&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Ordeal by Fire, 1935.<br />
+Road to Empire, 1939.<br />
+The Marine's War, 1948.<br />
+Navy: A History.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Leonard Rapport and Arthur Northwood&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Rendezvous With Destiny, 1948.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Roland Ruppenthal&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Utah Beach to Cherbourg, 1947.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">W. T. Sherman&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Memoirs, 1886.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Robert E. Sherwood&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Roosevelt and Hopkins, 1948.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>Milton Shulman&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Defeat in the West, 1948.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Holland M. Smith&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Coral and Brass, 1949.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">E. L. Spears&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Liaison 1914, 1930.<br />
+Prelude to Victory, 1939.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Joseph W. Stilwell&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">The Stilwell Papers, 1948.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Alfred Vagts&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">The History of Militarism, 1937.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Yorck von Wartenburg&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Napoleon as a General.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Archibald Wavell&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Allenby, 1941.<br />
+Generals and Generalship, 1941.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">John W. Wheeler Bennett&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">The Forgotten Peace, 1939.<br />
+Munich: Prologue to Tragedy, 1948.</p>
+
+<p class="break"></p>
+<p class="author">Kenneth P. Williams&mdash;</p>
+<p class="book">Lincoln Finds a General, 1949.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ARMED FORCES OFFICER***</p>
+<p>******* This file should be named 25482-h.txt or 25482-h.zip *******</p>
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Armed Forces Officer, by U. S. Department
+of Defense
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+Title: The Armed Forces Officer
+       Department of the Army Pamphlet 600-2
+
+
+Author: U. S. Department of Defense
+
+
+
+Release Date: May 15, 2008  [eBook #25482]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
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+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ARMED FORCES OFFICER***
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+
+THE ARMED FORCES OFFICER
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Department of Defense
+
+United States
+Government Printing Office
+Washington: 1950
+
+
+
+
+OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
+
+WASHINGTON
+
+
+                                                       _November 1950_
+
+_This manual on leadership has been prepared for use by the Department
+of Army, the Department of Navy, and the Department of Air Force, and
+is published for the information and guidance of all concerned._
+
+                            [Illustration: (Signature) G. C. Marshall]
+
+
+
+
+                                                DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
+                                  WASHINGTON 25, D. C., _20 June 1956_
+
+Department of the Army Pamphlet 600-2, The Armed Forces Officer, is
+issued for the use of all concerned.
+
+By Order of _Wilber M. Brucker_, Secretary of the Army:
+
+                                                    MAXWELL D. TAYLOR,
+                                         _General, United States Army,
+                                                      Chief of Staff._
+
+Official:
+
+    JOHN A. KLEIN,
+    _Major General, United States Army,
+    The Adjutant General._
+
+
+
+
+THE
+ARMED FORCES
+OFFICER
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+    CHAPTER                                                       PAGE
+
+         I. THE MEANING OF YOUR COMMISSION                           1
+
+        II. FORMING MILITARY IDEALS                                 14
+
+       III. RESPONSIBILITY AND PRIVILEGE                            25
+
+        IV. PLANNING YOUR CAREER                                    32
+
+         V. RANK AND PRECEDENCE                                     41
+
+        VI. CUSTOMS AND COURTESIES                                  50
+
+       VII. KEEPING YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER                             63
+
+      VIII. GETTING ALONG WITH PEOPLE                               69
+
+        IX. LEADERS AND LEADERSHIP                                  79
+
+         X. MAINSPRINGS OF LEADERSHIP                               93
+
+        XI. HUMAN NATURE                                            99
+
+       XII. GROUP NATURE                                           110
+
+      XIII. ENVIRONMENT                                            121
+
+       XIV. THE MISSION                                            131
+
+        XV. DISCIPLINE                                             139
+
+       XVI. MORALE                                                 147
+
+      XVII. ESPRIT                                                 158
+
+     XVIII. KNOWING YOUR JOB                                       166
+
+       XIX. KNOWLEDGE OF YOUR MEN                                  176
+
+        XX. WRITING AND SPEAKING                                   182
+
+       XXI. THE ART OF INSTRUCTION                                 196
+
+      XXII. YOUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH YOUR MEN                       206
+
+     XXIII. YOUR MEN'S MORAL AND PHYSICAL WELFARE                  213
+
+      XXIV. KEEPING YOUR MEN INFORMED                              222
+
+       XXV. COUNSELING YOUR MEN                                    228
+
+      XXVI. USING REWARD AND PUNISHMENT                            240
+
+     XXVII. FITTING MEN TO JOBS                                    246
+
+    XXVIII. AMERICANS IN COMBAT                                    255
+
+   APPENDIX
+
+         I. RECOMMENDED READING                                    264
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE
+
+THE MEANING OF YOUR COMMISSION
+
+
+Upon being commissioned in the Armed Services of the United States, a
+man incurs a lasting obligation to cherish and protect his country and
+to develop within himself that capacity and reserve strength which
+will enable him to serve its arms and the welfare of his fellow
+Americans with increasing wisdom, diligence, and patriotic conviction.
+
+This is the meaning of his commission. It is not modified by any
+reason of assignment while in the service, nor is the obligation
+lessened on the day an officer puts the uniform aside and returns to
+civil life. Having been specially chosen by the United States to
+sustain the dignity and integrity of its sovereign power, an officer
+is expected so to maintain himself, and so to exert his influence for
+so long as he may live, that he will be recognized as a worthy symbol
+of all that is best in the national character.
+
+In this sense the trust imposed in the highest military commander in
+the land is not more than what is encharged the newest ensign or
+second lieutenant. Nor is it less. It is the fact of commission which
+gives special distinction to the man and in turn requires that the
+measure of his devotion to the service of his country be distinctive,
+as compared with the charge laid upon the average citizen.
+
+In the beginning, a man takes an oath to uphold his country's
+Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic, to bear true
+faith and allegiance, and to discharge well and faithfully the duties
+of office. He does this without any mental reservation.
+
+Thereafter he is given a paper which says that because the President
+as a representative of the people of this country reposes "special
+trust and confidence" in his "patriotism, valor, fidelity, and
+abilities," he is forthwith commissioned.
+
+By these tokens, the Nation also becomes a party to the contract, and
+will faithfully keep its bond with the man. While he continues to
+serve honorably, it will sustain him and will clothe him with its
+dignity. That it has vouched for him gives him a felicitous status in
+our society. The device he wears, his insignia, and even his garments
+identify him directly with the power of the United States. The living
+standards of himself and of his family are underwritten by Federal
+statute. Should he become ill, the Nation will care for him. Should he
+be disabled, it will stand as his guardian through life. Should he
+seek to advance himself through higher studies, it will open the way.
+
+Other than the officer corps, there is no group within our society
+toward which the obligation of the Nation is more fully expressed.
+Even so, other Americans regard this fact with pride, rather than with
+envy. They accept the principle that some unusual advantage should
+attend exceptional and unremitting responsibility. Whatever path an
+American officer may walk, he enjoys prestige. Though little is known
+of his intrinsic merit, he will be given the respect of his fellow
+citizens, unless he proves himself utterly undeserving.
+
+This national esteem for the corps is one of the priceless assets of
+American security. The services themselves so recognize it. That they
+place such strong emphasis upon the importance of personal honor among
+officers is because they know that the future of our arms and the
+well-being of our people depend upon a constant renewing and
+strengthening of public faith in the virtue of the corps. Were this to
+languish, the Nation would be loath to commit its sons to any military
+endeavor, no matter how grave the emergency.
+
+The works of goodwill by which those who lead the national military
+forces endeavor to win the unreserved trust of the American people is
+one of the chief preservatives of the American system of freedoms. The
+character of the corps is in a most direct sense a final safeguard of
+the character of the Nation.
+
+To these thoughts any officer who is morally deserving of his
+commission would freely subscribe. He will look beyond the letter of
+his obligation and will accept in his own heart the total implications
+of his new responsibility.
+
+So doing, he still might see fit to ask: "But to what do I turn my
+thoughts? How do I hold myself so that while following the line of
+duty, I will also exemplify those ideals which may inspire other men
+to make their best effort?"
+
+It is suggested that there is a one-word key to the answer among the
+four lofty qualities which are cited on every man's commission.
+
+That word is _Fidelity_.
+
+As for patriotism, either a man loves his country or else he would not
+seek commission at its hands, unless he be completely the rascal,
+pretending to serve in order to destroy.
+
+Valor, on the other hand, can not be fully vouchsafed, since it is not
+given to any man to know the nature and depth of his personal courage.
+
+Abilities vary from man to man, and are partly what heredity and
+environment have made them. If nature had not imposed a ceiling, mere
+striving would make every man a genius.
+
+But Fidelity is the derivative of personal decision. It is the jewel
+within reach of every man who has the will to possess it.
+
+Given an officer corps composed throughout of men who would make the
+eternal try toward bettering their professional capacities and
+furthering the working efficiency and harmony within all forces, the
+United States would become thrice-armed though not producing one new
+weapon in its arsenals.
+
+Great faith, rightness of mind, influence over other men, and finally,
+personal success and satisfaction come of service to the ideals of the
+profession. Were these strengths reflected throughout the officer
+body, it could well happen that because of the shining example, the
+American people would become more deeply conscious of the need to keep
+their own fibers strong than has been their disposition throughout
+history.
+
+Accepting these truths as valid, a man still must know where he stands
+before making a true reckoning of his line of advance. This entails
+some consideration of himself (_a_) as to the personal standard which
+is required of him because of his position in relation to all others
+(_b_) as to the reasons in common sense which make this requirement,
+and (_c_) as to the principles and philosophy which will enable him to
+play his part well.
+
+The military officer is considered a gentleman, not because Congress
+wills it, nor because it has been the custom of people in all times to
+afford him that courtesy, but specifically because nothing less than a
+gentleman is truly suited for his particular set of responsibilities.
+
+This is not simply a bit of self-adulation; it is distinctly the
+American tradition in the matter. The Nation has never attempted to
+draw its officers from a particular class. During World War II,
+thousands of men were commissioned in our forces who had enjoyed
+little opportunity in their earlier environments. They were sound men
+by nature. They had courage. They could set a good example. They could
+rally other men around them. In the eyes of the services, these things
+count more than any man's blood lines. We say with Voltaire, "Whoever
+serves his country well has no need of ancestors."
+
+On the other hand, from the time of the Colonies, this country has
+despised press gangs, floggings, martinetism, and all of the other Old
+World military practices which demeaned the rank and file. Its
+military system was founded on the dignity of man, just as was its
+Constitution. The system has sought ever since to advance itself by
+appealing to the higher nature of the individual. That is why its
+officers need to be gentlemen. To call forth great loyalty in other
+people and to harness it to any noble undertaking, one must first be
+sensible of their finer instincts and feelings. Certainly these things
+at least are among the gentle qualities which are desired in every
+military officer of the United States:
+
+    1. Strong belief in human rights.
+
+    2. Respect for the dignity of every other person.
+
+    3. The Golden Rule attitude toward one's daily associates.
+
+    4. An abiding interest in all aspects of human welfare.
+
+    5. A willingness to deal with every man as considerately as if he
+    were a blood relative.
+
+These qualities are the epitome of strength, not of softness. They
+mark the man who is capable of pursuing a great purpose consistently
+in spite of temptations. He who possesses them will all the more
+surely be regarded as a "man among men." Take any crowd of new
+recruits! The greater number of them during their first few days in
+service will use more profanity and obscenity, talk more about women
+and boast more about drinking than they have ever done in their lives,
+because of the mistaken idea that this is the quick way to get a
+reputation for being hard-boiled. But at the same time, the one or two
+men among them who stay decent, talk moderately and walk the line of
+duty will uniquely receive the infinite respect of the others. It
+never fails to happen!
+
+There is the other matter about how a man should feel toward his own
+profession. Simply to accept the fact that the bearing of arms is a
+highly honorable calling because the book says so should not suffice
+one's own interest in the matter, when a little personal reflection
+will reveal wherein the honor resides.
+
+To every officer who has thought earnestly about the business, it is
+at once apparent that civilization, as men have known it since the
+time of the Greek City States, has rested as a pyramid upon a base of
+organized military power. Moreover, the general possibility of world
+cultural progress in the foreseeable future has no other conceivable
+foundation. For any military man to deny, on any ground whatever, the
+role which his profession has played in the establishment of
+everything which is well-ordered in our society, shows only a faulty
+understanding of history. It made possible the birth of the American
+system of freedoms. Later, it gave the nation a new birth and
+vouchsafed a more perfect union.
+
+Likewise, we need to see the case in its present terms. One may abhor
+war fully, despise militarism absolutely, deplore all of the impulses
+in human nature which make armed force necessary, and still agree that
+for the world as we know it, the main hope is that "peace-loving
+nations can be made obviously capable of defeating nations which are
+willing to wage aggressive war." Those words, by the way, were not
+said by a warrior, but by the eminent pacifist, Bertrand Russell. It
+does not make the military man any less the humanitarian that he
+accepts this reality, that he faces toward the chance forthrightly,
+and that he believes that if all military power were stricken
+tomorrow, men would revert to a state of anarchy and there would ensue
+the total defeat of the forces which are trying to establish peace and
+brotherly love in our lives.
+
+The complete identity of American military forces with the character
+of the people comes of this indivisibility of interest. To think of
+the military as a guardian class apart, like Lynkeus "born for vision,
+ordained for watching," rather than as a strong right arm, corporately
+joined to the body and sharing its every function, is historically
+false and politically inaccurate. It is not unusual, however, for
+those whose task it is to interpret the trend of opinion to take the
+line that "the military" are thinking one way and "the people" quite
+another on some particular issue, as if to imply that the two are
+quite separate and of different nature. This is usually false in
+detail, and always false in general. It not only discounts the objects
+of their unity but overlooks the truth of its origins.
+
+Maybe they should be invited to go to the root of the word. The true
+meaning of "populus," from which we get the word "people," was in the
+time of ancient Rome the "armed body." The pure-blooded Roman in the
+days of the Republic could not conceive of a citizen who was not a
+warrior. It was the arms which a Roman's possession of land enabled
+him to get that qualified him to participate in the affairs of state.
+He had no political rights until he had fought. _He was not of the
+people; they were of him!_ Nor is this concept alien to the ideals on
+which the Founding Fathers built the American system, since they
+stated it as the right and duty of every able-bodied citizen to bear
+arms.
+
+These propositions should mean much to every American who has chosen
+the military profession. A main point is that on becoming an officer a
+man does not renounce any part of his fundamental character as an
+American citizen. He has simply signed on for the post graduate course
+where one learns how to exercise authority in accordance with the
+spirit of liberty. The nature of his trusteeship has been subtly
+expressed by an Admiral in our service: "The American philosophy
+places the individual above the state. It distrusts personal power and
+coercion. It denies the existence of indispensable men. It asserts the
+supremacy of principle."
+
+An understanding of American principles of life and growth, and
+personal zeal in upholding them, is the bedrock of sound leading in
+our services. Moral and emotional stability are expected of an
+American officer; he can usually satisfy his superiors if he attains
+to this equilibrium. But he is not likely to satisfy himself unless he
+can also achieve that maturity of character which expresses itself in
+the ability to make decisions in detachment of spirit from that which
+is pleasant or unpleasant to him personally, in the desire to hold
+onto things not by grasping them but by understanding them and
+remembering them, and in learning to covet only that which may be
+rightfully possessed.
+
+An occasional man has become wealthy while in the services by making
+wise investments, through writings, by skill at invention, or through
+some other means. But he is the exception. The majority have no such
+prospect. Indeed, if love of money were the mainspring of all American
+action, the officer corps long since would have disintegrated. But it
+is well said that the only truly happy people on earth are those who
+are indifferent to money because they have some positive purpose which
+forecloses it. Than the service, there is no other environment which
+is more conducive to the leading of the full life by the individual
+who is ready to accept the word of the philosopher that the only
+security on earth is the willingness to accept insecurity as an
+inevitable part of living. Once an officer has made this passage into
+maturity, and is at peace with himself because the service means more
+to him than all else, he will find kinship with the great body of his
+brothers-in-arms. The highest possible consequence can develop from
+the feelings of men mutually inspired by some great endeavor and
+moving forward together according to the principle that only those who
+are willing to serve are fit to lead. Completely immersed in action,
+they have no time for smallness in speech, thought or deed. It is for
+these reasons that those who in times past have excelled in the
+leadership of American forces have invariably been great Americans
+first and superior officers second. The rule applies at all levels.
+The lieutenant who is not moved at the thought that he is serving his
+country is unlikely to do an intelligent job of directing other men.
+He will come apart at the seams whenever the going grows tough. Until
+men accept this thought freely, and apply it to their personal action,
+it is not possible for them to go forward together strongly. In the
+words of Lionel Curtis: "The only force that unites men is conscience,
+a varying capacity in most of them to put the interests of other
+people before their own."
+
+The services are accustomed to being hammered. Like other human
+institutions, they are imperfect. Therefore the criticisms are not
+always unjust. Further, there is no more reason why the services
+should be immune to attack than any other organic part of our society
+and government.
+
+The service officer is charged only to take a lively interest in all
+such discussions. He has no more right to condemn the service unfairly
+than has any other American. On the other hand he is not expected to
+be an intellectual eunuch, oblivious to all of the faults in the
+institution to which he gives his loyalty. To the contrary, the nature
+of that loyalty requires that he will use his force toward the
+righting of those things which reason convinces him are going wrong,
+though making certain that his action will not do more damage than
+repair.
+
+His ultimate commanding loyalty at all times is to his country, and
+not to his service or his superior. He owes it to his country to speak
+the truth as he sees it. This implies a steadying judgment as to when
+it should be spoken, and to whom it should be addressed. A truth need
+not only be well-rounded, but the utterance of it should be cognizant
+of the stresses and objectives of the hour. Truth becomes falsehood
+unless it has the strength of perspective. The presentation of facts
+is self-justifying only when the facts are developed in their true
+proportion.
+
+Where there is public criticism of the services, in matters both large
+and small, the service officer has the right and the duty of
+intervention only toward the end of making possible that all criticism
+will be well-informed. That right can not be properly exercised when
+there is nothing behind it but a defense of professional pride. The
+duty can be well performed when the officer knows not only his
+subject--the mechanism itself--but the history and philosophy of the
+armed services in their relation to the development of the American
+system. Criticism from the outside is essential to service well-being,
+for as Confucius said, oftentimes men in the game are blind to what
+the lookers on see clearly.
+
+The value of any officer's opinion of any military question can never
+be any greater than the extent and accuracy of his information. His
+ability to dispose public thought favorably toward the service will
+depend upon the wisdom of his words rather than upon his military rank
+and other credentials. A false idea will come upon a bad fate even
+though it has the backing of the highest authority.
+
+Only men of informed mind and unprejudiced expression can strengthen
+the claim of the services on the affections of the American people.
+
+This is, of itself, a major objective for the officer corps, since our
+public has little studious interest in military affairs, tends ever to
+discount the vitality of the military role in the progress and
+prosperity of the nation and regards the security problem as one of
+the less pleasant and abnormal burdens on an otherwise orderly
+existence.
+
+It is an explicable contradiction of the American birthright that to
+some of our people the military establishment is at best a necessary
+evil, and military service is an extraordinary hardship rather than an
+inherent obligation. Yet these illusions are rooted deep in the
+American tradition, though it is a fact to be noted not without hope
+that we are growing wiser as we move along. In the years which
+followed the American Revolution, the new union of States tried to
+eliminate military forces altogether. There was vast confusion of
+thought as to what freedom required for its own survival. Thomas
+Jefferson, one of the great architects of democracy, and still
+renowned for his "isolationist" sentiments, wrote the warning: "We
+must train and classify the whole of our male citizens, and make
+military instruction a regular part of collegiate education. We can
+never be safe until this is done."
+
+None the less, the hour came when the standing Army was reduced to 80
+men. None the less, the quaint notion has survived that an enlightened
+interest in military affairs is somehow undemocratic. And none the
+less, recurring war has invariably found the United States
+inadequately prepared for the defense of its own territory.
+
+Because there has been a holdover of these mistaken sentiments right
+down to the present, there persists in many military officers a
+defensive attitude toward their own profession which has no practical
+relation to the strength of the ground on which they are enabled to
+stand. Toward any unfair and flippant criticism of the "military mind"
+they react with resentment, instead of with buoyant proof that their
+own minds are more plastic and more receptive to national ideals than
+those of any other profession. Where they should approach all problems
+of the national security with the zeal of the missionary, seeking and
+giving light, they treat this subject as if it were a private game
+preserve.
+
+It suffices to say of this minority that they are a barnacle on the
+hull of an otherwise staunch vessel. From such limited concepts of
+personal responsibility, there can not fail to develop a foreshortened
+view of the dignity of the task at hand. The note of apology is
+injected at the wrong time; the tone of belligerency is used when it
+serves no purpose. When someone arises within the halls of government
+to say that the military establishment is "uneconomic" because it cuts
+no bricks, bales no hay and produces nothing which can be vended in
+the market places, it is not unusual to hear some military men concur
+in this strange notion. That acquiescence is wholly unbecoming.
+
+The physician is not slurred as belonging to a nonproductive
+profession because he contributes only to the care and healing of the
+body, and through these things to the general well-being of society.
+Respect for formal education, organized religion and all of the
+enterprises built up around the dissemination of ideas is not the less
+because the resultant benefit to society is not always tangible and
+saleable. Hence to say that that without which society could not
+endure in its present form is "uneconomic" is to make the word itself
+altogether meaningless.
+
+In that inner power of courage and conviction which stems from the
+spiritual integrity of the individual, lies the strength of democracy.
+As to their ability to produce toward these ends, the military
+services can stand on the record. When shortly after World War II, a
+census was taken among the returned men, 60 percent said that they had
+been _morally strengthened_ by their military service in the American
+uniform. About 30 percent had no opinion or felt that military life
+had not changed them one way or the other. An insignificant minority
+considered themselves damaged. This is an amazing testimony in light
+of the fact that only a small fraction of American youth is schooled
+to believe that any spiritual good can come of military service. As to
+what it signifies, those who take a wholly materialistic view of the
+objects of the Republic are entitled to call the military
+establishment "uneconomic." The services will continue to hold with
+the idea that strong nationhood comes not of the making of gadgets but
+of the building of character.
+
+Men beget goodwill in other men by giving it. They develop courage in
+their following mainly as a reflection of the courage which they show
+in their own action. These two qualities of mind and heart are of the
+essence of sound officership. One is of little avail without the
+other, and either helps to sustain the other. As to which is the
+stronger force in its impact upon the masses of men, no truth is more
+certain than the words once written by William James: "Evident though
+the shortcomings of a man may be, if he is ready to give up his life
+for a cause, we forgive him everything. However inferior he may be to
+ourselves in other respects, if we cling to life while he throws it
+away like a flower, we bow to his superiority."
+
+Theodore Roosevelt once said that if he had a son who refrained from
+any worthwhile action because of the fear of hurt to himself, he would
+disown him. Soon after his return to civilian life, Gen. Dwight D.
+Eisenhower spoke of the worthwhileness of "living dangerously." An
+officer of the United States armed forces can not go far wrong if he
+holds with these ideas. It is not the suitable profession for those
+who believe only in digging-in and nursing a soft snap until death
+comes at a ripe old age. Who risks nothing gains nothing.
+
+Nor should there be any room in it for professional smugness, small
+jealousies, and undue concern about privilege.
+
+The regular recognizes as his peer and comrade the officer from any of
+the civilian components. That he is a professional does not give him
+an especial eminence, but simply a greater measure of responsibility
+for the success of the total establishment. Moreover, he can not
+afford to be patronizing, without risking self-embarrassment, such is
+the vast experience which many reservists have had on the active field
+of war.
+
+Toward services other than his own, any officer is expected to have
+both a comradely feeling and an imaginative interest. Any Army officer
+is a better man for having studied the works of Admiral Mahan and
+familiarized himself with the modern Navy from first-hand experience.
+Those who lead sea-going forces can enlarge their own capacities by
+knowing more, rather than less, about the nature of the air and ground
+establishments. The submariner can always learn something useful to
+his own work by mingling with airmen; the airman becomes a better
+officer as he grows in qualified knowledge of ground and sea fighting.
+
+But the fact remains that the services are not alike, that no wit of
+man can make them alike, and that the retention by each of its
+separate character, customs and confidence is essential to the
+conserving of our national military power. Unification has not altered
+this basic proposition. The first requirement of a unified
+establishment is moral soundness in each of the integral parts,
+without which there can be no soundness at all. And on the question of
+fundamental loyalty, the officer who loves every other service just as
+much as his own will have just as much active virtue as the man who
+loves other women as much as his own wife.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO
+
+FORMING MILITARY IDEALS
+
+
+Any stranger making a survey of what Americans are and how they get
+that way would probably see it as a paradox that within the armed
+establishment the inculcation of ideals is considered the most vital
+of all teaching, while in our gentler and less rigid institutions,
+there is steadily less emphasis on this subject.
+
+He would be entitled to the explanation that it is not so done because
+this has always been the way of Armies, Navies, and other fighting
+forces, or because it is universal in the military establishments of
+the twentieth century, but because nothing else would better suffice
+the American military system under present conditions.
+
+There are two main reasons why.
+
+The first is that we are an altogether unregimented people, with a
+strong belief in the virtues of rugged individualism and in the right
+of the average man to go along about as he pleases, so long as he does
+not do actual injury to society. Voluntary group cooperation rather
+than absolute group loyalty, developing from a strong spiritual bond,
+is the basic technic of Americans in their average rounds. It is
+enough to satisfy the social, political and economic needs of a
+democracy, but in its military parts, it would be fatally weak. There
+would be no possibility of achieving an all-compelling unity under
+conditions of utmost pressure if no man felt any higher call to action
+than what was put upon him by purely material considerations.
+
+Military ideals are therefore, as related to this purpose, mainly an
+instrument of national survival. But not altogether so, since in the
+measure that they influence the personal life and conduct of millions
+of men who move in and out of the services, they have a regenerative
+effect upon the spiritual fiber of the Nation as a whole.
+
+There is the second and equally important reason that, whereas wars
+have sometimes been fought for ideal causes, as witness the American
+Revolution and Civil War, war itself is never ideal, and the character
+of our people is such as to insist that from our side, its brutalities
+be minimized. The barbarian who kills for killing's sake and who
+scorns the laws of war at any point is repugnant to the instincts of
+our people, under whatever flag he fights. If we did not have some men
+of this type among us, our penitentiaries would not be filled. The
+ravages which they might commit when all of the barriers are down on
+the battlefield can be prevented only when forces as a whole believe
+that armed power, while not ideal in itself, must be made to serve
+ideal ends.
+
+To speak of ethics in the same breath with war may seem like sheer
+cant and hypocrisy. But in the possibility that those who best
+understand the use and nature of armed power may excel all others in
+stimulating that higher morality which may some day restrain war lies
+a main chance for the future. The Armed Services of the United States
+do not simply do lip service to such institutions as United Nations.
+They encourage their people to take a deep personal interest in every
+legitimate activity aimed to bulwark world peace. But while doing
+this, they keep their powder dry.
+
+Military ideals are not different than the ideals which make any man
+sound in himself, and in his relation to others. They are called
+military ideals only because the proving ground is a little more
+rugged in the service than elsewhere. But they are all founded in hard
+military experience; they did not find expression because some Admiral
+got it in his head one day to set an unattainable goal for his men, or
+because some General wished to turn a pious face toward the public,
+professing that his men were aspiring to greater virtue than anything
+the public knew.
+
+The military way is a long, hard road, and it makes extraordinary
+requirements of every individual. In war, particularly, it puts
+stresses upon men such as they have not known elsewhere, and the
+temptation to "get out from under" would be irresistible if their
+spirits had not been tempered to the ordeal. If nothing but fear of
+punishments were depended upon to hold men to the line during extreme
+trial, the result would be wholesale mutiny and a situation altogether
+beyond the control of leadership. So it must be true that _it is out
+of the impact of ideals mainly that men develop the strength to face
+situations from which it would be normal to run away_.
+
+Also, during the normal routine of peace, members of the Armed
+Services are expected to respond to situations that are more
+extensive, more complex, and take longer to reach fulfillment than the
+situations to which the majority of men instinctively respond. Even
+the length of the enlistment period looks like a slow march up a
+60-mile grade. Promotion is slow, duty frequently monotonous. It is
+all too easy for the individual to worry about his own insignificance
+and to feel that he has become lost in the crowd. Under these
+conditions a man may go altogether bad, or simply get lazy and rock
+with the grain. But nothing except a strong belief in the ideals he is
+serving will make him respond to the larger situation and give it his
+best effort. Ideals have the intensely practical end of strengthening
+men for the better discharge of duties which devolve upon them in
+their day-to-day affairs.
+
+What is the main test of human character? Probably it is this: that a
+man will know how to be patient in the midst of hard circumstance, and
+can continue to be personally effective while living through whatever
+discouragements beset him and his companions. Moreover, that is what
+every truly civilized man would want in himself during the calmer
+moments when he compares critically what he is inside with what he
+would like to be. That is specifically the reason why the promulgation
+of military ideals is initially a problem in the first person,
+singular. The Armed Services have in one sense a narrow motive in
+turning the thoughts of younger leaders toward a belief in ideals.
+They know that this is a lubricant in the machinery of organization
+and the best way to sweeten the lives of men working together in a
+group toward some worthwhile purpose. But there is also a higher
+object. All experience has taught that it is likewise the best way to
+give the individual man a solid foundation for living successfully
+amid the facts of existence, irrespective of his situation. The
+military system of the United States is not committed to grinding out
+warriors _per se_, but to the training of men in such manner that they
+will be able to play a better part anywhere, and will find greater
+satisfactions in what they do. All the time, when the service seeks to
+emphasize to its ranks what is the "right thing to do," it is speaking
+of that course of conduct which in the long run is most necessary and
+useful to the individual.
+
+As to what one man should seek in himself, in order to be four-square
+with his own life and all others who are related to his personal
+situation, it is simple enough to formulate it, and to describe what
+constitutes maturity of character. In fact, that can be done without
+mentioning the words "patriotism" and "courage", which traditionally
+and rightly are viewed as the very highest of the military virtues.
+
+No man is truly fit for officership unless in the inner recess of his
+being he can go along with the toast known to every American
+schoolboy: "My country, in her intercourse with other nations may she
+always be in the right! But right or wrong, my country!" And he will
+never do a really good job of supporting her standards if, when the
+clutch comes, he is lacking in intestinal fortitude.
+
+But there is this to be said about the nature of courage and
+patriotism, in the same breath that we agree they are essential in an
+officer of the fighting establishment--neither of these qualities of
+itself carries sufficient conviction, except as it is the product of
+those homelier attributes which give dignity to all action, in things
+both large and small, during the course of any average work day.
+
+When Dr. Johnson remarked that patriotism is the last refuge of a
+scoundrel he was not belittling the value of love of country as a
+force in the lives of men, but to the contrary, was pointing out that
+a profession of patriotism, unaccompanied by good works, was the mark
+of a man not to be trusted. In no other institution in the land will
+flag-waving fall as flat as in the Armed Services when the ranks know
+that it is just an act, with no sincere commitment to service backing
+it up. But the uniformed forces will still respond to the real
+article with the same emotion that they felt at Bunker Hill and Manila
+Bay.
+
+There is a Civil War story from one of the campaigns against Stonewall
+Jackson in the Valley. A Confederate who had had his leg shot away
+turned on his pallet to regard a Union private who had just lost an
+arm, and said to him, "For what reason did you invade us and make all
+this trouble?" The boy replied simply: "For the old flag." That may
+sound like sentiment from a distant past. But turn to the story of
+Major Devereux and the Marine defense of Wake Island. He wrote that
+the "music" had always gone sour, and had invariably broken down when
+he tried to play "The Colors." But on the morning of Pearl Harbor,
+when the flag was raised, the garrison already knew that the war was
+on. And for some reason which no man could account for, the bugler
+rose to the occasion, and for the first time, every note came straight
+and true. Devereux said that every throat tightened and every head
+went higher. Yet Devereux was a remarkably unmelodramatic fighting
+man.
+
+But to get back to those simpler virtues which provide a firm
+foundation for patriotism and may become the fount of courage, at
+least these few things would have to be put among the fundamentals:
+
+    1. A man has honor if he holds himself to a course of conduct,
+    because of a conviction that it is in the general interest, even
+    though he is well aware that it may lead to inconvenience,
+    personal loss, humiliation or grave physical risk.
+
+    2. He has veracity if, having studied a question to the limit of
+    his ability, he says and believes what he thinks to be true, even
+    though it would be the path of least resistance to deceive others
+    and himself.
+
+    3. He has justice if he acknowledges the interests of all
+    concerned in any particular transaction rather than serving his
+    own apparent interest.
+
+    4. He has graciousness if he acts and speaks forthrightly, agrees
+    warmly, disagrees fairly and respectfully, participates
+    enthusiastically, refrains from harboring grudges, takes his
+    reverses in stride, and does not complain or ask for help in the
+    face of trifling calamities.
+
+    5. He has integrity if his interest in the good of the service is
+    at all times greater than his personal pride, and when he holds
+    himself to the same line of duty when unobserved as he would
+    follow if all of his superiors were present.
+
+The list could be longer, but for the moment, we can let it go at
+that. These standards are not counsels of perfection; thousands of
+officers have adhered to them. But it should be said as well that if
+all leaders at the lower levels in all of the services were to conform
+in the same way, the task of higher command would be simplicity
+itself. The cause of much of the friction in the administrative
+machinery is that at all levels there are individuals who insist on
+standing in their own light. They believe that there is some special
+magic, some quick springboard to success; they mistakenly think that
+it can be won by bootlicking, apple-polishing, yessing higher
+authority, playing office politics, throwing weight around, ducking
+the issues, striving for cheap popularity, courting publicity or
+seeking any and all means of grabbing the spotlight.
+
+Any one of this set of tricks may enable a man to carry the ball
+forward a yard or two in some special situation. But at least this
+comment can be made without qualification: Of the men who have risen
+to supreme heights in the fighting establishment of the United States,
+and have had their greatness proclaimed by their fellow countrymen,
+there is not one career which provides any warrant for the conclusion
+that there is a special shortcut known only to the smart operators.
+True enough, a few men have gained fairly high rank by dint of what
+the late Mr. Justice Holmes called "the instinct for the jugular"--a
+feeling for when to jump, where to press and how to slash in order to
+achieve somewhat predatory personal ends. That will occasionally
+happen in any walk of life. But from Washington, Wayne, and Jones down
+to Eisenhower, Vandegrift, and Nimitz, the men best loved by the
+American people for their military successes were also men with
+greatness of soul. In short, they were idealists, though they likely
+would have disclaimed that label, since it somehow connotes the
+visionary rather than the intensely practical man.
+
+But it isn't necessary to look at the upper brackets of history to
+find the object lesson. The things that any man remembers about his
+own father with love and reverence have to do with his forbearance,
+his charity toward other men, his strength and rightness of will and
+his readiness to contribute of his force to the good of other people.
+Or if not his father, then it may be an uncle, a neighbor or one of
+his schoolmasters.
+
+In one way, however, it illuminates but half the subject to reflect
+that a man has to find purpose in himself before he can seek purpose
+in any of the undertakings of which he is a part or in the society of
+which he is a member. No man is wholly sufficient unto himself even
+though he has been schooled from infancy to live according to
+principles. His character and the moral strength from which he gains
+peace of mind need constantly to be replenished by the force of other
+individuals who think and act more or less in tune with him. His
+ability to remain whole, and to bound back from any depression of the
+spirit, depends in some measure on the chance that they will be
+upgrading when he is on the downswing. To read what the wisest of the
+philosophers have written about the formation of human character is
+always a stimulating experience; but it is better yet to live next to
+the man who already possesses what the philosophers are talking about.
+During World War II, there were quite a few higher commanders relieved
+in our forces because it was judged, for one reason or another, that
+they had failed in battle. Of the total number, there were a few who
+took a reduction in rank, went willingly to a lower post in a fighting
+command, uttered no complaint, kept their chins up, worked
+courageously and sympathetically with their commands, and provided an
+example of manhood that all who saw them will never forget. Though
+their names need not be mentioned, they were imprinted with the real
+virtue of the services even more deeply than many of their colleagues
+who had no blemishes on their records. Their character had met the
+ultimate test. The men who had the privilege of working close to them
+realized this and the sublime effect of this personal influence helped
+strengthen the resolve of many others.
+
+Because there is so much at stake in the matter, the services cannot
+depend solely upon such influence as would be exerted on their affairs
+by the occasional idealist, but must work for that chain reaction
+which comes of making the inculcation of military ideals one of the
+cardinal points of a strong, uniting inner doctrine. It is altogether
+necessary that as a body, the power of their thought be shaped along
+ideal lines. The ideal object must be held high at all times, even
+though it is recognized that men are not perfect, and that no matter
+how greatly they may aspire, they will occasionally fail. Nor is the
+effort to lead other men to believe in the transcendent importance of
+goodwill made less effective because the leader has a conscience about
+his own weakness, _provided he has the good sense not to flaunt it_.
+He need not be a paragon of all the virtues to set an example which
+will convince other men that his ideas are worth following. No man
+alive possesses perfect virtue, which fact is generally understood.
+Many an otherwise ideal commander is ruthless in his exactions upon
+his staff; many a petty officer, who has won the absolute love of all
+men with whom he served, has found himself in the middle because he
+couldn't think straight about his debts. But these things do not
+lessen the impact upon men of thinking together about common ideals
+and working together toward the fulfillment of some high obligation.
+The pursuit of ideals culminates in the experience of mutual growth.
+If that were not so, men who have served the arms of the United States
+would not continue to have a special respect for the uniform, and an
+extra reverence for the flag, for years after they have passed from
+the service. These emotions are not the consequence of habit, but come
+of having known the comradeship of other men whom they loved and
+respected, who shared these same thoughts, and believed in the same
+body of ideals.
+
+Any normal man loves his country and it is natural in him to regard
+highly the symbols through which this affection is expressed. An
+American child of kindergarten age already feels an emotional
+attachment for the national emblem. The recruit who has just entered
+upon service can begin to understand that his regard for his uniform
+must be a far different thing than what he felt about his civilian
+dress, since it is identified with the dignity of the Nation. His
+training in military ideals starts at this point, and for the main
+part is carried forward subtly, by transfer of this same feeling to
+all other objects associated with his military life. His perseverance
+in the care of weapons, in keeping his living quarters orderly and in
+doing his full share of work is best insured, not through fear of
+punishments, but by stimulating his belief that any other way of going
+is unworthy of a member of a fighting service.
+
+Precision in personal habits, precision in drill and precision in
+daily living are the high road to that kind of discipline which best
+insures cool and collected thought and unity of action on the field of
+battle. When men, working together, successfully attain to a high
+standard of orderliness, deportment and response, each to the other,
+they develop the cohesive strength which will carry them through any
+great crisis. For this reason mainly, military life is far more
+exacting than civil life. But the services hold that what is best for
+the many can be achieved without cramping the personal life or
+blighting individuality and initiative. Within the frame of our
+system, we can achieve obedience and discipline without destroying
+independence and impulse.
+
+This is idealism, though we seldom think about it in that light.
+Further, it is all the better that in the beginning these impressions
+are developed obliquely, rather than through the direct approach of
+reading a lecture on ideals and ethics, since it means that the man is
+assisted to reach certain conclusions by himself, and as Kant has
+said, those things which a man learns pretty much on his own become
+the ideas that he is least likely to forget.
+
+Looking at this subject in its largest aspect, it should be perfectly
+clear that any institution must know what its ideals are before it can
+become coherent and confident, and that there must be present in the
+form of clearly available ideas an imaginative conception of the good
+at which the institution aims.
+
+This is fully recognized in the American armed establishment. For many
+years, the program of indoctrinating military ideals has been
+inseparably linked with instruction in democratic ideals, teaching as
+to the American way of life and clear statement of the policies and
+purposes of the Government of the United States in its relations with
+all others powers and peoples.
+
+Moreover, it is an accepted principle in all services that this
+mission can not be carried forward competently except by those
+officers who are directly in charge of forces. It is not a job for
+chaplains or orientation specialists, because it cannot flourish
+unless it is in the hands of those leaders whom men know well and in
+whom they place their confidence. When men are well led, they become
+fully receptive to the whole body of ideas which their leaders see fit
+to put before them.
+
+There are two points which follow, as a matter of course.
+
+An officer's ability to talk effectively on these or other subjects to
+his men can be no better than his information, irrespective of his
+zeal or of his own firm belief in the ideals of his country and
+service.
+
+All other things being equal, his effectiveness will depend on the
+extent to which he participates in all of the other affairs of
+organization. If he is remote from the spirit of his own unit, and
+indifferent to the varying activities which enter into the building of
+that spirit, he will not have a sympathetic audience when he talks to
+men about the grand objectives of organization. There is something
+terribly incongruous about a man talking to troops on the ideal
+purposes of the military service if all they see of him convinces them
+that he is loyal only to his own rank and his pay check. It can be
+said without any qualification that when an officer's interest in the
+unit is limited strictly to those things which _have to be done_ in
+line of duty, even though he attends to them truly and well, he will
+never have a strong hold on the sympathy and imagination of his men.
+When he takes an enthusiastic part in the sports program of the ship,
+the company, the squadron or the battalion, even though he has no
+natural talent for sport, when he voluntarily helps in furthering all
+activities within the unit which are designed to make leisure more
+enjoyable, and when he is seen by his men attending religious
+exercises, his magnetism is increased. It was noteworthy during World
+War II that church attendance among enlisted personnel took a
+tremendous bound forward when it was seen that their officers were
+present at church services. This provided tremendous support to those
+chaplains who were intent not only on praising the Lord but on passing
+moral ammunition to all ranks so that they would be better prepared
+for the ordeal ahead.
+
+Recognizing that instruction in the duties of citizenship, and
+providing information which will enable Americans to have a better
+understanding of their national affairs, is part of the arch of morale
+and of a strong uniting comradeship, the Armed Services nevertheless
+hold that _the keystone of the arch, among fighting forces, is the
+inculcation of military ideals and the stimulation of principles of
+military action_. Unless orientation within the services is balanced
+in this direction, the military spirit of all ranks will suffer, and
+the forces will deteriorate into an assembly of Americans who,
+whatever their enthusiasms for the nation, will lack an organized
+capacity to serve it efficiently along the main line of resistance.
+
+To round out any discussion of how military ideals are formed, much
+more needs to be said about the nature of courage on the battlefield
+and, in preparation for it, about the winning and meaning of loyalty
+within the Armed Services and how instruction on these points and all
+related matters is best advanced within the organization.
+
+But the object of this chapter is to define certain governing
+principles. The substantive parts of the subject can be more clearly
+presented further along in the book.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE
+
+RESPONSIBILITY AND PRIVILEGE
+
+
+There is a common saying in the services, and elsewhere, that greater
+privileges grow out of larger responsibilities, and that the latter
+justifies the former. This is part truth and part fable.
+
+In military organization, as in industry, business, and political
+life, the more important a man's position, the more lavish he is
+likely to be in his office appointments and living arrangements, and
+the greater the care that is apt to be taken in freeing him of
+trifling annoyances.
+
+But that is only partly because of the need for him to conserve his
+time and energy. When men are successful, they like the good things of
+life. Why deny it? Not one individual in 10,000 would aspire to power
+and authority if it meant living like a hermit.
+
+There is no way that the military establishment can denature human
+nature, and change this determining condition. Nor is there any reason
+why it should wish to do so. Its men, like all others, develop a sense
+of well-being from those advantages, many of them minor, which attend,
+and build prestige, both in private and in official life. The
+incentive system by which our country has prospered has always
+recognized that privilege is a reward for effort and enterprise. The
+American people have always accepted that reasonable, harmless
+privileges should attend merit. It is by enhancing the prestige of
+leaders and by making their positions attractive that the Armed Forces
+get better officers and men.
+
+One of the keenest-minded Americans of our time has said:
+"Responsibilities are what devolve upon a person, and privileges are
+what he ought not to have, but takes." In a perfect universe, that
+would be a perfect truth. But men being as they are, prideful and
+desirous of any mark of recognition, privileges are the natural
+accompaniment of rank and station, and when not wilfully misused, may
+contribute to the general welfare. At all levels, men will aspire
+more, and their ambition will be firmer, if getting ahead will mean
+for them an increase in the visible tokens of deference from the
+majority, rather than simply a boost in the paycheck. To complain
+about this quality in human nature is as futile as regretting that the
+sun goes down.
+
+However, since it is out of the abuse of privilege that much of the
+friction between authority and the rank-and-file arises, the subject
+can't be dropped at that point. What puts most of the grit into the
+machinery isn't that privileges exist, but that they are exercised too
+often by persons who are not motivated by a passionate sense of duty.
+For it is an almost inviolable rule of human behavior that the man who
+is concerned most of all with his responsibilities will be fretted
+least about the matter of his privileges, and that his exercise of any
+rightful privilege will not be resented by his subordinates, because
+they are conscious of his merit.
+
+We can take two officers. Lieutenant "A" enters the service with one
+main question in mind: "Where does my duty lie?" So long as he remains
+on that beam, he will never injure the morale of the service by using
+such privileges as are rightfully his as an officer. But in the mind
+of Lieutenant "B" the other idea is uppermost: "What kudos do I get
+out of my position?" Unless that man changes his ways, he will be a
+troublemaker while he remains in the service, a headache to his fellow
+officers and a despoiler of those who are under him.
+
+In recent years, we have learned a lot about American manpower. We
+have seen enough of the raw material under testing conditions to know
+that, with the exception of the occasional malcontent who was
+irreparably spoiled before he left home, American young men when
+brought into military organization do not resent rank, and are
+amenable to authority. Indeed, they expect that higher authority will
+have certain advantages not common to the rank-and-file, because that
+is normal in our society in all of its workday relationships.
+
+But they do not like to have their noses rubbed in it by officers who,
+having no real moral claim on authority, try to exhibit it by pushing
+other people around. And when that happens, our men get their backs
+up. And they wouldn't be worth a hoot in hades if they didn't.
+
+Even as privilege attends rank and station, it is confirmed by custom,
+and modified by time and environment. What was all right yesterday may
+be all wrong tomorrow, and what is proper in one set of circumstances
+may be wholly wrong in another.
+
+Take one example. In Washington's Continental Army, a first lieutenant
+was court-martialed and jailed because he demeaned himself by doing
+manual labor with a working detail of his men. Yet in that same
+season, Major General von Steuben, then trainer and inspector of all
+the forces, created a great scandal and almost terminated his
+usefulness by trying to rank a relatively junior officer out of his
+quarters. Today both of these usages seem out of joint. Any officer
+has the _privilege_ of working with his men, if he needs exercise,
+wishes to see for himself how the thing is done, or feels that an
+extra hand is needed on the job at a critical moment. As for any
+notion that his quarters are his permanent castle no matter who comes,
+he had best not make an issue of the point!
+
+But to emphasize it once again, duty is the great regulator of the
+proper exercise of one's rights. Here we speak of duty as it was meant
+by Giuseppe Mazzini, Italy's great patriot of the early Nineteenth
+Century, when he said: "Every mission constitutes a pledge of duty.
+Every man is bound to consecrate his every effort to its fulfillment.
+He will derive his rule of action from the profound conviction of that
+duty." For finally the key lies in this, that out of high regard for
+duty comes as a natural flow that sense of proportion which we call
+common sense.
+
+Adjustment and dignity in any situation are impossible when minds are
+bent only on a code of conduct rather than on action which is
+consistent with the far objectives. In the early stages of World War
+II, it was not unusual to see a junior officer walking on the public
+sidewalk, hands free, and looking important, while his wife tagged
+along, trying to keep step, though laden like a pack mule. This was
+because someone had told him that it was not in keeping with an
+officer's dignity to be seen heavily burdened. In the nature of
+things, anyone so lacking in gallantry as that would stimulate very
+little respect for the officer corps.
+
+Actually, in these times, there are relatively few special privileges
+which attend officership, and though the war brought perhaps a few
+excesses, the post war trend has been in the other direction.
+
+Normally, an officer is not expected to buck a chow line, or any other
+queue in line of duty, if he is sensibly in a rush. The presumption is
+that his time is more valuable to the service than that of an enlisted
+man. Normally, an officer is not expected to pitch a tent or spend his
+energy on any hand labor incidental to housekeeping. Normally, he has
+greater freedom of action and is less bound by minor restrictions than
+the ranks.
+
+But the accent in these things is decidedly on the word _normally_. If
+a mess line were in an area under general fire, so that added waiting
+meant extra danger, then only a poltroon would insist on being fed
+first. And while an officer wouldn't be expected to pitch a tent, he
+would dig his own foxhole, unless he was well up in grade. At that,
+there were a few high commanders in World War II who made it a point
+of pride to do their own digging from first to last. Greater "freedom
+of action," too, can go out the window, for conditions arise,
+particularly in war, when freedom of action can not be permitted
+anyone except the very top authority. When a general restriction is
+clamped down, the officer caught violating it is in more serious
+jeopardy than the enlisted offender.
+
+As the entire body of this book is directed toward the consideration
+of the fundamental responsibilities in officership, the special
+comments in this chapter will relate mainly to propositions not stated
+elsewhere.
+
+Though it has been said before, even so, it can be said again: It is a
+paramount and overriding responsibility of every officer to take care
+of his men before caring for himself. From the frequent and gross
+violation of this principle by badly informed or meanly selfish
+individuals comes more embarrassment to officer-man relationships than
+perhaps from all other causes put together. _It is a cardinal
+principle!_ Yet many junior officers do not seem to understand that
+steadfast fidelity to it is required, not lip service. "And of this,"
+as Admiral Mahan would say, "comes much evil." The loyalty of men
+simply cannot be commanded when they become embittered by selfish
+action.
+
+Then how deeply does this rule cut? In line of duty, it applies right
+down to the hilt! When a command is worn, bruised, and hungry,
+officers attend to their men's creature comforts and make sure that
+all is going well, before looking to their own needs. If an officer is
+on a tour with an enlisted man, he takes care that the man is
+accommodated as to food, shelter, medical treatment or other prime
+needs, before satisfying his own wants; if that means that the last
+meal or the last bed is gone, his duty is to get along the hard way.
+If a command is so located that recreational facilities are extremely
+limited, and there are not enough to go around, the welfare of the
+ranks takes priority over the interests of their commissioned leaders;
+in fact, it would be more correct to say that the welfare of men _is_
+the prior interest of the officer.
+
+These few concrete illustrations show, in general, what is expected.
+Once the main idea is grasped, the way of its total application
+becomes clear. Officers do not go around playing pigtail to enlisted
+men. But they build loyalty by serving the men first, when all
+concerned are following a general line of duty together.
+
+It is an incumbent responsibility on all officers to maintain the
+dignity of the uniform and prevent anyone from sullying it. This means
+not only the dress of person, but the uniform wherever it is worn
+publicly by any man of the United States forces. Where the offense is
+committed by a member of some other service and the disgrace to the
+uniform is obvious, it is the duty of the officer to intervene, or to
+bring about intervention, rather than to walk out on the situation.
+This calls for judgment, tact, nerve. The offense must be real, and
+not simply an offense against one's private sensibilities. But
+indecencies, exhibitionism and bawdiness of such a nature that if done
+on a reservation would warrant trial of the individual for unbecoming
+conduct will justify intervention by the officer under public
+circumstances.
+
+Similarly, any officer has a responsibility to any enlisted man who is
+in personal distress, with no other means of ready help. Suppose they
+just happen to meet in a strange community. The enlisted man's
+credentials are shown to be _bona fide_. But he has had his pocket
+picked, or has lost his wallet, or has just missed the train that
+would have carried him back from his leave on time, and he doesn't
+know what to do. For any officer to brush-off a forthright request for
+aid or advice under such circumstances is an unofficerly act.
+Likewise, if one suspects, just from appearances, that the man is in
+trouble and somewhat beyond his depths, it will be found that, far
+from resenting a kindly inquiry, he will mark it to the credit of the
+whole fighting system.
+
+To say that an officer owes a fellow officer no less consideration
+than this is to state the obvious. Officers meeting in transit usually
+get into conversation; it is a habit that adds much to one's
+professional education. When an officer is getting into a strange
+town, or arriving at a new post, anything done by a fellow officer to
+help him get oriented, or to make things friendly and easy for him,
+furthers the comity of the corps. Between officers of differing
+services these small courtesies are particularly appreciated. Nor does
+the matter end there. Within Unit A, the officers have the
+responsibility of continuing support to the officers of Unit C, Unit
+B, and so on. Though they are in a sense competing, each trying to
+build higher than the other, they must never forget that the basic
+technique of organization is cooperation. What "A" knows that has
+helped his unit, or whatever he can do to assist "B" and "C" without
+materially depriving himself, it becomes his official and moral
+obligation to transmit. An officer can never understand his own
+command problem very well unless he knows, at least a little, of how
+things are going in other units. And the statement can be reversed. He
+cannot judge the problems of other people unless he tries passionately
+to understand his own people.
+
+There are many other minor articles within what is sometimes called
+the "unwritten code" which help to regulate life in the services, and
+to sweeten it.
+
+But what counts most is not the knowing of the rule but the sharing of
+the spirit which gives it meaning and makes its proper administration
+possible.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR
+
+PLANNING YOUR CAREER
+
+
+The main purpose of this book is to stimulate thought and to encourage
+the average young officer to seek truth for, and in, himself. It is
+never a good idea to attempt a precise formula about matters which are
+by nature indefinite and subject to all number of variable factors.
+
+Thus with respect to career planning, despite all of the emphasis put
+upon that subject in modern America, it would be plain error to infer
+that any man can become all-wise, as to the direction which he should
+take with his own life, simply by steeping himself in all of the
+information which is to be had on this subject.
+
+That might qualify him to give top-lofty advice to all others on how
+to make the start up the right ladder, and he would win a reputation
+as a personnel expert, which in itself is no mean assignment. But in
+all probability, he would still be doing better by himself than by any
+other individual.
+
+American library shelves are stacked with such books as "Planning Your
+Future," "New Careers for Youth," and "The Problem of Vocational
+Guidance." The pages are laden with sage counsel and bromidic
+expressions. But their chief public value is that they enabled a
+writer, his publisher and the bookseller to get a little further ahead
+in life.
+
+Reflecting the trend elsewhere in the national life, the Armed
+Services are equipped to give their forces the advantage of career
+management principles, and to assist their men to plan their
+professional careers. The opportunities and the job qualifications can
+be described. Also, somewhat more thoroughly than is done in civil
+life, the establishment's system of record-keeping throws a partial
+light on the aptitudes of the individual. The qualified man is soon
+known by his "spec number" or maybe two numbers. It might seem
+therefore that things are so well-regulated that the prospect of
+every man finding his niche is better than even.
+
+The fact remains that the majority of individuals spend the greater
+part of their lives doing something other than that which would bring
+out their best quality and give them the greatest satisfaction, mainly
+because accident, in one form or another, put them into a particular
+channel, and inertia kept them there.
+
+A boy builds model airplanes. His hobby being a force in his youthful
+years, he becomes a pilot, and then discovers to his shocked amazement
+that he does not have his heart in machines but in the management of
+men. A man who has lived his life among guns, and who enjoys the feel
+and the working of them, enters the service and permits himself to be
+made a food procurement specialist, having run that kind of business
+in civil life only because he had inherited it from his father. An
+officer assigned to a weapons detail finds it hard going. And the fact
+that he takes a delight in writing a good paper still does not signal
+to him that this is his main field and he should exploit it to the
+fullest!
+
+To what do these things point? In particular, to this, that despite
+all of the help which may be provided by outside agencies, finding the
+straight thoroughfare in work is mainly a problem of searching
+self-examination and personal decision. The impression which any other
+person may have of our talents and possibilities is largely formed by
+what we say, think and feel about ourselves.
+
+This does not require that constant introspection which is found in
+Cecil Forester's nervous hero, "Captain Horatio Hornblower." That man
+doubtless would have died of stomach ulcers before winning his second
+stripe. It is not a matter of, "How do I look to someone else?" but
+of, "What do I know about myself?" The kind of work which one likes
+best and does with the greatest facility, the avocational study which
+is pursued because it provides greater delight than an encharged
+responsibility, the talent which one had as a youth but was dropped
+because of the press of making a living, the task which looks alluring
+though one has lacked either the chance, or the courage, to try a
+hand at it--these are among the more fertile points of inquiry.
+
+Weighing it out, the service officer has an unrivaled opportunity for
+fruitful experiment.
+
+In the first place, he has made the fundamental decision to serve his
+country in the profession of arms. The meaning of that decision should
+not be lost on him. It is by nature patriotic. But if he regards his
+inheritance simply as a snug berth and the best way to provide "three
+squares" to himself and family throughout a lifetime, he is neither
+soundly patriotic nor intelligently selfish.
+
+After signing on the line for his country, the individual's duty to
+himself is to strive by every honorable means to move ahead of his
+competition by growing more knowledgeable and better qualified. _It is
+the inherent right of every officer to request such service as he
+believes will further his advancement_, and far from discouraging the
+ambitious man, higher authority will invariably try to favor him. In
+no other mode of life are older men so ready to encourage the willing
+junior.
+
+Gen. H. H. Arnold, the great air leader of World War II, is an
+inspiring case study with respect to several of these points. He wrote
+in "Global Mission" how he considered quitting the Army in disgust
+upon being commissioned in infantry, following graduation, so deeply
+was his heart set upon service in cavalry. But something held him to
+the assignment. Some years later he tried to transfer to ordnance
+because the prospect for advancement looked better. While still
+ruminating on this change, he was offered a detail to the newly
+forming aviation section of the signal corps, and took it, not because
+he had a clear vision of the future, but because it looked like a
+chance to get ahead. Thus, almost inadvertently, he met the
+opportunity of which came his world fame.
+
+This emphasizes another peculiar advantage belonging to the young
+officer who is trying to orient himself toward the line of greatest
+opportunity. In civil life, the man who flits from job to job is soon
+regarded as a drifter and unstable. In the military establishment an
+ability to adjust from job to job and to achieve greater all-around
+qualification by making a successful record in a diversified
+experience becomes a major asset in a career. Generalship, in its real
+sense, requires a wider knowledge of human affairs, supported by
+specialized knowledge of professional techniques, than any other great
+responsibility. Those who get to the top have to be many-sided men,
+with skill in the control and guidance of a multifarious variety of
+activities. Therefore even the young specialist, who has his eyes on a
+narrow track because his talents seem to lie in that direction, is
+well advised to raise his sights and extend his interest to the far
+horizons of the profession, even while directing the greater part of
+his force to a particular field.
+
+After all, variety is the spice of life, as well as a high road toward
+perfection. Of Princeton's 1932 class, 161, or 59 percent, were in the
+armed services during World War II. Questioned after the war 70
+percent of the total number replied that military service was
+interesting, broadening, and profitable. But the main point was that
+they said in overwhelming number that its great lure was that _they
+were doing something new_. They liked it because it gave them a
+legitimate excuse to quit their jobs and attempt something different.
+In the services, a man may give vent to this natural desire without
+impairing his record, and if he is young and not at all certain what
+is his favorite dish, the more he broadens his experience, the more
+likely it becomes that he will sharpen his view of his own
+capabilities.
+
+The possible hard consequence of looking at service opportunity
+through any one lens is epitomized in one paragraph of a
+reclassification proceedings on an officer relieved during World War
+II while serving as assistant division commander:
+
+    "Through no fault of his own, General Blank has never served with
+    troops since he was a captain during World War I. He has been
+    unable to keep pace with the problems of a commander on the
+    battlefield of today. He is unqualified for command of troops due
+    to lack of practical experience."
+
+It is hard to imagine a more dismal ending for a career than that of
+the man who aspires to rank, without having any honest concept of its
+proportionate moral responsibilities, particularly when the lives of
+others are at stake.
+
+So when we say that "career planning" is a springboard to personal
+success within the military establishment, it is not with the narrow
+meaning that any officer should proceed to limit his field of
+interest, decide quickly and arbitrarily where he will put his plow
+and run his furrow, and then sit down and plot a schedule of how he
+proposes to mount the success ladder rung by rung. That might suit a
+plumber, or tickle the fancy of an interior decorator, but it will not
+conserve the strength of the officer corps. Its consequence would be
+to stereotype the thinking faculties of a professional whose inner
+power flows from the questing imagination, eager curiosity and
+versatility of its individuals. Intense specialization, to the
+exclusion of all peripheral areas of knowledge, warps the mind and
+limits the useful action and influence of its owner. Dr. Vannevar Bush
+was a greater scientist on the day he made his decision to explore the
+sphere of military knowledge, and greater still when he applied
+himself to literature.
+
+There are few men of great talent who initially have an unswerving
+inner conviction that they possess the final answer, as to themselves.
+They may feel reasonably sure about what they would like to do, though
+still reserving an honest doubt about the validity of their instincts
+and of their power to compete. Even long and successful experience
+does not always allay this doubt. Said Washington, on being appointed
+Commander-in-Chief: "I beg it may be remembered by every man in this
+room that I this day declare with the utmost sincerity, I do not think
+myself equal to the command I am honored with." Assurance, or by its
+other name, self-confidence, is only a continuing willingness to keep
+coming back and trying, without fear of coming a cropper, but with a
+care to the constant strengthening of one's own resources. The motto
+of Admiral Robert E. Peary: "I will find a way or make one," is not
+over-bold; any officer can afford to paste the words inside his own
+hat. But in the hard game with which Peary's fame is forever linked,
+there were countless errors, an occasional hit, and at last a run.
+
+The health and progressive spirit of the services come of the
+many-sided officer who can make not one career for himself but three
+or four. Had officers from all services been unwilling to go into the
+industrial workshops and scientific laboratories of the Nation to try
+their hands at wholly new lines of work, had successful cavalrymen
+been unable to evolve as leaders of armored forces, had ship captains
+and ensigns disdained taking to the air, had foot soldiers refused the
+risks of parachuting and naval officers not participated as observers
+with the infantry line to further SFC (ship fire control) we would
+have run out of wind before winning World War II.
+
+Some months after the war ended, the Secretary of the Navy,
+recognizing the dilemma which confronted thousands of men who were
+asking whether the wave of the future would be to the specialist or to
+the all-around man, sent a message which applied not less to the
+officers of every service:
+
+    It is intended that the highest posts will be filled by officers
+    of the highest attainments, regardless of specialty. Be assured,
+    whatever may be your field of endeavor, that your future as an
+    officer rests, as it always has, in your hands. The outstanding
+    officer will continue to be he who attacks with all of his energy
+    and enthusiasm the tasks to which he is assigned and who grows in
+    stature and understanding with his years and with his experience.
+    Responsibility comes to him who seeks responsibility. It is this
+    officer, regardless of his field of effort, who will be called to
+    high command.
+
+There is not a chief of service who would shade the general tone of
+this paragraph if asked to put before his own officers the one rule
+which, most closely followed, would most surely bring success. Nothing
+need be added to it and nothing should be taken away; it states the
+case.
+
+At the same time, and as the message itself implies, specialization,
+like sex and the automobile, is here to stay. In the service,
+perforce, even the balanced, all-around man has his specialty. In the
+beginning, true enough, he may aspire only to being a soldier, marine,
+sailor or airman. That is good enough in the cocoon stage. But
+ultimately he emerges with the definite coloring of a ground fighter,
+a gunner, an engineer officer, a signals man, a submariner, a weapons
+man, a navigator, an observer, a transport officer or something else.
+If his tact, bearing and quick pick-up suggest to his superiors that
+he may be good staff material, and he takes that route, there are
+again branch lines, leading out in roughly parallel directions, and
+embracing activities in the fields of personnel, intelligence,
+operations, supply and military government. And each one of these main
+stems has smaller branches, greatly diversified. The man with a love
+for logistics (and few have it) might some day find himself running
+railroads or managing a port. The engineer could become a salvage
+officer working a crew of deep sea divers, or as easily a demolitions
+expert running a company of dynamiters. The expert in communications?
+His next task might be setting up a radio station near the North Pole
+or helping perfect radio control of troops over a 50-mile area.
+
+It is in these things that the privilege of free choice arises, for
+despite the popular theory that in the services you take what you are
+given and like it, the placement of officers according to their main
+aptitudes and desires is a controlling principle of personnel policy.
+It is recognized throughout the military establishment that, in
+general, men will do their best service in that field where they think
+their natural talents are being most usefully employed.
+
+Among the combat line commanders in World War II there were doctors,
+dentists and even a few ministers. They could have had places in their
+regular corps, but they were permitted to continue with the duty of
+their own choice.
+
+Concerning the main problem of the officer, in fitting himself for
+higher command, the controlling principle is well expressed in the
+words of a distinguished educator, Wallace B. Donham: "The hope of the
+wisdom essential to the general direction of men's affairs lies not so
+much in wealth of specialized knowledge as in the habits and skills
+required to handle problems involving very diverse viewpoints which
+must be related to new concrete situations. Wisdom is based on broad
+understanding in perspective. It is common sense on a large canvas. It
+is never the product of scientific, technological, or other
+specializations, though men so trained may, of course, acquire it."
+
+This puts just the right light on the subject. The military officer
+specializes strictly to qualify himself more highly in his main
+calling--the management of men in the practice of arms. Becoming a
+specialist does not _ipso facto_ make him a better officer, or win him
+preferment. It is part of the mechanism, though not the main wheel. As
+Admiral Forrest P. Sherman has so well said: "We are not pushed
+willy-nilly into specialization; there is never an excess of the
+all-around, highly competent combat officer."
+
+Concerning his choice, all general advice is gratuitous. Whatever
+might be written here would be worth far less than the counsel or
+suggestion of any superior, or for that matter, a colleague, who has
+observed his work closely over a long period, who has some critical
+faculty, and whose good will is beyond question.
+
+Particularly, the _voluntary_ advice of such a person is worth notice.
+That which is spontaneous usually has shrewd reason behind it. When
+counsel is deliberately sought, it may catch the consultant unaware,
+and in lieu of saying that which is well-considered, he may offer a
+half-baked opinion, rather than be disappointing. But when another
+person having one's trust, says: "Your natural line is to do
+thus-and-so," it is time to ask him why, and check his reasoning with
+one's own. Worth just as much earnest consideration is his negative
+opinion, his strong feeling that what one is about to undertake is not
+particularly suitable.
+
+As for the man himself, it remains to survey thoughtfully the whole
+range of possibilities, to keep the mind open and receptive to
+impressions, to experiment but take firm hold in so doing, to tackle
+each new task with as much enthusiasm as if it were to be his life
+work, to ask for difficult assignments rather than soft snaps and to
+be calmly deliberate, rather than rashly hasteful, in appraising his
+own capabilities.
+
+Self-study is a lifetime job. A great many engineers didn't realize
+that they were born to make nuclear fission possible until there was
+a three-way wedding between science, industry and the military in
+1940. Many officers who have had a late blooming as experts in the
+field of electronics and supersonic speeds had lived out successful
+careers before these subjects first saw daylight.
+
+As Elbert Hubbard said of it, the only way to get away from
+opportunity is to lie down and die.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE
+
+RANK AND PRECEDENCE
+
+
+The regulations that govern precedence among officers of the same
+service and among the services in relation to each other have a very
+real utility not only in determining succession to command and as
+reminders of the authority to which all persons in the Armed Services
+are subject but in providing precedent for all official or ceremonial
+occasions in which officers or organizations of the several services
+may find themselves cooperating. It is easy to imagine the confusion
+that would result without such rules, especially if a junior commander
+of a senior service had to defend the right of his organization to
+occupy the place of honor ahead of a very senior commander with a
+detachment from a junior service. These regulations are also the
+arbiter in disputes arising between officers of equal rank who aspire
+to command of the same unit.
+
+The legislation which separated the Air Force from the Army again
+raised the question of precedence in parades and ceremonies. Since the
+Air Force is the junior service, as to date of recognition, the change
+indicated the following parade order: (Reference, _Federal Register_,
+Volume 14, Number 160, August 19, 1949, page 5203)
+
+    1. Cadets, United States Military Academy.
+
+    2. Midshipmen, United States Naval Academy.
+
+    3. Cadets, United States Coast Guard Academy.
+
+    4. United States Army.
+
+    5. United States Marines.
+
+    6. United States Navy.
+
+    7. United States Air Force.
+
+    8. United States Coast Guard.
+
+    9. National Guard of the United States.
+
+    10. Organized Reserve Corps of the Army.
+
+    11. Marine Corps Reserve.
+
+    12. Naval Reserve.
+
+    13. Air Force National Guard of the United States.
+
+    14. United States Air Force Reserve.
+
+    15. Coast Guard Reserve.
+
+    16. Other training organizations of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy,
+    Air Force, and Coast Guard, in that order, respectively.
+
+During any period when the United States Coast Guard shall operate as
+a part of the United States Navy, the Cadets, United States Coast
+Guard Academy, the United States Coast Guard, and the Coast Guard
+Reserve, shall take precedence, respectively, next after the
+Midshipmen, United States Naval Academy, the United States Navy, and
+the Naval Reserve.
+
+In any ceremony in which any or all of these components act together,
+the table of precedence in appropriate regulations determines their
+location in the column.
+
+The ranks and insignia in the Armed Services have been substantially
+the same since 1883. During World War II there were newly established
+the five star ranks of general of the army and fleet admiral. After
+the first World War the rank of general-of-the-armies was created to
+honor General Pershing, who was permitted to choose the number of
+stars he would wear. He chose four. After the Spanish-American War the
+rank of admiral-of-the-navy was established for Admiral Dewey. No one
+has held this rank since.
+
+On November 15, 1776, Congress established the ranks of admiral,
+vice-admiral, rear admiral and commodore corresponding to general,
+lieutenant general, major general, and brigadier general. It also
+established three grades of naval captains--captain of a 40-gun ship
+and upward to rank with colonel, captain of a 20 to 40-gun ship to
+rank with lieutenant colonel, captain of a 10 to 20-gun ship to rank
+with major, and lieutenant to rank with captain in the Army.
+
+Although the top naval ranks were provided, the only two officers ever
+to attain a higher rank than captain prior to 1862 were Ezekiel
+Hopkins, whom Congress on December 22, 1775, commissioned with the
+rank of _C-in-C of the Fleet_, and Charles Stewart who was
+commissioned _Senior Flag Officer_ by Congress in 1859. Hopkins and
+Stewart were called "commodore" as was any other captain who commanded
+more than one ship.
+
+During our War of Independence, the Army had the rank of ensign and
+the Navy did not. The several Army ranks were then distinguishable by
+the color of the cockade, green for lieutenant, buff for captain, and
+pink or red for a field officer. As early as 1780 major generals wore
+two stars on their epaulettes and brigadier generals one. During our
+quasi-war with France, toward the end of the eighteenth century,
+Washington was commissioned lieutenant general, our first, and three
+stars were prescribed to be worn by him.
+
+In the Army Register for 1813 the rank of ensign had disappeared but
+there were third lieutenants (as in the Soviet Army today) and
+coronets. In 1832 the eagle was adopted as the insignia of colonel in
+the Army and in 1857 the lieutenant colonel, captain, and first
+lieutenant wore the same insignia as today. These insignia were
+adopted some time in the interval between 1847 and 1857. The gold bar,
+insigne of the second lieutenant, was authorized just prior to World
+War I.
+
+The Navy has used the same shoulder insignia as the Army since the
+Civil War. However, shoulder insignia on blues were discontinued by
+the Navy in 1911 but the insignia were still prescribed on epaulettes.
+The Navy adopted the eagle for captain in 1852, twenty years after it
+had been approved by the Army for colonels.
+
+In the first half of the last century the Navy List contained officers
+of four grades only. A captain wore three stripes, a master
+commandant, two (master commandant, established in 1806, was changed
+to commander in 1837;) and a lieutenant, one. A master had no stripe
+but three buttons instead. There were midshipmen too, but they were
+warrant officers and _aspirants_ for commissioned rank as the present
+French term designates them.
+
+Our first full general was U. S. Grant and our first full admiral,
+David D. Porter; both won their rank in the Civil War. In that war
+there was a large increase in the Navy and more naval ranks were
+established. In 1862 ensign was provided in the Navy to correspond to
+second lieutenant; and the term lieutenant commanding became
+lieutenant commander. An ensign wore one stripe as now; an additional
+stripe was added for each rank till the rear admiral had eight. Since
+1869 the senior officers have worn the same stripes as now prescribed.
+In 1883 the rank "master" was changed to lieutenant, junior grade.
+
+The rank of commodore, which had been abolished, was temporarily
+revived during World War II. The rank of passed-midshipman was
+abolished about 1910; thereafter graduates of the Naval Academy were
+commissioned ensign. The rank of ensign had previously been attained
+by passed-midshipmen after 2 years at sea and a successful examination
+at the end of that cruise. The only permanent change in recent years
+was the addition of aviation cadet to both the Air Force and Navy
+listings. The warrant rank of flight officer in the Air Force, which
+was created during the war, has now been abandoned, all the flight
+officers then holding warrants either being commissioned second
+lieutenants or separated. The naval rank of commodore was likewise
+dropped, and brigadier generals of the Army and Air Force now rank
+with admirals of the lower half.
+
+The following are the present corresponding ranks in the Armed
+Services:
+
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+        NAVY     |   MARINE    |    ARMY     |  AIR FORCE  |    COAST
+                 |   CORPS     |             |             |    GUARD
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Fleet Admiral|             |General of   |General of   |
+                 |             |the Army     |the Air      |
+                 |             |             |Force        |
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Admiral      |General      |General      |General      |Admiral
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Vice Admiral |Lieutenant   |Lieutenant   |Lieutenant   |Vice Admiral
+                 |General      |General      |General      |
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Rear Admiral |Major        |Major        |Major        |Rear Admiral
+    (upper half) |General      |General      |General      |(upper half)
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Rear Admiral |Brigadier    |Brigadier    |Brigadier    |Rear Admiral
+    (lower half) |General      |General      |General      |(lower half)
+    and          |             |             |             |and
+    Commodore    |             |             |             |Commodore
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Captain      |Colonel      |Colonel      |Colonel      |Captain
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Commander    |Lieutenant   |Lieutenant   |Lieutenant   |Commander
+                 |Colonel      |Colonel      |Colonel      |
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Lieutenant   |Major        |Major        |Major        |Lieutenant
+    Commander    |             |             |             |Commander
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Lieutenant   |Captain      |Captain      |Captain      |Lieutenant
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Lieutenant   |First        |First        |First        |Lieutenant
+    (Junior      |Lieutenant   |Lieutenant   |Lieutenant   |(Junior
+    Grade)       |             |             |             |Grade)
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Ensign       |Second       |Second       |Second       |Ensign
+                 |Lieutenant   |Lieutenant   |Lieutenant   |
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Commissioned |Commissioned |Chief Warrant|Chief Warrant|Commissioned
+    Warrant      |Warrant      |Officer      |Officer      |Warrant
+    Officer      |Officer      |             |             |Officer
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Midshipman   |             |Cadet        |Cadet        |Cadet
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Warrant      |Warrant      |Warrant      |Warrant      |Warrant
+    Officer      |Officer      |Officer      |Officer      |Officer
+                 |             |Junior Grade |Junior Grade |
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    Aviation     |             |             |Aviation     |
+    Cadet        |             |             |Cadet        |
+    -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+
+Officers of all the fighting service, whether regular or reserve, take
+precedence among themselves according to their dates of rank. Officers
+take command in their respective services in accordance with their
+dates of rank in the line, the senior, unless otherwise ordered,
+taking command, whether regular or reserve. The command of a task
+force or group composed of commands from two or more services devolves
+upon the senior commanding officer present in the force or group
+unless otherwise designated by the appropriate common senior, acting
+for the President.
+
+The obvious exceptions to this are that officers outside the line
+(that is, commissioned in specialized branches or corps) cannot
+command line organizations. They may, however, in the Army and Air
+Force, command organizations within the structure of their own corps.
+Non-rated officers in the Air Force and Navy are not eligible to
+command tactical flying units. As a specialized case of command, the
+assigned first pilot and airplane commander of any aircraft continues
+in command even though a pilot senior in rank may be aboard.
+
+Retired officers of the Army rank at the foot of active officers of
+the same grade; those of the Navy according to date of rank.
+
+Changing personnel policies have been reflected by frequent revisions
+of the scale and grade given noncommissioned leadership. This subject
+should therefore be checked against current regulations. But as a
+rough guide, the following can be taken as the corresponding
+noncommissioned grades and rates in the services:
+
+    -----+------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    PAY  |     NAVY AND     |    ARMY     |     AIR     |    MARINE
+    GRADE|   COAST GUARD    |             |    FORCE    |    CORPS
+    -----+------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    E-7  |Chief Petty       |Master       |Master       |Master
+         |Officer           |Sergeant     |Sergeant     |Sergeant
+    -----+------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    E-6  |Petty Officer     |Sergeant     |Technical    |Technical
+         |First Class       |First Class  |Sergeant     |Sergeant
+    -----+------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    E-5  |Petty Officer     |Sergeant     |Staff        |Staff
+         |Second Class      |             |Sergeant     |Sergeant
+    -----+------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    E-4  |Petty Officer     |Corporal     |Sergeant     |Sergeant
+         |Third Class       |             |             |
+    -----+------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    E-3  |[A]Airman         |Private      |Corporal     |Corporal
+         |[A]Constructionman|First Class  |             |
+         |[A]Dentalman      |             |             |
+         |Fireman           |             |             |
+         |Hospitalman       |             |             |
+         |Seaman            |             |             |
+         |Stewardsman       |             |             |
+    -----+------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    E-2  |Apprentice        |Private      |Private      |Private
+         |                  |             |First Class  |First Class
+    -----+------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+    E-1  |Recruit           |Recruit      |Private      |Private
+    -----+------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
+
+    [A] Does not apply to Coast Guard.
+
+Enlisted insignia of rank are of cloth, sewn on the sleeve of the
+outer garment. Army chevrons are worn on both sleeves with the point
+up, and special devices may be incorporated within the chevron to
+indicate specialties. Chevrons for combat soldiers are blue on a gold
+background, and all others are gold on a blue background. Naval
+chevrons are worn point down. Air Force chevrons have no point, but
+are a compound reverse curve with the deepest part of the curve worn
+down; over this is imposed a star within a circle. Marine Corps
+chevrons are worn on both sleeves with the point up and are gold on a
+crimson background for the dress blue uniform, green on a red
+background for the forest green uniform, green on a khaki background
+for the khaki uniform, and for combat uniforms the chevrons are
+stenciled on the sleeves in black ink.
+
+[Illustration: ARMY AND MARINE CORPS]
+
+[Illustration: NAVY AND COAST GUARD]
+
+[Illustration: AIR FORCE]
+
+All military and naval personnel are addressed in official
+correspondence by their full titles. Off duty in conversations and in
+unofficial correspondence, officers are addressed as follows:
+
+    ARMY, AIR FORCE, MARINE CORPS
+
+    All general officers                 General
+
+    Colonels and Lt. Colonels            Colonel
+
+    Majors                               Major
+
+    Captains                             Captain
+
+    Lieutenants                          Mister or Lieutenant
+
+    Lieutenants in Medical Corps         Doctor or Lieutenant
+
+    All Chaplains                        Chaplain
+
+    Army nurses                          Nurse
+
+    Cadets
+
+      (Official address)                 Cadet
+
+      (Unofficial address)               Mister
+
+    Warrant Officers                     Mister
+
+    All sergeants                        Sergeant
+
+    Corporals                            Corporal
+
+    Privates and Privates, First Class   Private Jones or Jones
+      When the name is not known, an Army private may be addressed as
+      "Soldier," and in the Marine Corps the term, "Marine," is proper
+      in such a case.
+
+    NAVY, COAST GUARD
+
+    All Admirals                         Admiral
+
+    Commodores                           Commodore
+
+    Captains                             Captain
+
+    Commanders                           Commander
+
+    Lieutenant Commanders, lieutenants,
+    ensigns and midshipmen               Mister
+
+    All Chaplains                        Chaplain
+
+    All medical officers (to commander)  Doctor
+
+Except when in the presence of troops, senior officers frequently
+address juniors as "Smith" or "Jones" but this does not give the
+junior the privilege of addressing the senior in any other way than
+his proper title. By the same token, officers of the same grade
+generally address one another by their first or last names depending
+on the degree of intimacy. The courtesy and respect for others which
+govern the conduct of gentlemen are expected to prevail at all times.
+
+Enlisted men are commonly addressed by their last names. Except in
+cases where the officer has a blood relationship or a preservice
+friendship with an enlisted man, the occasions on which an enlisted
+man can properly be called by his first name are extremely rare.
+Speaking face to face, it is proper to use either the last name,
+alone, or the title of rank, or the last name and any accepted
+abbreviation of the title. In calling First Sergeant Brown from among
+a group, it would be acceptable to call for "Brown" but better still
+"Sergeant Brown." In the Navy, the common practice in addressing Chief
+Pharmacists Mate Gale, for instance, would be either "Gale" or
+"Chief." On formal occasions, as in calling a senior enlisted man
+front and center at a formation, the full military title would be
+used: "Chief Bo's'ns Mate Gale and Master Sergeant Brown, front and
+center." The longer form of address would also be proper in directing
+a third party to report to Master Sergeant White.
+
+A painstaking observation of the courtesies due to ranks of other
+services is more than a sign of good manners; it indicates a
+recognition of the interdependence of the services upon one another.
+Failure to observe or to recognize the tables of precedence officially
+agreed upon among the services is both stupid and rude. Any future war
+will see joint operations on a scale never before achieved, and its
+success will be dependent in large part upon the cooperation of all
+ranks in all services. Likewise, in combined operations, the alert
+officer will take it upon himself to learn and respect the insignia,
+relative ranks, and customs of his Allies. By exerting himself in the
+recognition of other ranks, by exacting adherence to the official
+tables of precedence, he contributes not only to his own stature as a
+professional soldier, sailor, marine or airman, but adds to the
+reputation of his service.
+
+In the main requirements, military courtesy varies but little from
+nation to nation. During service abroad, an American officer will
+salute the commissioned officers and pay respects to the anthems and
+colors of friendly nations just as to those of his own country.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX
+
+CUSTOMS AND COURTESIES
+
+
+Mutual respect and courtesy are indispensable elements in military
+organization. The junior shows deference to the senior; the senior
+shows consideration for him. The salute is the ancient and universal
+privilege of fighting men. It is a recognition of a common fellowship
+in a proud profession. Saluting is an expression of courtesy,
+alertness, and discipline. The senior is as obliged to return it as
+the junior is to initiate it. In fact, in the Army particularly, it is
+not unusual to see the senior salute first. Interservice salutes
+should be exchanged as punctiliously as between members of a single
+service, for both services stand to gain or lose by the manner in
+which this act is performed.
+
+The general rules governing saluting are based on common sense, good
+manners, and the customs of the times. For instance, soldiers actively
+engaged in sports are not required to salute, nor is any man leading a
+horse, since the sudden motion so near the horse's head might make it
+restive. There will always be occasions when it is inconvenient,
+impractical, or illogical to render or require the return of a salute.
+The intent of the regulation is not that it embarrass or demean the
+individual, but that it serve as a signal of recognition and greeting
+between members of the military brotherhood. According to regulations,
+in all services, the salute is initiated by the junior, and at any
+convenient distance that insures recognition, the least being about
+six paces. The form of the salute is the same in the Army, Navy and
+Air Force, and it is given either from the position of attention or at
+a walk. It is not given indoors except when reporting to another
+officer in an official capacity. In the Navy, it is customary for the
+junior initiating a salute to combine it with "Good morning, Sir," as
+a means of reinforcing its meaning as a greeting. Where this is done
+in the other two services, it is usually the result of a local
+directive expressing the wish of a particular commander. While it is
+expected that the junior will initiate such a greeting, there is no
+obligation upon him to do so, nor is there any reason that the senior
+may not say it first.
+
+The Navy and Air Force require that the junior, when engaged in work
+that brings him in reasonably frequent contact with the same seniors
+during the course of the working day, salute each senior officer the
+first time that he is passed during the day, but not subsequently
+unless a change in circumstances requires it. In the Air Force an
+enlisted mechanic working on the line would salute the engineering
+officer and his assistants the first time he recognized them during
+the day. If he passed one of the same officers later in the day, for
+example in front of the post exchange, he would salute again. The Army
+requires that a salute be given and returned each time the junior
+passes the senior, unless circumstances dictate that it be temporarily
+suspended by common agreement. The Commanding Officer of a naval
+vessel is saluted whenever met.
+
+Salutes are not mandatory on the driver of a vehicle, whether moving
+or idling at the curb, for the reason that the operator is presumed to
+need both hands for driving. Salutes are not exchanged between moving
+vehicles, between moving and halted vehicles, or between persons
+walking and persons riding in official cars except when it is obvious
+that the passenger is a senior, or when it is required as part of a
+ceremony. Official vehicles carrying general officers or flag officers
+will be clearly marked outside, and will be saluted. A salute is
+exchanged between persons in a parked vehicle and persons walking,
+unless the car is a bus or taxi. When two boats pass each other, the
+senior officer in each boat salutes without rising.
+
+Aside from saluting, there are certain other customs that govern
+conduct around official vehicles. Since the place of honor is on the
+right, the junior not only walks on the left, but rides there as well.
+In entering a car, the junior enters first, followed by other members
+of the party in inverse order of rank, each seating himself so that
+the senior may take position on the right side. In leaving the car,
+the senior debarks first. However, if following this general procedure
+would necessitate any member of the party climbing over another, or
+in any other way cause an awkward situation, the senior may enter
+first and alight last.
+
+The same rules govern for boarding and leaving small boats, except
+that the junior rides forward and the senior aft.
+
+In boarding aircraft with a single hatch, the pilot enters first,
+followed by the copilot and other members of the crew. With the crew
+in place, other passengers enter according to rank, the senior first;
+he takes the seat of his choice if the aircraft is equipped with
+seats. In either transport or tactical aircraft, the senior officers
+generally ride as far forward as possible. In leaving the aircraft,
+the aircrew who handle deplaning normally leave first, followed by
+passengers in order of seniority.
+
+The long association of the Air Force with the Army precludes any
+large body of custom and tradition that can be called peculiarly Air
+Force in origin or usage. In time undoubtedly a considerable body of
+distinctive official and social courtesies will grow, but at present
+most of the official and unofficial usages given here for the Army are
+understood to be applicable to the Air Force as well, and will be so
+treated.
+
+The hand salute is required on all military installations and in
+occupied territories, whether on or off duty; in all official greeting
+in the line of duty both on and off the base; for ceremonial
+occasions; and in honoring the National Anthem, or color, or
+distinguished persons.
+
+Since most military posts or bases are guarded on a twenty-four hour
+basis, the first official contact will be with the guard on the main
+gate. He may be a soldier or airman selected by roster and under the
+temporary control of the Officer of the Day, a Military Policeman
+wearing an MP brassard and under the command of the Provost Marshal,
+or a civilian guard either under the Provost or some other special
+staff agency of the Post or Base Commander. On the ordinary post or
+base, officers of other services will be admitted if wearing uniform,
+even when accompanied by civilian dependents. If the stay is of short
+duration, a "visitors" tag on the car may be sufficient; in other
+cases it may be necessary to secure a temporary pass from the Provost.
+
+Except for civilian guards, who do not salute, and who will be
+readily identified in their police uniforms, the guard, if armed with
+a pistol or carbine will give a hand salute. During the hours for
+challenging (usually extending from a short time before darkness until
+after reveille the next morning) sentries on an Army post may require
+any officer to halt, give his rank and name, and advance for
+recognition. The challenging sentry stands at "raise pistol" or "port
+arms" until the challenged party has been recognized, after which he
+simply returns his weapon to the normal carrying position; if armed
+with a rifle, he executes "present arms" and holds it until the salute
+is returned.
+
+On any post or base, the adjutant usually acts for the commanding
+officer in greeting the visitor and directing him to the various
+facilities of the base, although if the visit is to be of short
+duration--say, just for the purpose of seeing a friend--it would be
+impertinent to bother him. But if the visiting officer is reporting
+for temporary duty, or if he will be living in the immediate vicinity
+for some time on special detail and desires the use of post
+facilities, he is required to report to the adjutant.
+
+Most posts and bases have not only a bachelor officers quarters, more
+popularly known by the abbreviation BOQ, where the visitor may obtain
+lodging, but also a Hostess House where the officer may stay with his
+dependents. These accommodations are usually under the supervision of
+the Billeting Officer, who makes the assignments and charges a nominal
+fee for the services provided. Other facilities that the visitor may
+use include the Officer's Club and dining room, the Post Exchange
+(corresponding to Navy Exchanges), and the post theater. Under certain
+conditions the visitor may secure permission from the adjutant or
+executive to make purchases at the Commissary, which deals in
+foodstuffs and other perishables.
+
+Special dinners are served to the enlisted men on Christmas,
+Thanksgiving, July 4, New Year's Day and sometimes on February 22. The
+company commander and lieutenants of the company accompanied by their
+wives and families and other guests visit the dining room and kitchen
+just before Christmas dinner is served, often remaining for dinner as
+guests of the organization. In some companies the soldiers are
+permitted to invite their wives and other ladies to dinner. In some
+commands, the post commander accompanied by his staff and some of the
+ladies of the garrison visit all the dining rooms and kitchens just
+previous to dinner hour.
+
+A newly arrived officer on a post and the adult members of his family
+are usually invited to be in the receiving line at the first
+regimental function after their arrival.
+
+If you arrive at a post at which you expect to remain longer than 24
+hours you should check with the post adjutant for rules on calling.
+The adjutant will also give the normal calling hours in effect at the
+post or station. You are usually expected to call on the post
+commander. If assigned to duty there, you would normally call on all
+of your intermediate commanders at their offices. These calls should
+be made immediately after the call on the post commander. If unable to
+wear uniform, an explanation should be made for appearing in civilian
+clothes.
+
+When it is in keeping with local rules, as verified by the adjutant,
+you should follow the official visit by a social call on the post and
+intermediate commanders at their residence within 72 hours after your
+arrival. If the commander is married and his wife is present on the
+post, it is customary for you to make the visit accompanied by your
+wife. These calls should be formal and ordinarily last no longer than
+fifteen minutes.
+
+You need not make other calls until the officers of the battalion,
+regiment or garrison have called on you except that as junior officer
+you should make the first call on field officers of your organization.
+
+It is customary for all officers of a unit or garrison to call upon
+the commanding officer on New Year's Day. (Again the commanding
+officer's desire in this matter can be asked of his aide or adjutant.)
+
+The visitor at the average Army and Air Force post will probably see
+few ceremonies other than retreat. This ceremony, which closes the
+official day, may be accompanied either by appropriate bugle calls, or
+by a parade with a military band. In the former case, the music will
+sound _To the Color_, and in the latter, the _National Anthem_, while
+the flag is being lowered. Retreat is held daily at a fixed time,
+usually about 1700 hours. Posts with saluting cannon fire one round at
+the designated hour. At the first note of either the _National Anthem_
+or _To the Color_, all dismounted persons face toward the color or
+flag and render the prescribed salute from attention; the salute is
+held until the last note of the music has been played. In the event
+the flag cannot be seen and the location of the flag staff is unknown
+to the person saluting, he faces toward the sound of the music.
+
+At parades and reviews and on other occasions when uncased colors are
+carried, all military personnel salute at six paces distance and hold
+the salute until the color or standard is the same distance past. When
+personal honors are being rendered to general or flag officers at a
+review, all military personnel present and not in formation salute
+during the ruffles, flourishes, and march. When a cannon salute is
+given, personnel in the immediate vicinity conform to the actions of
+the person being saluted. No salute is required during the 48 gun
+salute to the Nation on the Fourth of July.
+
+Military personnel also salute during the passing of a caisson or
+hearse in a military funeral. If attending the services at the grave
+side either as mourners or as honorary pallbearers, they stand at
+attention with the head-dress over the left breast at any time the
+casket is being moved, and during the service at the grave, including
+the firing of the volleys and the sounding of _Taps_. In cold or
+inclement weather, the head-dress is left on and the hand salute is
+rendered during the movement of the casket, the firing of the volleys,
+and the sound of _Taps_.
+
+On ships having 180 or more men of the seaman branch, the side is
+attended by side boys for visiting officers of our Armed Services,
+except in civilian clothes, and for officers of the Foreign Service
+when they come on board and depart. This courtesy is also extended to
+commissioned officers of the armed services of foreign nations.
+Officers of the rank of lieutenant to major inclusive are given two
+side boys, from lieutenant colonel to colonel four side boys, from
+brigadier to major general six side boys, and lieutenant general and
+above eight side boys. Full guard and band are given to general
+officers, and for a colonel the guard of the day but no music.
+
+During the hours of darkness or low visibility an approaching boat is
+usually hailed "Boat ahoy?" which corresponds to the sentry's
+challenge, "Who goes there?" Some of the answers are as follows:
+
+    ANSWER          MEANING: Senior in boat is:
+
+    "Aye aye"       Commissioned officer
+
+    "No no"         Warrant officer
+
+    "Hello"         Enlisted man
+
+    "Enterprise"    CO of U.S.S. Enterprise
+
+    "Third Fleet"   Admiral commanding Third Fleet
+
+Similarly if the CO of the 13th Infantry is embarked or the CO of
+Fortress Monroe, the answers would be "13th Infantry" or "Fort
+Monroe."
+
+On arrival, at the order, "Tend the side" the side boys fall in fore
+and aft of the approach to the gangway, facing each other. The
+boatswain's mate-of-the-watch takes station forward of them and faces
+aft. When the boat comes alongside the boatswain's mate pipes, and
+again when the visiting officer's head reaches the level of the deck.
+At this moment the side boys salute.
+
+On departure, the ceremony is repeated in reverse, the bo's'ns mate
+begins to pipe and the side boys salute as soon as the departing
+officer steps toward the gangway between the side boys. As the boat
+casts off the bo's'ns mate pipes again. (Shore boats and automobiles
+are not piped.)
+
+You uncover when entering a space where men are at mess and in Sick
+Bay (Quarters) if sick men are present. You uncover in the wardroom at
+all times if you are junior. All hands except when under arms uncover
+in the captain's cabin and country.
+
+You should not overtake a senior except in emergency. In the latter
+case slow, salute, and say, "By your leave, sir."
+
+Admirals and captains when in uniform fly colors astern when embarked
+in boats. When on official visits they also display their personal
+flags (pennants for commanding officers) in the bow. Flag officers'
+barges are distinguished by the appropriate number of stars on each
+side of the barge's hull. Captains' gigs are distinguished by the name
+or abbreviation of their ships surcharged by an arrow.
+
+Where gangways are rigged on both sides, the starboard gangway is
+reserved for officers and the port for enlisted men. Stress of weather
+or expedience (in the discretion of the officer of the deck or OOD)
+may make either gangway available to both officers and men.
+
+Seniors come on board ship first. When reaching the deck you face
+toward the colors (or aft if no colors are hoisted) and salute the
+colors (quarterdeck). Immediately thereafter you salute the OOD and
+request permission to come on board. The usual form is, "Request
+permission to come aboard, sir." The OOD is required to return both
+salutes.
+
+On leaving the ship the inverse order is observed. You salute the OOD
+and request permission to leave the ship. The OOD will indicate when
+the boat is ready (if a boat is used). Each person, juniors first,
+salutes the OOD; then faces toward the colors, salutes and embarks.
+
+The OOD on board ship represents the captain and as such has
+unquestioned authority. Only the executive and commanding officer may
+order him relieved. The authority of the OOD extends to the
+accommodation ladders or gangways. He is perfectly within his rights
+to order any approaching boat to "lay off" and keep clear until in his
+judgment he can receive her alongside.
+
+The OOD normally conveys orders to the embarked troops via the Troop
+Commander but in emergencies he may issue orders direct to you or any
+person on board.
+
+The _bridge_ is the "Command Post" of the ship when underway, as the
+quarterdeck is at anchor. The officer-of-the-deck is in charge of the
+ship as the representative of the captain. Admittance to the bridge
+when underway should be at the captain's invitation or with his
+permission. You may usually obtain permission through the executive
+officer.
+
+The _quarterdeck_ is the seat of authority; as such it is respected.
+The starboard side of the quarterdeck is reserved for the captain (and
+admiral, if a flagship). No person trespasses upon it except when
+necessary in the course of work or official business. All persons
+salute the quarterdeck when entering upon it. When pacing the deck
+with another officer the place of honor is outboard, and when
+reversing direction each turns towards the other. The port side of the
+quarterdeck is reserved for commissioned officers, and the crew has
+all the rest of the weather decks of the ship. However, every part of
+the deck (and the ship) is assigned to a particular division so that
+the crew has ample space. Not unnaturally every division considers it
+has a prior though unwritten right to its own part of the ship. For
+gatherings such as smokers and movies, all divisions have equal
+privileges at the scene of assemblage. Space and chairs are reserved
+for officers and for CPO's, where available, and mess benches are
+brought up for the men. The seniors have the place of honor. When the
+captain (and admiral) arrive those present are called to attention.
+The captain customarily gives "carry on" at once through the executive
+officer or master-at-arms who accompanies him to his seat.
+
+If you take passage on board a naval vessel you will be assigned to
+one of several messes on board ship, the wardroom or junior officer's
+mess. In off-hours, particularly in the evenings, you can foregather
+there for cards, yarns or reading. Generally a percolator is available
+with hot coffee.
+
+The Executive Officer is ex officio the president of the wardroom
+mess. The wardroom officers are the division officers and the heads of
+departments. All officers await the arrival of the Executive Officer
+before being seated at lunch and dinner. If it is necessary for you to
+leave early, ask the head at your table for permission to be excused
+as you would at home. The seating arrangement in the messes is by
+order of seniority.
+
+Naval Officers are required to pay their mess bills in advance. The
+mess treasurer takes care of the receipts and expenditures and the
+management of the mess. The mess chooses him by election every month.
+When assigned to a mess you are an honorary member. Consult the mess
+treasurer as to when he will receive payment for mess bills. Your
+meals are served by stewards who in addition, clean your room, make up
+your bunk, shine your shoes. This is their regular work for which they
+draw the pay of their rating. They are not tipped.
+
+The Cigar Mess is the successor of the old Wine Mess. You may make
+purchases from this mess, for example, of cigarettes, cigars, pipe
+tobacco and candies. The cigar mess treasurer will make out your bill
+at the end of the month or before your detachment. Before you are
+detached be sure that the mess treasurer and the cigar mess treasurer
+have sufficient warning to make out your bills before you leave. Once
+a ship has sailed, long delays usually occur before your remittances
+can overtake it. The unpaid mess bill on board is a more serious
+breach of propriety than the unpaid club bill ashore because of the
+greater inconvenience and delay in settlement.
+
+Passenger officers should call on the captain of the ship. If there
+are many, they should choose a calling committee and consult the
+executive officer as to a convenient time to call. The latter will
+make arrangements with the captain.
+
+Gun salutes in the Navy are the same as in the Army, except that flag
+officers below the rank of fleet admiral or general of the Army are,
+by Navy regulations, given a gun salute upon departure only. By Army
+regulations gun salutes for the same officers are fired only on
+arrival.
+
+The rules governing saluting, whether saluting other individuals or
+paying honor to the color or National Anthem, are the same for the Air
+Force as in the Army, with the minor exceptions already noted. Because
+a most frequent contact between the Air Force and the other services
+comes of the operations of air transport, an officer should know what
+is expected of him when he travels as a passenger in military
+aircraft.
+
+It is assumed that the majority of officers visiting an Air Force base
+will arrive by air at the local military airfield. In addition to the
+Base Operations Officer, who is the commander's staff officer with
+jurisdiction over air traffic arriving and departing, the Airdrome
+Officer is charged with meeting all transient aircraft, determining
+their transportation requirements, and directing them to the various
+base facilities. General officers and admirals will usually be met by
+the Base Commander if practicable. RON (Remaining Over Night) messages
+may be transmitted through Base Operations at the same time the
+arrival notice is filed.
+
+Pilots of transient aircraft carrying classified equipment are
+responsible for the safeguarding of that equipment unless it can be
+removed from the aircraft and stored in an adequately guarded area.
+Under unusual circumstances, it may be possible to arrange for a
+special airplane guard with the base commander.
+
+Passengers from other services, who desire to remain overnight at an
+air force station should make the necessary arrangements with the
+Airdrome Officer, and not attach themselves to the pilot who will be
+busy with his own responsibilities. By the same token, passengers of
+other services who have had a special flight arranged for them should
+make every effort to see that the pilot and crew are offered the same
+accommodations that they themselves are using, unless the particular
+base has adequate transient accommodations.
+
+Passenger vehicles are never allowed on the ramp or flight line unless
+special arrangements have been made with the Base Operations Officer;
+this permission will be granted only under the most unusual
+circumstances.
+
+The assigned first pilot, or the airplane commander, is the final
+authority on the operation of any military aircraft. Passengers,
+regardless of rank, seniority, or service, are subject to the orders
+of the airplane commander, who is held responsible for their adherence
+to regulations governing conduct in and around the aircraft. In the
+event it is impractical for the airplane commander to leave his
+position, orders may be transmitted through the copilot, engineer, or
+flight clerk, and have the same authority as if given by the pilot
+himself.
+
+The order of boarding and alighting from military aircraft--excluding
+the crew--will vary somewhat with the nature of the mission. If a
+special flight is arranged for the transportation of Very Important
+Persons, official inspecting parties, or other high ranking officers
+of any service, the senior member will enter first and take the seat
+of his choice, unless the aircraft is compartmented otherwise. Other
+members of the party will enter in order of rank, and precedence among
+officers of the same rank will be determined among the officers
+themselves. In alighting from the aircraft, the senior member will
+exit first, and the other members of the party will follow either in
+order of rank, or in order of seating, those nearest the hatch
+alighting first. The duties of the crew preclude their acting as
+arbiters in matters of precedence, and order of boarding and alighting
+will be decided among the members of the party.
+
+In routine flights, officers will normally be loaded in order of rank
+without regard for precedence, except that any VIP will be on- and
+off-loaded first; in alighting, officers will leave as they are seated
+from the exit forward--officers seated near the hatch will debark
+first, and so on to those who are seated farthest forward. In the
+event civilian dependents are being carried, or an enlisted man
+accompanied by dependents, they will be loaded after any VIP and
+before the officers, and leave in the same sequence.
+
+Aircraft carrying general or flag officers will usually be marked with
+a detachable metal plate carrying stars appropriate to the highest
+rank aboard, and will be greeted on arrival by the Air Force Base
+Commander, if the destination is an Air Force base. Other aircraft are
+usually met by the Airdrome Officer, who is appointed for one day
+only, and acts as the Base Commander's representative.
+
+Other personnel on active duty, seeking transportation on navigation
+or training missions, should realize that the flight is at the pilot's
+convenience. While the pilot will usually agree to any reasonable
+request, he can not deviate from his approved flight plan simply to
+accommodate a passenger. By the same token, passengers should be
+prompt, observe all pertinent safety regulations, and remain in the
+passengers compartment of the aircraft unless specifically invited to
+the flight deck or pilot's compartment. Under instrument
+conditions--so-called "blind" flying--continuous movement of the
+passengers of the aircraft makes unnecessary work for the pilot in
+maintaining balance, trim, and his assigned altitude. Passengers who
+are abnormally active while in the air are sometimes called--with
+exasperation--"waltzing mice."
+
+Since flights are somewhat dependent on weather, especially when
+carrying passengers, the decision of the pilot to fly or not to fly,
+or to alter his flight plan enroute will not be questioned by the
+passengers of whatever rank or service. Regulations governing the use
+of safety belts; wearing of parachutes; smoking during take-off,
+landing, fuel transfer, or in the vicinity of the aircraft on the
+ground are binding on all classes of passengers.
+
+When airplanes participate in the funeral of an aviator, it is
+customary to fly in a normal tactical formation, less one aircraft, to
+indicate the vacancy formerly occupied by the deceased. The flight
+should be so timed that it appears over the procession while the
+remains are being carried to the grave. Care should be exercised that
+the noise of the flight does not drown out the service at the edge of
+the grave.
+
+Other ceremonies, including Retreat and reviews, are the same for the
+Air Force as for the Army.
+
+By custom; and because it is the natural way of an American, the
+officers of the host service accord more than their average
+hospitality to the individual from any other service who may be
+visiting or doing duty among them. Even the young officer, having this
+experience for the first time, and in consequence feeling a little
+strange about it, is not permitted to feel that way long. He quickly
+finds a second home, provided there is that in his nature which
+responds to friendship.
+
+These amenities, carefully observed at all levels, contribute more
+directly to a spiritual uniting of American fighting forces than all
+of the policies which have been promulgated toward the serving of that
+object.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN
+
+KEEPING YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER
+
+
+In one of Lord Chesterfield's letters to his son there is to be found
+this bit of wisdom: "Dispatch is the soul of business and nothing
+contributes more to dispatch than method. Fix one certain hour and day
+in the week for your accounts, keep them together in their proper
+order, and you can never be much cheated."
+
+Although that is good advice in any man's league, there is just a
+little more reason why the military officer should adopt a system of
+accounting whereby he can keep his record straight, his affairs
+solvent and his situation mobile than if he had remained in civil
+life.
+
+He rarely, if ever, becomes permanently fixed in one location or
+remains tied to one group of individuals who know his credit, his
+ability, his past accomplishments and his general reputation. In the
+nature of his work, these things have to be reestablished from point
+to point, and if he personally does not take pains to conserve them,
+he can be certain only that no one else ever will.
+
+On the whole, the attitude of the services toward the private affairs
+and nonduty conduct of their officers can be best set forth by once
+again employing Chesterfield's phrases: "If you have the knowledge,
+the honor, and probity which you may have, the marks and warmth of my
+affection will amply reward you; but if you have them not, my aversion
+and indignation will rise in the same proportion."
+
+Reassignment to a distant station is of course a day-to-day
+possibility in the life of any military officer. Far from this being a
+general hardship, it is because the pattern of work and environment
+changes frequently, and the opportunity to build new friendships is
+almost endless, that the best men are attracted to the services. To
+vegetate in one spot is killing to the spirit of the individual who is
+truly fitted to play a lead part in bold enterprises, and for that
+reason there is something very unseemly and unmilitary about the
+officer who resists movement.
+
+On the other hand, a move order is like a club over the head to the
+officer who hasn't kept his own deck clean, has made no clear
+accounting of himself and is out of funds and harassed by his
+creditors.
+
+Concerning the evils of running into debt, there is hardly need for a
+sermon to any American male who has brains enough to memorize his
+general orders. As Mr. Micawber put it to David Copperfield, "The
+blossom is blighted, the leaf is withered, the god of days goes down
+upon the dreary scene, and--and in short, you are forever floored."
+The over-extension of credit is a not unknown American failing. It is
+now the nigh universal custom to overload the home with every kind of
+gadget, usually bought on time, and nearly all intended to provide the
+householder with every possible excuse for resisting human toil or for
+declining to use any personal ingenuity in making life interesting for
+his family. It is all good enough for those who must have it, but it
+is well for an officer to remember that the greater the accumulation,
+the less his chance of accommodating his personal establishment to the
+requirements of the service. All moves are costly, even though the
+government pays most of the freight.
+
+For these and many other reasons, the habit of systematic saving is an
+essential form of career insurance. The officer who will not deprive
+himself of a few luxuries to build up a financial reserve is as
+reckless of his professional future as the one who in battle commits
+his manpower reserve to front-line action without first weighing his
+situation.
+
+In the old days, keeping up with the Joneses was almost a part of
+service tradition. If the colonel's lady owned a bob-tailed nag, the
+major's wife could be satisfied with nothing less than a bay. And so
+on and on. Things are no longer that way. They have become much more
+sensible.
+
+There is one other kind of credit--the professional credit which an
+officer is entitled to keep with his own establishment. Junior
+officers are entitled to know that which their superiors are often
+too forgetful to tell them--that if they have made some especially
+distinct and worthy contribution to the service, it belongs in the
+permanent record. If, for example, an officer has written part of a
+manual, or sat on a major board or committee or provided the idea
+which has resulted in an improvement of materiel, the fact should be
+noted in the 201 file, or its equivalent. Such things are not done
+automatically, as many an officer has learned too late and to his
+sorrow. But any officer is within propriety in asking this
+acknowledgment from his responsible superior.
+
+The legal assistance office in an officer's immediate organization
+will usually suffice his needs in the drawing of all papers essential
+to his personal housekeeping.
+
+To make a will is merely good business practice, and to neglect it
+simply because one's holdings are small is to postpone forming the
+habits which mark a responsible person. Because of superstition and a
+reluctance to think about death, about three out of every four
+Americans die intestate. That is about as foolish as leading men into
+battle without designating a second in command. The Armed Services
+counsel all officers to take the more responsible view, and make it
+easy for their officers to do this duty without cost.
+
+A power of attorney enables one person to take certain legal steps for
+another in his absence, and execute papers which would usually require
+his signature. When an officer is going on an extended tour overseas,
+his interests are apt to be left dangling unless he leaves such a
+power with his wife, mother, best friend or some other person, thereby
+avoiding loss of money and excess worry.
+
+Any citizen may draw up a will in his own handwriting, and if it is
+properly attested, it will have some standing in court. Likewise, a
+power of attorney can be executed on a blank form. But it is foolish
+for a military officer to do these things halfway when the legal
+offices of the service are available to him, not only for performing
+the work, but for counseling him as to its effect.
+
+There is one other step that the responsible man takes on his own. It
+is not likely that his wife or any other person knows at any one time
+the whole story of his interests, obligations and holdings, as to
+where goods may be stored, savings kept, insurance policies filed,
+what debts are owed and what accounts are receivable. In the event of
+his sudden death, next of kin would be at a loss to know whom and
+where to call to get the estate settled smoothly, and with all things
+accurately inventoried. So it is a practical idea to keep an
+up-to-date check list in ledger form, but containing all pertinent
+information whereby things may be made readily accessible. If for some
+private reason, it is preferred not to leave this with next of kin, it
+can be kept in a top drawer at the office, where it could scarcely
+escape attention.
+
+A current inventory of household goods is also a safety and
+time-saving precaution. As changes occur, the list can be corrected
+and kept fresh. Then in case of a sudden move, there is almost nothing
+to be done in preparation for the movers, and in the event of loss
+anywhere along the line, one's own tables will provide a basis for
+recovery. Goods are not infrequently mislaid, lost, or damaged when
+shipped or warehoused, and the more authentic the description of the
+goods in question, the better the chances for the claim.
+
+For any officer with dependents, insurance is of course a necessity.
+How much it should be, and what its form, are matters for his judgment
+and conscience, and according to his circumstances. The services do
+not try to tell a man how he should provide for his family. Men of
+honor need no such reminder, though they may be bothered by the
+question: "How much can I afford?" On that point, sufficient to say
+that it is _not_ more blessed to be insolvent and worried about debts
+from being overloaded with insurance than for any other reason. Many
+retired officers supplement their pay by selling insurance. When a
+young service officer wants insurance counsel, he will find that they
+are disposed to deal sympathetically with his problem.
+
+A few recurrent expenses, such as insurance premiums and bond
+purchases, can be met with allotments through the Finance or
+Disbursing Officer. The forms for the starting of an allotment are
+quite simple. When an officer is going overseas, if his dependents are
+not to follow immediately, an allotment is the best way to insure
+that they will get their income regularly. Overseas expenses are
+usually quite light, which means that the allotment may safely be made
+in larger amount than half the monthly pay. Under certain
+circumstances, it may also be arranged for allotments to be made to
+banks, as a form of steady saving.
+
+Adverting for a moment to the question of what happens to a service
+officer when he becomes ridden by debt and plagued by his creditors,
+it is a fair statement that the generality of higher commanders are
+not unsympathetic, that they know that shrewdness and thrift are quite
+often the product of a broadened experience, and that their natural
+disposition is to temper the wind to the shorn lamb, if there are
+signs that he is making a reasonable effort to recover. When it
+becomes clear that he is taking the service for a ride and cares
+nothing for the good name of the officer corps, they'll send him
+packing. A man harassed by debt, and not knowing how to meet his
+situation, is always well-advised to go to his commander, make a clean
+statement of the case, and ask for his counsel.
+
+Every officer should be absolutely scrupulous about keeping a
+complete, chronologically arranged file of all official papers having
+anything to do with his status, movements, duties, or possessions.
+That may seem burdensome, but it is well worth doing, since one never
+knows when an old paper will become germane to a current question or
+undertaking.
+
+Likewise, receipts are necessary whenever one spends money on anything
+(for instance, travel) on which reimbursement is expected from the
+Government. Regulations are clear on this point--the Government simply
+will not give the individual the benefit of the doubt. No receipt; no
+check from the Treasury.
+
+The military society is a little more tightly closed than a civilian
+society, particularly in posts, camps and stations. For that reason
+the pressure from the distaff side is usually a little heavier. Wives
+get together more frequently, know one another better, and take a more
+direct interest in their husbands' careers than is common elsewhere.
+That has its advantages, but also its headaches. There is an
+occasional officer who is so immature in his judgments as to permit
+his wife's feelings about a colleague or a colleague's wife to
+supervene in the affairs of organization. This is one way to ask for
+trouble.
+
+Gossip is to be avoided because it is vicious, self-destructive,
+unmanly, unmilitary and, most of the time, untrue. The obligation of
+each officer toward his fellow officer is to build him up, which
+implies the use of moral pressure against whatsoever influence would
+pull him down. While the love of scandal is universal, and the
+services can not hope to rid themselves altogether of the average
+human failings, it is possible for any man to guard his own tongue
+and, by the example of moderation, serve to keep all such discussion
+temperate. Were all officers to make a conscious striving in this
+direction, the credit of the corps as a whole, and the satisfactions
+of each of its members in his service, would be tremendously
+increased. Besides, there is another point: gossip is the mark of the
+man insufficiently occupied with serious thought about his personal
+responsibilities. His carelessness about the destruction of the
+character of others is incidental to his indifference to those things
+which make for character in self.
+
+As for the rest of it, we can turn back to Chesterfield, with whom we
+started. For how might any man state it more neatly than with these
+words:
+
+"Were I to begin the world again with the experience which I now have
+of it, I would lead a life of real, not of imaginary pleasure. I would
+enjoy the pleasures of the table and of wine, but stop short of the
+pains inseparably annexed to an excess of either.
+
+"I should let other people do as they would without formally and
+sententiously rebuking them for it. But I would be most firmly
+resolved not to destroy my own faculties and constitution in
+complaisance to those who have no regard for their own.
+
+"I would play to give me pleasure, but not to give me pain. That is, I
+would play for trifles in mixed companies, to amuse myself and conform
+to custom. But I would take care not to venture for sums which if I
+won I would not be the better for, but if I lost, should be under a
+difficulty to pay."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT
+
+GETTING ALONG WITH PEOPLE
+
+
+The main answer can be stated almost as simply as doing right-face.
+Hear this:
+
+If you like people, if you seek contact with them rather than hiding
+yourself in a corner, if you study your fellow men sympathetically, if
+you try consistently to contribute something to their success and
+happiness, if you are reasonably generous with your thoughts and your
+time, if you have a partial reserve with everyone but a seeming
+reserve with no one, if you work to be interesting rather than spend
+to be a good fellow, you will get along with your superiors, your
+subordinates, your orderly, your roommate and the human race.
+
+It is easy enough to chart a course for the individual who is wise
+enough to make human relationships his main concern. But getting the
+knack of it is sufficiently more difficult that it is safe to say more
+talk has been devoted to this subject than to any other topic of
+conversation since Noah quit the Ark. From Confucius down to Emily
+Post, greater and lesser minds have worked at gentling the human race.
+By the scores of thousands, precepts and platitudes have been written
+for the guidance of personal conduct. The odd part of it is that
+despite all of this labor, most of the frictions in modern society
+arise from the individual's feeling of inferiority, his false pride,
+his vanity, his unwillingness to yield space to any other man, and his
+consequent urge to throw his own weight around. Goethe said that the
+quality which best enables a man to renew his own life, in his
+relation to others, is that he will become capable of renouncing
+particular things at the right moment in order warmly to embrace
+something new in the next.
+
+That is earthy advice for any member of the officer corps. For who is
+regarded as the strong man in the service--the individual who fights
+with tooth and nail to hold to a particular post or privilege? Not at
+all! Full respect is given only to him who at all times is willing to
+yield his space to a worthy successor, because of an ingrained
+confidence that he can succeed as greatly in some other sphere.
+
+For a fresh start in this study of getting along with people, we could
+not do better than quote what was published some time ago in the
+United States Coast Guard Magazine. Under the title "_Thirteen
+Mistakes_," the coast guardsmen raised their warning flares above the
+13 pitfalls. It is a mistake:
+
+    1. To attempt to set up your own standard of right and wrong.
+
+    2. To try to measure the enjoyment of others by your own.
+
+    3. To expect uniformity of opinions in the world.
+
+    4. To fail to make allowance for inexperience.
+
+    5. To endeavor to mold all dispositions alike.
+
+    6. Not to yield on unimportant trifles.
+
+    7. To look for perfection in our own actions.
+
+    8. To worry ourselves and others about what can't be remedied.
+
+    9. Not to help everybody wherever, however, whenever we can.
+
+    10. To consider impossible what we cannot ourselves perform.
+
+    11. To believe only what our finite minds can grasp.
+
+    12. Not to make allowances for the weakness of others.
+
+    13. To estimate by some outside quality, when it is that within
+    which makes the man.
+
+The unobserving officer will no doubt dismiss this list as just so
+many cliches. The reflective man will accept it as a negative guide to
+positive conduct, for it engages practically every principle which is
+vital to the growth of a strong spiritual life in relation to one's
+fellow men.
+
+Certain of these points stand out as prominently as pips on a radar
+screen to the military officer bent on keeping his own ship out of
+trouble. The morals contained in 4, 5, 12, and 13 all come to bear in
+the story told by Sgt. Fred Miller about Pvt. Fred Lang of Hospital
+No. 1 on Bataan. Miller had tried to do what he could for Lang, but no
+one else in the detachment was willing to give him a break. He was an
+unlettered hillbilly and, being ashamed of his own ignorance, he was
+shy toward other men. The rest of the story is best told in Miller's
+words.
+
+"When the Japs made their first bombing run on Marivales, most of us,
+being new at war, huddled together under such cover as we could find.
+Some people were hit outside. We stayed where we were. But we looked
+out and saw Lang. He was trying to handle a stretcher by himself,
+dragging one end along the ground in an effort to bring in the
+wounded. I remember one member of our group remarking, 'Look at old
+Lang trying to do litter drill right in the middle of a war.' Lang was
+killed by an enemy bomb that night. I guess he had to die to make us
+understand that he was the best man."
+
+There is hardly an American who has been in combat but can tell some
+other version of this same story, changing only the names and the
+surroundings. All too frequently it happens in the services--we look
+at a man, and because at a casual inspection we do not like the cut of
+his jib, or the manner of his response, or are over-persuaded by what
+someone else has said about him, we reach a permanent conclusion about
+his possibilities, and either mentally write him off, or impair our
+own capacity for giving him help.
+
+It suffices to say that when any officer has the inexcusable fault
+that he takes snap judgment on his _own_ men, he will not be any
+different in his relations with all other people, and will stand in
+his own light for the duration of his career. Which leads to one other
+observation. When any man, bearing a bad efficiency report, comes to a
+new organization, it is a fact to be noted with mild interest, but
+_without any prejudice whatever_. Every new assignment means a clean
+slate, and there should be no hangover from what has happened,
+including the possible mistaken judgments of others. The system was
+never intended to give a dog a bad name. To be perpetually supervised,
+questioned and shadowed is to be doubted, and doubt destroys
+confidence and creates fear, slyness and discontent in the other
+individual. Every man is entitled to a fresh hold on security with his
+new superior. Any wise and experienced senior commander will tell you
+this, and will cite examples of men who came to him with a spotty
+record, who started nervously, began to pick up after realizing that
+they were not going to get another kick, and went on to become
+altogether superior. For any right-minded commander, it is far more
+gratifying to be able to salvage human material than to take over an
+organization that is sound from bottom to top.
+
+However, the truth in point 9 applies universally. The studied effort
+to be helpful in all of our relations with our fellow men, and to give
+help not grudgingly, but cheerfully, courteously and in greater
+measure than is expected, is the high road to wide influence and
+personal strength of character. More than all else, it is the little
+kindnesses in life which bind men together and help each wayfarer to
+start the day right. These tokens are like bread cast upon the water;
+they ultimately nourish the giver more than the direct beneficiary.
+One of our best-known corps commanders in the Pacific War made it a
+rule that if any man serving under him, or any man he knew in the
+service, however unimportant, was promoted or given any other
+recognition, he would write a letter to the man's wife or mother,
+saying how proud he felt. He was not a great tactician or strategist
+but, because of the little things he did, men loved him and would ride
+to hell for him, and their collective moral strength became the
+bastion of his professional success.
+
+Of Maj. Gen. Henry T. Allen, who commanded our first Army of
+Occupation in Germany, a distinguished contemporary once said: "It
+surprised us that Allen did so well; in the old Army we regarded him
+as a swashbuckler." Maybe that was because he was a cavalryman and
+liked to strut, and he liked to see chestiness in his own people,
+right down to the last file. But General Allen was infinitely
+considerate of the dignity of all other men, and he disciplined
+himself to further their growth and give them some mark of his
+thoughtful regard so far as lay within his power. It was because of
+his rich understanding humanity, and not through any genial slackness,
+that he kept a tight hold on discipline. To the units he commanded he
+gave his own tone. He warmed men instead of chilling them with fear.
+Thousands returned to civil life better equipped for the passage
+because of what they had seen him do and heard him say.
+
+So we can link points 1, 6, 7, and 8 from the Coast Guard's list into
+one binding truth not less essential to sound officership than to
+action anywhere which seeks the cooperation and goodwill of men: _It
+is not more blessed to be right than to be loved_, Henry Clay's remark
+that he would rather be right than president notwithstanding. The
+absolute perfectionist is the most tiresome of men, and a waster of
+time and of nerves. The stickler, the fly-speckler, the bully and the
+sadist serve only to encumber those parts of the establishment which
+they touch; their subordinates spend part of their own strength
+clearing away the wreckage which these misfits make.
+
+Other than these comments, it is not necessary to say a great deal
+about the _inner qualities_ which give an officer a free-wheeling
+adjustment with other persons in all walks of life. Once again,
+however, it might be well to speak of the importance of enthusiasm,
+kindness, courtesy, and justice, which are the safeguards of honor and
+the tokens of mutual respect between man and man. This last there must
+be if men are to go forward together, prosper in one another's
+company, find strength in the bonds of mutual service, and experience
+a common felicity in the relationship between the leader and the led.
+
+But it is sadly the case that the reputation of any man, as to what he
+is inside, forms in large measure from what others see of him from the
+outside. That is what makes poignant the story of Pvt. Fred Lang; like
+a singed cat, he was better than he looked. In the military service,
+more than elsewhere in life, manner weighs heavily in the balance, if
+only for the reason that from the public point of view, the military
+officer is supposed to look the part. He is expected to be the
+embodiment of character, given to forthright but amiable speech,
+capable of expressing his ideas and purpose clearly, careful of
+customs and good usage, and carrying himself with poise and assurance.
+For if he does not have the aura of vitality, confidence and
+reflection which is expected in a leader of men, it will be suspected
+that he is incapable of playing the part. However unfairly
+discriminating that judgment may seem to be, in comparison with the
+attitude toward other professions, it has a perfectly logical basis.
+The people are willing to forgive preoccupation in all others, since
+how an engineer dresses has no relation to his skill as a
+mathematician, and when a doctor mumbles it doesn't suggest that he
+would be clumsy with a scalpel. But when they meet an uncivil or
+unkempt officer, or see an untidy soldier or bluejacket on the street,
+they worry that the national defense is going to pot. One reason for
+the great prestige of the Marine Corps is that the public seldom, if
+ever, sees a sloppy marine, though its members do sometimes look a
+little gruesome on the field of battle.
+
+The officer corps does have its share of "characters." Some are men
+born in an uncommon mold, with a great deal of natural phlegm in their
+systems, a gift for salty speech and a tendency to drawl their words
+as if their thoughts were being raised from a deep well. Usually, they
+are men of extraordinary power, and are worth any dozen of that
+individual who scuttles about like a water bug, making an exhibition
+of great energy but, like the whirling dervish, keeping in such
+constant motion that he has no chance to observe what goes on under
+his nose. Here, as in all things, it is steadiness that does it. The
+blunt soldier, the old sea-dog type of naval officer, is endurable and
+even lovable in the eyes of most other people, when he has done his
+scrapping with fire rather than firewater, when his personal
+credentials are sound, and when his outward manner is bluff in both
+meanings of the word. But the fakers who affect the crusty manner, the
+glaring eye and the jutting jaw, simply because they are wearing
+military suits and think mistakenly that these things are in the
+tradition, will be recognized as counterfeit as quickly as a lead
+quarter.
+
+There is nothing else that serves as well as the natural manner, with
+some polishing of the surfaces here and there, and a general
+tightening at the corners.
+
+While a partial check list is not likely to reform the establishment
+overnight, if kept simple enough, it may afford help to an occasional
+individual, instead of giving him the fear that he is falling apart at
+the seams.
+
+The smartest physical culturists are swinging around to the idea that
+correct posture alone is the great secret of physical fitness, that if
+a man sits well, stands erect and walks correctly all the time, he is
+doing more for his health and longevity than all of the setting-up
+exercises and sweat baths yet devised. At the same time he is making a
+favorable impression on all who see him. Clumsy one-sided postures,
+fidgeting on a chair, slouching while sitting or standing, moving
+along at a shambling gait and speaking with the chin down on the chest
+produce quite the opposite effect. Right or wrong, they are taken as a
+sign of indolence, fatigue, or inattention. There is always an hour
+for complete physical relaxation, for stretching and letting the
+muscles melt; Winston Churchill attributed a large part of his vigor
+and recuperative powers to the habit of taking a 30-minute cat nap in
+midday. That is a smart trick if one can master it. But trying most of
+all for _physical ease_ when in conversation, or at conference, or in
+attending to any matter wherein one comes under the surveillance of
+those whose good opinion is worth cultivating is as certain a handicap
+as putting excess weight on an otherwise good horse.
+
+In the services, as in any situation in life in which deference to
+higher opinion is compelled by the nature of an undertaking, the young
+will do well to consider the wisdom of the precept, "Be patient with
+your betters."
+
+It is lamentably bad judgment to act by any other rules. Where
+differences of opinion exist, time and forbearance not infrequently
+will work the desired change, where stubbornness or rudeness would
+utterly fail. More than that, a junior owes this much consideration to
+any senior whose heart is in the right place. It is bad manners, but
+even worse from the standpoint of tactics, to attempt publicly to
+score a victory over a senior in any dispute, or to attempt by wit to
+gain the upperhand of him in the presence of others. Though the point
+may be gained for the moment, it is usually at the cost of one's
+personal hold on the confidence of the senior.
+
+But there is also the other side of the case, that the superior should
+deal considerately with any earnest proposal from his subordinate,
+rather than dashing cold water in his face, just because he has not
+thought his proposition through. One of the best-loved editors of the
+United States, Grove Patterson, of Toledo, Ohio, was remembered by
+every young journalist who ever came under him because of the care
+with which he supported every man's pride. A youngster would go in to
+him, filled with enthusiasm for some idea, which he himself had not
+bothered to view in the round. Patterson would listen carefully, and
+would then say: "That's a corking idea. Take it and work it out
+carefully, going over every aspect of it. Then bring it back to me."
+On second thought, the youngster would begin having his own doubts,
+and would shortly begin hoping that the chief would forget all about
+the subject, which he invariably did. Many celebrated commanders in
+our military services have won the lasting affection of their
+subordinates by employing exactly this method.
+
+Men like the direct glance. They feel flattered by it, particularly
+when they are talking, and in conversation they like to be heard
+through, not interrupted in mid-passage. That is true whatever their
+station. Nobody likes to be bored, but fully half of boredom comes
+from lack of the habit of careful listening. The man who will not
+listen never develops wits enough to distinguish between a bore and a
+sage and therefore cannot pick the best company. The vacant stare, the
+drifting of eyes from the speaker to a window, or a picture or a
+passing blonde, though greatly tempting in the midst of long
+discourse, are taken only as signs of inattention. Many a young
+officer called to the carpet for some trivial business has managed to
+square himself with his commander just by looking straight and talking
+straight in the few moments that decided his future.
+
+Elsewhere in the book, a great deal has been said about the importance
+of the voice and of developing one's powers of conversation. Not a
+great deal more needs to be added here. But there is no excuse for the
+officer who talks so that others must strain to hear what he is
+saying--unless he is suffering from laryngitis. It is simple enough
+to keep the chin up and let the words roll out. Many persons have the
+bad habit of letting the voice drop at the end of a sentence; the
+effect on the other party is like watching a man run away from a
+fight. For clear understanding, and to create a good impression, there
+should be a cheerful lift upward at the end of a sentence.
+
+Also, officers who look at lecturing simply as part of the routine
+tend to fall into either the singsong rhythm which one frequently
+hears in college professors and certain radio announcers, or go all
+out for the sonorous intonations which are beloved by many of the
+clergy. Many young officers get into these same cadences whenever they
+talk to men, and before they know it, they are trying the same thing
+in the family circle. They sound like alarm clocks running down, but
+instead of arousing the house, they are an invitation to slumber.
+Either on the lecture platform, or in man-to-man conversation, there
+is no valid reason why it is ever necessary to take the tone which
+suggests that the talk is one-sided. Words can be crisply uttered and
+still be personally directed, but not if the speaker is looking at the
+floor, the moon or the rafters. To discuss a question amicably is the
+best way to gain clear insight into it; when a man argues violently,
+his purpose usually is not to serve wisdom but to prevail despite his
+lack of it, thus stultifying both himself and his adversary.
+
+Clothes are important. They have to be. One can't go very far without
+them, north of the Equator. But a fresh press counts more than a new
+suit by a Fifth Avenue tailor left unpressed, and neatness beats
+lavishness any day in the week.
+
+Carefulness in the little things counts much. Men develop an aversion
+to the individual who cannot remember their names, their titles or
+their stations, but they will warm to the person who remembers, and
+they will overlook most of his other shortcomings. Likewise, they are
+won by any words of appreciation or of interest in what they are
+doing. Get a man talking about his business, his golf game or his
+family, and you are on the inside track toward his friendship. As for
+senior commanders, when the hours comes for them to bat the ball back
+and forth in friendly conversation, there is nothing they enjoy more
+than reminiscing about experiences on the battlefield. Other than
+inveterate surgical patients, no one can outdo them in talking about
+their operations.
+
+It isn't lengthy advice which is needed on this subject, since a man
+commissioned is considered to have graduated from at least the
+kindergarten of good manners. What counts is simply caring about it,
+not to be ingratiating to other people, but for the sake of one's own
+dignity and self-respect.
+
+None of the oracles on winning friends and influencing people have
+said it in those few words, and if they had, there would have been no
+books to sell.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE
+
+LEADERS AND LEADERSHIP
+
+
+In that gallery of Great Americans whose names are conspicuously
+identified with the prospering of the national arms in peace and war,
+there are almost as many types as there are men.
+
+There were a certain few qualities that they had to possess in common
+or their names would never have become known beyond the county line.
+
+But these were inner qualities, often deep buried, rather than outward
+marks of greatness which men recognized immediately upon beholding
+them.
+
+Some almost missed the roll call, either because in early life their
+weaknesses were more apparent than their strengths, or because of an
+outward seeming of insignificance which at first fooled their
+contemporaries.
+
+In the minority are the few who seemed marked for greatness almost
+from the cradle, and were acclaimed for leadership while still of
+tender years.
+
+Winfield Scott, a Brigadier in the War of 1812 when Brigadiers were
+few, and Chief of Staff when the Civil War began, is a unique figure
+in the national history.
+
+George Washington, Adjutant of the State of Virginia at 21, is one
+other military infant prodigy who never later belied his early fame.
+
+The majority in the gallery are not like these. No two of them are
+strikingly alike in mien and manner. Their personalities are as
+different, for most part, as their names. Their characters also ran
+the range of the spectrum, or nearly, if we are talking of moral
+habit, rather than of conscientious performance of military duty. Some
+drank their whiskey neat and frequently; others loathed it and took a
+harsh line with any subordinate who used it.
+
+One of the greatest generals in American history, celebrated for his
+fighting hardly more than for his tippling, would walk from the room
+if any man tried to tell an off-color story in his presence.
+
+One of the most celebrated and successful of our Admirals endeared
+himself to millions of men in all ranks and services by his trick of
+gathering his chief subordinates together just prior to battle,
+issuing his orders sternly and surely, and then relaxing long enough
+to tell them his latest parlor story, knowing that finally it would
+trickle down through the whole command.
+
+Among the warriors in this gallery are men who would bet a month's pay
+on a horse race. There are duellists and brawlers, athletes and
+aesthetes, men who lived almost sainted lives and scholars who lived
+more for learning than for fame.
+
+Some tended to be so over-reclusive that they almost missed
+recognition; others were hail-fellow-well-met in any company.
+
+Their methods of work reflected these extreme variations in personal
+type, as did the means they used to draw other men to them, thereby
+setting a foundation for real success.
+
+Part of their number commanded mainly through the sheer force of
+ideas; others owed their fortune more to the magnetism of dynamic
+personality.
+
+In a few there was the spark of genius. All things seemed to come
+right with them at all times. Fate was kind, the openings occurred,
+and they were prepared to take advantage of them.
+
+But the greater number moved up the hill one slow step at a time, not
+always sure of their footing, buffeted by mischance, owning no exalted
+opinion of their own merits, reacting to discouragement much as other
+men would do, but finally accumulating power as they learned how to
+organize the work of other men.
+
+While a young lieutenant, Admiral Sims became so incensed, when the
+United States would not take his word on a voucher, that he offered to
+resign.
+
+General Grant signally failed to organize his life as an individual
+prior to the time when a turn of the wheel gave him his chance to
+organize the military power of the United States in war.
+
+General Sherman, who commanded the Army for almost 15 years, was
+considered by many of his close friends to be a fit subject for
+confinement as a mental case just prior to the Civil War.
+
+General Meade, one of the sweetest and most serene of men in his
+family relationships, lacked confidence in his own merits and was very
+abusive of his associates during battle.
+
+Admiral Farragut, whose tenderness as an individual are marked by the
+16 years in which he personally nursed an invalid wife, was so
+independent in his professional thought and action that both in and
+out of the Navy he was disqualified as a "climber." He got into
+wretched quarrels with his superiors mainly because he felt his
+assignments afforded him no distinction. The Civil War gave him his
+opportunity.
+
+Admiral John Paul Jones, though an unusually modest man, was as
+redoubtable in the boudoir as at sea, and it would be hard to say
+which type of engagement most caught his fancy.
+
+General Winfield Scott, as firm a commander as ever drew on a glove,
+plagued the service with his petty bickering over rank, seniority, and
+precedent.
+
+They were all mortal. Being human, they had their points of personal
+weakness, just as any newly appointed ensign or second lieutenant also
+has weak spots in his armor, and sometimes views them in such false
+proportion that he doubts his own potential for high responsibility.
+
+There is not one perfect life in the gallery of the great. All were
+moulded by the human influences which surrounded them. They reacted in
+their own feelings, and toward other men, according as their personal
+fortunes rose and fell. They sought help where it could be found. When
+disappointed, they chilled like anyone else. But along with their
+professional talents, they possessed, in common, a desire for
+substantial recognition, accompanied by the will to earn it fairly, or
+else the nation would never have heard their names.
+
+All in all it is a multifarious gallery. If we were to pass it in
+review, and then inspect it carefully, it would still be impossible to
+say: "This is the composite of character. This is the prototype of
+military success. Model upon it and you have the pinnacle within
+reach."
+
+The same thing would no doubt hold true of a majority of the better
+men who commanded ships, squadrons, regiments, and companies under
+these commanders, and at their own level were as superior in
+leadership as the relatively few who rose to national stature because
+of the achievements of the general body.
+
+The same rule will apply tomorrow. Those who come forward to fill
+these same places, and to command them with equal or greater authority
+and competence, will not be plaster saints, laden with all human
+virtue, spotless in character and fit to be anointed with a superman
+legend by some future Parson Weems. They will be men with a human
+quality, and a strong belief in the United States and the goodness of
+a free society. They will have some of the average man's faults, and
+maybe a few of his vices. But certainly they will possess the
+qualities of courage, creative intelligence and physical fitness in
+more than average measure.
+
+What we know of our great leaders in the current age should disparage
+the idea that only a superman may scale the heights. Trained observers
+have noted in their personalities and careers many of the plain
+characteristics which each man feels in himself and mistakenly
+believes is a bar to preferment.
+
+Drew Middleton, the British correspondent, wrote of Gen. Carl "Tooey"
+Spaatz: "This man, who may be a heroic figure to our grandchildren, is
+essentially an unheroic figure to his contemporaries. He is in fact
+such a friendly, human person that observers tend to minimize his
+stature as a war leader. He is not temperamental. He makes no rousing
+speeches, writes no inspirational orders. Spaatz, in issuing orders
+for a major operation involving 1,500 airplanes, is about as inspiring
+as a groceryman ordering another five cases of canned peas."
+
+In the files of the Navy Department there is a picture of Admiral Marc
+A. Mitscher, the famed commander of Task Force 58, coming on board a
+flagship to take command of a force of carriers. Officers and men are
+lined up at spick-and-span attention. The Admiral himself appears as a
+little man in a rumpled khaki uniform, tieless and wearing an
+informal garrison cap. Under his arm is a book, and in the photograph
+the title can be read as "Send Another Coffin." Mitscher liked
+detective stories; he didn't like ceremonial pomp.
+
+An interviewer who called on Gen. Ira C. Eaker when he was leading 8th
+Air Force against Germany found "a strikingly soft-spoken, sober,
+compact man who has the mild manner of a conservative minister and the
+judicial outlook of a member of the Supreme Court. But he is always
+about two steps ahead of everybody on the score, and there is a quiet,
+inexorable logic about everything he does." Of his own choice, Eaker
+would have separated from military service after World War I. He
+wanted to be a lawyer and he also toyed with the idea of running a
+country newspaper. In his off hours, he wrote books on aviation for
+junior readers. On the side, he studied civil law and found it
+"valuable mental training."
+
+On the eve of the Guadalcanal landing, Gen. A. A. Vandegrift's final
+order to his command ended with the stirring and now celebrated
+phrase: "God favors the bold and strong of heart." Yet in the
+afterglow of later years, the Nation read a character sketch of him
+which included this: "He is so polite and so soft spoken that he is
+continually disappointing the people whom he meets. They find him
+lacking in the fire-eating traits they like to expect of all marines,
+and they find it difficult to believe that such a mild-mannered man
+could really have led and won the bloody fight." When another officer
+spoke warmly of Vandegrift's coolness under fire, his "grace under
+pressure," to quote Hemingway's phrase, he replied: "I shouldn't be
+given any credit. I'm built that way."
+
+The point is beautifully taken. Too often the man with great inner
+strength holds in contempt those less well endowed by nature than
+himself.
+
+While there are no perfect men, there are those who become relatively
+perfect leaders of men because something in their makeup brings out in
+strength the highest virtues of all who follow them. That is the way
+of human nature. Minor shortcomings do not impair the working loyalty,
+or growth, of the follower who has found someone whose strengths he
+deems worth emulating. On the other hand, to recognize merit, you must
+yourself have it. _The act of recognizing the worthwhile traits in
+another person is both the test and the making of character._ The man
+who scorns all others, and thinks no one else worth following, parades
+his own inferiority before the world. He puts his own character into
+bankruptcy just as surely as does that other sad camp follower of whom
+Thomas Carlyle wrote: "To recognize false merit, and crown it as true,
+because a long tail runs after it, is the saddest operation under the
+sun."
+
+Sherman, Logan, Rawlins and the many others hitched their wagons to
+Grant's star because they saw in him a man who had a way with other
+men, and who commanded them not less by personal courage than by
+patient work in their interest. Had Grant spent time brooding over his
+civilian failures, he would have been stuck with a disorderly camp and
+would never have gotten out of Illinois.
+
+The nobility of the private life and influence of Gen. Robert E. Lee
+and the grandeur of his military character are known to every American
+school boy. His peerless gifts as a battle leader have won the tribute
+of celebrated soldiers and historians throughout the English-speaking
+world. Likewise, the deep religiosity of his great lieutenant,
+Stonewall Jackson, the latter's fiery zeal and the almost evangelical
+power with which he lifted the hearts of all men who followed him, are
+hallmarks of character that are vividly remembered in whatever context
+his name happens to be mentioned.
+
+If we turn for a somewhat closer look at Grant it is because he, more
+than any other American soldier, left us a full, clear narrative of
+his own growth, and of the inner thoughts and doubts pertaining to
+himself which attended his life experience. There was a great deal of
+the average man in Grant. He was beset by human failings. He could not
+look impressive. He had no sense of destiny. In his great hours, it
+was sweat, rather than inspiration, dogged perseverance, rather than
+the aura of power, which made the hour great.
+
+Average though he was in many things, there was nothing average about
+the strong way in which he took hold, applying massive common sense to
+the complex problems of the field. That is why he is worth close
+regard. His virtues as a military leader were of the simpler sort
+which plain men may understand and hope to emulate. He was direct in
+manner. He never intrigued. His speech was homely. He was
+approachable. His mind never deviated from the object. Though a
+stubborn man, he was always willing to listen to his subordinates. He
+never adhered to a plan obstinately, but nothing could induce him to
+forsake the idea behind the plan.
+
+History has left us a clear view of how he attained to greatness in
+leadership by holding steadfastly to a few main principles.
+
+At Belmont, his first small action, he showed nothing to indicate that
+he was competent as a tactician and strategist. But the closing scene
+reveals him as the last man to leave the field of action, risking his
+life to see that none of his men had been left behind.
+
+At Fort Donelson, where he had initiated an amphibious campaign of
+highly original daring, he was not on the battlefield when his army
+was suddenly attacked. He arrived to find his right wing crushed and
+his whole force on the verge of defeat. He blamed no one. Without more
+than a passing second's hesitation, he said quietly to his chief
+subordinates: "Gentlemen, the position on the right must be retaken."
+Then he mounted his horse, and galloped along the line shouting to his
+men: "Fill your cartridge cases quick; the enemy is trying to escape
+and he must not be permitted to do so." Control and order were
+immediately reestablished by his presence.
+
+At Shiloh, the same thing happened, only this time it was worse; the
+whole Union Army was on the verge of rout. Grant, hobbling on crutches
+from a recent leg injury, met the mob of panic-stricken stragglers as
+he left the boat at Pittsburgh Landing. Calling on them to turn back,
+he mounted and rode toward the battle, shouting encouragement and
+giving orders to all he met. Confidence flowed from him back into an
+already beaten Army and in this way a field near lost was soon
+regained.
+
+The last and best picture of Grant is on the evening after he had
+taken his first beating from General Lee in the campaign against
+Richmond. He was newly with the Army of the Potomac. His predecessors,
+after being whipped by Lee, had invariably retreated to safe distance.
+But this time as the defeated army took the road of retreat out of the
+Wilderness, its columns got only as far as the Chancellorsville House
+crossroad. There the soldiers saw a squat, bearded man, sitting
+horseback, and drawing on a cigar. As the head of each regiment came
+abreast him, he silently motioned it to take the right-hand fork--back
+toward Lee's flank and deeper than ever into the Wilderness. That
+night for the first time the Army sensed an electric change in the air
+over Virginia. It had a man.
+
+"I intend to fight it out on this line" is more revealing of the one
+supreme quality which put the seal on all other of U. S. Grant's great
+gifts for military leading than everything else that the historians
+have written of him. He was the epitome of that spirit which moderns
+call "seeing the show through." He was sensitive to a fault in his
+early years, and carried to his tomb a dislike for military uniform,
+caused by his being made the butt of ridicule the first time he ever
+donned a soldier suit. As a junior lieutenant in the Mexican War, he
+sensed no particular aptitude in himself. But he had participated in
+every engagement possible to a member of his regiment, and had
+executed every small duty to the hilt, with particular attention to
+conserving the lives of his men. This was the school and the course
+which later enabled him to march to Richmond, when men's lives had to
+be spent for the good of the Nation. In more recent times, one of the
+great statesmen and soldiers of the United States, Henry L. Stimson,
+has added his witness to the value of this force in all enterprise: "I
+know the withering effect of limited commitments and I know the
+regenerative effect of full action." Though he was speaking
+particularly of the larger affairs of war and nation policy, his words
+apply with full weight to the personal life. The truth seen only
+halfway is missed wholly; the thing done only halfway had best not be
+attempted at all. Men can be fooled but they can't be fooled on this
+score. They will know every time when the bolt falls short for lack of
+a worthwhile effort. And when that happens, confidence in the leader
+is corroded, even among those who themselves were unwilling to try.
+
+There have been great and distinguished leaders in our military
+services at all levels, who had no particular gifts for
+administration, and little for organizing the detail of decisive
+action either within battle or without. They excelled because of a
+superior ability to utilize the brains and command the loyalty of
+well-chosen subordinates. Their particular function was to judge the
+mark according to their resources and audacity, and then to hold the
+team steady until the mark was gained. So doing, they complemented the
+power of the faithful lieutenants who might have put them in the shade
+in any I. Q. test. Wrote Grant: "I never knew what to do with a paper
+except put it in a side pocket or pass it to a clerk who understood it
+better than I did." There was nothing unfair or irregular about this;
+it was as it should be. All military achievement develops out of unity
+of action. The laurel goes to the man whose powers can most surely be
+directed toward the end purposes of organization. _The winning of
+battles is the product of the winning of men._ That aptitude is not an
+endowment of formal education, though the man who has led a football
+team, a class, a fraternity or a debating society is the stronger for
+the experience which he has gained. It is not uncustomary in those who
+have excelled in scholarship to despise those who have excelled merely
+in sympathetic understanding of the human race. But in the military
+services, though there are niches for the pedant, character is at all
+times at least as vital as intellect, and the main rewards go to him
+who can make other men feel toughened as well as elevated.
+
+    _Quiet resolution._
+
+    _The hardihood to take risks._
+
+    _The will to take full responsibility for decision._
+
+    _The readiness to share its rewards with subordinates._
+
+    _An equal readiness to take the blame when things go adversely._
+
+    _The nerve to survive storm and disappointment and to face toward
+    each new day with the scoresheet wiped clean, neither dwelling on
+    one's successes nor accepting discouragement from one's failures._
+
+In these things lie a great part of the essence of leadership, for
+they are the constituents of that kind of moral courage which has
+enabled one man to draw many others to him in any age.
+
+It is good, also, to look the part, not only because of its effect on
+others, but because from out of the effort made to _look it_, one may
+in time come _to be it_. One of the kindliest and most penetrating
+philosophers of our age, Abbe Ernest Dimnet, has assured us that this
+is true. He says that by trying to look and act like a socially
+distinguished person, one may in fact attain to the inner disposition
+of a gentleman. That, almost needless to say, is the _real_ mark of
+the officer who takes great pains about the manner of his dress and
+address, for as Walt Whitman has said: "All changes of appearances
+without a change in that which underlies appearance, are without
+avail." All depends upon the spirit in which one makes the effort. By
+his own account, U. S. Grant, as a West Point cadet, was more stirred
+by the commanding appearance of General Winfield Scott than by any man
+he had ever seen, including the President. He wrote that at that
+moment there flashed across his mind the thought that some day he
+would stand in Scott's place. Grant was unkempt of dress. His physical
+endowments were such that he could never achieve the commanding air of
+Scott, but he left us his witness that Scott's military bearing helped
+kindle his own desire for command, even though he knew that he could
+not be like Scott.
+
+Much is said in favor of modesty as an asset in leadership. It is
+remarked that the man who wishes to hold the respect of others will
+mention himself not more frequently than a born aristocrat mentions
+his ancestor. However, the point can be labored too hard. Some of the
+ablest of the Nation's battlefield commanders have been anything but
+shrinking violets; we have had now and then a hero who could boast
+with such gusto that this very characteristic somehow endeared him to
+his men. But that would be a dangerous tack for all save the most
+exceptional individual. Instead of speaking of modesty as a charm that
+will win all hearts, thereby risking that through excessive modesty a
+man will become tiresome to others and rated as too timid for high
+responsibility, it would be better to dwell upon the importance of
+being natural, which means neither concealing nor making a vulgar
+display of one's ideals and motives, but acting directly according to
+their dictations.
+
+This leads to another point. In several of the most celebrated
+commentaries written by higher commanders on the nature of
+generalship, the statement is made rather carelessly that to be
+capable of great military leadership a man must be something of an
+actor. If that were unqualifiedly true, then it would be a desirable
+technique likewise in any junior officer that he too should learn how
+to wear a false face, and play a part which cloaks his real self. The
+hollowness of the idea is proved by the lives of such men as Robert E.
+Lee, W. T. Sherman, George C. Marshall, Omar N. Bradley, Carl A.
+Spaatz, William H. Simpson, Chester A. Nimitz, and W. S. Sims. As
+commanders, they were all as natural as children, though some had
+great natural reserve, and others were warmer and more outgiving. They
+expressed themselves straightforwardly rather than by artful striving
+for effect. There was no studied attempt to appear only in a certain
+light. To use the common word for it, their people did not regard them
+as "characters." This naturalness had much to do with their hold on
+other men.
+
+Such a result will always come. He who concentrates on the object at
+hand has little need to worry about the impression he is making on
+others. Even though they detect the chinks in the armor, they will
+know that the armor will hold.
+
+On the other hand, a sense of the dramatic values, coupled with the
+intelligence to play upon them skillfully, is an invaluable quality in
+any military leader. Though there was nothing of the "actor" in Grant,
+he understood the value of pointing things up. _To put a bold or
+inspiring emphasis where it belongs is not stagecraft, but an integral
+part of the military fine art of communications._ System which is only
+system is injurious to the mind and spirit of any normal person. One
+can play a superior part well, and maintain prestige and dignity,
+without being under the compulsion to think, speak and act in a
+monotone. In fact, when any military commander becomes over-inhibited
+along these lines because of the illusion that this is the way to
+build a reputation for strength, he but doubles the necessity that his
+subordinates will act at all times like human beings rather than
+robots.
+
+Coupled with self-control, recollection and thoughtfulness will carry
+a man far. Men will warm toward a leader when they come to believe
+that all the energy he stores up by living somewhat within himself is
+at their service. But when they feel that this is not the case, and
+that his reserve is simply the outward sign of a spiritual miserliness
+and concentration on purely personal goals, no amount of restraint
+will ever win their favor. This is as true of him who commands a whole
+service as of the leader of a picket squad.
+
+To speak of the importance of a sense of humor would be unavailing if
+it were not that what cramps so many men isn't that they are by nature
+humorless but that they are hesitant to exercise what humor they
+possess. Within the military profession, it is as unwise as to let the
+muscles go soft and to spare the mind the strain of original thinking.
+Great humor has always been in the military tradition. The need of it
+is nowhere more delicately expressed than in Kipling's lines:
+
+    My son was killed while laughing at some jest,
+               I would I knew
+    What it was, and it might serve me in a time
+               When jests are few.
+
+Marcus Aurelius, Rome's soldier philosopher, spoke of his love for the
+man who "could be humorous in an agreeable way." No reader of Grant's
+_Memoirs_ (one of the few truly great autobiographies ever written by
+a soldier) could fail to be impressed by his light touch. A delicate
+sense of the incongruous seems to have pervaded him; he is at his
+whimsical best when he sees himself in a ridiculous light. Lord
+Kitchener, one of the grimmest warriors ever to serve the British
+Empire, warmed to the man who made him the butt of a practical joke.
+There is the unforgettable picture of Admiral Beatty at Jutland. The
+_Indefatigable_ has disappeared beneath the waves. The _Queen Mary_
+had exploded. The _Lion_ was in flames. Then word came that the
+_Princess Royal_ was blown up. Said Beatty to his Flag Captain
+"Chatfield, there seems to be something wrong with our ... ships
+today. Turn two points nearer the enemy." Admiral Nimitz, surveying
+the terrible landscape of the Kwajalein battlefield for the first
+time, said gravely to his Staff: "It's the worst devastation I've ever
+seen except for that last Texas picnic in Honolulu." There is a
+characteristic anecdote of General Patton. He had just been worsted by
+higher headquarters in an argument over strategy. So he sat talking to
+his own Staff about it, his dog curled up beside him. Suddenly he said
+to the animal: "The trouble with you, too, Willy, is that you don't
+understand the big picture." General Eisenhower, probably more than
+any other American commander, had the art of winning with his humor.
+He would have qualified under Sydney Smith's definition: "The meaning
+of an extraordinary man is that he is eight men in one man; that he
+has as much wit as if he had no sense, and as much sense as if he had
+no wit; that his conduct is as judicious as if he were the dullest of
+human beings, and his imagination as brilliant as if he were
+irretrievably ruined."
+
+There is hardly a soldier, marine, or bluejacket who has been long in
+battle but can tell some tale of an experience under fire when the
+pressure became almost unbearable, and then was suddenly relieved
+because somebody made a wisecrack or pulled something that was good
+for a laugh. At Bastogne the American headquarters was being shelled
+out of its position in the Belgian Barracks. The Commanding General
+called in his Chief Signal Officer and asked when it would be
+convenient to move. Said Lt. Col. Sid Davis, "Right now, while I've
+got one line left and you can still give the order." When the garrison
+was surrounded, and higher headquarters requested a description of the
+situation, the young G-3 of the operation, Col. H. W. O. Kinnard,
+radioed: "Think of a doughnut: we're the hole."
+
+Who hasn't heard of the top kick who got his men forward by yelling:
+"Come on you ----! Do you want to live forever?" Both the Army and the
+Marine Corps claim him for their own, and it is possible that he was
+twins.
+
+If the American fighting man did not have an instinctive feeling for
+the moral value of that kind of thing, the story would be long since
+buried, for it is as ancient as the other tale which ends: "That was
+no lady; that was my wife."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN
+
+MAINSPRINGS OF LEADERSHIP
+
+
+To what has been said, just a few things should be added so that the
+problem of generating greater powers of leadership within the officer
+corps may be seen in its true light.
+
+The counselor says: "Be forthright! Be articulate! Be confident! Be
+positive! Possess a commanding appearance!" The young man replies:
+"All very good, so far as it goes. I will, if I can. But tell me, how
+do I get that way?" He sees rightly enough the main point, that these
+things are but derivatives of other inner qualities which must be
+possessed, if the leader is to travel the decisive mile between
+wavering capacity and resolute performance.
+
+So the need is to get down to a few governing principles. Finding
+them, we may be able to resolve finally any argument as to whether
+leadership is a God-given power, or may be bestowed through earnest
+military teaching.
+
+Two great American commanders have spoken their thoughts on this
+subject. The weight of their comment is enhanced by the conspicuous
+success of both men in the field of moral leading.
+
+Said Admiral Forrest P. Sherman, Chief of Naval Operations: "I concur
+that we _can_ take average good men and, by proper training, develop
+in them the essential initiative, confidence, and magnetism which are
+necessary in leadership. I believe that these qualities are present in
+the average man to a degree that he can be made a good leader if his
+native qualities are properly developed; whether or not he becomes a
+_great_ leader depends upon whether or not he possesses that _extra_
+initiative, magnetism, moral courage, and force which makes the
+difference between the average man and the above-average man."
+
+Said Gen. C. B. Cates, Commandant of the Marine Corps: "Leadership is
+intangible, hard to measure and difficult to describe. Its qualities
+would seem to stem from many factors. But certainly they must include
+a measure of inherent ability to control and direct, _self-confidence
+based on expert knowledge_, initiative, loyalty, pride, _and a sense
+of responsibility_. Inherent ability obviously cannot be instilled,
+but that which is latent or dormant can be developed. Other
+ingredients can be acquired. They are not easily taught or easily
+learned. _But leaders can be and are made._ The average good man in
+our service is and must be considered a potential leader."
+
+There are common denominators in these two quotations which clearly
+point in one main direction. When we accent the importance of extra
+initiative, expert knowledge and a sense of responsibility, we are
+saying in other words that out of unusual application to duty comes
+the power to lead others in the doing of it.
+
+The matter is as simple and as profound as that, and if we will
+consider for but a moment, we will see why it could hardly be
+otherwise.
+
+No normal young man is likely to recognize in himself the qualities
+which will persuade others to follow him. On the other hand, any man
+who can carry out orders in a cheerful spirit, complete this work step
+by step, use imagination in improving it, and then when the job is
+done, can face toward his next duty with anticipation, need have no
+reason to doubt his own capacity for leadership.
+
+The psychologists assure us that there is a sound scientific basis for
+what enlightened military trainers have long held to be true--that the
+first-class follower and the leader are one and the same. They say
+that this is literally true, and that their tests prove it so.
+
+But it does not follow that every man can be taught to lead. In the
+majority of men, success or failure is caused more by mental attitude
+than by mental capacity. Many are unwilling to face the ordeal of
+thinking for themselves and of accepting responsibility for others.
+But the man determined to excel at his own work has already climbed
+the first rung of the ladder; in that process he perforce learns to
+think for himself while setting an example to those who are around
+him. Out of application to work comes capacity for original and
+creative progress. The personality characteristics, emotional balance,
+etc., which give him excellence in those things which he does with his
+own brain and hand will enable him to command the respect, and in
+turn, the service of other men.
+
+To this extent, certainly leadership can be learned! It is a matter of
+mastering simple techniques which will give more effective expression
+to the character and natural talents of the individual.
+
+Said one of this Nation's great political leaders: "There is no more
+valuable subordinate than the man to whom you can give a piece of work
+and then forget it, in the confident expectation that the next time it
+is brought to your attention it will come in the form of a report that
+the thing has been done. When this self-reliant quality is joined to
+executive power, loyalty and common sense, the result is a man whom
+you can trust."
+
+Yes, indeed, and that is as it should be. For while no man can be sure
+of the possibilities of his influence over other men, every man knows
+by his own conscience when he is putting forth his best effort, and
+when he is slacking.
+
+It is therefore not an arbitrary standard for measuring leadership
+capacity in men which puts the ability to excel in assigned work above
+everything else. The willingness and ability to strive, and to do, are
+best judged by what we see of men in action. If they are indifferent
+to assigned responsibilities, they are bad risks for larger ones, no
+matter how charming their personalities or what the record says about
+their prior experience and educational advantages. Either that
+proposition is both reasonable and sound, or Arnold Bennett was
+singing off key when he said: "I think fine this necessity for the
+tense bracing of the will before anything worth doing can be done. It
+is the chief thing that distinguishes me from the cat by the fire."
+
+Love of work is the sheet-anchor of the man who truly aspires to
+command responsibilities; that means love of it, not for the reward,
+or for the skill exercised, but for the final and successful
+accomplishment of the work itself. For out of interest in the job
+comes thoroughness, and it is this quality above all which
+distinguishes the willing spirit. The willingness to learn, to study
+and to try harder are requisite to individual progress and the
+improvement of opportunity--the process that Thomas Carlyle described
+as the "unfolding of one's self." Thus it can be taken as an axiom
+that any man can lead who is determined to become master of that
+knowledge which an increased responsibility would require of him; and
+by the same token, that to achieve maximum efficiency at one's own
+working level, it is necessary to see it as if from the perspective of
+the next level up. To excel in the management of a squad, the leader
+must be knowledgeable of all that bears upon the command of a platoon.
+Otherwise the mechanism lacks something of unity.
+
+Mark Twain said at one point that we should be thankful for the
+indolent, since but for them the rest of us could not get ahead.
+That's on the target, and it emphasizes that how fast and far each of
+us travels is largely a matter of free choice.
+
+Personal advancement, within any worthwhile system, requires some
+sacrifice of leisure, and more careful attention to the better
+organization of one's working routine. But that does not entail heroic
+self-sacrifice or the forfeiting of any of life's truly enduring
+rewards. It means putting the completion of work ahead of golf and
+bridge. It means rejecting the convenient excuse for postponing
+solution of the problem until the next time. It means cultivating the
+mind during hours that would otherwise be spent in idleness. It means
+concentrating for longer periods on the work at hand without getting
+up from one's chair. But after all, these things do not require an
+extraordinary faculty. The ability of the normal man to concentrate
+his thought and effort are mainly the product of a personal conviction
+that concentration is necessary and desirable. Abbe Dimnet said:
+"Concentration is supposed to be exceptional only because people do
+not try and, in this, as in so many things, starve within an inch of
+plenty." And as to the mien and manner which will develop from firm
+commitments, another wise Frenchman, Honore Balzac, added this:
+"Conviction brings a silent, indefinable beauty into faces made of the
+commonest human clay." Here is a great part of the secret. It is in
+the exercise of the will that the men are separated from the boys, and
+that the officer who is merely anxious for advancement is put apart
+from the one who is truly ambitious to succeed in his life calling.
+Even a lazy-minded superior, in judging of his subordinates, will
+rarely mistake the one condition for the other.
+
+When within the services we hear the highest praise reserved for the
+man "with character," that is what the term means--application to duty
+and thoroughness in all undertakings, along with that maturity of
+spirit and judgment which comes by precept, by kindness, by study, by
+watching, and above all, by example. The numerous American commanders
+from all services who have been accorded special honor because they
+rose from the ranks have invariably made their careers by the extra
+work, self-denial and rigor which the truly good man does not hesitate
+to endure. The question facing every young officer is whether he, too,
+is willing to walk that road for the rewards, material and spiritual,
+which will surely attend it.
+
+There is of course that commonest of excuses for rejecting the
+difficult and taking life easy. "I haven't time!" But for the man who
+keeps his mind on the object, there is always time. Figure it out!
+About us in the services daily we see busy men who somehow manage to
+find time for whatever is worth doing, while at the adjoining desks
+are others with abundant leisure who can't find time for anything.
+When something important requires doing, it is usually the busy man
+who gets the call.
+
+Of the many personal decisions which life puts upon a service officer,
+the main one is whether he chooses to swim upstream. If he says yes to
+that, and means it, all things then begin to fit into place. Then will
+develop gradually but surely that well-placed inner confidence which
+is the foundation of military character. From the knowing of _what to
+do_ comes the knowing of _how to do_, which is likewise important.
+Much is conveyed in few words in Army Field Forces' "Brief on
+Practical Concepts of Leadership." It is stressed therein that the
+preeminent quality which all great commanders have owned in common is
+a _positiveness_ of manner and of viewpoint, the power to concentrate
+on means to a given end to the exclusion of exaggerated fears of the
+obstacles which lie athwart the course. Every word of that should be
+underscored, and above all, what it says about the need for
+affirmative thinking, and concentrating on how the thing can be done.
+The service is no place for those who hang back and view through a
+glass darkly. The man who falls into the vice of thinking negatively
+must perforce in time become fearful of all action; he lacks the power
+of decision, because it has been destroyed by his habit of thought,
+and even when circumstances compel him to say yes he remains
+uncommitted in spirit.
+
+But the shadow should not be mistaken for the substance. Positiveness
+of manner, and redoubtable inner conviction stem only from the mastery
+of superior knowledge, and this last is the fruit of application,
+preparation, thoroughness and the willingness to struggle to gain the
+desired end.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN
+
+HUMAN NATURE
+
+
+In the history of American arms, the most revealing chapter as to the
+nature of the human animal does not come from any story of the
+battlefield but from the record of 23 white men and two Eskimos who,
+on August 26, 1881, set up in isolation a camp on the edge of Lady
+Franklin Bay to attempt a Farthest North record for the United States.
+
+The Expedition under command of First Lt. A. W. Greeley, USA, expected
+to be picked up by a relief ship after 1 year, or 2 years at most. Its
+supply could be stretched to cover the maximum period. But the winters
+were so unduly harsh that the rescue mission could not break through
+the ice to keep the rendezvous. During the first year, two members of
+the party had set a new Far North mark. The party as a whole--3
+officers, 19 enlisted men, 1 civilian surgeon and the 2 natives--had
+survived a winter closer to the Pole than civilized men had ever lived
+before. So doing, they had remained in reasonably good personal
+adjustment to each other, despite the Arctic monotony. The discipline
+of the camp had been strict. Rules of subordination, sanitation,
+work-sharing and religious observance had been maintained, without
+major friction occurring in the life of the group. Lectures were given
+regularly, and schools were organized. Though it is recorded that the
+men became melancholy, sleepless, and irritable because of the long
+Arctic night, temper was still in so good a state that an honor system
+within the camp meted out extra duty to any man using an oath.
+
+The comradely feeling remained alive within the party throughout the
+first winter, though morale had its first blow when Greeley issued an
+unwise order forbidding enlisted men to go more than 500 yards from
+the base without permission. The strain was beginning to tell, but
+there was no fatal rift in the working harmony of the group while
+supply and hope remained reasonably full.
+
+But June of the second year came and passed, and no relief ship
+arrived. In August, Greeley decided on a retreat, intending to fall
+back on bases which were supposed to hold food stores. Thereafter
+disaster was piled upon disaster, most of it having to do with the
+lack of food, and the varying animal and spiritual reactions of men to
+a situation of utmost desperation. When the Greeley Expedition was at
+last rescued at Cape Sabine on June 22, 1884, by the third
+expedition--the _Revenue Cutter Bear_ and the _Thetis_ under Commander
+Winfield S. Schley, USN--only seven men remained alive. Even in these,
+the spark of life was so feeble that their tent was down over them and
+they had resigned themselves to death. Two died soon after the rescue,
+leaving five. Most of the other 20 had perished of slow starvation,
+but not all. Some had been shot. Others had met death with utmost
+bravery trying to save their failing comrades.
+
+All that happened to Greeley's party during the months of its terrible
+ordeal is known because of a diary which records the main things--the
+fight of discipline against the primal instincts in men, the reversion
+of the so-called civilized man to his real type when he knows that
+death is at his elbow, the strength of unity which comes of
+comradeship, and also the weakness in some individuals which makes it
+impossible for them to measure up to honor's requirements.
+
+Men are of all kinds. Some remain base, though given every opportunity
+to develop compassion. Others who may appear plodding and dull, and
+have been denied opportunity, still have in them an immortal spark of
+love for humanity which gives them an unbreakable bond with their
+fellows in the hours of crisis.
+
+What the case history of the Greeley Expedition proves is that _in the
+determining number of men, the potential is sound_. Given a wise,
+understanding leadership, they will stand together, and they will
+either persuade the others to go along, or they will help break them
+if they resist. If that were not the truth of the matter, no military
+commander in our time would be able to make his forces keep going into
+battle.
+
+Until the end, discipline was kept in Greeley's force. But this was
+not primarily due to Lieutenant Greeley, the aloof, strict
+disciplinarian who commanded by giving orders, instead of by trying to
+command the spirits and loyalties of men. That any survived was due to
+the personal force and example of Sgt. (later Brig. Gen.) David L.
+Brainard, who believed in discipline as did Greeley, and supported his
+chief steadfastly, but also supplied the human warmth and helping hand
+which rallied other men, where Greeley's strictures only made them
+want to fight back. Brainard was not physically the strongest man in
+the Expedition, nor necessarily the most self-sacrificing and
+courageous. But he had what counted most--mental and moral balance.
+
+Among the most fractious and self-centered of the individuals was the
+camp surgeon, highly trained and educated, and chosen because he
+seemed to have a way among men. Greeley was several times at the point
+of having him shot; the surgeon's death by starvation saved Greeley
+that necessity.
+
+Among the most decent, trustworthy, and helpful was Jens, the simple
+Eskimo, who died trying to carry out a rescue mission. He had never
+been to school a day in his life.
+
+There were soldiers in the party whom no threat of punishment, or
+sense of pity, could deter from taking advantage of their comrades,
+rifling stores, cheating on duty and even stealing arms in the hope of
+doing away with other survivors. When repeated offense showed that
+they were unreformable, they were shot.
+
+But in the greater number, the sense of pride and of honor was
+stronger even than the instinct for self-preservation, though these
+were _average_ enlisted men, not especially chosen because their
+records proved they had unusual fortitude.
+
+Private Schneider, a youngster who loved dogs and played the violin,
+succumbed to starvation after penning one of the most revealing
+deathbed statements ever written: "Although I stand accused of doing
+dishonest things here lately, I herewith, as a dying man, can say that
+the only dishonest thing I ever did was to eat my own sealskin boots
+and the part of my pants."
+
+Private Fredericks, accused in the early and less-trying period of
+meanness and injustice to his comrades, became a rock of strength in
+the weeks when all of the others were in physical collapse or coma,
+and was made a sergeant because of the nobility of his conduct. Yet
+this man's ambition was to be a saloonkeeper in Minneapolis.
+
+There is still an official report on file in the Department of the
+Army which describes Sergeant Rice as the "bravest and noblest" of the
+Expedition. He is identified with most of its greatest heroisms. The
+man was apparently absolutely indomitable and incorruptible. He died
+from freezing on a last forlorn mission into the Arctic storm to
+retrieve a cache of seal meat for his friends. Fredericks, who had
+accompanied him, was so grief-stricken at the tragedy that he
+contemplated dying at his side, then reacted in a way which signifies
+much in a few words, "Out of the sense of duty I owed my dead comrade,
+I stooped and kissed the remains and left them there for the wild
+winds of the Arctic to sweep over."
+
+Such briefly were the extremes and the middle ground in this body of
+human material. At one end were the amoral characters whose excesses
+became steadily worse as the situation blackened. At the other were
+Brainard and Rice--good all the way through, absolute in integrity and
+adjusted perfectly to other men. In between these wholly contrasting
+elements was the group majority, trying to do duty, with varying
+degrees of success. That would include Greeley, strong in
+self-discipline but likewise brittle. It would include Lieutenant
+Lockwood, a lion among men for most of the distance, but totally
+downcast and beaten in the last dreadful stretch, Israel, the youngest
+of the party who won the love of other men by his frankness and
+generosity, Sergeant Gardiner who was always ready to share his scraps
+of food with whoever he thought needed them more, Private Whisler who
+died begging his comrades to forgive him for having stolen a few
+slices of bacon, and Private Bender who alternated between feats of
+heroism and acts of miscreancy.
+
+Other than their common experience, there was probably nothing unusual
+about this group of men. They were an average slice of American
+manpower as found in the services of that day, and in the
+fundamentals, men have changed but little since. Those who had the
+chance to study American men under the terrible rigor of Japanese
+imprisonment during World War II give an analysis not unlike the
+chronicles of the Greeley party. In certain of the prisoners,
+character, and sanity with it, held fast against every circumstance.
+In others, some of whom had been well educated and came from gentle
+homes, the brute instinct was as uppermost as in an East African
+cannibal.
+
+From such crucibles as these, even more than from the remittent
+stresses of combat in war, comes the clearest light on the inner
+nature of man, insofar as it needs to be understood by the officer who
+may some day lead a force into battle.
+
+Snap judgment on the data might lead to the conclusion that every
+individual is exactly according to his own mould, that influence from
+without can not catalyze character, and that hence training has little
+to do with winning loyalty and instilling dutifulness. That would be
+as radically false as to believe that training, when properly
+conducted, can make all men alike and can infuse all ranks with the
+desire for a high standard. The vanity of that hope can be read out of
+what happened to the force at Cape Sabine. But the positive lesson
+glows even more strongly. The good Sergeant, Brainard, wrote of his
+Lieutenant, Lockwood, that he "loved him more than a brother." It was
+the service which taught him the worth of that attachment; Brainard's
+superb courage developed initially out of his unbounded admiration for
+Lockwood's dauntlessness, and in time the copyist outdistanced the
+model. Emotionally, Greeley and Brainard were quite unlike. One was a
+New England Puritan, the other a hard-boiled sergeant. But they became
+as one in the interests of the force; service training had made that
+possible.
+
+Psychologists tell us that every sense impression leaves a trace or
+imprint of itself on the mind, or in other words, what we are, and
+what we may become, is influenced in some measure by everything
+touching the circumference of our daily lives. The imprints become
+memories and ideas, and in their turn build up the consciousness, the
+reason and finally the will, which translates into physical action
+the psychological purpose. In the process, moral character may be
+shaped and strengthened; but it will not be transformed if it is dross
+in the first place. That is something which every combat leader has
+learned in his tour under fire; the man of whom nobody speaks good,
+who is regarded as a social misfit, unliked and unliking, of his
+comrades, will usually desert them under pressure. There are others
+who have the right look but will be just as quick to quit, and look to
+themselves, in a crisis; underneath, they are made of the same shoddy
+stuff as the derelict, but have learned a little more of the modern
+art of getting by. Leadership, be it ever so inspired, can not make a
+silk purse from a sow's ear. But as shines forth in the record of
+Greeley and his men, it can reckon with the fact that the majority is
+more good than mean, and that from this may be developed the strength
+of the whole. In the clutch, the men at Cape Sabine who believed in
+the word "duty," and who understood spiritually that its first meaning
+was mutual responsibility, remained joined in an insoluble union. That
+was the inevitable outcome, leadership doing its part. The minority
+had no basis for organic solidarity, as each of its number was
+motivated only by self-interest. Goodwill and weakness may be combined
+in one man; bad will and strength in another. High moral leading can
+lift the first man to excel himself; it will not reform the other. But
+there is no other sensible rule than that all men will be approached
+with trust, and treated as trustworthy until proved otherwise beyond
+reasonable doubt.
+
+To transfer this thought to even the largest element in war, it will
+be seen that _it is not primarily a cause which makes men loyal to
+each other, but the loyalty of men to each other which makes a cause_.
+The unity which develops from man's recognition of his dependence upon
+his fellows is the mainspring of every movement by which society, or
+any autonomy within it, moves forward.
+
+It is a common practice to say "Men are thus-and-so." Nothing is more
+attractive than to make some glittering generalization about the human
+race, and from it draw a moral for the instruction of those who work
+with human material. But from all that we have learned from the
+experience of men under inordinate pressure, either in war or wherever
+else military forces have been sorely tested, it would be false to say
+either that the desire for economic security or the instinct for
+self-preservation is the driving force in every man's action. To those
+who possess the strength of the strong, honor is the main shaft; and
+they can carry a sufficient number of the company along with them to
+stamp their mark upon whatever is done by the group. No matter what
+their personal strength, however, they too are dependent on the
+others. There is no possibility of growth for any man except through
+the force, and by the works of those about him, though the manner of
+his growth is partly a matter of free choice. To most men, the setting
+of the good example is a challenge to pride and a stimulus to action.
+To nearly every member of the race, confidence and inspiration come
+mainly from the influence which living associates have upon them. That
+training is most perfect which takes greatest advantage of this truth,
+employing it in balance toward the development of a spirit of
+comradeship and the doing of work with a manifestly military purpose.
+Peace training is war training and nothing less. There is no other
+basis for the efficient operation of military forces even when the
+skies are clear. _But no commander or instructor can convince men of
+the decisive importance of the object if he himself regards it as only
+an intellectual exercise._
+
+The Army's "Brief on Practical Concepts of Leaderships," published 1
+January 1950, well points out the desirability of leaders realizing it
+is vain to expect that training can bring men forward uniformly. The
+better men advance rapidly; the men of average attainments remain
+average; the below-average lose additional ground to the competition.
+In consequence, the chance for balance in the organizational structure
+depends upon the leader progressing in such close knowledge of his men
+that those who are strong in various aspects of the team's general
+requirements compensate for the weaknesses of others, irrespective of
+MOS numbers. It is not less essential that the followers know each
+other and prepare themselves to complement each other. Obviously,
+this cannot be done when personnel changes are so frequent that those
+concerned have no chance to see deeper than the surface.
+
+Even when to do any labor meant sapping the small store of energy
+deriving from a few ounces of food each day, Greeley's men kept alive
+the spark of morale and mutual support by maintaining a work schedule,
+until the day came when there was no longer a man who could stand. To
+fight off despondency, they held to a nightly schedule of lectures and
+discussions in their rude shelters, until speech became an agony
+because of throats poisoned by eating of caterpillars, lichens and
+saxifrage blossoms. In their worst extremity, Private Fredericks,
+unlettered but a man of great common sense and moral power, became the
+doctor, cook and forager for the party.
+
+Men do not achieve a great solidarity, or preserve it, simply by
+_being_ together. Their mutual bonds are forged only by _doing_
+together that which they have been made convinced is constructive.
+Their view of its importance is usually contingent upon what others
+tell them, and upon a continuing emphasis thereof. _Unity is all at
+one time a consequence of, and a cause and condition for great
+accomplishment._ Toward that end, it is neither vital nor desirable
+that all members of the group coincide in their motives, ideas and
+methods of expression. What is important is that each man should know,
+and to a reasonable extent incorporate into his own life the thoughts,
+desires and interests of the others. Such sentiments, fixed by
+repetition, remain as a habit during the life of the group, and
+provide the base for disciplined action. But when men are not thus
+drawn together and the cord of sympathy remains unstrung, there is no
+basis for control, nor any element of contact by which the group may
+identify itself with some larger entity and profit by transfusion of
+its moral strength.
+
+_The absence of a common purpose is the chief source of unhappiness in
+any collection of individuals._ Lacking it, and the common standard of
+justice which is one of its chief agents, men become more and more
+separate units, each fighting for his own rights. Yet paradoxically,
+if an organic unity is to develop within any body of free men, drawn
+from a free society to serve its military institutions, and if the
+fairest use is to be made of their possibilities, the processes of the
+institution must embody respect for the dignity of the individual, for
+his rights, and not less, for his desire for worthwhile recognition.
+The profile of every man depends upon the space which others leave
+him. "Of himself," said Napoleon, "a man is nothing." But every man
+also contributes with his every act to the level of what his group may
+attain. One of the foremost leaders in the United States Navy in World
+War II said this about the integrity of personality: "Every person is
+unique. Human talents were never before assembled in exactly the same
+way that they have been put together in yourself. Nothing like you
+ever happened before. No one can predict with accuracy how you will
+grow in your particular combination of skills if allowed complete
+freedom of movement." If there is one word out of place in that
+statement, it is "complete;" no one has complete freedom but a
+buccaneer, and it is for the exercise of it that organized society
+swings him from a gibbet. It is only when personal freedom of action
+operates within an area limited by the rights and welfare of others
+that subordination, in its best sense, takes place. To direct a body
+of men toward the acceptance of this principle, so that thereby they
+may attain social coherence as a group and greater strength of
+personal character, is the most solid contribution that an officer can
+make to the arms of his country.
+
+He can succeed in this without being godlike in wisdom or pluperfect
+in temper. But it is necessary at least that he be interesting, and
+that he know how to get out of his own tracks, lest he be over-run by
+his own organization. Whatever his rank, _it is impossible for any man
+to lead if he is himself running behind_. This bespeaks the need of
+constant study, the constant use of one's personal powers and the
+exercise of the imagination. As men advance, that which was good soon
+ceases to be good simply because something better is possible. Once
+men begin to acquire a sense of organization, they also come to take
+the measure of those who are over them. They will then move
+instinctively toward the one man who possesses the greatest measure
+of social energy. The accolade of leadership is not inherent in the
+individual but is conferred on him by the group. It does not always
+follow that a man can develop an influence with others which is
+proportionate to his talents and capacity for work. Leadership in work
+is a main requirement, but if the group does not warm toward the
+appointed leader, if its members can not feel any enthusiasm about
+him, they will be hypercritical of whatever he does.
+
+History confirms, and a study of the workings of the human mind
+supports one proposition which many of the great captains of war have
+accepted as a truism. "There are no bad troops: there are only bad
+leaders." Taking on percentage what we already know of our average
+American raw material, as it had proved itself in every war, and as it
+has been studied in such a laboratory as the camp at Cape Sabine, no
+exception can be taken to that statement. On the other hand, we know
+equally well that leadership can be taught and it can be acquired.
+Much of our best material lies fallow, awaiting a hand on the
+shoulder, and the touch of other men's confidence, before it can step
+forward. This is not because men with a sound potential for leading
+must necessarily have an outward air of modesty among their major
+virtues, but because a man--particularly a young man--cannot gain a
+sense of his power among his fellows except as they give him their
+confidence, and vivify his natural desire to be something better than
+the average. There is no indication that at any stage of his career
+Gen. George S. Patton was an outwardly modest man. But in reviewing
+the milestones in his own making, he underscored the occasion when
+General Pershing, then commanding the Punitive Expedition into Mexico,
+supported Lieutenant Patton's judgment against that of a major. These
+are his words: "My act took high moral courage and built up my
+self-confidence." It would seem altogether clear, however, that
+Pershing had more than a little to do with it. Col. W. T. Sherman had
+to be kindled by the warm touch of Mr. Lincoln and steeled by the
+example and strong faith of Gen. U. S. Grant before he could believe
+in his own capacity for generalship. We all live by information and
+not by sight. We exist by faith in others, which is the source toward
+knowing greater faith in ourselves.
+
+About the elements of human nature, it is good that an officer should
+know enough that he will be able to win friends and influence people.
+But it is folly to believe that he should pursue his studies in this
+subject until he habitually looks at men as would a scientist putting
+some specimen under a powerful microscope.
+
+Self-consciousness is by no means a serious fault in anyone confronted
+by a new set of responsibilities, and working among new companions.
+There is scarcely an officer who has not felt it, particularly in the
+beginning, before he is assured in his own presence. But if the
+greater part of the officer corps were ever to become absorbed in the
+business of taking men apart to see what makes them tick, thereby
+superinducing self-consciousness all down the line, an irremediable
+blight would come upon the services. There is no need to look that
+deeply. What matters mainly is that an officer will know how men are
+won to accept authority, how they can be made to unify their own
+strength, how they can be helped to find satisfaction and success in
+their employment, how the stronger men can be chosen for preferment
+from among them, and finally, how they can be conditioned to face the
+realities of combat.
+
+The chronicles of effective military leadership date back to Gideon
+and his Band. Therefore any notion that it is impossible for an
+officer to make the best use of his men unless he is armed with all
+available research data and can talk the language of the philosopher
+and modern social scientist is little more than a twentieth century
+conceit. To seek and use all pertinent information is commendable, but
+truth comes of seeing all things in their natural proportion. To know
+more than is necessary blunts one's own weapons. The application of
+common sense to the problem is more vital than the possession of an
+inexhaustible store of data which has no practical bearing upon the
+matter at hand. As was said by a philosopher three centuries ago: "It
+is remarkable in some that they could be so much better if they could
+but be better in some thing."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE
+
+GROUP NATURE
+
+
+In the same way that knowledge of individual nature becomes the key to
+building strength within the group, an understanding of crowd nature
+is essential to the preservation of the unique power within the group,
+particularly under conditions of extreme pressure.
+
+Whereas the central object of a training discipline is to raise a
+safeguard against any military body reverting to crowd form under
+trial by fire, history shows that paralysis both of leadership and of
+the ranks, obliviousness to orders, forgetfulness of means of
+communication, disintegration and even panic are the not uncommon
+reactions of military forces when first entering into battle.
+
+From Bunker Hill and Brandywine down to Pearl Harbor and the fight at
+Kasserine Pass, the American battle record shows that our own troops
+are by no means immune to these ill effects, and that our peace time
+training needs, therefore, always to be reappraised with a critical
+eye to the main issue.
+
+Any of these unsteadying reactions can be prevented, or at least
+minimized, by training which anticipates the inevitable disorders of
+battle--including those who are of material sort as well as the
+disorders of the mind--and acclimates men to the realities of the
+field in war. All may be averted if leadership is braced to the shock
+and prepared to exercise strong control. Indeed, it is a truth worthy
+of the closest regard that the greater number of the disarrangements
+which take place during combat are due to leadership feeling a
+tightening of the throat, and a sticking of the palate, and failing to
+do that which the intellect says should be done.
+
+To take any action, when even to think of action is itself difficult,
+is the essential step toward recovery and the surmounting of all
+difficulty. It is not because of a babel of mixed voices and commands
+that military bodies not infrequently relapse into helplessness and
+stagnation in the face of the enemy. From that cause there may occur
+an occasional minor dislocation. Their total effect is trivial
+compared to the failures which come of leadership, at varying levels,
+failing promptly to exercise authority when nothing else can resolve
+the situation. Among the commonest of experiences in war is to witness
+troops doing nothing, or worse, doing the wrong thing, without one
+commanding voice being raised to give them direction. In such
+circumstance, any man who has the nerve and presence to step forward
+and give them an intelligent order in a manner indicating that he
+expects to be obeyed, will be accepted as a leader and will be given
+their support.
+
+For this reason, under the conditions of modern battle, the coherence
+of any military body comes not only of men being articulate all down
+the line but of building up the dynamic power in each individual. It
+is a thoroughly sound exercise in any unit to give every man a chance
+to take charge, and give orders in drill, or other limited exercises,
+once he had learned what the orders mean. By the same token, it is
+good practice for the junior leader to displace a file in a training
+exercise, and become commanded for a time, to sharpen his own
+perspective.
+
+Progress comes of making the most of our strengths rather than looking
+for ways to repair weaknesses. This is true in things both large and
+small. The platoon leader who permits himself to be bedeviled by the
+file who won't or can't keep step cannot do justice to the ambitions
+of the 10 strongest men beneath him, upon whom the life of the
+formation would depend, come an emergency. To nourish and encourage
+the top rather than to concentrate effort and exhaust nerves in trying
+to correct the few least likely prospects is the healthy way of growth
+within military organization.
+
+Not all men are fitted by nature for the precisions of life in a
+barracks. They may accept its discipline while not being able to
+adjust to its rhythm. The normal temptation to despair of them needs
+to be resisted if only for the reason experience has proved they
+sometimes make the best men in combat. There are many types which fit
+into this category--the foreigner but recently arrived in America,
+the miner who has spent most of his years underground, the boy from
+the sticks who has known only the plough and furrow, the woodsman, the
+reservation Indian, and the men of all races who have had hard
+taskmasters or other misfortune in their civilian sphere, and expect
+to be hurt again. It is not unusual for this kind of material to show
+badly in training because of an ingrained fear of other men. At the
+same time, they can face mortal danger. _To harass the man who is
+trying, but can't quite do it, therefore cuts double against the
+strength of organization. It may ruin the man; it may also give his
+comrades the feeling that he isn't getting a decent break._
+
+The military crowd requires, above all, maturity of judgment in its
+leaders. It cannot be patronized safely. Nor can it be treated in the
+classroom manner, as if wisdom were being dispensed to schoolboys.
+When it has been remiss, it expects to catch unshirted hell for its
+failings, and though it may smart under a just bawling out, it will
+feel let down if the commander quibbles. But any officer puts himself
+on a skid, and impairs the strength of his unit, if he takes to task
+all hands because of the wilful failings of a minority. Strength comes
+to men when they feel that they are grown up and as a body are in
+control and under control, since it amounts to the same thing; it is
+only when men unite toward a common purpose that control becomes
+possible. In this respect, the servant is in fact the master of the
+situation, fully realizes it, and is not unprepared to accept
+proportionate responsibility.
+
+It is a sign of a good level of discipline in a command when orders
+are given and faithfully carried out. But it is a sign of a vastly
+superior condition when men are prepared to demand those orders which
+they know the situation requires, if it is to be helped. No competent
+subordinate sits around waiting for someone else to give impulse to
+movement if his senses tell him that things are going to pot. He
+either suggests a course of action to his superior, or asks authority
+to execute it on his own, or in the more desperate circumstances of
+the battlefield, gives orders on his own initiative. To counsel any
+lesser theory of individual responsibility than this would leave
+every chain of command at the complete mercy of its weakest link, and
+throughout the general establishment, would choke the fount of
+inspiration which comes of the upward thrust of energy and of ideas.
+
+This latter characteristic in the masses of men composing any
+organization is the final statement of moral responsibility for
+success. Within military forces, an element of command is owned by
+every man who is doing his duty with intelligence and imagination.
+That puts him on the side of the angels, and the pressure which he
+exerts is felt not only by his subordinates but by those topside who
+are doing less. Many a lazy skipper has snapped out of it and at last
+begun to level with his organization because he felt the hot breath of
+a few earnest subordinates on his neck. Many a battle unit has held to
+ground which it had been ready to forsake because of the example of an
+aid man who stayed at his work and refused to forsake the wounded.
+Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was thinking on these things when he said
+during World War II: "There is among the mass of individuals who carry
+rifles in war a great amount of ingenuity and efficiency. If men can
+talk naturally to their officers, the product of their resourcefulness
+becomes available to all." But the art of open communication requires
+both receiving and sending, and the besetting problem is to get
+officers to talk naturally to men.
+
+In the seventeenth century Marshal Maurice de Saxe rediscovered
+cadenced marching which, along with the hard-surfaced roads of France,
+had remained buried since the time of the Romans. He reinstituted
+precision marching and drill within military bodies, and by that
+action changed European armies from straggling mobs into disciplined
+troops. The effects of that reform have been felt right down to the
+present. Baron von Steuben, the great reorganizer of the forces in
+George Washington's Army, simply built upon the principles which de
+Saxe had set forth one century earlier. These two great architects of
+military organization founded their separate systems upon one
+controlling idea--that _if men can be trained to think about moving
+together, they can then be led to move toward thinking together_. De
+Saxe wanted keen men, not automatons; in that, he was singular among
+the captains of his day. He started the numbering of regiments so that
+they would have a continuing history and thereby benefit from _esprit
+de corps_. He was the first to see the great importance of battle
+colors and to standardize their use. Of his own military opinions he
+wrote: "Experts should not be offended by the assurance with which I
+deliver my opinions. They should correct them; that is the fruit I
+expect from my work."
+
+Now to take a look at von Steuben. He was the drillmaster of the
+American Revolution, but he was also its greatest student of the human
+mind and heart. He wrote the drill regulations of the Army, and as he
+wrote, committed them to memory. Of his labors he said: "I dictated my
+dispositions in the night; in the day I had them performed." But he
+learned the nature of the human material for which he thought these
+exercises were suited by visiting the huts of the half-clad soldiers
+of Valley Forge, personally inspecting their neglected weapons and
+hearing from their own lips of their sufferings. His main technic in
+installing his system was to depend upon the appeal of a powerful
+example; to allay all doubt of exactly what was wanted, he formed a
+model company and drilled it himself. He was a natural man; troops
+warmed to him because of an unabashed use of broken English and his
+violently explosive use, under stress, of "gottam!" which was his only
+quasi-English oath. In countenance he was strikingly like Gen. George
+S. Patton and there were other points of resemblance. A private
+soldier at Valley Forge was impressed with "the trappings of his
+pistols, the enormous holsters of his pistols, his large size, his
+strikingly martial aspect." But while he liked to dine with great men
+at his table, he chose to complete his list with officers of inferior
+rank. Once at Valley Forge he permitted his aides to give a dinner for
+junior officers on condition that none should be admitted that had on
+a whole pair of breeches. This was making the most of adversity. While
+wearing two stars and serving as Inspector General of the Army, he
+would still devote his whole day to the drilling of a squad of 10 or
+12 men to get his system going. To a former Prussian associate he
+wrote this of Americans: "You say to your soldier, 'Do this!' and he
+doeth it; but I am obliged to say, 'This is the reason that you ought
+to do that,' and then he does it."
+
+This was the key to the phenomenal success of his system. Within 6
+weeks after he began work at Valley Forge, the Continental Army was on
+a new footing of self-confidence. His personal diligence in inquiring
+into the conduct of all officers toward their men, and his zeal in
+checking the accoutrement and carriage of every soldier established
+within the Army its first standard of inspection. Officers began to
+divide their scant rations with their men so that they would look
+better. But though he drilled the men of Valley Forge in marching and
+maneuver, Steuben paid no attention to the manual of arms, and let
+that wait until after he had gone into battle with these same forces.
+He explained why in these words: "Every colonel had introduced a
+system of his own and those who had taken the greatest pains were
+naturally the most attached to their work. Had I destroyed their
+productions, they would have detested me. I therefore preferred to pay
+no special attention to this subject until I had won their
+confidence." To take hold at the essential point and postpone action
+on the relatively unimportant, to respect a worthy pride and natural
+dignity in other men, and finally, to demonstrate that there is a
+better way in order to win men's loyalty and to use loyalty as the
+portal to more constructive collective thought--all of these morals
+shine in this one object lesson. The most revealing light upon the
+character of Steuben comes of the episode in which he had one
+Lieutenant Gibbons arrested for an offense, which he later learned
+another had committed. He then went before the Regiment. It was
+raining hard, but he bared his head and asked Gibbons to come forward.
+"Sir," he said, "the fault which was committed might, in the presence
+of an enemy, have been fatal. Your Colonel tells me you are blameless.
+I ask your pardon. Return to your command."
+
+Mistakes will occur. Tempers will go off half-cocked even among men
+of good habit. Action will be taken on impulse rather than full
+information, despite every warning as to its danger. But no officer
+who has ever done serious injustice to a subordinate can do less than
+Steuben did, if he wants to keep respect. Admiral Halsey wrote about
+how he had once relieved one of his Captains in battle, found months
+later that he had misjudged him, and then tried by every means within
+his power to make redress.
+
+The main connecting link between the perfecting of group action in
+training and the end product of unity and economy of operations in
+battle has never been better than imperfectly expressed even by such
+masters as de Saxe and von Steuben, who felt it by profound instinct.
+The time-honored explanation is that when men accustom themselves to
+obeying orders, the time ultimately arrives when they will obey by
+habit, and that the habit will carry over into any set of
+circumstances requiring response to orders. This has the quality of
+relative truth; it is true so far as it goes, but it undersells the
+major values.
+
+The heterogeneous crowd is swayed by the voices of instinct. Properly
+trained, any military unit, being a homogeneous body, should be swayed
+by the voice of training. Out of uniformity of environment comes
+uniformity of character and spirit. From moving and acting together
+men grow to depend upon, and to support, each other, and to
+subordinate their individual wills to the will of the leader. And if
+that were all that training profited them, they would rarely win a
+battle or a skirmish under modern conditions!
+
+Today the supreme value of any training at arms which fixes habit is
+that, under conditions of absolute pressure, it enables men to take
+the primary steps essential to basic security without too great taxing
+of their mental faculties and moral powers; this leaves their senses
+relatively free to cope with the unexpected. The unforeseen
+contingency invariably happens in battle, and its incidence supplies
+the supreme test of the efficacy of any training method. Surprise has
+no regard for the importance of rank; in combat any unit's fortune may
+pivot on the judgment and initiative of the file who has last joined
+it. Therefore the moral object in training is stated without any
+qualification in words once used by a wise Frenchman, Dr. Maurice
+Campeaux: "_It should be the subordination of the individual's will to
+the leader's, and not its surrender or destruction._" All training at
+all levels has a dual object--to develop us all as leaders of men and
+followers of leaders. Its technics are most perfect when they serve
+evenly these parallel purposes. In consequence, when any officer
+thinks only on: "What is policy?" rather than: "What should policy be
+for the good of the service?" he has trained his sights too low.
+
+Even in modern warfare, however, there are exceptional circumstances
+in which success is altogether dependent upon the will and judgment of
+the leader, and undeviating response to his orders. The commander of a
+buttoned-up tank is the master of its fortunes, and what happens for
+better or worse is according to the strength of his personal control.
+Within a submerged submarine during action, the situation is still
+more remarkable. Only one man, the commander of the ship, can see what
+is occurring, and he only with one eye; the resolving of every
+situation depends on his judgment as to what should be done. Yet those
+who have the surest knowledge of this service have said that the main
+problem in submarine warfare is to find a sufficient body of officers
+who will rise superior to the intricacies of their complicated
+machines, and will make their own opportunities and take advantage of
+them. That is hardly unique. The same quality is the hallmark of
+greatness in any individual serving with a combat arm. The military
+crowd will double its effort for a leader when success rides on his
+coattails; but he needs first to capture their loyalty by keeping his
+contracts with them, sweetening the ties of organization, and
+convincing them that he is a man to be followed. His luck (which
+despite all platitudes to the contrary is an element in success)
+begins when his men start to believe that he was born under a lucky
+star. But they are not apt to be so persuaded unless he can make his
+outfit shine in comparison with all others. The best argument for
+establishing a low VD score and a high disciplinary and deportment
+record within any unit is that it convinces higher authority that the
+unit is well run and is trying, and is therefore entitled to any extra
+consideration that may be requested. All who have been closely
+identified with the inner working of any higher headquarters in the
+American establishment know that it works this way. On the other hand,
+the fundamental idea is almost as old as the hills. Turning back to
+Cicero, we will find these words: "Neither the physician nor the
+general can ever, however praiseworthy he may be in the theory of his
+art, perform anything highly worthwhile without experience in the
+rules laid down for the observation of all small duties." The Old
+Roman added that between men nothing is so binding as a similarity of
+good dispositions.
+
+Within the military crowd, and granting to each the same quality of
+human material, the problem of achieving organic unity in the face of
+the enemy is one thing on a ship, and quite another among
+land-fighting forces. Loyalty to the ship itself provides an extra and
+incisive bond among naval forces. Given steadiness in the command, men
+will fight the ship to the limit, if only for the reason that if they
+fail to do so, there is no place to go but down. The physical setting
+of duty is defined by material objects close at hand. The individual
+has only to fit himself into an already predetermined frame. He knows
+when he is derelict, and he knows further that his dereliction can
+hardly escape the eye of his comrades. The words: "Now Hear This!"
+have the particular significance that they bespeak the collected
+nature of naval forces, and the essential unifying force of complete
+communications.
+
+If the situation were as concrete, and the integrating influences as
+pervading among field forces as in the Navy, land warfare would be
+relieved of a great part of its frictions. Except among troops
+defending a major fortress with all-around protection, there is no
+such possibility. Field movement is always diffusing. As fire builds
+up against the line, its members have less and less a sense of each
+other, and a feeling that as individuals they are getting support.
+Each man is at the mercy of the contact with some other file, and when
+the contact breaks, he sees only blackness in the enveloping
+situation. Men then have to turn physically back toward each other to
+regain the feeling of strength which comes of organization. That, in
+brief, is the mathematical and psychological reason why salients into
+an enemy line invariably take the form of a wedge; it comes of the
+movements of unnerved and aimless men huddling toward each other like
+sheep awaiting the voice of the shepherd. The natural instincts
+intervene ever in the absence of strong leadership. Said the French
+General de Maud'huy: "However perfectly trained a company may be it
+always tends to become once again the crowd when suddenly shocked."
+
+But the priceless advantage which may be instilled in the military
+crowd by a proper training is that it also possesses the means of
+recovery. That possibility--the resolution of order out of
+chaos--reposes within every file who has gained within the service a
+confidence that he has some measure of influence among his fellows.
+The welfare of the unit machinery depends upon having the greatest
+possible number of human shock absorbers--men who in the worst hour
+are capable of stepping forward and saying: "This calls for something
+extra and that means me." The restoration of control upon the
+battlefield, and the process of checking fright and paralysis and
+turning men back to essential tactical duties, does not come simply of
+constituted authority again finding its voice and articulating its
+strength to the extremities of the unit boundary. Control is a
+man-to-man force under fire. No matter how lowly his rank, any man who
+controls himself contributes to the control of others. A private can
+steady a general as surely as a cat can look at a king. There is no
+better ramrod for the back of a senior, who is beginning to buckle,
+than the sight of a junior who has kept his nerve. Land battles, as to
+the fighting part, are won by the intrepidity of men in grade from
+private to captains mainly. Fear is contagious but courage is not less
+so. The courage of any one man reflects in some degree the courage of
+all those who are within his vision. To the man who is in terror and
+bordering on panic, no influence can be more steadying than that of
+seeing some other man near him who is retaining self-control and doing
+his duty.
+
+The paralysis which comes of fear can be lifted only through the
+resumption of action which will again give individuals the feeling of
+organization. This does not mean ordering a bayonet charge, or the
+firing of a volley at such-and-such o'clock. It may mean only patting
+one man on the back, "talking it up" to a couple of others, sending
+someone out to find a flank, or turning one's self to dig-in, while
+passing the word to others to do likewise. This is action in the
+realest sense of the term. _Out of reinvigorating men toward the
+taking of many small actions develops the possibility of large and
+decisive action._ The unit must first find itself before doing an
+effective job of finding the enemy. Out of those acts which are
+incidental to the establishing of order, a leader reaffirms his own
+power of decision.
+
+Such things are elementary, and of the very nature of the fire fight.
+While there is much more to be said about the play of moral forces in
+the trial and success of the group under combat conditions, most of it
+is to be learned from other sources, and it is the duty of every
+officer to study all that he can of this subject, and apply it to what
+he does in his daily rounds.
+
+_There is no rule pertaining to the moral unifying of military forces
+under the pressures of the battlefield which is not equally good in
+the training which conditions troops for this eventuality._ For the
+group to feel a great spiritual solidarity, and for its members to be
+bound together by mutual confidence and the satisfactions of a
+rewarding comradeship, is the foundation of great enterprise. But it
+is not more than that. Unaccompanied by a strengthening of the
+military virtues and a rise in the martial spirit, a friendly unity
+will not of itself point men directly toward the main object in
+training, nor enable them to dispose themselves efficiently toward
+each other on entering battle.
+
+It does not make the military man less an agent of peace and more a
+militarist that he relishes his membership within a fighting
+establishment and thinks those thoughts which would best put his arms
+to efficient use. The military establishment neither declares nor
+makes war; these are acts by the nation. But it is the duty of the
+military establishment primarily to succor the nation from any great
+jeopardy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN
+
+ENVIRONMENT
+
+
+The saying of the Old Sergeant that, "It takes a war to knock the hell
+out of the Regular Army," applies as broadly to war's effects upon the
+general peacetime establishment.
+
+In the rapid expansion of the armed service which comes of a national
+emergency, nothing seems to remain the same. Old units fill up, and
+change their character. By the time they have sent out three or four
+cadres of commissioned and enlisted leaders to form the base for
+entirely new organizations, little remains of the moral foundation of
+the parent unit except an honored name.
+
+Promotion is rapid and moves are frequent among the higher commanders.
+No sooner does a man feel fairly settled under a new commander, and
+confident that he will get along, than he looks up to see someone else
+filling the space.
+
+Installations grow like mushrooms. Schools multiply at a phenomenal
+rate. The best qualified men are taken away so that they will become
+better qualified, either by taking an officers' course or through
+specialist training. Their places are taken by men who may have an
+equal native ability, but haven't yet mastered the tricks of the
+trade. This piles high the load of work on those who command.
+
+The intake and the pipelines in all services fill with men of a quite
+different fiber and outlook than those which commonly pass through the
+peacetime training establishment.
+
+Particularly in the drafts which flow to the army there is a curious
+mixture of the good with the bad. The illiterates, the low IQs and the
+men who are physically a few notches below par are passed for service,
+though under normal conditions the recruiting standards shut them out.
+At the other end of the scale are the highly educated men from the
+colleges, and the robust individuals from the factory and farm. In
+natural quality they are as well suited to the service as any who seek
+it out in peacetime, but in disposition they are likely to be a
+little less tractable. On the whole, however, there is no radical
+difference between them, if we look at both groups simply as training
+problems for the study of the officer.
+
+In the midst of war, when all else is in flux, at least one thing
+stands fast. The methods, the self-discipline, and the personality
+which will best enable the officer to command efficiently during peace
+are identical with the requirements which fit him to shape new
+material most perfectly under the conditions of war.
+
+This is only another way of saying that for his own success, in
+addition to the solid qualities which win him the respect of other
+men, when war comes, he needs a vast adaptability and a confidence
+which will carry over from one situation to another, or he will have
+no peace of mind.
+
+It is only to the man who is burdened with unnecessary and exaggerated
+fears, and who mistakes for a fancied security the privilege of
+sitting quietly in one place, that the uprooting which comes with war
+is demoralizing. The natural officer sees it as an hour of
+opportunity, and though he may not like anything else about war, he at
+least relishes the strong feeling of personal contention which always
+develops when there are many openings inviting many men. As one World
+War II commander expressed it: "During war the ball is always kicking
+around loose in the middle of the field and any man who has the will
+may pick it up and run with it."
+
+Promotion, however, and the invitation to try one's hand at some
+greater venture, do not come automatically to an officer because of
+the onset of war. The man who had marked time on his job becomes
+relatively worse off, not only because the competition is keener, but
+because in lieu of anything which marks him for preferment, there is
+no good reason why he should get it. Years of service are not to a
+man's credit short of some positive proof that the years have been
+well used. The following are among the reasons why certain officers
+are marked for high places and find the door wide open, come an
+emergency:
+
+    A consistently superior showing in the efficiency reports.
+
+    A record showing that they have done well in service schools.
+
+    The ability to attract the eye of some high-placed superior by
+    exceptional performance on maneuvers, in committee work or any
+    other testing problem.
+
+    In addition to general dutifulness, the development to a
+    conspicuous degree of the special talents such as writing,
+    instructing, lecturing and staff administration.
+
+    Fluency in other languages.
+
+    Wide and resourceful study in the fields of military history,
+    military geography, national military policy and logistics.
+
+    The advancement of an original idea which has led to a general
+    improvement in any one service.
+
+Any and all of these are extra strings to one's bow. They are the
+means to greater satisfaction during peacetime employment and the
+source of great personal advantage during the shooting season. But
+they should not be mistaken for the main thing. _To excell in command,
+and to be recognized as deserving of it, is the rightful ambition of
+every service officer and his main hold on the probabilities of
+getting wider recognition._
+
+This holds true of the man who is so patently a specialist that it
+would be wrong to waste him in a command responsibility. If he
+understands the art of command, and his personality and moral
+fortitude fit him for the leading of men, he will be in better
+adjustment with his circumstances anywhere in the services, and will
+be given greater respect by his superiors. This rule is so absolute in
+its workings as to warrant saying that _every man who wears the
+insignia of an officer in the armed forces of the United States should
+aspire to the same bearing and the same inner confidence as to his
+power to meet other men and move them in the direction he desires that
+is to be marked in a superior company commander_.
+
+The natural leader is the real specialist of the armed services. He is
+as prodigious, and as much a man apart, as the wizard who has mastered
+supersonic speeds. Here we speak not alone of the ability of an
+officer fully to control and develop his element under training
+conditions, but to take the same element into battle and conserve the
+total of its powers with complete efficiency. The man who resolves to
+develop within himself the prerequisite qualities which serve such an
+object is moved by the worthiest of all ambitions, for he has
+submitted himself to the most complex task within human reach.
+
+The self-assurance that one has promise in the field of command is in
+part a derivative of growth and in part a matter of instinct. But to
+the normal young officer, it comes as something of a delightful
+surprise to learn that when he speaks other men will listen, when he
+reasons they will become convinced, and when he gives an order his
+authority is accepted. Far from being a bad quality, this
+ingenuousness is wholesome because it reflects warm appreciation of
+what has been given him. It does not lessen confidence if a commander
+feels this way about those who are within his charge throughout his
+service. The best results flow when the working loyalty of other men
+is accepted like manna from heaven, with gratitude rather than with
+gratification. _Simply to feel that it is one's rightful portion is
+the best proof that it is not, and leads to cockiness, windiness, and
+self-adulation, with attendant loss of the sympathy of other men._ The
+consequence to the individual whose dream of success is only that he
+will take on more and more authority is that he will suffer from a
+more and more one-sided development. The great philosopher, Albert
+Schweitzer, holds up to other self-reliant men the example of Defoe's
+hero, Robinson Crusoe, because he is continually reflecting on the
+subject of human conduct and he feels himself so responsible for this
+duty that when he gets in a fight he thinks about how he can win it
+with the smallest loss of human life. _The conservation of men's
+powers, not the spending thereof, is the object of main concern to the
+truly qualified military commander._
+
+At the same time, there should be no mistake about the manner in which
+command is exercised. To command is not simply to compel or to
+convince but a subtle mixture of both. Moral suasion and material
+compulsion are linked in its every act. _It involves not only saying
+that this is the best thing to do but inferring that the thing had
+best be done._ Force and reason are inseparably linked in its nature,
+and the force of reason is not more important than the reason of
+force, if the matter is to be brought to a successful issue. _The
+very touchstone of loyalty is that just demands will be put upon it._
+It cannot endure and strengthen except through finding material means
+of expression. When men are given absolute freedom, with no compulsion
+upon them but to eat and sleep, as with a group of South Sea savages,
+there can be no strong, uniting bond between them. As for absolute
+security, outside of the walls of a penitentiary it is virtually
+nonexistent, though one would scarcely look inside the walls expecting
+to find loyalty. In brief, being an active force in the lives of
+humankind, _loyalty is developed through the unifying of action_. _The
+more decisive the action becomes, the greater becomes the vitality of
+the bond._ Service men look back with an esteem, amounting almost to
+the love that a son feels for his father, toward the captains who led
+them well on the battlefield. But the best skipper they ever had on a
+training detail gets hardly more than a kind word.
+
+It has already been said that the man with a preeminent ability to
+organize and direct the action of the military group has an
+outstanding and greatly prized talent. The assumption that the holder
+of a commission in an armed service of the United States is possessed
+of this quality to a degree goes with the commission; lacking it, the
+warrant would have been withheld. But all men vary in their capacities
+to respond confidently to any particular situation. Some, no matter
+how hard they try, lack the keen edge.
+
+To the officer who discovers that he is especially suited, by
+temperament and liking, to the leading of combat forces, it comes,
+therefore, almost as a personal charge that he will let nothing
+dissuade him from the conviction that his post of duty is with the
+line. Though he may seek other temporary duty to advance his own
+knowledge and interests, he should remain mentally wedded to that
+which he does best, and which most other men find difficult.
+
+If it is a good rule for him, it applies just as well to all others
+within his charge. This means close attention to the careers of all
+junior leaders from the enlisted ranks, toward the end that the
+fighting strength of the establishment will be conserved. The
+personnel people will sometimes scuttle a fine natural leader of a
+tactical platoon, simply because they have discovered that in civilian
+life he ran a garage and there is a vacancy for a motor pool operator,
+or switch a gunner who is zealous for his new work back to a place in
+the rear, because the record book says that he is an erstwhile, though
+reluctant, keeper of books. From their point of view, this makes
+sense. But they are not always aware of how difficult and essential it
+is to find men who can lead at fighting. It is a point which all
+officers need ponder, for in our modern enthusiasm over the marvels
+that can be worked by a classification system, we tend to overlook
+that fighting power is the main thing, and that the best hands are not
+to be found behind every bush.
+
+When war comes, there are vast changes in the tempo and pressure of
+life within the armed establishment. Faced with new and unmeasured
+responsibility, almost every man would be depressed by the feeling
+that he is out far beyond his depth, if he were not buoyed by the
+knowledge that every other man is in like case, and that all things
+are relative. Once these points are recognized, the experience becomes
+exalting. A relatively junior officer finds himself able confidently
+to administer a policy applying to an entire service; a bureau, which
+might have been laboring to save money in the purchase of carpet tacks
+and pins, becomes suddenly confronted with the task of spending
+billions, and of getting action whatever the cost.
+
+But despite the radical change in the scale of operations, the lines
+laid down for the conduct of business remain the same. The regulations
+under which the armed services proceed are written for peace and war,
+and cover all contingencies in either situation. The course of conduct
+which is set forth for an officer under training conditions is the
+standard he is expected to follow when war comes. Administration is
+carried out according to the same rules, though it is probably true
+that there is less "paper doll cutting"--meaning that the tide of
+paper work, though larger in volume, is more to the point. To the
+young officer, it must oftentime seem that, under peacetime training
+conditions, he is being called on constantly to read reports which
+should never have been written in the first place and is required to
+write memoranda which no one should be forced to read in the second
+place. For that matter, the same thought occurs not infrequently to
+many of his seniors. But there is this main point in rebuttal--it is
+all a part of the practice and conditioning for a game which is in
+deadly earnest when war comes. If the armed services in peace were to
+limit correspondence up and down the line to those things which were
+either routine or altogether vital, few men would develop a facility
+at staff procedures.
+
+In one sense, the same generalization applies to the workings of the
+security system. There is the common criticism that the services
+always tend to over-classify papers, and make work for themselves by
+their careful safeguarding of "secrets" in which no one is interested.
+The idea is not without warrant; part of the trouble stems from the
+fact that the line between what can safely be made of public knowledge
+and what can not is impossible of clear definition. Hence the only
+safe rule-of-thumb is, "When in doubt, classify." There is, however,
+the other point that it is only through officers learning how to
+safeguard security, handle papers according to the regulations, and
+keep a tightly buttoned lip on all things which are essentially the
+business of the service during peacetime that they acquire the
+disciplined habit of which matures not only their personal success but
+the national safety when war comes.
+
+Oftentimes the rules seem superfluous. A man scans a paper and sees
+that the contents are innocuous, and ignoring the stamp, he leaves the
+document on his desk, because he is too lazy to unlock the file. _But
+the rules mean exactly what they say, and because their purpose is of
+final importance to the nation, they will be enforced._ There is no
+surer way for an officer to blight an otherwise promising career than
+to become careless about security matters. The superior who looks
+lightly on such an offense is but seeking trouble for himself.
+
+Even so, it is to be observed that regulations are a general guide to
+conduct, and though they mean what they say they are not utterly
+inflexible. One must not be like the half-wit described by Col.
+George F. Baltzell to his trainees during World War I. Joe had
+attached himself to the Confederate command of the Colonel's father,
+whose last chore before turning in was to post the boy. One night in a
+Virginia Tidewater operation, Joe was told to stay by a stump until
+morning. At dawn the unit was moving out in a fog when the elder
+Baltzell bethought himself of Joe. Down by the riverside his cries
+finally brought a faint answer through the mist, "Here I is." "What
+are you doing there, boy?" barked the officer, "I told you not to
+move." "I hain't moved, sir," replied the invisible Joe, up to his
+neck in water, "the river done riz." An occasional unforeseen
+circumstance arises in which it is nonsensical, or even impossible, to
+adhere to the letter of regulations, as of orders. It is then
+essential that an officer use plain common sense, acting according to
+the spirit of the regulation, so that it is clearly manifest he did
+the best possible thing within the determining set of conditions. For
+example, in the European Theater, the Historian had charge of 32 tons
+of documents, all classified "Confidential," "Secret" or "Top Secret."
+There were not enough safes or secured files in the whole of France to
+hold this material, which meant that established procedures could not
+be followed. A permanent guard and watch was put on the archive.
+Wooden cases were made from scrap lumber. Ample fire-fighting
+equipment was brought in. Personnel was drilled in evacuating the
+material in its order of importance, should fire occur. The setup was
+inspected twice daily by the commander or his executive. Though these
+arrangements still fell short of the letter of regulations, they
+perforce had to satisfy any inspector because there was no sounder
+alternative.
+
+When circumstances require any officer to take a course which, while
+appearing in his view to be in the best interests of the service, runs
+counter to the lines of action laid down by constituted authority, he
+has the protection that he may always ask for a court to pass judgment
+on what he had done. We are all prone to associate the court martial
+process only with the fact of punishment, but it is also a shield
+covering official integrity. The privilege of appealing to the
+judgment and sense of fair play in a group of one's fellow officers
+is a very comforting thing in any emergency situation, requiring a
+desperate decision, and engaging conflicting interests. It gives one a
+feeling of backing even when circumstances are such that one is making
+a lonely decision. Almost needless to say, cases of this sort are far
+more likely to occur in war than during peace.
+
+Inspection takes on a somewhat different hue during war. It becomes
+more frequent but, on the whole, less zealous with respect to
+spit-and-polish and less captious about the many little things which
+promote good order and appearance throughout the general
+establishment. This condition is accentuated as organizations move
+closer to the zone of fire. Higher authority becomes more engrossed in
+the larger affairs of operation. At all levels more and more time is
+taken in dealing with the next level above, which means that less and
+less can be given to looking at the structure down below.
+
+What then is the key to over-all soundness in the services in any hour
+of great national peril? This, that in all services, at all times and
+at all levels, each officer is vigilant to see that his own unit,
+section or office is inspection-proof by every test which higher
+authority might apply.
+
+It should not require the visit of an inspector to any installation to
+apprise those who are in charge as to what is being badly done.
+
+The standards are neither complex nor arbitrary. They can be easily
+learned. Thereafter, all that is needed are the eyes to see and the
+will to insist firmly that correction be made.
+
+In officership, there is simply no substitute for personal
+reconnaissance, nor any other technique that in the long run will have
+half its value. Gen. Carl A. Spaatz, the first leader of our
+independent Air Force, was so renowned for this disciplined habit of
+getting everywhere and seeing everything that, even when he was a
+relatively young major, a story about his ubiquitousness gained
+service-wide fame. An ailing recruit was being examined by a doctor at
+March Field. "Do you see spots before your eyes?" the doctor asked.
+"Heavens," groaned the recruit. "Do I have to see him in here, too?"
+
+Once formed, the habit of getting down to the roots of organization,
+of seeing with one's own eyes what is taking place, of measuring it
+against one's own scale of values, of ordering such changes as are
+needed, and of following-through to make certain that the changes are
+made, becomes the mainspring of all efficient command action.
+
+In battle, there is no other way to be sure. In training, there is no
+better way to move toward self-assurance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN
+
+THE MISSION
+
+
+There is a main reason why the word "mission" has an especial
+appropriateness to the military services and implies something beyond
+the call of duty. The arms of the United States do not advance simply
+through the process of correct orders being given and then executed
+with promptness, vigor, and intelligence.
+
+That is the greater part of the task, but it is by no means all.
+Military systems reflect the limitations and imperfections of their
+human material. Whatever his station, and experience, no man is wise
+enough and all-seeing enough that he can encompass every factor in a
+given problem, take correct judgment on every area of weakness,
+foresee all of that which has not yet happened, and then write the
+perfect analysis and solution for the guidance of his subordinates.
+
+The perfecting of operations, and the elimination of grit from the
+machinery, therefore become the concern of _all_, directing their
+thought and purpose to the doing of whatever needs to be done to
+further the harmony and efficiency of the establishment, taking
+personal action where it is within their province, or calling the
+matter to the attention of higher authority when it is not. In this
+direct sense, every ensign and second lieutenant has a personal
+responsibility for the general well-being of the security structure of
+the United States. This is fact, and not theory. In World War II, many
+of the practical ideas which were made of universal application in the
+services were initiated by men of very junior rank. But the extent to
+which any man's influence may be felt beyond his immediate circle
+depends first of all upon the thoroughness with which he executes his
+assigned duties, since nothing else will give his superiors confidence
+in his judgments. It is only when he is exacting in small things, and
+is careful to "close the circuit" on every minor assignment, that he
+qualifies himself to think and act constructively in larger matters,
+through book study and imaginative observation of the situation which
+surrounds him. At this stage, an officer is well on the road to the
+accomplishment of his general mission.
+
+When an order is given, what are the responsibilities of the man who
+receives it? In sequence, these:
+
+    To be certain that he understands what is required.
+
+    To examine and organize his resources as promptly as possible.
+
+    Fully to inform his subordinates on these points.
+
+    To execute the order without waste of time or means.
+
+    To call for support if events prove that his means are inadequate.
+
+    To fill up the spaces in the orders if there are developments
+    which had not been anticipated.
+
+    When the detail is complete, to prepare to go on to something
+    else.
+
+Lt. Gen. Sir Frederick Morgan, who planned the invasion of Normandy,
+put the matter this way: "When setting out on any enterprise, it is as
+well to ask oneself three questions. To whom is one responsible? For
+precisely what is one responsible? What are the means at one's
+disposal for discharging this responsibility?"
+
+Nothing so warms the heart of a superior as that, on giving an order,
+he sees his subordinate salute, say "Yes sir," then about face and
+proceed to carry it out to the hilt, without faltering or looking
+back. This is the kind of man that a commander will choose to have
+with him every time, and that he will recommend first for advancement.
+
+On the other hand, clarification of the object is not only a right but
+a duty, and it cuts both ways. Orders are not always clear, and no
+superior is on firm ground when he is impatient of questions which are
+to the point, or resentful of the man who asks them. But it is natural
+that he will be doubtful of the man whose words show either that he
+hasn't heard or is concerned mainly with irrelevencies. The
+cultivation of the habit of careful, concentrated listening, and of
+collected thought in reading into any problem, is a principal portal
+to successful officership.
+
+To say that promptness and positiveness in the execution of a mission
+are at all times major virtues does not imply that the good man, like
+an old fire horse, moves out instantly at the clang of a bell.
+Soundness of action involves a sense of timing. Thoroughness is the
+way of duty, rather than a speed which goes off half-cocked. There is
+frequently a time for waiting; there is always time for acute
+reflection. The brain which works "like a steel trap" exists only in
+fiction. Even such men as General Eisenhower, or Admiral Nimitz, or
+for that matter, Gen. U. S. Grant, have at times deferred decision
+temporarily while waiting for a change in tide or circumstance to help
+them make up their minds. This is normal in the rational individual;
+it is not a sign of weakness. Rather than to cultivate a belief in
+one's own infallibility, the mature outlook for the military man is
+best expressed in the injunction of the Apostle Paul: "_Let all things
+be done decently and in order._" Grant, wrote of the early stage of
+his advance on Richmond: "At this time I was not entirely decided as
+to how I should move my Army." From the pen of General Eisenhower come
+these words: "The commander's success will be measured more by his
+ability to lead than by his adherence to fixed notions." Thus, in the
+conduct of operations not less than in the execution of orders, it is
+necessary that the mind remain plastic and impressionable.
+
+Within military organization, to refuse an order is unthinkable,
+though to muster a case showing why some other order would serve in
+its place is not undutiful in an individual subordinate, any more than
+in a staff. By the same rule, insistence that an order be carried out
+undeviatingly, simply because it has been given, does not of itself
+win respect for the authority uttering it. Its modification, however,
+should never be in consequence of untempered pressure from below. To
+change or rescind is justified only when reestimate of all of the
+available facts indicates that some other order will serve the general
+purpose more efficiently.
+
+Taking counsel of subordinates in any enterprise or situation is
+therefore a matter of giving them full advantage of one's own
+information and reasoning, weighing with the intellect whatever
+thought or argument they may contribute to the sum of considerations,
+and then making, without compromise, a clean decision as to the line
+of greatest advantage. To know how to command obedience is a very
+different thing from making men obey. Obedience is not the product of
+fear, but of understanding, and understanding is based on knowledge.
+
+On D-day in Normandy, Lt. Turner B. Turnbull undertook to do with his
+platoon of 42 men a task which had been intended for a battalion; he
+was to block the main road to enemy forces pressing south from the
+Cherbourg area against the American right flank. In early morning he
+engaged a counterattacking enemy battalion, supported by mortars and a
+self-propelled gun at the village of Neuville au Plain. The platoon
+held its ground throughout the day. By dusk the enemy had closed wide
+around both its flanks and was about to cut the escape route. Turnbull
+had 23 men left. He said to the others, "There's one thing left to do;
+we can charge them." Pfc. Joseph Sebastian, who had just returned from
+reconnoitering to the rear, said, "I think there's a chance we can
+still get out; that's what we ought to do." Turnbull asked of his men,
+"What's your judgment?" They supported Sebastian as having the sounder
+idea. In a twinkling Turnbull made his decision. He told the others to
+get set for the run; he was losing men even while he talked; he
+ordered that the 12 wounded were to be left behind. Corp. James Kelly,
+first aid man, said he would stay with the wounded. Pfc Sebastian, who
+had argued Turnbull into a withdrawal, volunteered to stand his ground
+and cover the others with a BAR. Corp. Raymond Smitson said he would
+stay by Sebastian and support him with hand grenades. Sgt. Robert
+Niland started for one of the machine guns, to help Smitson and
+Sebastian in covering the withdrawal, but was shot dead by a German
+closing in with a machine pistol before he could reach it. The 16
+remaining survivors took off like so many shots fired from a pistol,
+at full speed but at intervals, to minimize the target. All got back
+to their Battalion, though Turnbull was killed in action a few days
+later. Their 1-day fight had preserved the flank of an Army. For
+economy of effort, and power of decision, there is not a brighter
+example in the whole book of war.
+
+To encourage subordinates to present their views, and to weigh them in
+the light of reason, is at the same time the surest way to win their
+confidence and to refine one's own information and judgments. However,
+to leave final decision to them in matters which are clearly in the
+area of one's own responsibility, is fatal to the character of self
+and to the integrity of the force.
+
+Any officer is one among many. Behind the smallest unit is the total
+power of the combined services. In the main, effectiveness develops
+out of unity of effort. To commit one's force to desperate, unhelped
+enterprises, when there is support at hand which may be had for the
+asking, may be one road to glory, but it is certainly not the path to
+success in War. The Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava was made
+immortal by Tennyson's poem, but it was as foolhardy as asking a troop
+of Boy Scouts to capture Gibraltar. In battle, a main obligation of
+those who lead is to make constant resurvey of the full horizon of
+their resources and means of possible support. This entails in time of
+peace the acquisition of a great body of knowledge seemingly unrelated
+to the administration of one's immediate affairs. It entails, also,
+facing forthrightly toward every task, or assignment, giving it a full
+try, sweating out every obstacle, but not being ashamed to ask for
+help or counsel if it proves to be beyond one's powers. _To give it
+everything, though not quite making the grade personally, is merely an
+exercise in character building. But to have the mission fail because
+of false pride is inexcusable._
+
+The prayer that Sir Francis Drake wrote down for his men as he led
+them forth to a great adventure might well be repeated by any leader
+in the hour when he begins to despair because in spite of his striving
+he has not gained all he sought: "O Lord God, when Thou givest to thy
+servants to endeavour any great matter, grant us also to know that it
+is not the beginning, but the continuing of the same until it is
+thoroughly finished, which yieldeth the true glory."
+
+The courage to start will carry a man far. Under the conditions of
+either war or peace, it is astonishing how many times all things come
+in balance for the man who is less fearful of rebuff than of being
+counted a cypher. One of Britain's great armored leaders, Lt. Gen. Sir
+Giffard Martel, digested the lesson of his whole life experience into
+this sentence: "If you take a chance, it usually succeeds,
+presupposing good judgment." Finally, it comes to that, for the
+willingness to accept calculated risks is of the essence of effective
+personal performance within the military profession. There must be
+careful collection of data. There must be weighty consideration of all
+known and knowable factors in the given situation. But beyond these
+things, what?
+
+To convey the idea that an officer must by ingrained habit dispose
+himself to take action only after he has arrived at an exact formula,
+pointing exclusively in one direction, would mean only that under the
+conditions of war he could never get off his trousers-seat. For such
+fullness of information and confidence of situation are not given to
+combat commanders once in a lifetime.
+
+It is customary to treat "estimate of situation" as if it were pure
+mathematical process, pointing almost infallibly to a definite result.
+But this is contrary to nature. The mind of man does not work that
+way, nor is it consistent with operational realities. Senior
+commanders are as prone as even the newest junior lieutenant to labor
+in perplexity between two opposing courses of action during times of
+crisis, and then make their decisions almost with the abruptness of an
+explosion. _It is post-decision steadiness more than pre-decision
+certitude which carries the day._ A large part of decision is
+intuitive; it is the byproduct of the subconscious. In war, much of
+what is most pertinent lies behind a drawn curtain. The officer is
+therefore badly advised who would believe that a hunch is without
+value, or that there is something unmilitary about the simple decision
+to take some positive action, even though he is working in the dark.
+
+The youthful Col. Julian Ewell of the 501st Parachute Infantry
+Regiment, reaching Bastogne, Belgium, on the night of December 18,
+1944, with only his lead battalion at hand, insisted that he be given
+orders, even though higher headquarters could tell him almost nothing
+about the friendly or enemy situations. He got his orders, and with
+the one battalion moved out through the dark to counter-attack. So
+doing, he stopped cold the German XXXXVII Panzer Corps, and compelled
+Hitler to alter his Ardennes plan.
+
+To grasp the spirit of orders is not less important than to accept
+them cheerfully and keep faith with the contract. But the letter of an
+instruction does not relieve him who receives it from the obligation
+to exercise common sense. In the Carolina maneuvers of 1941, a soldier
+stood at a road intersection for 3 days and nights directing civilian
+traffic, simply because the man who put him there had forgotten all
+about it. Though he was praised at the time, he was hardly a shining
+example to hold up to troops. Diligence and dullness are mutually
+exclusive traits. The model who is well worth pondering by all
+services is Chief Boatswain L. M. Jahnsen who on the morning of Pearl
+Harbor was in command of the yard garbage scow YG-17. She was
+collecting refuse from the fleet when the first Japanese planes came
+over. As the West Virginia began to burn, Jahnsen headed his scow into
+the heat and smoke and ordered his men to man their single fire hose.
+The old assignment forgotten, with overheated ammunition exploding all
+around him, he stood there directing his men in all that could be done
+to lessen the ruin of the fleet.
+
+Within the services, a special glory attends those whose heroism or
+service is "above and beyond the call of duty." But they owe their
+fundamental character to the millions of men who have followed the
+path of duty above and beyond the call of orders.
+
+Whatever the nature of an officer's assignment, there are
+compensations. The conventional attitude is to speak disparagingly of
+staff duty, sniff at service with a higher administrative headquarters
+as if it were somehow lacking in true masculine appeal, and express a
+preference for duty "at sea," "with troops" or "in the field."
+Although most of this is flapdoodle, it probably does no more harm
+than Admiral William F. Halsey's grimace over the fact that he once
+"commanded an LSD--Large Steel Desk." He is a poor stick of a military
+man who has no natural desire to try his hand at the direct management
+of men, if for no better reason than to test his own mettle. Even the
+avowed specialist is better equipped for his own groove if he has
+proved himself at the other game.
+
+Staff work, however, has its own peculiar rewards. Chief among them
+are the broadening of perspective, a more intimate contact with the
+views, working methods and personality characteristics of higher
+commanders and the chance to become acquainted with administrative
+responsibility from the viewpoint of policy. Although it sounds
+mysterious and even forbidding, until one has done it, the procedures
+are not more complex nor less instructive than in any other type of
+assignment.
+
+There are no inside secrets about what goes here that is different, or
+will not work equally well elsewhere. The staff is simply the servant
+of the general force; it exists but to further the welfare of the
+fighting establishment. Those within it are remiss if they fail to
+keep this rule uppermost. Consequently, no special attitude is called
+for, other than an acute receptiveness. The same military bearing, the
+same naturalness of manner which enable an officer to win the
+confidence and working loyalty of his men will serve just as well when
+he is dealing with higher authority.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN
+
+DISCIPLINE
+
+
+Though many of the aspects of discipline can be discussed more
+appropriately in other sections of this book, an officer must
+understand its particular nature within American military forces if he
+is to win from his men obedience coupled with activity at will.
+
+It frequently happens that the root meaning of a word more nearly
+explains the whole context of ideas with which it is legitimately
+associated than the public's mistaken use of the same word. Coming
+from the Latin, "to discipline" means "to teach." Insofar as the
+military establishment of the United States is concerned, nothing need
+be added to that definition. Its discipline is that standard of
+personal deportment, work requirement, courtesy, appearance and
+ethical conduct which, inculcated in men, will enable them singly or
+collectively to perform their mission with an optimum efficiency.
+
+Military discipline, in this respect, is no different than the
+discipline of the university, a baseball league or a labor union. It
+makes specific requirements of the individual; so do they. It has a
+system of punishments; so do they. These things are but incidental to
+the end result. Their main object is to preserve the interests and
+further the opportunity of the cooperative majority. But the essential
+difference between discipline in the military establishment and in any
+other free institution is this, that if the man objects, he still does
+not have the privilege of quitting tomorrow, and if he resists or
+becomes indifferent and is not corrected, his bad example will be felt
+to the far end of the line.
+
+Though the failure to stop looting by our forces during World War II,
+and the redeployment riots which followed it, are both unpleasant
+memories, they underscored a lesson already affirmed by every American
+experience at arms. The most contagious of all moral diseases is
+insubordination, and it has no more respect for rank than the plague.
+When higher authority winks at its existence among the rank and file,
+it will contaminate upward as well as down. Once a man condones
+remissness, his own belief in discipline begins to wither. The officer
+who tolerates slackness in the dress of his men soon ceases to tend
+his own appearance, and if he is not called to account, his sloppy
+habits will shortly begin to infect his superior. There is only one
+correct way to wear the uniform. When any deviations in dress are
+condoned within the services, the way is open to the destruction of
+all uniformity and unity. This continuing problem of stimulating all
+ranks to toe-up to that straight line of bearing and deportment which
+will build inner confidence and win public respect is the main reason
+why, as George Washington put it: "To bring men to a proper degree of
+subordination is not the work of a day, a month, or a year." It calls
+not simply for a high-minded attitude toward the profession of arms
+but for infinitely patient attention to a great variety of detail. An
+officer has a disciplined hold upon his own job only when, like the
+air pilot preparing to take off, he makes personal check of every
+point where the machinery might fail. The stronger his example of
+diligence, the more earnestly will it be followed by the ablest of his
+subordinates, and they in turn will carry other men along. No leader
+ever fails his men--nor will they fail him--who leads them in respect
+for the disciplined life. Between these two things--discipline in
+itself and a personal faith in the military value of discipline--lies
+all the difference between military maturity and mediocrity. A salute
+from an unwilling man is as meaningless as the moving of a leaf on a
+tree; it is a sign only that the subject has been caught by a gust of
+wind. But a salute from the man who takes pride in the gesture because
+he feels privileged to wear the uniform of the United States, having
+found the service good, is the epitome of military virtue. Of those
+units which were most effective, and were capable of the greatest
+measure of self-help during World War II combat, it was invariably
+remarked that they observed the salute and the other rules of courtesy
+better than the others, even when engaged.
+
+The level of discipline is in large part what the officers in any unit
+choose to make it. The general aim of regulations is to set an
+over-all standard of conduct and work requirement for all concerned.
+Training schedules, operational directives and other work programs
+serve the same end. _But there is still a broad area in which the
+influence of every officer is brought to bear. To state what is
+required is only the beginning; to require what has been stated is the
+positive end._ The rule of courtesy may be laid down by the book; it
+remains for the officer to rule by work rather than working by rules,
+and by setting the good example for his men, stimulate their
+acceptance of orderly military habits. A training schedule may
+stipulate that certain tasks be carried out but only the officer in
+charge can assure that the work will be accomplished with fidelity.
+
+The level of discipline should at all times be according to what is
+needed to get the best results from the majority of dutiful
+individuals. There is no practical reason for any sterner requirement
+than that. There is no moral justification for countenancing anything
+less. _Discipline destroys the spirit and working loyalty of the
+general force when it is pitched to the minority of malcontented,
+undutiful men within the organization, whether to punish or to appease
+them._ When this common sense precept is ignored, the results
+invariably are unhappy.
+
+However, it is not here inferred that what has to be done to build
+strong discipline in forces will at all times be welcomed by the
+first-class men within a unit, or that their reaction will always be
+approval. Rather, it is to say that they will accept what is ordered,
+even though they may gripe about it, and that ultimately their own
+reason will convince them of the value of what is being done.
+
+Until men are severely tried, there is no conclusive test of their
+discipline, nor proof that their training at arms is satisfying a
+legitimate military end. The old game of follow-the-leader has no
+point if the leader himself, like the little girl in a Thomas Hardy
+novel, is balked by insuperable obstacles one-quarter inch high. _All
+military forces remain relatively undisciplined until physically
+toughened and mentally conditioned to unusual exertion._ Consider the
+road march! No body of men could possibly enjoy the dust, the heat,
+the blistered foot and the aching back. But hard road marching is
+necessary if a sound foundation is to be built under the discipline of
+fighting forces, particularly those whose labors are in the field. And
+the gain comes quickly. The rise in spirits within any organization
+which is always to be observed after they rebound from a hard march
+does not come essentially from the feeling of relief that the strain
+is past, but rather from satisfaction that a goal has been crossed.
+_Every normal man needs to have some sense of a contest, some feeling
+of resistance overcome, before he can make the best use of his
+faculties. Whatever experience serves to give him confidence that he
+can compete with other men helps to increase his solidarity with other
+men._
+
+It must be accepted that discipline does not break down under the
+strain of placing a testing demand upon the individual. It is sloth
+and not activity that destroys discipline. Troops can endure hard
+going when it serves an understandable end. This is what they will
+boast about mainly when the fatigue is ended. A large part of training
+is necessarily directed toward conditioning them for unusual hardship
+and privation. They can take this in stride. But no power on earth can
+reconcile them to what common sense tells them is unnecessary hardship
+which might have been avoided by greater intelligence in their
+superiors. When they are overloaded, they know it. When they are
+required to form for a parade two hours ahead of time because their
+commander got over-anxious, or didn't know how to write an order,
+again they know it! _And they are perfectly right if they go sour
+because this kind of thing happens a little too often within the
+command._
+
+Within our system, that discipline is nearest perfect which assures to
+the individual the greatest freedom of thought and action while at all
+times promoting his feeling of responsibility toward the group. _These
+twin ends are convergent and interdependent for the exact converse of
+the reason that it is impossible for any man to feel happy and
+successful if he is in the middle of a failing institution._ War, and
+all training operations in preparation for it, have become more than
+ever a problem of creating diversity of action out of unity of
+thought. Its modern technological aspects not only require a much
+keener intelligence in the average file but a higher degree of
+initiative and courageous confidence in his own judgments. If the man
+is cramped by monotonous routine, or made to feel that he cannot move
+unless an order is barked, he cannot develop these qualities, and he
+will never come forward as a junior leader. _On the other hand, the
+increased utilization of the machine in military operations, far from
+lessening the need of mutual support and unified action, has increased
+it._ One of the hazards of high velocity warfare is that reverse and
+disaster can occur much more swiftly than under former systems. Thus
+the need for greater spiritual integration within forces, and
+increased emphasis upon the values of more perfect communication in
+all forms, at the same time that each individual is trained to
+initiate action for the common good. Only so can the new discipline
+promote a higher efficiency based on a more steadfast loyalty of man
+to man. In the words of Du Picq, who saw so deeply into the hearts of
+fighting men: "If one does not wish bonds broken, one should make them
+elastic and thereby strengthen them."
+
+The separate nature of military service is the key to the character of
+the discipline of its several forces. In the United States, we have
+fallen into the sloppy habit of saying that a soldier, bluejacket,
+airman, coast guardsman or marine is only an American civilian in
+uniform. The corollary of this quaint notion is that all military
+organization is best run according to the principles of business
+management. The truth of either of these ideas is to be disputed on
+two grounds: both are contrary to truth and contrary to human nature.
+An officer is not only an administrator but a magistrate, and it is
+this dual role which makes his function so radically different than
+anything encountered in civil life--to say nothing of the singleness
+of purpose by which the service moves forward. Moreover, the armed
+service officer deals with the most plastic human material within the
+society--men who, in the majority, the moment they step into uniform,
+are ready to seek his guidance toward a new way of life.
+
+However, these fancies are but tangential aspects of a much larger
+illusion--that the Armed Services of the United States, since they
+serve a democracy, can better perfect themselves according to the
+measure that they become more and more democratic. Authority is
+questioned in democratic countries today, not only in government, but
+in industry, the school, the church and the home. But to the extent
+that military men lose their faith in its virtue and become amenable
+to ill-considered reforms simply to appease the public, they
+relinquish the power to protect and nurture that growth of free men,
+free thought and free institutions which began among a handful of
+soldiers in Cromwell's Army and was carried by them after the
+Restoration to the North American mainland. The relation of the
+military establishment to American democracy is as a shield covering
+the body. But no wit of man can make it a wholly "democratic"
+institution as to its own processes without vitiating its strength,
+since it progresses through the exercise of unquestioned authority at
+various levels.
+
+One of these levels is the plane on which an ensign or second
+lieutenant conducts his daily dealings with his men. George Washington
+left behind these words, which are as good today as when he uttered
+them from his command post: "Whilst men treat an officer as an equal,
+regard him no more than a broomstick, being mixed together as one
+common herd, no order nor discipline can prevail." Out of his
+experience in the handling of deck divisions during World War II,
+Edmund A. Gibson, Boatswain's Mate, First Class, also said something
+which, put alongside Washington's words, brings the whole subject of
+officer-man relationships into clear focus: "Speaking for Navy men, I
+am certain that they are entirely without any feeling of inferiority,
+social or otherwise, to their officers. If superiority or inferiority
+of any kind enters into their contemplation at all, it is in the shape
+of a conviction, doubtless a wrong one, that every serviceman, as a
+professional warrior, is above the narrow interests which obsess the
+civilian."
+
+Those who have served both as officer and under-officer well
+understand the appropriateness of these two ideas, each to the other,
+that the superior position of the officer must be preserved for the
+good of the service, but that this engages recognition of the
+individual equality of the enlisted man. They know, if they have
+observed well and truly during their service in the ranks, that the
+highest type enlisted man wants his officer to act the part, maintain
+dignity and support the ideals which are consonant with the authority
+vested in him by the Nation. But this same man at the same time
+expects his officers to concede him his right to a separate position
+and to respect his privacy. It is a pitiable eminence that is not well
+founded upon sure feeling for the value of its own prestige and the
+importance of this factor at all levels.
+
+In the military service of the United States, there is always room for
+firm and forthright friendship between officer and man. There is room
+for a close, uniting comradeship. There is room for frank intellectual
+discussion and the exchange of warm humor; no man goes far if he is
+all salt and no savor. There is room for that kind of intimacy which
+enables each to see the other as a human being, know something of the
+other's emotions and help clear the atmosphere for honest counsel on
+personal and organizational problems.
+
+But there is no room for familiarity, since as in any other sphere, it
+breeds contempt. When it occurs, respect flies out the window, the
+officer loses part of his command authority and discipline breaks
+down. Familiarity cannot obtain between the superior and the
+subordinate without the vice of favoritism entering into the conduct
+of organizational matters, even though the former is guilty only of an
+over-zealous goodwill and the latter is otherwise sensible to the
+interests of the unit. The chief damage comes from the effect upon all
+others. It is when all the bars are let down that men communicate
+those inner failings which a greater reserve would keep under cover.
+Familiarity toward a superior is a positive danger; toward a
+subordinate, it is unbecoming and does not increase his trust. In
+excess, it can have no other effect than a breach of confidence on
+both sides.
+
+Changes in the environmental situation do not alter the natural
+proprieties of this relationship between any two men, the one having
+higher authority and the other having the obligation of obedience.
+Under the conditions of modern war, the two not infrequently may be
+required to work together as a unit, almost apart from the influence
+of organizational discipline. Hardship and necessity may compel them
+to extend the limit of personal accommodation to each other. They may
+go into battle together. They may sleep in the same bed or foxhole.
+They may drink from a common bottle and draw upon each other for the
+means to keep going. But in adapting one's course according to the
+rigors of any unconventional situation, authority is maintained only
+through the exercise of a higher sense of responsibility. However, the
+rule is applied according to the circumstance, the rule itself remains
+inflexible.
+
+Officers and men working together as a compact team, in any type of
+military operation where success, and coordinated action in the face
+of danger, depend mainly upon the moral resources within one small
+group, develop a closer camaraderie and become less formal than is
+normal elsewhere throughout the services. The close confinement in
+which tank forces, airplane crews and submarine crews must operate
+would stifle morale and torture nerves otherwise. Whatever the
+patience of men under such conditions, sooner or later they get on
+each other's nerves. Therefore that system of relationships is best
+which is least artificial and most relaxing to the spirit of the
+natural man. But to construe this as a deviation from the standards of
+discipline is to mistake the shadow for the substance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN
+
+MORALE
+
+
+To grow in knowledge of how to win a loyal and willing response from
+military forces, there must first be understanding of the springs of
+human action, what they are, and how they may be directed toward
+constructive ends. This done, the course which makes for the
+perfecting of forces during peacetime training need only be extended
+to harden them for the risk and stress of war.
+
+The mainspring is morale. The meaning of the word is already known in
+a general way to every man who has qualified for officership, so it is
+hardly necessary to redefine it. A World War II bluejacket said it
+this way: "Morale is when your hands and feet keep working when your
+head says it can't be done." That says it just as well as anything
+written by du Picq or Baron von Steuben. Nothing new need be added.
+
+The handiest beginning is to consider morale in conjunction with
+discipline, since in military service they are opposite sides of the
+same coin. When one is present, the other will be also. But the
+instilling of these things in military forces depends upon leadership
+understanding the nature of the relationship.
+
+As to discipline, until recent years, military forces tended to stress
+the pattern rather than the ideal. The elder Moltke, one of the great
+masters of the military art, taught his troops that it was of supreme
+importance that they form accurately in training, since the perfection
+of their formations would determine their efficiency in battle. Yet in
+the Franco-Prussian War, these formations proved utterly unsuited to
+the heavily wooded terrain of the theater, and new ones had to be
+devised on the spur of the moment.
+
+This is the familiar story. It was repeated by United States forces in
+World War II during the Normandy hedgerow fighting and the invasions
+of the Central Pacific atolls. Troops had to learn the hard way how to
+hit, and how to survive, in moving through jungle or across the
+mountains and desert. When that happened, the only disciplinary
+residue which mattered was obedience to orders. The movements they had
+learned by rote were of less value than the spiritual bond between one
+man and another. The most valuable lesson was that of mutual support.
+And unless this lesson was supported by confidence in the judgment of
+those in authority, it is to be doubted that they were helped at all.
+
+Finally, that confidence is the _sine qua non_ of all useful military
+power. The moral strength of an organic unity comes from the faith in
+ranks that they are being wisely directed and from faith up top that
+orders will be obeyed. When forces are tempered by this spirit, there
+is no limit to their enterprise. They become invincible. Lacking it,
+however, any military body, even though it has been compelled to toe
+the mark in training, will deteriorate into a rabble under conditions
+of extraordinary stress in the field, as McDowell's Army did at Bull
+Run in the American Civil War, and as Hitler's Armies did in 1945
+after the Rhine had been crossed at Remagen.
+
+In its essentials, discipline is not measured according to how a man
+keeps step in a drill yard, or whether he salutes at just the right
+angle. The test is how well and willingly he responds to his superiors
+in all _vital_ matters, and finally, whether he stands or runs when
+his life is at stake. History makes this clear. There are countless
+examples of successful military forces which had almost no discipline
+when measured by the usual yardsticks, yet had a high battle morale
+productive of the kind of discipline which beats the enemy in battle.
+The French at Valmy, the Boers in the South African War, and even the
+men of Capt. John Parker, responding to his order on the Lexington
+Common, "Don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war,
+let it begin here," instance that men who lack training and have not
+been regimented still may express themselves as a cohesive force on
+the field of fire, provided that they are well led.
+
+If we will accept the basic premise that discipline, even within the
+military establishment of the United States, is not a ritual or a
+form, but is simply that course of conduct which is most likely to
+lead to the efficient performance of an assigned responsibility, it
+will be seen that morale does not come of discipline, but discipline
+of morale.
+
+True enough, our recruits are given a discipline almost from the
+moment that they take the oath. Their first lesson is the necessity
+for obedience. They are required immediately to conform to a new
+pattern of conduct. They respond to disciplinary treatment even before
+they learn to think as a group and before the attitude of the group
+has any influence upon them. Discipline bears down before morale can
+lift up. Momentarily, they become timid before they have felt any
+pain. These first reactions help condition the man to his new
+environment. They are in part demoralizing, but on the upswing he
+begins to realize that half the fun in life comes of seeing what one
+can do in a new situation. The foundation of his morale is laid when
+he begins to think of himself as a member of the fighting
+establishment, rather than as a civilian. Thereafter all that is done
+to nourish his military spirit and to arouse his thirst for
+professional knowledge helps to build his moral power.
+
+But follow the man a little longer. The time quickly comes when he
+knows his way around in the service. His earlier fears and hesitations
+are largely gone. He acquires strength and wisdom from the group. He
+becomes able to judge his own situation against an attainable standard
+within the service. He is critically conscious of the merits of his
+superiors from what he has himself experienced and what others tell
+him. He knows what is boondoggling and what is not.
+
+From that point on, discipline has little part in alerting the man or
+in furthering the building of his moral power. That which moves him
+mainly is the knowledge that he is a personal success, and that he
+belongs to an efficient unit which is in capable hands. Certain of the
+outer signs of discipline, such as the cadence of the march or snap in
+the execution of the manual, he may subconsciously reenforce his
+impression of these things. But if he feels either that he is an
+outsider or that the club isn't worth joining, no amount of spit and
+polish will alter his opinion.
+
+He is able to recognize a right and reasonable discipline as such,
+even though it causes him personal inconvenience, because he has
+acquired a sense of military values. But if it is either unduly harsh
+or unnecessarily lax, he likewise knows it and wears it as a
+hairshirt, to the undoing of his morale. Though the man, like the
+group, can be hurt by being pushed beyond sensible limits, his spirit
+will suffer even more sorely if no real test is put upon his abilities
+and moral powers. The greater his intelligence, the stronger will be
+his resentment. That is a law of nature. The enlightened mind has
+always the greatest measure of self-discipline but it also has a
+higher sense of what constitutes justice, fairplay and a reasonable
+requirement in the performance of duty. If denied these things, he
+will come to hold his chief, his job, and himself in contempt. The
+greater part of man's satisfactions comes of activity and only a very
+small remnant comes of passive enjoyment. Forgetting this rather
+obvious fact in human nature, social reformers aim at securing more
+leisure, rather than at making work itself more satisfactory. But it
+need not be forgotten in the military service.
+
+Even to those who best understand the reasons for the regimenting of
+military forces, a discipline wrongfully applied is seen only as
+indiscipline. Invariably it will be countered in its own terms. No
+average rank-and-file will become insubordinate as quickly, or react
+as violently, as a group of senior noncommissioned officers, brought
+together in a body, and then mishandled by officers who are ignorant
+of the customs of the service and the limits of their own authority.
+Not only are they conscious of their rights, but they have greater
+respect for the state of decency and order which is the mark of a
+proper military establishment than for the insignia of rank. It is
+this firm feeling of the fitness of things, and his unbounded
+allegiance to an authority when it is based on character which makes
+the NCO and the petty officer the backbone of discipline within the
+United States fighting establishment. Sergeant Evans of "Command
+Decision" was an archtype of the best ball carriers among them. In a
+sense, they remain independent workmen, rather than a tool of
+authority, until the hour comes when they fall in completely with
+someone their own nature tells them is good. In the past, we have not
+always made the wisest use of this latent strength. The normal desire
+of the veteran who has won his stripes by hard service is to support
+his officers and reduce the friction down below. Whatever is done to
+lessen his dignity and prestige damages morale and creates new
+stresses in the relations between the officer corps and the ranks.
+When he is rebuffed, either because those above him are indifferent to
+his pride or are unaware that he is their chief advocate among the
+men, the military machinery loses its cushion and becomes subject to
+increasing shock. Said a newly arrived lieutenant to an old sergeant
+of the 12th Cavalry: "You've been here a long time, haven't you?" "Yes
+sir," replied the sergeant. "The troop commanders, they come and they
+go, but it don't hurt the troop."
+
+To comment on these things, however, is to emphasize once again the
+supreme importance of the judgment of the officer in dealing with all
+of his military associates in such way that he will support that
+native pride, without which a man cannot remain whole, and at the same
+time direct it toward the betterment of the organization. To lecture
+troops about the importance of morale and discipline serves no earthly
+purpose, if the words are at odds with the general conditions which
+have been imposed on the command. They impose their values only as
+reflection of the leader's entire thought concerning his men. At the
+same time, there is this to be remembered, that even when things are
+going wrong at every other level, men will remain loyal and dutiful if
+they see in the one junior officer who is nearest them the embodiment
+of the ideals which they believe should apply throughout the service.
+That is the main object lesson in that remarkable novel written around
+a World War II Navy auxiliary, "Mister Roberts." But it holds just as
+true in our ground and air forces as for those afloat.
+
+Morale comes of the mind and of the spirit. The question is how it is
+to be developed. Admiral Ben Moreell has stated a formula in
+understanding terms by his explanation of what made the Seabees
+notable for competence and devotion to duty during World War II. This
+is what he said: "We used artisans to do the work for which they had
+been trained in civil life. They were well led by officers who 'spoke
+their language.' We made them feel that they were playing an important
+part in the great adventure. And thus they achieved a high standard of
+morale." The elements underscored by Admiral Moreell deserve special
+note.
+
+    Satisfaction in a work program.
+
+    Mutual confidence between leaders and ranks.
+
+    Conviction that all together were striving for something more
+    important than themselves.
+
+True, that was wartime, and the challenge was apparent to all
+concerned. But the principles hold good under any and all conditions,
+and can be applied to any organization by the officer who approaches
+his task with enthusiasm and imagination. The mission of keeping the
+world at peace, through a moral strengthening of the security
+structure of the United States, is a more difficult objective than
+that which confronted fighting forces after Pearl Harbor. In his book,
+"World War: Its Cause and Cure," Lionel Curtis stated our problem in
+its broadest and most challenging terms: "Civilization began with a
+war between freedom and despotism: we are now fighting its latest
+campaign, and our task is to make it the last."
+
+Under training conditions or in combat, the mental ills and the
+resulting moral and physical deterioration which sometimes beset
+military forces cannot be cured simply by the intensification of
+disciplinary methods. It is true that the signs of a recovery will
+sometimes attend the installation of a more rigid, or less rigid,
+discipline. This onset is in fact usually due to the collateral
+influence of an increased confidence in the command, whereby men are
+made to feel that their own fortunes are on the mend. Then discipline
+and morale are together revitalized almost as if by the throwing of an
+electric switch.
+
+In Army history, there is no better example of the working of this
+principle than the work of Brig. Gen. Paul B. Malone of St.
+Aignan-sur-Cher, France, in 1919. He took over a command where
+slackness and indiscipline were general. The men were suffering
+terrible privation and too many of their officers were indifferent to
+their needs. Many of the men had been battle casualties. Some had been
+discharged from hospitals before their wounds were healed. The mess
+was abominable. The camp was short of firewood and other supply. In
+freezing weather, men were sleeping on the ground with only a pair of
+blankets apiece. The death toll from influenza, pneumonia, and the
+aggravation of battle wounds rose daily. Despair and resentment over
+these conditions began to express itself in semiviolent form. Every
+fresh breach of discipline was countered with harassing punishments
+until an air of wretched stagnation hung over the whole camp. General
+Pershing visited the base. The men refused to form for him. When he
+tried to address them at a mass meeting, they wouldn't hear him out.
+Instead of taking any action against the men, he sent for General
+Malone.
+
+The new commander arrived without any instructions except to determine
+what was wrong and correct it. With soldierly instinct, he recognized
+that the indiscipline of the camp was an effect and not a cause. But
+even as he gave orders for relieving the physical distress of the men,
+he demanded that they return to orderly habits.
+
+He walked around the areas. Already, on his order, duck-boards were
+being laid through the mud, and the whole physical setup was in
+process of reorganization. The men, grown listless from weeks of
+mistreatment, paid no heed. "Get on your feet! I'm your general. I
+respect you but I want your respect," were his words. They restored
+the situation. The first impact of this one man on that camp was never
+forgotten by anyone who saw it. It is a point to remember: _A firm
+hold at the beginning pays tenfold the dividend of a timid approach,
+followed by a show of firmness later on._ Within 48 hours the physical
+condition of the camp was showing improvement and 60,000 men were
+again doing their duty and bearing themselves in a military manner.
+The lessons from this one incident stand out like beams from a
+searchlight battery.
+
+_One man is able to accomplish a miracle by an act of will accompanied
+by good works._
+
+_The morale of the force flows from the self-discipline of the
+commander, and in turn, the discipline of the force is reestablished
+by the upsurge of its moral power._
+
+_The inculcation of military habits and thoughts is the only means by
+which these forces may be made to work together toward more perfect
+ends, so that control can be exercised promptly._
+
+When the redeployment period which followed World War II threatened a
+complete collapse to the morale of the general military establishment,
+the remedy attempted by some unit leaders was to relax discipline and
+the work requirement all around. Other officers met this crisis by
+improving the conditions of work, setting an example which proved to
+the men that they believed in its importance and paying sedulous
+attention to the personal problems of those within the unit. They
+found that they could still get superior performance in the midst of
+chaos. Organic strength materializes in the same way on the field of
+war. _However adverse the general situation, men will stick to the one
+man who knows what he wants to do and welcomes them to a full share in
+the enterprise._
+
+The rule applies in matters great and small. No man who leads a squad
+or a squadron, a group of men or a group of armies, can develop within
+his force a well-placed confidence in its own powers, if he is
+uncertain of himself or doubtful of his object. The moral level of his
+men is mainly according to the manner in which he expresses his
+personal force working with, and for, them. If he is timid or aloof,
+uncommunicative and unenthusiastic, prone to stand on his dignity and
+devoid of interest in the human stuff of those who are within his
+charge, they will not respond to him, and he will have raised a main
+barrier to his own success. If, given a course or taking one of his
+own choice, he worries so greatly about the obstacles in his way that
+he cannot make penetrating search for the clear channel, he will
+waste the powers of his men even though he may have won their
+sympathy.
+
+It would be futile to make these comments on the nature of moral
+leading if it were not fully within the power of the average young
+officer to cut his cloth according to the suggested pattern. The
+commonplace that human nature cannot be changed is untrue. The
+characters of each of us, and of all of our acquaintances, are greatly
+affected by circumstances. No man's impulses are fixed from the
+beginning by his native disposition; they remain plastic until the
+hour of his death, and whatever touches his circumference, influences
+them for better or worse. _The power of decision develops only out of
+practice. There is nothing mystic about it. It comes of a clear-eyed
+willingness to accept life's risks, recognizing that only the
+enfeebled are comforted by thoughts of an existence devoid of
+struggle._
+
+Nothing more radical is being suggested here than that the officer who
+would make certain that the morale of his men will prove equal to
+every change cannot do better than concentrate his best efforts upon
+his primary military obligation--his duty to them. They dupe only
+themselves who believe that there is a brand of military efficiency
+which consists in moving smartly, expediting papers and achieving
+perfection in formations, while at the same time slighting or ignoring
+the human nature of those whom they command. The art of leadership,
+the art of command, whether the forces be large or small, is the art
+of dealing with humanity. Only the officer who dedicates his thought
+and energy to his men can convert into coherent military force their
+desire to be of service to the country. Such were the fundamental
+values which Napoleon had in mind when he said that those who would
+learn the art of war should study the Great Captains. He was not
+speaking of tactics and strategy. He was pointing to the success of
+Alexander, Caesar, and Hannibal in moulding raw human nature, and to
+their understanding of the thinking of their men and of how to direct
+it toward military advantage. These are the grand objects.
+
+Diligence in the care of men, administration of all organizational
+affairs according to a standard of resolute justice, military bearing
+in one's self, and finally, an understanding of the simple facts that
+men in a fighting establishment wish to think of themselves in that
+light and that all military information is nourishing to their spirits
+and their lives, are the four fundamentals by which the commander
+builds an all-sufficing morale in those within his charge.
+
+There are other motor forces and mechanisms, most of which come under
+the heading of management principles, and are therefore discussed in
+other portions of this volume. The exception is the greatest force of
+all--patriotism. It may be deemed beyond argument that belief in the
+social order and political doctrine of their country is the foundation
+of a loyal, willing spirit in military forces. Yet this alone cannot
+assure efficiency in training or a battle _elan_ which is the result
+of proper training methods. There is nothing more soulless than a
+religion without good works unless it be a patriotism which does not
+concern itself with the welfare and dignity of the individual. This is
+a simple idea though wise men in all ages have recognized it as one of
+the most profound truths. From Aristotle on down the philosophers have
+said that the main force in shaping the characters of men is not
+teaching and preaching, though these too are important, but the social
+framework in which a man lives. In an age when there is widespread
+presumption that practical problems can be solved by phrases, the
+military body needs more than ever to hold steadfastly to first
+principles. It does no good for an officer to talk patriotism to his
+men unless he stands four-square with them, and they see in him a
+symbol of what is right with the country. Under those circumstances,
+he can always talk to them about the cause, and what he says will be a
+tonic to morale.
+
+In the Normandy invasion, a young commander of paratroops, Lt. Col.
+Edward C. Krause, was given the task of capturing a main enemy
+communications center. Three hours before the take-off he assembled
+his Battalion, held a small American flag in front of them and said
+these words; "This is the first flag raised over the city of Naples.
+You put it there. I want it to be the first flag raised over a
+liberated town in France. The mission is that we will put it up in
+Ste. Mere Eglise before dawn. You have only one order--to come and
+fight with me wherever you land. When you get to Ste. Mere Eglise, I
+will be there."
+
+The assignment was kept. Next morning, Krause and his men raised the
+flag together, even before they had completed capture of the town. As
+Americans go, they were extremely rugged individualists. But they were
+proud of every line of that story.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
+
+ESPRIT
+
+
+To proceed toward a better understanding of _esprit_ and its part in
+the building of military forces, it is necessary to look beyond the
+organization and consider the man.
+
+The life of any socially upright individual is organized around only a
+few basic loyalties and the degree of satisfaction which he derives
+from existence can usually be measured in terms of his service to
+them. He is loyal first to himself, for failing that, he fails in
+loyalty to all else. If he cannot acquit himself ably for his own
+sake, he cannot do honor to anything less personal. Along with loyalty
+to self come loyalty to our beliefs, loyalty to family, loyalty to
+country, loyalty to friends, and loyalty to humanity in general.
+
+Stated as a factual and not as an ideal matter, the interesting and
+important thing that happens to a man when he enters military service
+is that, the moment he takes the oath, loyalty to the arms he bears
+ranks first on the list, above all other loyalties. To get ahead, to
+serve himself well, he must persevere in ways that are most useful to
+the organization. If the circumstances of his family are reduced
+because of this new loyalty, his means of compensating them is to
+strive for such honor as may come to him through service to the United
+States. In his life, service to country is no longer a beautiful
+abstraction; it is the sternly concrete and unremitting obligation of
+service to the regiment, the group or the ship's company. He parts
+with old friends and finds new ones.
+
+In this radical reorientation of the individual life and the arbitrary
+imposition of a commanding loyalty is to be found the key to the
+esprit of any military organization. Too long esprit has been regarded
+as something bequeathed to the unit by the dead hand of tradition.
+There is nothing moribund about it. It is a dynamic and vital
+substance conducted to the living by the living. We can banish from
+our minds the idea that esprit is what the regiment, the ship or the
+company gives the man because of some spark which its past deeds and
+the legends thereof have lighted in him. Esprit, at all times, is what
+the unit gives the man, in terms of spiritual force translated into
+constructive good. Considering what the unit has taken from him
+initially, its obligation is great indeed.
+
+To see this clearly, we need to look once again at what happens to the
+individual when he puts on the uniform. The basis of his life changes
+in broad and fundamental ways. His legal status is changed; the extent
+and intensity of his obligations are magnified. He puts aside the
+banner of individualism for that of obedience. Yet in the words of
+Chester Barnard: "Scarcely a man, I think, who has felt the
+annihilation of his personality in some organized system, has not also
+felt that the same system belonged to him because of his own free will
+he chose to make it so."
+
+To that must be added the further thought that while the military
+service is antecedent to the individual who enters it, that individual
+is also in a sense antecedent to the service. He becomes a factor in
+the equation which expresses the achievement or the failure of the
+service in its particular mission. The thoughtful commander will give
+careful regard to that relationship. One man cannot make or break an
+Army or a Navy, but he can help break it, since each service at all
+times derives its nature from the quality and wills of its men.
+General Harbord, in _The American Army in France_, expressed it this
+way: "Discipline and morale influence the inarticulate vote that is
+constantly taken by masses of men when the order comes to move
+forward--a variant of the crowd psychology that inclines it to follow
+a leader. But the Army does not move forward until the motion has
+carried. 'Unanimous consent' only follows cooperation between the
+individual men in ranks."
+
+But we can go one step beyond General Harbord's suggestion that the
+multiplied individual acceptance of a command alone gives that command
+authority. It is not less true that the multiplied rejection of a
+command nullifies it. In other words, authority is the creature rather
+than the creator of discipline and obedience. In the more recent
+experiences of our arms, under the stresses of battle, there are many
+instances of troops being given orders, and refusing to obey. In every
+case, the root cause was lack of confidence in the wisdom and ability
+of those who led. When a determining number of men in ranks have lost
+the will to obey, their erstwhile leader has _ipso facto_ lost the
+capacity to command. _In the final analysis, authority is contingent
+upon respect far more truly than respect is founded upon authority._
+In the words of Col. G. F. R. Henderson: "It is the leader who reckons
+with the human nature of his troops, and of the enemy, rather than
+with their mere physical attributes, numbers, armament and the like,
+who can hope to follow in Napoleon's footsteps."
+
+_Esprit_ then is the product of a thriving mutual confidence between
+the leader and the led, founded on the faith that together they
+possess a superior quality and capability. The failure of the spirit
+of any military organization is less frequently due to what men have
+forgotten than to what they can't forget. No "imperishable record" of
+past greatness can make men serve with any greater vigor if they are
+being served badly. Nor can it sustain the fighting will of the
+organization so much as one mil beyond the radius within which living
+associations enable men to think great thoughts and act with nobility
+toward their fellows. Unless the organization's past conveys to its
+officers a sense of having been especially chosen, and unless they
+respond to this trust by developing a complete sense of duty toward
+their men, the old battle records might as well be poured down the
+drain, since they will not rally a single man in the hour of danger.
+Said Col. LeRoy P. Hunt in a mimeographed notice to his troops just
+prior to the Guadalcanal landing: "We are meeting a tough and wily
+opponent but he is not sufficiently tough and wily to overcome us
+because We Are Marines." (The capitals are Hunt's.)
+
+Personality plays a part in the ability to command, both under
+training conditions and under fire. But though a man be a veritable
+John Paul Jones or Mad Anthony Wayne in the time of action, his
+hardihood will never wholly undo any prior neglect of his men. While
+men may be rallied for a short space by someone setting an example of
+great courage, they can be kept in line under conditions of increasing
+stress and mounting hardship only when loyalty is based upon a respect
+which the commander has won by consistently thoughtful regard for the
+welfare and rights of his men, and a correct measuring of his
+responsibility to them.
+
+There are a few governing principles, and before considering their
+application in detail we should think first about the file. He is a
+Man; he expects to be treated as an adult, not as a schoolboy. He has
+rights; they must be made known to him and thereafter respected. He
+has ambition; it must be stirred. He has a belief in fair play; it
+must be honored. He has the need of comradeship; it must be supplied.
+He has imagination; it must be stimulated. He has a sense of personal
+dignity; it must not be broken down. He has pride; it can be satisfied
+and made the bedrock of his character once he gains assurance that he
+is playing a useful and respected part in a superior and successful
+organization. To give men working as a group the feeling of great
+accomplishment together is the acme of inspired leadership.
+
+In the degree that the disciplinary method and the training procedure
+of the military service, and the common sense of his superiors,
+combine to nourish these satisfactions in the individual, _esprit de
+corps_ comes into being and furthers his advance in the practice of
+arms and his potential usefulness as a fighting man. He becomes loyal
+because loyalty has been given to him. He learns to serve an ideal
+because an ideal has served him. For it is to be remembered that it is
+always the Army, the Navy or the nation that disengages the man from
+his old moorings, but it is the regiment or the ship's company which
+gives him a fresh anchor and enables him to feel secure again. The
+service cancels out the man's old life; the unit gives him a fresh
+start in a new environment, which may prove salutary or utterly
+damnable, as the man and the unit together make it. Where there is
+enlightened leading, neither can fail the other. _The majority of men,
+so long as they are treated fairly and feel that good use is being
+made of their powers, will rejoice in a new sense of unity with new
+companions even more than they will mind the increased separation from
+their old associations._ The ability to adjust is itself a landmark of
+success in the life of a normal individual.
+
+This is the primary gift of the organization to the man and the
+primary advantage of its relationship to him. Once it has given the
+file a sense of belonging, it restores his balance. It is this feeling
+of possession which is the beginning of true esprit. Without it, the
+man becomes a derelict. Indeed, we may go so far as to say that the
+man who lacks it, and does not aspire to it, will almost invariably be
+unsuited for combat or any military responsibility of consequence, not
+because he is disrespectful of tradition, but because he is a social
+outcast with no sense of duty to his fellows.
+
+Referring once again to the list of satisfactions due the man, it will
+be noted that they differ little, if at all, from the demands of his
+spirit before he has put on the uniform. But there should be marked
+also the vital difference that whereas a complex of social and
+economic forces and of totally disconnected influences contribute to
+his outlook so long as he is a civilian, the measure of his
+satisfactions is almost wholly in the hands of the organization once
+he has raised his right hand and taken the oath of military service to
+country. The condition of his health, the amount of his pay, the
+organization of his leisure time, his diet, his sleeping habits, his
+sex problems, even the manner in which he shaves and wears his hair,
+are matters of organizational concern. Within the new company, he may
+either attain greatly, or miserably fail. It should speak to him with
+the voice of Stentor, the bronze voice of 10,000 men--meaning the
+thousand or so who are still with the ship, the group or the regiment,
+and the thousands who are in the shadows but who once served it well,
+thereby inspiring those who follow to give an extra portion of service
+to their fellows. Unless tradition has that effect upon the living, it
+will not produce esprit, but military "mossbackism."
+
+What does this imply in terms of practical application? Simply that
+the custodianship of esprit must ever be in the hands of the officer
+corps. When the heart of the organization is sound, officership is
+able to see its own reflection in the eyes of the enlisted man. For
+this simple reason: insofar as his ability to mould the character of
+troops is concerned, the qualifying test of the leader is the judgment
+placed upon his military abilities by those who serve under him. If
+they do not deem him fit to command, he cannot train them to obey. But
+if they see in one man directly over them a steady example, the
+strongest of their number will model after him, instead of sagging
+because of weakness elsewhere in the command structure.
+
+This point is irreducible. Though an officer have absolute confidence
+in himself, and though he have an instinct amounting to genius for the
+material things of war, these otherwise considerable gifts will avail
+him little or nothing if his _manner_ is such that his troops remain
+unconvinced of his capacity and doubtful of his power to maintain
+command in periods of extreme trial. He will fail because he has not
+sufficiently regarded the LAW OF PERSONALITY--LOOKS, ACTIONS, WORDS.
+
+Among military men, there has been much mistaken praise for the virtue
+of "mechanical obedience." There is no such thing. Men think in their
+smallest actions; if this were not so, it would not be possible to
+lead them. What has been blindly termed "mechanical response" requires
+perhaps a higher concentration of will than any other type of action,
+and hence of thought itself, since the two are inseparable. The forces
+in which this characteristic was outstanding have been those which
+were led with the highest degree of intelligence and of understanding
+of human nature. For unity of spirit and of action, which is the
+essence of _esprit de corps_, is of all military miracles the most
+difficult to achieve.
+
+Yet its abiding principle is simple. It comes of integrity and
+clarification of purpose. The able officer is not a Saul waiting for
+the light to strike him on the Damascus road, but a Paul having a
+clear understanding that unless the trumpet give forth a certain sound
+at all times, none shall prepare himself for the battle.
+
+Given such officers, the organization comes to possess a sense of
+unity and of fraternity in its routine existence which expresses
+itself as the force of cohesion in the hour when all ranks are
+confronted by a common danger. It is not because of mutual enthusiasm
+for an honored name but because of mutual confidence in one another
+that the ranks of old regiments or the bluejackets serving a ship with
+a great tradition are able to convert their esprit into battle
+discipline. Under stress they move and act together because they have
+imbibed the great lesson, and experience has made its application
+almost instinctive, that only in unity is there safety. They believe
+that they can trust their comrades and commanders as they would trust
+their next of kin. They have learned the necessity of mutual support
+and a common danger serves but to bind the ranks closer.
+
+But the race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong.
+The newest unit--one born only yesterday--is as susceptible to a
+vaulting esprit as any which traces its founding to the beginnings of
+the Republic. Led by those who themselves are capable of great
+endeavour, who are quick to encourage and slow to disparage, and are
+ever ready to make due acknowledgment of worthy effort and to let men
+know wherein they are forging ahead, any military organization serving
+our flag will come to count this among its strengths.
+
+There are no tricks to the building of esprit. Its techniques are
+those which come naturally in the course of stimulating the interest
+of ranks in all of the great fundamentals of the military profession,
+rather than selling short their intelligence, and taking it for
+granted that they want nothing beyond the routine of work, liberty,
+mess call, and payday.
+
+But there is one pitfall. Toward the growth of esprit, the attitude,
+"My organization first, and the rest nowhere," never pays off. It
+begins with the idea, "_The service first, and my unit the best in the
+service._" In all human enterprise, the whole is greater than the sum
+of the parts. The citizen who thinks most deeply about his country
+will be the first to share the burdens of his community and
+neighborhood. The man who feels the greatest affection for the
+service in which he bears arms will work most loyally to make his own
+unit know a rightful pride in its own worth. Among all of the military
+services from out of the present and past, none has been more faithful
+to this principle than the United States Marine Corps. Among its
+members, being a Marine is the thing that counts mainly; after that
+comes service to the Regiment or Battalion. Even the other services
+marvel at the result. Though they take due pride in their own virtues
+and accomplishments, they still regard the esprit of the Marine with
+admiration, and more than a little envy. What is the secret? Perhaps
+it is this, that the Corps emphasizes the rugged outlet for men's
+energies, and never permits its members to forget that the example of
+courage is their most precious heritage.
+
+Six years after his defeat at Wake Island, the things that remained
+uppermost in the mind of Col. James P. S. Devereux, as he put together
+the story of the most tragic hours of his life, were the heroisms of
+the individuals who had been trained in a tradition to which he had
+fully committed his own purpose. One incident of that day, typical of
+many, is best related in Devereux's own words.
+
+"Master Sergeant J. Paszkiewicz, a Marine for 20 years, was caught in
+the first blast at the airfield. Bombs shattered his right leg. He
+started crawling off, dragging his smashed leg limply behind him. The
+second wave of bombers came in. Paszkiewicz reached a little pile of
+wreckage and found what he wanted, a piece of wood. With a little
+fixing it could serve as a crutch. The bombs were dropping again.
+Paszkiewicz started hobbling off. He seemed to be going the wrong way.
+Somebody tried to help him, but he wasn't having any. Lieutenant David
+D. Kliewer saw him stumbling along on his makeshift crutch, giving
+first aid to the wounded or trying to make a dying man a little
+easier."
+
+Could a man give that much, and could his superior, Devereux, have
+remembered it so vividly from amid his own personal trials, unless
+both had been inspired by the traditions of the Corps?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
+
+KNOWING YOUR JOB
+
+
+In one of his little-known passages, Robert Louis Stevenson did the
+perfect portrait of the man who finally failed at everything, because
+he just never learned how to take hold of his work.
+
+It goes like this: "His career was one of unbroken shame. He did not
+drink. He was exactly honest. He was never rude to his employers. Yet
+he was everywhere discharged. Bringing no interest to his duties, he
+brought no attention. His day was a tissue of things neglected and
+things done amiss. And from place to place and from town to town he
+carried the character of one thoroughly incompetent."
+
+No one would say that the picture is overdrawn or that the poor devil
+got other than his just deserts. In the summing up, the final judgment
+that is put on a man by other men depends on his value as a working
+hand. If he has other serious personality faults, they will be
+overlooked as somewhat beside the point, provided that he levels with
+his job. But if he embodies all of the surface virtues, and is
+shiftless, any superior with sense will mark him for the discard, and
+his coworkers will breathe a sigh of relief when he has gone on his
+way.
+
+Within the armed services, the tone of grudging admiration is never
+missing from such altogether familiar comments as:
+
+"He's a queer duck but he has what it takes."
+
+"We can't get along with him but we can't get along without him."
+
+By such words, we unconsciously yield the palm to the man who,
+whatever his other shortcomings, excels us in application to duty. One
+of the worst rascals ever raised in Britain said that while he
+wouldn't give a farthing for virtue, he would pay 10,000 pounds for
+character, because, possessing it, he would be able to sell it for
+much more.
+
+Is it possible then that men of thoroughly good intentions will
+neglect the one value which a knave says is worth prizing? Not only is
+it possible; it happens every day! We see officers of the armed
+establishment who, thinking themselves employed all day, would still,
+if they had to make an honest reckoning of the score after tattoo
+sounded, be compelled to say that they had done exactly nothing.
+Lacking some compelling duty, they may have read several hours
+mechanically, neither studying what was said, making notes, nor
+reflecting on the value and accuracy of it. Such papers as they
+signed, they had glanced over perfunctorily. If any subordinate
+approached them with some small matter, they reacted by trying to get
+rid of him as quickly as possible. When they entered the company of
+their fellow officers, they partook of it as little as they could, not
+bothering to enter vigorous conversation, failing to make any note of
+the character and manner of their associates, and learning not at all
+from the words that were said.
+
+It is all good enough, and yet strangely it is neither good nor is it
+enough. That idea of what life in the officer corps is meant to be
+simply cannot stand up under the pressures of modern operations. True
+enough, assignments do not all have the same level of work
+requirement, and one is sometimes handed a wide open opportunity to
+goldbrick. But taking advantage of it is like the dope habit; the more
+that it is sniffed, the greater becomes the craving of the nervous
+system. It is harder to throw off sloth than to keep it from climbing
+onto one's back in the first place. And finally, the truth of the
+matter is this, that there is never any assignment given an armed
+service officer which entitles him to waste any of the working hours
+of his day. Though he be marking time in a casual depot or replacement
+center, there still awaits his attention the entire range of military
+studies, through which he can advance his own abilities. And if he is
+not of a mind for tactics, map-reading, military law, and training
+doctrine, it still follows that the study of applied psychology,
+English composition, economic geography and foreign languages will
+further his career. Just as a rough approximation, any officer's work
+week should comprise about 50 percent execution and the other half
+study, if he is to make the best use of his force. The woods are
+loaded with go-getters who claim they are men of action and therefore
+have no need of books; that they are "the flat-bottoms who can ride
+over the dew." Though they are a little breezier, they are of the same
+bone and marrow as the drone who is always counseling halfspeed.
+"Don't sweat; just get by; extra work means short life; you're better
+off if they don't notice you." This chant can be heard by anyone who
+cares to listen; it's the old American invitation to mediocrity. But
+while mediocre, as commonly used, means "indifferent, ordinary," it
+also has in old English the odd meaning "a young monk who was excused
+from performing part of a monk's duties." And that, too, fits. It is
+always worthwhile to ask a few very senior officers what they think of
+these jokers who refuse to study. They will say that the higher up you
+go, the more study you have to make up, because of what you missed
+somewhere along the line. They will say also that when they got to
+flag or star rank, things didn't ease off a bit.
+
+But not all wisdom is to be found in books, and at no time is this
+more true than when one is breaking in. What is expected of the novice
+in any field is that he will ask questions, _smart ones if possible_,
+but if not, then questions of all kinds until he learns that there is
+no such item as reveille oil and that skirmish line doesn't come on
+spools. For on one point there should be no mistake: the newly
+appointed officer is a novice. Though many things go with the
+commission, the assumption that he is all wise to all ways of the
+service, and will automatically fit into his element as neatly as a
+loaded ship settles down to its Plimsoll's mark, just isn't among
+them. Within the services, seniors are rarely, if ever, either
+patronizing or intolerant of the greenness of a new officer; they just
+stand ready to help him. And if he doesn't permit them to have that
+chance, because he would rather pretend that he knows it all, they
+will gradually become bored with him because of the manifest proof
+that he knows so very little.
+
+_Wisdom begins at the point of understanding that there is nothing
+shameful about ignorance; it is shameful only when a man would rather
+remain in that state than cultivate other men's knowledge._ There is
+never any reason why he should hesitate, for it is better to be
+embarrassed from seeking counsel than to be found short for not having
+sought it.
+
+In one of the toughest trades in the world of affairs--that of the
+foreign correspondent--initial dependence upon one's professional
+colleagues is the only certain stepping stone to success. A man
+arrives in strange country feeling very much alone. His credentials
+lack the weight they had at home. The prestige of his newspaper counts
+for almost nothing. Even the name of his home city stirs little
+respect. The people, their ways, their approaches and their taboos are
+foreign to him. This sweeping environmental change is crushing to the
+spirit; it would impose an almost insuperable moral handicap if the
+newcomer could not go to other Americans who have already worked the
+ground, ask them how the thing is done, seek their advice about
+dealing with the main personalities, learn from them about the
+facilities for processing copy, and soak up everything they have to
+say about private and professional procedures. Then as the ropes grow
+gradually familiar in the grasp, confidence and nervous energy come
+flooding back.
+
+Surely there is a close parallel between this experience and that of
+the journeyman moving from the familiar soil of civilianism to the
+_terra incognita_ of military life. But there is also the marked
+difference that everyone he meets can tell him something that he needs
+to know. More particularly, if he has the ambition to excel as a
+commander of men, rather than as a technician, then the study of human
+nature and of individual characteristics within the military crowd
+become a major part of his training. That is the prime reason why the
+life of any tactical leader becomes so very interesting, provided he
+possesses some imagination. Everything is grist for his mill.
+Moreover, despite the wholesale transformation in the scientific and
+industrial aspects of war, there has been no revolution in the one
+thing that counts most. Ardant du Picq's words, "The heart of man does
+not change," are as good now as when he said them in an earlier period
+of war. Whatever one learns for certain about the nature of man as a
+fighting animal can be filed for ready reference; the hour will come
+when it will be useful.
+
+We have emphasized the value of becoming curious, and of asking
+questions about what one doesn't know, and have said that even when
+the questions are a little on the dumb side, it does no harm. But the
+ice gets very thin at one point. The same question asked over and
+again, like the same error made more than once, will grate the nerves
+of any superior. It is the mark of inattention, and the beginning of
+that "tissue of things neglected and things done amiss" which put
+Stevenson's oddball character in the ditch. When an officer lets words
+go in one ear and out the other like water off a duck's back, to quote
+the Dutch janitor, he is chasing rainbows by rubbing fur in the wrong
+direction.
+
+Ideally, an officer should be able to do the work of any man serving
+under him. There are even some command situations in which the ideal
+becomes altogether attainable, and a wholly practicable objective. For
+it may be said without qualification, that if he not only has this
+capability, but demonstrates it, so that his men begin to understand
+that he is thoroughly versed in the work problems which concern them,
+_he can command them in any situation_. This is the real bedrock of
+command capacity, and nothing else so well serves to give an officer
+an absolutely firm position with all who serve under him. As said
+elsewhere in this book, within the armed establishment, administration
+is not of itself a separate art, or a dependable prop to authority.
+When administrators talk airily of things that they clearly do not
+understand, they are simply using the whip on the team without having
+control of the reins.
+
+However, the greater part of military operation in present days is
+noteworthy for the extreme diversity and complexity of its parts, and
+instead of becoming more simplified, the trend is toward greater
+elaboration. It is obviously absurd to expect that any officer could
+know more about radio repair than his repairman, more about mapping
+than his cartographical section, more about moving parts than a
+gunsmith, more about radar than a specialist in electronics and more
+about cypher than a cryptographer. If the services were to set any
+such unreasonable standard for the commissioned body, all would
+shortly move over into the lunatic fringe. Science has worked a few
+wonders for the military establishment but it hasn't told us how to
+produce that kind of man.
+
+Plainly, there must be a somewhat different approach to the question
+of what kind of knowledge an officer is expected to possess, or the
+requirement would be unreasonable and unworkable.
+
+_The distinction lies in the difference between the power to do a
+thing well and that of being able to judge when it is well done._ A
+man can say that a book is bad, though not knowing how to write one
+himself, provided he is a student of literature. Though he has never
+laid an egg, he can pass fair judgment on an omelette, if he knows a
+little about cookery, and has sampled many good eggs, and detected a
+few that were overripe.
+
+"He who lives in a house," said Aristotle, "is a better judge of it
+being good or bad than the builder of it. He can say not only these
+things, but wherein its defects consist. Yet he might be quite unable
+to cure the chimney, or to draw out a plan for his rooms which would
+suit him better. Sometimes he can even see where the fault is which
+caused the mischief, and yet he may not know practically how to remedy
+it."
+
+Adjustment to a job, and finally, mastery of it, by a service officer,
+comes of persistent pursuit of this principle. The main technique is
+study and constant reexamination of criteria. To take the correct
+measure of standards of performance, as to the value of the work
+itself, and as to the abilities of personnel, one must become immersed
+in knowledge of the nature, _and purpose_, of all operations. There is
+no shortcut to this grasp of affairs. The sack is filled bean by bean.
+Patient application to one thing at one time is the first rule of
+success; getting on one's horse and riding off in all directions is
+the prelude to failure. All specialists like to talk about their work;
+the interest of any other man is flattering; all men grow in knowledge
+chiefly by picking other men's brains. Book study of the subject,
+specialized courses in the service schools, the instructive comments
+of one's superiors, the informed criticism of hands further down the
+line and the weighing of human experience, at every source and by
+every recourse, are the means of an informed judgment. It was the
+scientist, Thomas Huxley who reminded us that science is only
+"organized common sense."
+
+Other things being equal, the prospect for any man's progress is
+largely determined by his attitude. It is the receptive mind, rather
+than the oracle, which inspires confidence. General Eisenhower said at
+one point that, after 40 years, he still thought of himself as a
+student on all military questions, and that he consciously mistrusted
+any man who believed he had the full and final answer to problems
+which by their nature were ever-changing.
+
+But priggishness about knowledge is not more hurtful than is the
+arbitrary use of it to limit action. _To rule by work rather than to
+work by rules_ must be the abiding principle in military operations,
+for finally, when war comes, nothing else will suffice. In peacetime,
+absolute accountability is required, because dollar economy in
+operations is a main object. This entails adherence to rigid forms,
+time-consuming, but still necessary. In many of war's exigencies,
+these forms frequently have to be swept aside, to bring victory as
+quickly as possible and to save human life. In the book, "General
+Kenney Reports," that great air commander spoke at one point of a
+difficulty in one of his combat groups. "It was a lot of hard-working
+earnest kids, officers and enlisted men, who were doing the best they
+could under poor living and eating conditions. But their hands were
+tied by the colonel in command whose passion for paper work
+effectually stopped the issuing of supplies and the functioning of the
+place as an air depot should. He told me that he thought 'it was about
+time these combat units learned how to do their paper work properly.'
+I decided that it would be a waste of time to fool with him so I told
+him to pack up to go home on the next plane."
+
+Though this is a tragic example of wrong-headedness, it is by no means
+unique. The profession moves ahead, and national security advances
+with it, because of men who have the confidence and courage to toss
+the rule book out the window when it doesn't fit the situation, and
+who dare to trust their own decisions and improvise swiftly.
+
+But in all walks of life, this willingness to take hold of the reins
+firmly is by no means common among men in relatively subordinate
+positions who can play it safe by falling back on "SOP."
+
+But there is also a far wider vista than that which is to be viewed
+only within the services themselves, and its horizons are almost
+infinite. The American way in warfare utilizes everything within the
+national system which may be applied to a military purpose toward the
+increase of training and fighting efficiency. Much of our potential
+strength lies in our industrial structure, our progress in science,
+our inventiveness and our educational resources. Toward the end that
+all of these assets will be given maximum use, and every good idea
+which can be converted to a military purpose will be in readiness to
+serve the nation when war comes, there must be a continuing meeting of
+minds between military leadership and the leaders and experts in these
+various fields during peace.
+
+That union cannot be perfected, however, unless there is a sufficient
+number of men on both sides of the table who can think halfway into
+the field of the man opposite. Just as the civilian expert in
+electronics, airplane manufacture or motion picture production needs
+to know more about the military establishment's problem and
+requirements if he is to do his part, the service officer with whom he
+is dealing needs to be informed on industry's resources, possibilities
+and limitations if he is to enable the civilian side to do its part
+well. The same for science. The same for education, and all other
+backers of the fighting force.
+
+An enlightened Englishman, D. W. Brogan, in a book written during
+World War II, "The American Character," gave us this thought: "The
+American officer must think in terms of material resources, existing
+but not organized in peacetime and taking much time and thought and
+experiment by trial and error to make available in wartime. He finds
+that his best peacetime plans are inadequate for one basic reason:
+that any plan which in peacetime really tried to draw adequately on
+American resources would cause its author to be written off as a
+madman; and in wartime, it would prove to have been inadequate,
+pessimistic, not allowing enough for the practically limitless
+resources of the American people--limitless once the American people
+get ready to let them be used. And only war can get them ready for
+that. The American officer can draw then, but not before, on an
+experience in economic improvization and in technical adaptation which
+no other country can equal."
+
+This is true to the last syllable, and it means in essence that unless
+the American officer can think of the whole nation as his workshop,
+and along with his other duties, will apply himself as a student,
+seeking to understand more and more about the richness and the
+adaptability of our tremendous resources, neither he nor the country
+will be relatively ready when war comes.
+
+There is a last point to be made on the matter of attitude. The most
+resolute opposition to changes in any system usually comes from those
+who control them. That is universally true, and not peculiar to
+military systems; but the services are foremost in recognizing that,
+as a consequence, the encouragement of original thought at the lower
+levels is essential to over-all progress.
+
+All depends upon the manner. We can ponder the words of William
+Hazlitt, "A man who shrinks from a collision with his equals or
+superiors will soon sink below himself; we improve by trying our
+strength with others, not by showing it off." They are good so far as
+they go, but something new should be added. There is a vast difference
+between contending firmly for ideas that seem progressive when one is
+reasonably sure of one's data, and the habit of throwing one's weight
+around through a mistaken belief that this of itself manifests an
+independence of spirit which inspires respect.
+
+Truculence can never win the day. Restraint, tolerance, a sense of
+humor and of proportion and the force of logic are the marks of the
+man qualified for intellectual leading. Within the services, even
+though he has no great rank, there is practically nothing he cannot
+carry through, if his proposals have the color of reason and
+propriety, and if he will keep his head, keep his temper, and keep his
+word.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINETEEN
+
+KNOWLEDGE OF YOUR MEN
+
+
+An admiring contemporary spoke of Paul G. Hoffman, the director of the
+European Recovery Program, as "the kind of man who if tossed through
+the air would always pick out the right trapeze."
+
+Within any military organization, there is always a number of such
+men, enlisted and commissioned. They know how and where to take hold,
+even in the face of a totally unexpected and unnerving situation, and
+they have what amounts to an instinct for doing the right thing in a
+decisive moment.
+
+If it were not so, no captain of the line would ever be able to manage
+a company in battle, and no submarine commander would be able to cope
+with an otherwise overwhelming danger. These men are the foundation of
+unit integrity. The successful life of organization depends upon
+husbanding, and helping them to cultivate, their own powers, which
+means that their initiative and vigor must never be chilled by
+supercilious advice and thoughtless correction.
+
+They will go ahead and act responsibly on their own when given the
+confidence, and if they want it, the friendship, of their commander.
+But they cannot be treated like little children. The lash will ruin
+them and the curb will merely subdue that which needs to be brought
+forward. As in handling a horse with a good temper and a good mouth,
+nothing more is needed than that gentle touch of the rein which
+signals that things are under control.
+
+From where the executive sits, the main secret of building strength
+within organization comes of identifying such men, and of associating
+one's authority with theirs, so it is unmistakable in whose name they
+are speaking and acting. One of the acid tests of qualification in
+officership is the ability properly to delegate authority, to put it
+in the best hands, and thereafter to uphold them. If an officer cannot
+do that, and if he is mistrustful of all power save his own, he
+cannot command in peace, and when he goes into battle, his unit
+strength will fragment like an exploding bomb, and the parts will not
+be rewelded until some stronger character takes hold.
+
+_Command is not a prerogative, but rather a responsibility to be
+shared with all who are capable of filling up the spaces in orders and
+of carrying out that which is not openly expressed though it may be
+understood._ Admittedly, it is not easy for a young officer, who by
+reason of his youth is not infrequently lacking in self-assurance and
+in the confidence that he can command respect, to understand that as a
+commander he can grow in strength in the measure that he succeeds in
+developing the latent strength of his subordinates. But if he
+stubbornly resists this premise as he goes along in the service, his
+personal resources will never become equal to the strain which will be
+imposed upon him, come a war emergency. The power to command resides
+largely in the ability to see when a proper initiative is being
+exercised and in giving it moral encouragement. When an officer feels
+that way about his job and his men, he will not be ready to question
+any action by a junior which might be narrowly construed as an
+encroachment upon his own authority. Of this last evil come the
+restraints which reduce men to automatons, giving only that which is
+asked, or less, according to the pressing of a button.
+
+There are other men who have as sound a potential as these
+already-made leaders, but lack the initial confidence because they
+were not constructively handled in earlier years. They require
+somewhat more personal attention, for the simple reason that more
+frequent contact with their superiors, words of approval and advice as
+needed, will do more than all else to put bottom under them. They must
+be encouraged to think for themselves as well as to obey orders, to
+organize as well as to respond, if they are to become part of the
+solution, rather than remaining part of the problem, of command. If
+left wholly to their own devices, or to the ministrations of less
+thoughtful subordinates, they will remain in that majority which moves
+only when told. It takes no more work, though it does require
+imagination, to awaken the energies of such men by appealing to their
+intelligence and their self-interest, than to nauseate them with dull
+theory, and to cramp them by depriving them of responsibility.
+
+Careful missionary work among these "sleepers" is as productive as
+spading the ground, and sprinkling a garden patch. When an officer
+takes hold in a new unit, his main chance of making it better than it
+was comes of looking for the overlooked men. He uses his hand to give
+them a firm lift upward, but it will not be available for that purpose
+if he spends any of his time tugging at men who are already on their
+feet and moving in the right general direction.
+
+In the words of a distinguished armored commander in our forces: "To
+the military leader, men are tools. He is successful to the extent
+that he can get the men to work for him. Ordinarily, and on their own
+initiative, people run on only 35 percent capacity. The success of a
+leader comes of tapping the other 65 percent." This is a pretty
+seasoned judgment on men in the mass, taking them as they come, the
+mobile men, the slow starters, the indifferent and the shiftless.
+Almost every man wants to do what is expected of him. When he does not
+do so, it is usually because his instructions have been so doubtful as
+to befog him or give him a reasonable excuse for noncompliance. This
+view of things is the only tenable attitude an officer or enlisted
+leader can take toward his subordinates. He will recognize the
+exceptions, and if he does not then take appropriate action, it is
+only because he is himself shiftless and is compassionate toward
+others of his own fraternity.
+
+It is the military habit to "plow deep in broken drums and shoot crap
+for old crowns," as the poet, Carl Sandburg, put it. As much as any
+other profession, and even possibly a little more, we take pride in
+the pat solution, and in proof that long-applied processes amply meet
+the test of newly unfolding experience. But despite all the jests
+about the Gettysburg Map, we wouldn't know where we're going if we
+couldn't be reasonably sure of where we've been.
+
+Therefore, it is as well to say now that from all of the careful
+searching made by the armed services as to the fighting
+characteristics of Americans during World War II, not a great deal was
+learned in addition to what was already well known, or surmised. The
+criteria that had been used in the prior system of selection proved to
+be substantially correct; at least, if it had faults, they were innate
+in the complex problem of weighing human material, and were beyond
+correction by any rule of thumb or judgment. Men were chosen to lead
+because of personality, intelligence at their work, response to
+orders, ability to lead in fatigues or in the social affairs of
+organization, and disciplinary record. In combat these same men
+carried 95 percent of the load of responsibility and provided the
+dynamic for the attack. But in every unit, there was almost invariably
+a small sprinkling of individuals, who having shown no prior ability
+when measured by the customary yardsticks of courtesy, discipline and
+work, became strong and vital in any situation calling for heroic
+action. They could fight, they could lead, they knew what should be
+done, they could persuade other men to rally around, and by these
+things, they could command instantly the previously withheld respect
+of their superiors.
+
+Neither the scientific nor the military mind has yet been able to
+provide the answer as to how men of this type--so indispensable to the
+fighting establishment in the thing that matters most, though lacking
+in strong surface characteristics--can be detected beforehand, and
+conserved, instead of being wasted possibly in a labor or housekeeping
+organization.
+
+All concerned recognize the extreme importance of the problem, and
+would like to do something about it. What is as yet not even vaguely
+seen is the large possibility that the problem might be
+self-liquidating if all junior officers became more concerned with
+learning all they could about the private character and personal
+nature of their subordinates. This does not mean invading their
+privacy; but it implies giving every man a fair chance to open up and
+to talk freely, without fear of contempt. It means studying the
+background of a man even more carefully than one would read a map,
+looking for the key to command of the terrain. These are usually
+repressed men; many of the foreign-born are to be found among them;
+they cover up because of pride, but they are not afraid of physical
+danger. Once any man, and particularly a superior, gets through the
+outer shell, he may have the effect of a catalyst on what is happening
+inside. If such men did not have basic loyalty, they would never
+fight. When at last they give their loyalty to an individual, they are
+usually his to command and will go through hell for him.
+
+There was an Oklahoma miner named Alvin Wimberley in 90th Division
+during World War I. On the drill field, he could do nothing correctly.
+He couldn't step off on the left foot; he would frequently drop his
+piece while trying to do right shoulder. Solely because his case was
+unfathomable, his platoon leader asked that he be taken to France with
+the unit instead of separated with the culls. At the front, Wimberley
+immediately took the lead in every detail of a dangerous sort, such as
+exploding a mine field, or hunting for traps and snares. His nerve was
+inexhaustible; his judgment sure. There was, after all, a simple key
+to the mystery. Wimberley had led a solitary life as a dynamiter, deep
+under ground. He was frightened of men, but danger was his element.
+When he saw other men recoil at the thing which bothered him not at
+all, he realized that he was the big man, though he only stood 5 feet
+3 inches in issue socks.
+
+To know men, it is not necessary to wet-nurse them, and no officer can
+make a sorrier mistake than to take the overly nice, worrying attitude
+toward them. This, after all, is simply the rule of the well-bred man,
+rather than an item peculiar to the code of the military officer. But
+it is a little less becoming in a service officer than in anyone else,
+because, when a man puts on fighting clothes in the name of his
+country, it is an insult to treat him as if he were a juvenile.
+
+In any situation where men need to know one another better, someone
+has to break the ice. Where does the main responsibility lie within a
+military unit? True enough, the junior has to salute first, and in
+some services is supposed to say, "Good morning!" first, though
+beating a man to the draw with a greeting is one way to win him.
+
+However, the main point is this: unless an officer has himself been an
+enlisted man, it is almost impossible for him to know how formidable,
+and even forbidding, rank at first seems to the eyes of the man down
+under, even though he would be loath to say so.
+
+Many recruits have such a mistaken hearsay impression of the United
+States military system, that it is for them a cause for astonishment
+that any officer enjoys free discussion with them. They feel at first
+that there is a barrier there which only the officer is entitled to
+cross; it takes them a little while to learn better.
+
+But in the continuing relationship, it is the habit of the average
+well-disciplined enlisted man to remain reticent, and talk only on
+official matters, unless the officer takes the lead in such way as to
+invite general conversation. For that matter, the burden is the same
+anywhere in the service in relations between a senior officer and his
+subordinates, and the former must take the lead if he expects to
+really know his men.
+
+Many newly joined officers believe, altogether mistakenly, that there
+is some strange taboo against talking to men except in line of duty,
+and that if caught at it, it will be considered _infra dig_. There is
+always the hope that they will remain around long enough to learn
+better.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY
+
+WRITING AND SPEAKING
+
+
+Other things being equal, a superior rating will invariably be given
+to the officer who has persevered in his studies of the art of
+self-expression, while his colleague, who attaches little importance
+to what may be achieved through working with the language, will be
+marked for mediocrity.
+
+A moment's reflection will show why this has to be the case and why
+mastery of the written and spoken word is indispensable to successful
+officership.
+
+As the British statesman, Disraeli, put it, "Men govern with words."
+Within the military establishment, command is exercised through what
+is said which commands attention and understanding and through what is
+written which directs, explains, interprets or informs.
+
+Battles are won through the ability of men to express concrete ideas
+in clear and unmistakable language. All administration is carried
+forward along the chain of command by the power of men to make their
+thoughts articulate and available to others.
+
+There is no way under the sun that this basic condition can be
+altered. Once the point is granted, any officer should be ready to
+accept its corollary--that superior qualification in the use of the
+language, both as to the written and the spoken word, is more
+essential to military leadership than knowledge of the whole technique
+of weapons handling.
+
+It then becomes strictly a matter of personal decision whether he will
+seek to advance himself along the line of main chance or will take
+refuge in the excuse offered by the great majority: "I'm just a simple
+fighting file with no gift for writing or speaking."
+
+How often these or similar words are heard in the armed services! And
+the pity of it is that they are usually uttered in a tone indicating
+that the speaker believes some special virtue attaches to his kind of
+ignorance. There is the unmistakable innuendo that the man who pays
+serious attention to the fundamentals of the business of communication
+is somehow less possessed of sturdy military character than himself.
+There could hardly be a more absurd or disadvantageous professional
+conceit than this. It is the mark only of an officer who has no
+ambition to properly qualify himself, and is seeking to justify his
+own laziness.
+
+Not all American military leaders have been experts at polishing a
+phrase or giving clear expression and continuity to the thoughts which
+made them useful in command. But of those who have excelled in the
+conduct of great operations, at least four out of five made some mark
+in the field of letters. A long list would include such names as U. S.
+Grant, W. T. Sherman, Robert E. Lee, John J. Pershing, James G.
+Harbord, Henry T. Allen, Dwight D. Eisenhower, George S. Patton, Jr.,
+H. H. Arnold, Douglas MacArthur, William F. Halsey, W. B. Smith,
+Joseph W. Stilwell, Holland M. Smith, and Robert L. Eichelberger among
+many others.
+
+Of them all, it can be said without exception that they acquired their
+skill at self-expression by sustained practice which was part of a
+self-imposed training in the interests of furthering their military
+efficiency. No one of them was a born writer. There is no such thing.
+Nor did any one of them owe his abilities as a writer to any other
+person. Writers are self-made. But it is a reasonable speculation that
+history might never have heard of the greater number of these men had
+they not worked sedulously to become proficient with the pen as well
+as with the sword. Granting that they had other sound military
+qualities in the beginning, an acquired ability to express themselves
+lucidly and with force became a touchstone to preferment. The same
+thing holds true of their celebrated military contemporaries almost
+without exception. Even those who had no public reputation for
+authorship, and would have been ill at ease if called upon to speak to
+an average audience, knew how to use the language in presenting their
+thoughts to their staffs and their troops, whether the occasion called
+for a succinct operational order, a doctrinal exposition or an
+inspirational message on the eve of battle.
+
+Wherever one looks, the same precept may be noted. It was not
+coincidence merely, but related cause and effect, that Ferdinand Foch
+was one of the ablest military writers of the twentieth century before
+he won immortality on the field of war, that the elder von Moltke was
+as skilled with ink as with powder, and that we still marvel at the
+picture of the great von Steuben dictating drill manuals far into the
+night so that there would be greater perfection in his formations on
+the following day. The command of language was one of the main sources
+of their power over the multitude.
+
+As it was with these commanders, so it is with leadership at every
+level: _Men who can command words to serve their thoughts and feelings
+are well on their way to commanding men to serve their purposes._
+
+All senior commanders respect the junior who has a facility for
+thinking an idea through and then expressing it comprehensively in
+clear, unvarnished phrases. Moreover, even when they are stilted in
+their own manner of expression, they will warm to the man whose style
+achieves strength through its ease and naturalness. They will quickly
+make note of any young officer who is making progress in this
+direction and will want to have him around. He is a rare bird in the
+services, and for that reason his opportunities are far above the
+average. Staff work could not be carried forward at any of its levels
+if it were not for this particular talent, and command would lose a
+great part of its magnetism.
+
+Toward the building of a career, the best break that can come to any
+young man is to have three or four places bidding simultaneously for
+his services. There are possibly better arguments than that as to why
+perfection in writing should be a main pursuit of the service officer,
+such as the sense of personal attainment which comes of it.
+
+Any man who has the brain to qualify for commission can make of
+himself a competent writer. Because of natural limitations, he may
+never come to excel in this art. But if he has had average schooling,
+knows how to open a dictionary, can find his way to a library, is
+willing to commit himself to long study and practice, particularly in
+nonduty hours, and will finally free himself of the superstition that
+writing is a game only for specialists, he can acquire all the skill
+that is necessary to further his advance within the military
+profession.
+
+That is the great difference between writing ability and specialized
+knowledge in such fields as electronics and atomic research.
+
+But where should work begin? How about a little practical advice?
+
+The only way to learn to write is to write. That is it--there is no
+other secret than hard, unremitting practice. Most writers at the
+start are mentally muscle-bound, and poorly coordinated. They have
+thoughts in their heads. They think they can develop them clearly. But
+when they try to apply a largely dormant vocabulary to the expression
+of these thoughts, the result is stiff and selfconscious.
+
+The only cure for this is constant mental exercise, with one's pen, or
+over one's typewriter. After a man has written perhaps a half million
+relatively useless words there comes, sometimes almost in a flash, and
+at other times gradually, a mastery not only of words, but of phrases,
+sentences and the composition of ideas. It is a kind of rhythmic
+process, like learning to swim, or to row a boat, or navigate an
+airplane. When a writer has at last conquered his element, his
+personality and his character can be transmitted to paper. What is
+said will reflect the force, adaptability, reason and musing of the
+writer. In fact, the discipline through which one learns to write adds
+substance to thought, whereby one's ideas are given body and
+connection. Such common faults as wordiness, overstatement, faulty
+sentence structure and weak use of words are gradually corrected. With
+their passing, confidence grows. This does not mean, however, that the
+task then becomes easy. Though its rewards will increase, good writing
+continues to be a strain even to the man who does it well. Many
+celebrated men of letters never get beyond the "sweating" stage, but
+have to fight their way through a jungle of words, and rewrite almost
+endlessly, before finding satisfaction in their product.
+
+This description makes it all seem more than a little formidable. But
+what was promised in the first place was that any service officer, who
+will accept the necessary discipline, can make himself reasonably
+proficient as a writer, and thereby further his professional progress.
+What he writes about during the conditioning period makes very little
+difference. It might be an operational order one night, a treatise on
+discipline the next, a lecture to his men on the elements of combat
+the third. Fortunately, the list of topics within the services and
+directly applicable to their operations, is practically inexhaustible.
+That is a main reason why the military establishment is a better
+school for writing than perhaps any other place in our society.
+
+Winston Churchill, whose gift of forceful expression is the envy of
+all other writing men, won his literary spurs in his early twenties as
+a soldier with the Malakand Field Force. He saw the essential
+idea--that to learn English, he had literally to learn, just as though
+he had been acquiring Latin or French. As a writer, his main strength
+is his employment of Anglo-Saxon, the words of our common speech.
+
+But simply to take regular exercise in composition is not quite
+enough. Of it would come the shadow but not the substance. To progress
+as a writer, one must become a student of the best things which have
+been written by men who understand their craft. A military officer can
+do that without going beyond the field of military studies, if that
+should be his disposition, such is the richness and variation of
+available works in this realm of literature. The purpose at hand is
+not only to seek great ideas for their own sake but to make careful
+note of the manner in which they are expressed. So doing, one
+unconsciously invigorates his own powers and adopts techniques which
+the masters have used to great advantage.
+
+To paraphrase what a distinguished journalist once said on this
+subject in a speech to young writers: "For an officer it is in the
+first place a shame to be ignorant--ignorant, as not a few are, of
+history and geography: and in the second place, it is a pity that any
+officer should lack a vigor in writing which can be produced through
+imitation of vigorous writers."
+
+As to what is best worth seeking, a man can not go wrong by "falling
+in love" with the works of a relatively limited number of authors who
+kindle him personally. It is all right to widen the field
+occasionally, for diversion, for contrast, for sharpening style, and
+for balancing of ideas, but strength comes of finding a main line and
+holding to it. No man can read a book with sympathetic understanding
+without taking from it something that makes him more complex and more
+potent.
+
+The main test is in this: if you read a book and feel stirred by it,
+even though alternately you strongly agree with certain of its
+passages and warmly contend against others, something new has been
+added. The writer is making you see things. Your own powers of
+observation are being made more acute. All good writers are in a sense
+hitch-hikers. While going along for the ride, and enjoying the essence
+of some highly developed mind, they are not loath to study the
+technique by which some other man develops his driving power, and to
+make note of his strong words and best phrases for possible future
+use.
+
+It is a good habit to underscore passages in books which have
+contributed something vital to one's own thought--always provided that
+the books have not been borrowed.
+
+Without mentioning names, we can take a cue from a man who some years
+ago entered one of the services while still a youth. He had had little
+formal education, but he began an earnest study of military
+literature, and the search for knowledge whetted his thirst to join
+the company of those who could speak to the world because they had
+something to say. He read such books as were at hand, and clipped
+pieces from magazines and newspapers which had particularly appealed
+to him, for one reason or another. Whenever he saw a new word, he
+wrote it down and sought the meaning in the dictionary, considering
+whether it had a shade of meaning which added anything important to
+his vocabulary. This done, he wrote sentences, many sentences,
+employing his new words in various ways, until their use became
+instinctive. On this foundation alone, he built his career as a
+national writer. There was nothing extraordinary about this start and
+the ultimate result. Literally thousands of Americans have qualified
+themselves for one branch or another of the writing profession by what
+they learned to do in military service. Too, an ability to "organize a
+good paper" has been a large element in the success of most of the men
+who have moved from the military circle into top posts in the
+diplomatic service, in education or in industrial administration. Had
+they been capable only of delegating this kind of work, their powers
+would never have been recognized.
+
+As a practical matter, it is better to concentrate on a few elementary
+rules-of-thumb, such as are contained in the following list, than to
+bog down attempting to heed everything that the pedants have said
+about how to become a writer.
+
+    The more simply a thing is said the more powerfully it influences
+    those who read. Plain words make strong writing.
+
+    There is always one best word to convey a thought or a feeling. To
+    accept a weaker substitute, rather than to Search for the right
+    word, will deprive any writing of force.
+
+    Economy of words invigorates composition.
+
+    To quote Carl Sandburg: "Think twice before you use an adjective."
+
+    It is better to use the adverb because an adverb enhances the verb
+    and is active, whereas the adjective simply loads down the noun.
+
+    On the other hand, it is the verb that makes language live. Nine
+    times out of ten the verb is the operative word giving motion to
+    the sentence. Hence, placing the verb is of first importance in
+    giving strength to sentence structure.
+
+    In all writing, but in military writing particularly, there is no
+    excuse for vague terminology or phrases which do not convey an
+    exact impression of what was done or what is intended. The
+    military vocabulary is laden with words and expressions which
+    sound professional but do not have definite meaning. They vitiate
+    speech and the establishment would gladly rid itself of them if a
+    way could be found. Men fall into the habit of saying
+    "performed," "functioned" or "executed" and forget that "did" is
+    in the dictionary. A captain along the MLR (main line of
+    resistance) notifies his battalion commander that he has "advanced
+    his left flank" when all that has actually occurred is that six
+    riflemen from the left have crawled forward to new, and possibly,
+    untenable ground.
+
+    It is better at all times to _rein in_. The strength of military
+    writing, like the soundness of military operations, does not gain
+    through overstatement and artificial coloring. The bigger the
+    subject, the less it needs embroidery.
+
+    For lucidity and sincerity, the important thing is to say what you
+    have to say in whatever words most accurately express your own
+    thoughts. That done, it is pointless to worry about the effect on
+    the audience.
+
+The list of suggestions could be extended indefinitely. But enough has
+already been said to stake out a main line for those who have already
+decided that this subject deserves their interest.
+
+A majority of the world's most gifted writers would in all probability
+be struck dumb if put before an audience; though dealing confidently
+with ideas, they lack confidence when dealing with people. The
+military officer has need of both talents, and as to where the accent
+should be placed, it is probably more important that he should speak
+well than that his writing prose should be polished. A unit commander
+may permit a clerk or a subordinate to do the greater part of his
+paper work, either because his own time is taken with other duties or
+because he is awkward at it, but if he permits any other voice to
+dominate the councils of the organization, he soon ceases to exercise
+moral authority over it.
+
+Of this there is no question. The judgment men take of their superior
+is formed as much by what he says and how he says it as by his action.
+
+The matter of nerve is a main element in speaking. When an officer is
+ill at ease, fidgety and not to the point, the vote of his command for
+the time being is "no confidence," and so long as he remains that
+way, they will not change, no matter though his good will shines forth
+through other acts.
+
+On the other hand, the military crowd is an extremely sympathetic
+audience. It has to be; it is drawing pay for so being. But even if
+that were not true, the ranks have a generous spirit and are ever
+disposed to give the newcomer an even break. If he meets them
+confidently and calmly, measures his words, smiles at his own mistakes
+and breaks it off when he has covered his subject, they'll pay no
+attention to his little fumbles, and they'll approve him. There is no
+better way to pick up prestige than through instruction or discourse
+which commands attention, for despite all that is said in favor of the
+"strong, silent man," troops like an officer who is outgiving, and who
+has an intelligence that they can respect because they have seen it at
+work.
+
+As for _how_ an officer should talk to men, his manner and tone should
+be no different than if he were addressing his fellow officers, or for
+that matter, a group of his intellectual and political peers from any
+walk of life. If he is stuffy, he will not succeed anywhere. If he
+affects a superior manner, that is a mark of his inferiority. If he is
+patronizing, and talks to grown men as a teacher might talk to a class
+of adolescents, the rug, figuratively, will be pulled from under him.
+His audience will put him down as a chump.
+
+It is curiously the case that the junior officer who can't get the
+right pitch when he talks to the ranks will also be out of tune when
+he talks to his superiors. This failing is a sign mainly that he needs
+practice in the school of human nature. By listening a little more
+carefully to other men, he may himself in time attain maturity.
+
+Concerning subject matter, it is better always to aim high than to
+take the risk of shooting too low. It is too often the practice to
+spell out everything in words of one syllable so that the more witless
+files in the organization will be able to understand it. When that is
+done, it insults the intelligence of the keenest men, and nothing is
+added to their progress. The target should be the intellect of the
+upper 25 or 30 percent. When they are stimulated and informed, they
+will bring the others along, and even those who do not fully
+understand all that was under discussion will have heard something to
+which to aspire. _The habit of talking down to troops is one of the
+worst vices that can afflict an officer._
+
+There are no dull lecture topics; there are only dull lecturers. A
+little eager research will enliven any subject under the sun. Good
+lecturing causes men's imaginations to be stirred by vivid images.
+Real good is accomplished only when they talk to each other of what
+they have heard and sharpen their impressions. Schopenauer somewhere
+observes that "people in general have eyes and ears, but not much
+else--little judgment and even little memory," which isn't far wrong.
+Consequently, competent lecturing entails the employment of every
+technique which can be used to hammer a point home. In this way, a
+truth or a lesson has a better chance of adhering because it is
+identified with some definite image. Simply to illuminate this point,
+it is noted that the jests which best stick in the memory are those
+which are associated with some incongruous situation. To relate a
+pertinent anecdote, to provide an apt quotation from some well-known
+authority and to draw upon our own rich battle history for
+illustrative materials are but a few of the means of freshening any
+discussion and sharpening its purpose. Men are always ready to listen
+to the story of other men's experience provided that it is told with
+vigor. And insofar as combat is concerned, such teaching is in point,
+for what has happened once will happen again.
+
+For his way as an instructor of young infantry officers of the A. E.
+F. in 1918, Lt. Col. H. M. Hutchinson of the British Army was awarded
+our D. S. M. Officers who sat at his feet at Gondrecourt were unlikely
+ever to forget the point of such an anecdote as:
+
+"There will be no 'Stack arms' in my army. It is a thing one sees on a
+brewer's calendar--The Soldier's Dream--showing a brave private
+sleeping under a stack of rifles which it will take him a good
+half-hour to untangle when the call comes to stand to. No, a soldier
+had better carry the rifle with him to his meals, have it beside him
+always, lavish his care upon it, and in short treat it more like a
+wife than a weapon.
+
+"I am reminded of the times in South Africa when we would come to a
+country inn where a chap could stop for beer. Well, a soldier would
+walk into the place, and immediately he would stand his rifle in a
+corner--like an umbrella, you know--'We've arrived!'--and he'd get
+well into his beer and a song, say, and suddenly firing would break
+out on the inn from four sides.
+
+"It seemed that a Boer had slipped into the entry and picked up all
+the rifles and passed them around to his mates in the bushes,
+and--well--there you are!"
+
+As a cadet and later as an instructor at Sandhurst, Colonel Hutchinson
+well knew the usefulness of the anecdote in catching and holding the
+attention of the young. Who could forget the lesson in this, related
+at Gondrecourt:
+
+"In my youth I was a dashing ignoramus with clearer ideas than I now
+have on the line of demarcation between the officer and his men. They
+sent me out to South Africa during the trouble and I brought a
+detachment into a country village. It seemed quite unpromising but I
+was told of a sort of place 3 miles in the country that you would call
+a chateau in France. So I cantered out and spent the night, turning my
+men over to a sergeant-major. After a refreshing breakfast along in
+the middle of the morning--the late middle of the morning--I rode back
+into town, but try as I might I could not locate a single one of my
+men.
+
+"Now nothing, you know, is as ineffective in a war as an officer
+without his men. Well, I spent the day in agony and it was not until
+along at dusk that the first of the blighters straggled in--quite
+drunk, all of them, and swearing to a man that they had engaged in
+five ferocious battles. It seems that about 2 miles away, in a barn,
+they had come on a hogshead of ginger brandy, and had stayed with it
+to the bitter end. Need I say that it was a great lesson to me, and
+that from then on I was never billeted farther than 15 rods from my
+men.
+
+"As a matter of fact, I love ginger brandy."
+
+Or this, in which the whole lesson of exactitude in the written
+communication is implicit:
+
+"Now on the subject of messages, it might be well to say immediately
+that as far as I know no one ever received a written message during a
+battle. They may be written, but that I think is as far as it goes.
+However, they are occasionally received before and after battles, and
+in this connection let me say that it is no earthly good writing
+generalities to signify times and places.
+
+"I mean to say, suppose you are writing a message and you write
+'Report after breakfast.' Well, to Sergeant Ramrod it might mean
+stand-to at 3 in the morning; while to Captain Brighteyes it would
+mean, say, 8 o'clock. But to Colonel Blue-fish it would signify some
+time after 11, depending quite a bit on how the old fellow felt.
+
+"So it is better to say 7 o'clock in the morning, if that is what you
+mean, for after all there is only one 7 o'clock in the morning. And,
+by the way, I must warn you chaps against the champagne on sale in the
+Cafe de l'Univers down here in the square. It is made in the
+basement--of potatoes."
+
+On as simple and basic a thing as continuing liaison between small
+units, the Colonel's listeners never forgot his elementary parable:
+
+"One rule is about all a chap can handle in a battle, and as good a
+one as any to remember is to keep in some sort of touch with the chaps
+to your right and left. If you do this--and I dare say you Americans
+will have as much trouble as ourselves in remembering to--then a great
+deal of distress to yourselves and all hands will be obviated.
+
+"Now here we have a triangular wood. There is to be an attack, and the
+objective is this line beyond the wood. So on this side of the wood at
+the hour of attack the Welsh Guards go forward--and on this side,
+here, the Inniskilling Fusiliers, and a tremendous battle ensues.
+Well, after an hour or two, with not much progress, it is discovered
+that the Welsh Guards have been firing into the Inniskilling
+Fusiliers, and the Fusiliers have been firing into the Welsh. This is
+thought a bit thick, you know, even in the confusion of battle. So
+eventually it is stopped."
+
+Some of the experts warn the lecturer who is only a beginner against
+the use of humor, commenting that if a joke is unlaughed at, it is
+disconcerting to all concerned. The only intelligent answer to that
+is: "Well, what of it?" The speaker who is going to cringe every time
+one of his passages falls a little flat had best not start. This
+happens at times to every lecturer; there are good days and bad days,
+live audiences and sour ones. If a man takes his work seriously, it is
+hardly within nature for him to harden his emotions against an
+unexpectedly dull reaction. But he can keep from ever showing that he
+is upset if as a speaker he consciously forms the habit of rapidly
+driving on from one point to another.
+
+Thus as to the use of humor in public address, it is not only an asset
+but almost a necessity. It is better to try with it, and to fall flat
+occasionally, thereby sharpening one's own wit through better
+understanding of what goes and what does not, than to attempt to go
+along humorlessly. Said William Pitt: "Don't tell me of a man's being
+able to talk sense. Everyone can talk sense. Can he talk a little
+nonsense?" Even more to the point is the remark of Thomas Hardy that
+men thin away to insignificance quite as often by not making the most
+of good spirits when they have them as by lacking good spirits when
+they are indispensable. Fighting is much too serious a trade to have a
+large place for men who are dry as dust.
+
+One of the spellbinders of ancient Greece, we are told, orated on the
+sands with his mouth filled with pebbles. In World War I, it was the
+custom of many higher commanders to take their officers out for voice
+exercises and have them talk through 150 feet of thicket; they were
+not satisfied unless the words came through distinctly on the far
+side. If, under average acoustical conditions, a military officer
+cannot get across to five hundred men, he needs to improve his voice
+placement. It is remarkable what miracles can be worked by consistent
+exercise of the vocal cords.
+
+The final thought is that it is all a matter of buildup. An officer
+can cut his audience to his own size, and strengthen his powers and
+his confidence as he goes along. That is his supreme advantage. He can
+start with a short talk to a minor working detail and move from that
+to a more formal address before a slightly larger group. By taking it
+gradually, and increasing his store of knowledge in the interim
+period, he will see the time come when he can hold any audience in the
+hollow of his hand. This is precisely the routine which was followed
+by most of the military leaders who have been celebrated for their
+command of speech.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
+
+THE ART OF INSTRUCTION
+
+
+    _Keep it simple._
+
+    _Have but one main object._
+
+    _Stay on the course._
+
+    _Remain cheerful._
+
+    _Be enthusiastic._
+
+    _Put it out as if the ideas were as interesting and novel to you,
+    as to your audience._
+
+By abiding by these few simple rules you will keep cool, preserve
+continuity and hold your audience.
+
+Instruction is just about the begin-all and end-all of every military
+officer's job. He spends the greater part of his professional life
+either pitching it or catching it, and the game doesn't stop until he
+is at last retired. Should he become a Supreme Commander, even, this
+is one thing that does not change; it remains a give-and-take
+proposition. Part of his time is taken instructing his staff as to
+what he wants done and just as much of it is spent in being instructed
+by his staff as to the means available for the doing of it.
+
+Instruction is the generator of unified action. It is the transmission
+belt by which the lessons of experience are passed to untrained men.
+Left uninstructed, men may progress only by trial-and-error and the
+hard bumps which come of not knowing the way.
+
+Need more than that be said to suggest that the officer who builds a
+competent skill in this field, so that it becomes a part of his
+reputation, has at the same time built the most solid kind of a
+foundation under his service career?
+
+The services do not discard that kind of man when the economy pinch
+comes and the establishment has to contract. The Reservist, who is
+known as a good instructor, is always on the preferred list. In any
+period of emergency, such officers move rapidly to the top; there are
+always more good jobs than there are good men. Look back over the
+lineup of distinguished commanders from World War II! It will be found
+that the high percentage of them first attracted notice by _being good
+school men_.
+
+Within the services, in all functions related to the passing on of
+information, the accent is on "knowing your stuff." The point is
+substantial, but not conclusive. It is upon the way that instruction
+is delivered rather than upon its contents as such that its moral
+worth rests. The pay-off is not in what is said, but in what sinks in.
+_A competent instructor will not only teach his men but will increase
+his prestige in the act._ There are many inexpressibly dull bores who
+know what they're talking about, but still haven't learned how to say
+it, because they are contemptuous of the truth that it is the dynamic
+flow of knowledge, rather than the static possession of it, which is
+the means to power and influence. As technicians, they have their
+place. As instructors, they would be better off if they knew only half
+as much about their subject, and twice as much about people.
+
+To know where truth lies is not more important than knowing how to
+pitch it. Take the average American military audience: what can be
+said fairly of its main characteristics? Perhaps this--that it is
+moderately reflective; that it is ready to give the untried speaker a
+break; that it does not like windiness, bombast or prolonged
+moralizing; that it refuses to be bullied; and that it can usually be
+won by the light touch and a little appeal to its sporting instinct.
+It is the little leavening in the bread which makes all the difference
+in its savor and digestibility.
+
+In World War I an American major, name now long forgotten, was given
+the task of making the rounds of the cantonments, talking to all
+combat formations, and convincing them that the future was bright--no
+Boy Scout errand. But wherever he went, morale was lifted by his
+words. In substance, what he said was this:
+
+"None of us cares about living with any individual who wants every
+break his own way. But when the odds are even, the gamble is worth
+any good man's time. So let's look at the proposition. You now have
+one chance in two; you may go overseas, you may not. Suppose you do.
+You still have one chance in two. You may go to the front, or you may
+not. If you don't, you'll see a foreign country at Uncle Sam's
+expense; if you do, you'll find out about war, which is the toughest
+chance of them all. But up there, you still have one chance in two:
+you may get hit, or you may not. If you breeze through it, you'll be a
+better man for all the rest of your life. And if you get hit, you
+still have one chance in two. You may get a small wound, and become a
+hero to your family and friends. Or there is always the last chance
+that it may take you out altogether. And while that is a little
+rugged, it is at least worth remembering that very few people seem to
+get out of this life alive."
+
+There was as simple an idea as any military instructor ever unloaded,
+and yet troops cheered this man wherever he went.
+
+Lt. Col. H. M. Hutchinson, of the British Army, already described in
+this book as an instructor who made a powerful impression on the
+American Army in World War I because of his droll wit, was a master
+hand at taking the oblique approach to teach a lesson. Old officers
+still remember the manner and the moral of passages such as this one:
+
+"On the march back from Mons--and I may say that a very good army
+sometimes must retreat, though no doubt it wounds the sensibilities to
+consider it--we did rather well. But I noticed often the confusion
+caused by marching slowly up one side of a hill and dashing down the
+other. It is a tendency of all columns on foot.
+
+"A captain is sitting out in front on a horse, with a hell of a great
+pipe in his mouth and thinking of some girl in a cafe, and of course
+he moves slowly up the hill. He comes to the top and his pace
+quickens. Well, then, what happens? The taller men are at the top of
+the column, and they lengthen their stride--but what becomes of Nipper
+and Sandy down in the twentieth squad? Half the time, you see, they
+are running to catch up. So the effect is to jam the troops together
+on an upgrade and to stretch them out going down--you know--like a
+concertina."
+
+Where then is the beginning of efficiency in the art of instruction?
+It resides in becoming diligent and disciplined about self-instruction.
+No man can develop great power as an instructor, or learn to talk
+interestingly and convincingly, until he has begun to think deeply.
+And depth of thought does not come of vigorous research on an
+assignment immediately at hand, but from intensive collateral study
+throughout the course of a career. We are all somewhat familiar with
+the type of commander who, when asked: "What are your officers doing
+about special studies, so that they may better their reading habits
+and further their powers of self-expression?" will puff himself up by
+replying, "They are kept so busily employed that they have no time for
+any such exercise." This is one way of saying that his subordinates
+are kept too busy to get essential work done.
+
+Research, on the spot and at the time, is vital and necessary so that
+the presentation of any subject will be factually freshened and
+documented. But its nature and object should not be overrated. The
+real values can be compared to what happens to a pitcher when he warms
+up before a game. This is merely an act of suppling the muscles; the
+real conditioning process has already taken place, and it has been
+long and arduous.
+
+Even so is it with immediate research, in its relation to continuing
+military study, in the perfecting of instructorship. That which gives
+an officer power, and conviction, on the platform, or before a group,
+is not the thing which he learned only yesterday, having been
+compelled to read it in a manual or other source, but the whole body
+of this thought and philosophy, as it may be directed toward the
+invigorating of any presentation of any subject. If he forms the habit
+of careful reflection, then almost everything that he reads and hears
+other people say that arouses his own interest becomes grist for his
+mill.
+
+Like 10 years in the penitentiary, it's easy to say but hard to do. So
+much time, seemingly, has to be wasted in profitless study to find a
+few kernels amid much chaff. Napoleon said at one point that the
+trouble with books is that one must read so many bad ones to find
+something really good. True enough but, even so, there are perfectly
+practical ways to advance rapidly without undue waste motion. Consider
+this: Among one's superiors there are always discriminating men who
+have "adopted" a few good books after reading many bad ones. When they
+say that a text is worthwhile, it deserves reading and careful study.
+
+The junior who starts building a working library for his professional
+use cannot do better than to consult those older men who are scholars
+as well as leaders, and ask them to name five or six texts which have
+most stimulated their thought. It comes as a surprising discovery that
+some of the titles which are recommended with the greatest enthusiasm
+are not among the so-called classics on war. The well-read man need
+not have more than a dozen books in his home, provided that they all
+count with him, and he continues to pore over them and to ponder the
+weight of what is said. On the other hand, the ignorant man is
+frequently marked by his bookshelf stocked with titles, not one of
+which suggests that he has any professional discernment.
+
+The notebook habit is invaluable, nay, indispensable, to any young
+officer who is ambitious to perfect himself as an instructor. Most men
+who are distinguished for their thinking ability are inveterate
+keepers of scrapbooks and of reference files where they have put
+clippings and notes which jogged their own thoughts. This is not a
+cheap device leading to the parroting of other men; the truth is that
+the departure line toward original thinking by any man is established
+by the mental energy which he acquires by imaginative observation of
+other men's ideas.
+
+To get back to the notebook, it should be loose-leaf and well-bound,
+else it is not likely to be given permanent use. Whether it is kept at
+home or the office is immaterial. What matters is that it be made a
+receptacle for everything that one hears, reads or sees which may be
+of possible future value in the preparation of classroom work. Books
+can't be clipped; but short, decisive passages can be copied, and
+longer ones can be made the subject of a reference item. Copying is
+one way of fixing an idea in the memory. While on the subject of
+books, it is all right to quote the classics and to be able to refer
+to the great authorities on the science of war. But it is more
+effective by far to read deeply into such writers as Clausewitz, Mahan
+and Fuller, and to find some of their strongest but least-known
+passages for one's self, than to rely on the more popular but
+shop-worn quotations which are in general circulation. Such old
+chestnuts as, "The moral is to the material as three to one," do not
+refresh discourse.
+
+Even so, the classics are only one small field worth cultivating.
+Nearly every major speech by current military leadership contains a
+passage or two well worth salting away. The writings of the
+philosophers, the publications of the industrial world, the daily
+press and the scientific journals are goldmines containing rich
+nuggets of information and of choice expression worth study and
+preservation.
+
+In fact, the military instructor has the whole world as his workshop.
+His notebook should be as ready to receive some especially apt saying
+by a new recruit as the more ponderous words uttered by the sages. And
+it should contain, not less, comments on techniques and methods used
+by other speakers and instructors, which were visibly unusually
+effective.
+
+Above all, the consistent use of obvious and stereotyped devices and
+methods of presentation should be avoided. For the fact is that _no
+one has yet discovered the one best way_. In our service thinking, we
+tend to get into a rut, and to use none but the well-tried way. For
+example, we overwork the twin principles of thought-surprise and
+thought-concentration, and in the effort to produce dramatic effect,
+we sometimes achieve only an anticlimax. Using the techniques of the
+advertising world, the military instructor puts his exhibits behind a
+screen, in order to buildup anticipation, and at the appropriate
+moment he yanks the cover off. This is perfectly effective, in some
+instances. But it becomes a _reductio ad absurdum_ when he is working
+with only one chart, or a pair or so of objects. Let's say that he is
+talking about one machine gun, and he has one chart highlighting its
+characteristics. How much more impressive it would be if they were in
+the open at the beginning and he were to start by saying: "Gentlemen,
+I am talking about this one gun and what keeps it going. It is more
+important that you see and know this gun from this moment than that
+you be persuaded by what I am about to say!"
+
+It is a very simple but inviolable rule that where there is an obvious
+straining to produce an effect by the use of any training aid, then
+the effect of the training aid is lost and the speaker is
+proportionately enfeebled. A famous World War II commander said of all
+operations: "It is the chaps, not the charts, that get the job done."
+
+What needs to be kept in mind is the psychological object in their
+use. The scientists tell us, and we can partly take their word for it,
+that people learn about 75 percent of what they know through their
+sight, 13 percent through their hearing, and 12 percent through their
+other senses. But this is a relative and qualitative, rather than an
+absolute, truth. It has to be so. Otherwise, book study, which employs
+sight exclusively, would be the only efficient method of teaching, and
+oral instruction, which depends primarily on sound impact, would be a
+wasteful process.
+
+The more fundamental truth is that when oral instruction is properly
+done, the mind becomes peculiarly receptive because it is being
+bombarded by both sight and sound impressions. Nor is this small
+miracle wrought primarily by what we call training aids. The thoughts
+and ideas which remain most vivid in the memory get their adhesive
+power because some particular person said them in a graphic way in a
+pregnant moment. Our working thoughts are more often the product of an
+association with some other individual than not. We remember words
+largely because we remember an occasion. We believe in ideas because
+first we were impressed by the source whence they came.
+
+The total impression of a speaker--his sincerity, his knowledge, his
+enthusiasm, his mien, and his gestures--is what carries conviction and
+puts an indelible imprint on the memory. Man not only thinks, but he
+moves, and he is impressed most of all by animate objects. Vigorous
+words mean little or nothing to him when they issue from a lack-luster
+personality.
+
+Artificiality is one of the more serious faults, and it is
+unfortunately the case that though an instructor may be solid to the
+core, he will seem out of his element, unless he is careful to avoid
+stilted words and vague or catch-all phrases and connectives. Strength
+in discourse comes of simplicity.
+
+But it has become almost an American disease of late that we painfully
+avoid saying it straight. "We made contact, and upon testing my
+reaction to him, found it distinctly adverse" is substituted for "I
+met him and didn't like him." But what is equally painful is to hear
+public remarks interlarded with such phrases as "It would seem," "As I
+was saying," "And so, in closing," "Permit me to call your attention
+to the fact" and "Let us reflect briefly"--which is often the prelude
+to a 2-hour harangue.
+
+Not less out of place in public address is the apologetic note. The
+man who starts by explaining that he's unaccustomed to public
+speaking, or badly prepared, is simply asking for the hook. "To
+explain what I mean" or "to make myself clear" makes the audience
+wonder only why he didn't say it that way in the first place. But the
+really low man on this totem pole is the one who says, "Perhaps you're
+not getting anything out of this."
+
+A man does not have to go off like a gatling gun merely because he is
+facing the crowd. Mr. Churchill, one of the great orators of the
+century, made good use of deliberate and frequent pauses. It is a
+trick worth any young speaker's cultivation, enabling the collection
+of thought and the avoiding of tiresome "and ah-h-h's."
+
+Likewise, because a man is in military uniform does not require that
+his speech be terse, cold, given to the biting of words and the
+overemployment of professional jargon. Training instruction is not
+drill. Its efficiency does not come of its incisiveness but of the
+bond of sympathy which comes to prevail between the instructor and his
+followers.
+
+Another main point: It is disconcerting to talk about the ABCs, if the
+group already knows the alphabet. To devote any great part of a
+presentation to matters which the majority present already well
+understand is to assure that the main object will receive very little
+serious attention. Thus in talking about the school of the rifle, only
+a fool would start by explaining what part of it was the trigger and
+from which end the bullet emerged, though it might be profitable to
+devote a full hour to the discussion of caliber. Likewise, in such a
+field as tactical discussion, the minds of men are more likely to be
+won, and their imagination stirred, through giving them the reasoning
+behind a technique or method than by telling them simply how a thing
+is done.
+
+In talk, as in tactics, at the beginning the policy of the limited
+objective is a boon to confidence. It scares any green man to think
+about talking for an hour. But if he starts with a subject of his own
+choice and to his liking, and works up to 15-minute talk for a group
+of platoon size, he will quickly develop his powers over the short
+course; the switch from sprinting to distance running can be made
+gradually and without strain. But it's easy that does it, and one step
+at a time.
+
+Excessive modesty is unbecoming. No matter how firm his sources, or
+complex the subject, any instructor should form the habit of adding a
+few thoughts of his own to any presentation. It is not a mark of
+precocity but of interest when an instructor knows his material, and
+its application to the human element, sufficiently well to express an
+occasional personal opinion. Since he is not a phonograph record, he
+has a right to say, "I think" or "I believe." Indeed, if he does not
+have his subject sufficiently in hand that it has stirred his own
+imagination, he is no better than a machine.
+
+That leads to a discussion of outlines. They are necessary, if any
+subject is to be covered comprehensively. But if they are
+overelaborated, the whole performance becomes automatic and dull. A
+little spontaneity is always needed. Even when working from a
+manuscript, a speaker should be ever-ready to depart from his text if
+a sudden idea pops into his mind. It is better to try this and to
+stumble now and then than to permit the mind to be commanded by words
+written on paper.
+
+Likewise, revision of outline between talks is the way of the alert
+mind. A man cannot do this work without seeing, in the midst of
+discussion, points which need strengthening, and bets which have been
+missed. Notes should be revised as soon as the period is completed.
+
+There are many methods of instruction, among them being the seminar,
+critique, group discussion and conference. They are not described here
+for the reason that every young officer quickly learns about them in
+the schools, and gets to know the circumstances under which one form
+or another can be used to greatest advantage.
+
+It suffices to say that their common denominator, insofar as personal
+success and ease of participation are concerned, is the ability to
+think quickly and accurately on one's feet; the one best school for
+the sharpening of this faculty is the lecture platform. Keenness is a
+derivative of pressure.
+
+Use of a wire recorder or a platter, so that one can get a playback
+after talking, is an aid to self-criticism. But it is not enough. A
+man will often miss his own worst faults, because they came of
+ignorance in the first place; too, voice reproduction proves nothing
+about the effectiveness of one's presence, expression and gesture. It
+is common-sense professional procedure to ask the views of one or two
+of the more experienced members of the audience as to how the show
+went over, and what were its weak points.
+
+There is one hidden danger in becoming too good at this business. Too
+frequently, polished speakers fall in love with the sound of their own
+voices, and want to be heard to the exclusion of everyone else. In the
+military establishment, where the ideal object is to get 100 percent
+participation from all personnel, this is a more serious vice than
+snoring in a pup tent.
+
+When an officer feels any temptation to monopolize the discussion, it
+is time to pray for a bad case of bronchitis.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
+
+YOUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH YOUR MEN
+
+
+Inasmuch as most of this book has been directed toward covering the
+various approaches to this subject, there is need to discuss here only
+a relatively few points which could not conveniently be treated
+elsewhere.
+
+This is the touchstone of success.
+
+To any officer starting on a life career, it is impossible to
+overstate its importance. For the moment, we can forget the words duty
+and responsibility. The question is: "How do I get ahead?" And for a
+junior there is one main road open--he will strive to achieve such a
+communion of spirit with his subordinates that he will know the
+personality and character of every one of his men, will understand
+what moves and what stops them, and will be sympathetic to their every
+impulse.
+
+This is the main course. The great principles of war have evolved from
+centuries of observation on how men react in the mass. It could not be
+otherwise than that any officer's growth in knowledge of when and how
+these principles apply to varying situations, strategical and
+tactical, come primarily of the acuteness of his powers of observation
+of individual men, and of men working together in groups, and
+responding to their leadership, under widely different conditions of
+stress, strain and emotion.
+
+The roots of this kind of wisdom are not to be acquired from book
+study; books are a help only as they provide an index to what should
+be sought. The sage who defined strategy as "the art of the possible"
+(the art of politics has been defined in the same words) wrote better
+than he knew. The cornerstone of the science of war is knowledge of
+the economy of men's powers, of their physical possibilities and
+limitations, of their response to fatigue, hope, fear, success and
+discouragement, and of the weight of the moral factor in everything
+they do. Man is a beast of burden; he will fail utterly in the crisis
+of battle if there is no respect for his aching back. He is also one
+of a great brotherhood whose mighty fellowship can make the worst
+misery tolerable, and can provide him with undreamed strength and
+courage. These are among the things that need to be studied and
+understood; they are the main score. It is only when an officer can
+stand and say that he is first of all a student of human material that
+all of the technical and material aspects of war begin to conform
+toward each other and to blend into an orderly pattern. And the
+laboratory is right outside the office door. Either an officer grows
+up with, and into, this kind of knowledge through reflecting on
+everything that he can learn of men wherever he fits himself into a
+new environment, or because of having neglected to look at trees, he
+will also miss the forest.
+
+By the numbers, it isn't a difficult assignment. The schools have
+found by experiment that the average officer can learn the names of 50
+men in between 7 and 10 days. If he is in daily contact with men, he
+should know 125 of them by name and by sight within 1 month. Except
+under war conditions, he is not likely to work with larger numbers
+than that.
+
+This is the only way to make an intelligent start. So long as a man is
+just a number, or a face, to his officer, there can be no deep trust
+between them. Any man loves to hear the sound of his own name, and
+when his superior doesn't know it, he feels like a cypher.
+
+As with any other introduction, an officer meeting an enlisted man for
+the first time is not privileged to be inquisitive about his private
+affairs. In fact, nosiness and prying are unbecoming at any time, and
+in no one more than in a military officer. On the other hand, any man
+is flattered if he is asked about his work or his family, and the
+average enlisted man will feel complimented if an officer engages him
+in small talk of any kind. Greater frankness, covering a wide variety
+of subjects, develops out of longer acquaintance. It should develop as
+naturally and as easily as in civilian walks of life; rank is no
+barrier to it unless the officer is overimpressed with himself and
+bent on keeping the upper hand; the ranks are wiser about these
+things than most young officers; they do not act forward or
+presumptuous simply because they see an officer talking and acting
+like a human being. But they aren't Quiz Kids. Informal conversation
+between officer and man is a two-way street. The ball has to be batted
+back and forth across the net or there isn't any game. An officer has
+to extend himself, his thoughts, his experiences and his affairs into
+the conversation, or after his first trial or two, there will be
+nothing coming back.
+
+It is unfortunately the case that many young officers assume that
+getting acquainted with their men is a kind of interrogation process,
+like handling an immigrant knocking for admission to the United
+States. They want to know everything, but they stand on what they
+think is their right to tell a man nothing. That kind of attitude just
+doesn't wash. In fact, the chief value of such conversations is that
+it permits the junior to see his superior as a man rather than as a
+boss.
+
+An officer should never speak ironically or sarcastically to an
+enlisted man, since the latter doesn't have a fair chance to answer
+back. The use of profanity and epithets comes under the same heading.
+The best argument for a man keeping his temper is that nobody else
+wants it; and when he voluntarily throws it away, he loses a main prop
+to his own position.
+
+Meeting one of his own enlisted men in a public place, the officer who
+does not greet him personally and warmly, in addition to observing the
+formal courtesies between men in service, has sacrificed a main chance
+to win the man's abiding esteem. If the man is with his family, a
+little extra graciousness will go a long way, and even if it didn't,
+it would be the right thing.
+
+In any informal dealing with a number of one's own men, it is good
+judgment to pay a little additional attention to the youngest or
+greenest member of the group, instead of permitting him to be shaded
+by older and more experienced men. They will not resent it, and his
+confidence will be helped.
+
+It should go without saying that an officer does not drink with his
+men, though if he is a guest of honor at an organizational party where
+punch or liquor is being served, it would be a boorish act for him to
+decline a glass, simply because of this proscription. Sometimes in a
+public cocktail bar an officer will have the puzzling experience of
+being approached by a strange but lonely enlisted man who, being a
+little high, may have got it into his head that it is very important
+to buy an officer a drink. What one does about that depends upon all
+of the surrounding circumstances. It is better to go through with it
+than create a scene which will give everyone a low opinion of the
+service. Irrespective of rules, there are always situations which are
+resolved only by good judgment. And, of course, the problem can be
+avoided by staying away from cocktail bars.
+
+Visiting men in hospital is a duty which no officer should neglect.
+Not only does it please the man and his family; it is one of the few
+wide open portals to a close friendship with him. It is strange but
+true that the man never forgets the officer who was thoughtful enough
+to call on him when he was down. And the effect of it goes far beyond
+the man himself. Other men in the unit are told about it. Other
+patients in the ward see it and note with satisfaction that the corps
+takes its responsibilities to heart. If the man is in such shape that
+he can't write a letter, it is a worthy act to serve him in this
+detail. By the same token when a man goes on sick call, the officer's
+responsibility does not end at the point where the doctor takes over.
+His interest is to see that the man is made well, and if he has reason
+to think that the treatment he is receiving falls short of the best
+possible, it is within his charge to raise the question. The old saw
+about giving the man CC pills and iodine and marking him duty is now
+considerably outdated. But it is not assumed that every member of the
+medical staff serving the forces will at all times do his duty with
+the intelligence and reverence of a saint.
+
+A birthday is a big day in any man's life. So is his wedding. So is
+the birth of a child. By making check of the roster and records, and
+by keeping an ear to the ground for news of what is happening in the
+unit, an officer can follow these events. Calling the man in and
+giving him a handclasp and word of congratulation, or writing a note
+to the home, takes very little time and is worth every moment of it.
+Likewise, if he has won some distinction, such as earning a
+promotion, a letter of appreciation to his parents or his wife will
+compound the value of telling the man himself that you are proud of
+what he has done.
+
+Nothing is more pleasing or ingratiating to any junior than to be
+asked by his superior for his opinion on any matter--provided that it
+is given a respectful hearing. Any man gets a little fagged from being
+_told_ all the time. When he is consulted and asked for a judgment, it
+builds him up.
+
+There is absolutely no point in visiting kitchens or quarters and
+asking of the atmosphere if everything is all right. Men seldom
+complain, and they are loath to stick their necks out when there are
+other enlisted men within hearing. It is the task of the officer to
+_see_ that all is right, and to take whatever trouble is necessary to
+make certain. If he is doubtful about the mess, then a mere pecky
+sampling of it will do no good. Either he will live with it for a few
+meals, or he won't find the "bugs" in it.
+
+An officer should not ask a man: "Would you like to do such-and-such a
+task?" when he has already made up his mind to assign him to a certain
+line of duty. Orders, hesitatingly given, are doubtfully received. But
+the right way to do it is to instill the idea of collaboration. There
+is something irresistably appealing about such an approach as: "I need
+your help. Here's what we have to do."
+
+An officer is not expected to appear all-wise to those who serve under
+him. Bluffing one's way through a question when ignorant of the answer
+is foolhardy business. "I'm sorry, but I don't know," is just as
+appropriate from an officer's lips as from any other. And it helps
+more than a little to be able to add, "But I'll find out."
+
+Rank should be used to serve one's subordinates. It should never be
+flaunted or used to get the upper hand of a subordinate in any
+situation save where he had already discredited himself in an
+unusually ugly or unseemly manner.
+
+When suggestions from any subordinate are adopted, the credit should
+be passed on to him publicly.
+
+When a subordinate has made a mistake, but not from any lack of good
+will, it is common sense to take the rap for him rather than make him
+suffer doubly for his error.
+
+An officer should not issue orders which he cannot enforce.
+
+He should be as good as his word, at all times and in any
+circumstance.
+
+He should promise nothing which he cannot make stick.
+
+An officer should not work, looking over his men's shoulder, checking
+on every detail of what they are doing, and calling them to account at
+every furlong post. This maidenly attitude corrodes confidence and
+destroys initiative.
+
+On the other hand, contact is necessary at all times. Particularly
+when men are doing long-term work, or are operating in detachment at a
+remote point, they will become discouraged and will lose their sense
+of direction unless their superior looks in on them periodically, asks
+whether he can be of any help, and, so doing, gets them to open up and
+discuss the problem.
+
+The Navy says, "It isn't courtesy to change the set of the sail within
+30 minutes after relief of the watch." Applied to a command job, this
+means that it is a mistake for an officer, on taking a new post, to
+order sweeping changes affecting other men, in the belief that this
+will give him a reputation for action and firmness. The studying of
+the situation is the overture to the steadying of it. The story is
+told of Gen. Curtis E. LeMay of the Air Force. Taking over the 21st
+Bomber Command in the Marianas, he faced the worried staff officers of
+his predecessor and said quietly, "You're all staying put. I assume
+you know your jobs or you wouldn't be here."
+
+The identity of the officer with the gentleman should persist in his
+relations with men of all degree. In the routine of daily direction
+and disposition, and even in moments of exhortation, he had best bring
+courtesy to firmness. The finest officers that one has known are not
+occasional gentlemen, but in every circumstance: in commissioned
+company and, more importantly, in contact with those who have no
+recourse against arrogance.
+
+The traditional wisdom of addressing Judy O'Grady with the same
+politeness as one would the Colonel's Lady applies equally in all
+situations in life where one is at arbitrary advantage in dealing
+with another. To press this unnecessarily is to sacrifice something of
+one's quality in the eyes of the onlooker. Besides, there is always
+the better way.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
+
+YOUR MEN'S MORAL AND PHYSICAL WELFARE
+
+
+To put it in a nutshell, the moral of this chapter is that when men
+are moral, the moral power which binds them together and fits them for
+high action is given its main chance for success.
+
+There should therefore be no confusion about how the word is being
+used. We are speaking both of training in morals for every day living,
+and of moral training which will harden the will of a fighting body.
+One moment's reflection will show why they need not be considered
+separately, and why we can leave it to Webster to do the
+hairsplitting.
+
+It is the doctrine of the armed establishment of the United States
+that when American men lead a personal life which is based on high
+moral standards, and when their aim is equally high as to physical
+fitness and toughness, under training conditions they will mature
+those qualities which are most likely to produce inspired leading and
+stout following within the forces.
+
+There is nothing panty-waist about this doctrine. It was not
+pronounced to gratify the clergy or to reassure parents that their
+sons would be in good hands, even though these things, too, are
+important.
+
+The doctrine came of the experience of the Nation in war, and of what
+the services learned by measuring their own men. But it happened,
+also, that the facts were consistent with a common sense reckoning of
+the case.
+
+Let's figure it out. To be temperate in all things, to be continent,
+and to refrain from loose living of any sort, are acts of the will.
+They require self-denial, and a foregoing of that which may be more
+attractive, in favor of the thing which should be done. Granted that
+there are a few individuals who are so thin-blooded that they never
+feel tempted to digress morally, men in the majority are not like
+that. What they renounce in the name of self-discipline, at the cost
+of a considerable inner stress, they endeavour to compensate by their
+gains in personal character. Making that grade isn't easy; but no one
+who is anyone has yet said that it isn't worthwhile. In the armed
+services there is an old saying that an officer without character is
+more useless than a ship with no bottom.
+
+In the summing up, the strength of will which enables a man to lead a
+clean life is no different than the strength of purpose which fits him
+to follow a hard line of duty. There are exceptions to every rule.
+Many a lovable rounder has proved himself to be a first-class fighting
+man. But even though he had an unconquerable weakness for drink and
+women, his resolution had to become steeled along some other line or
+he would have been no good when the pay-off came.
+
+Putting aside for the moment the question of the vices, and regarding
+only the gain to moral power which comes of bodily exercise and
+physical conditioning, it should be self-evident that the process
+which builds the muscle must also train and alert the mind. How could
+it be otherwise? Every physical act must have as its origin a mental
+impulse, conscious or unconscious. Thus in training a man to master
+his muscles we also help him to master his brain. He comes out of
+physical training not only better conditioned to move but better
+prepared to think about how and why he is moving, which is true
+mobility.
+
+In military organizations, "setting-up" and other formation exercises
+are usually a drag and a bore. Men grumble about them, and even after
+they are toughened to them, so that they feel no physical distress,
+they rarely relish them. The typical American male would much rather
+sit on his pants along the sidelines and watch someone else engage in
+contact sports. It's almost the national habit. Despite our athletic
+prowess, about 56 percent of American males grow to manhood without
+having ever participated in a group game.
+
+But no matter how great the inertia against it, there must be
+unremitting perseverance in the physical conditioning of military
+forces. For finally, it is killing men with kindness to relax at this
+point. If life is to be conserved, if men are to be given a fair
+chance to play their parts effectively, the physical standards during
+training cannot be less than will give them a maximum fitness for the
+extraordinary stresses of campaigning in war.
+
+When troops lack the coordinated response which comes of long, varied
+and rigorous exercises, their combat losses will be excessive, they
+will lack cohesion in their action against the enemy, and they will
+uselessly expend much of their initial velocity. In the United States
+service, we are tending to forget, because of the effect of
+motorization, that the higher value of the discipline of the road
+march in other days wasn't that it hardened the muscles, but that,
+short of combat, it was the best method of separating the men from the
+boys. This is true today, despite all of the new conditions imposed by
+technological changes. A hard road march is the most satisfactory
+training test of the moral strength of the individual man.
+
+At the same time, to senselessly overload men for road marching hurts
+them two ways. It weakens their faith in the sense of the command,
+thereby impairing morale, and it breaks down their muscle and tendon.
+Enough is known about the average American male to provide a basic
+logistical figure. He stands about 5 feet 8 inches, and weighs about
+153 pounds. The optimum load for a man is about one-third of body
+weight, the same as for a mule. That means that for a training march,
+approximately 50 pounds over-all, including uniform, blankets and
+everything, is the most that a man should be required to carry. If he
+gets so that he can handle that load easily, over let us say a 10-mile
+road march, then the thing to do, further to build up his power, is
+not to increase the weight that he carries, but to lengthen the march.
+Military men have known that this is the underlying principle for
+better than half a century. But the principle has not always been
+observed.
+
+There is another not infrequent cause of breakdown--the leader who
+makes the mistake of thinking that every man's limit is the same as
+his own. Some come into the officer corps fresh from the stadia and
+cinderpaths of the colleges, in the pink of condition. They take
+charge of a group of men, some not yet seasoned, and others somewhat
+older and more wind-broke than themselves. They shag them all over
+the lot at reveille or take them on a cross-country chase like a smart
+rabbit trying to outrun hounds. The poor devils ultimately get back,
+some with their corks completely pulled, a few feeling too nauseated
+to eat their breakfast, and others walking in, feeling whipped because
+they couldn't keep up with the group.
+
+When an officer does this kind of thing thoughtlessly, he shows
+himself to be an incompetent observer of men. When he does it to show
+off, he deserves to be given 10 days in the electric chair.
+
+_It is the steadiness and the continuity of exercise, not the working
+of men to the point of exhaustion and collapse, which keeps them
+upgrading until they are conditioned to the strain of whatever comes._
+To do it the other way around simply makes them hospital patients
+before their time, and fills them with resentment against the service.
+
+In the nature of things, the officer who has been an athlete can fit
+himself into this part of the program with little difficulty and with
+great credit, provided he acts with the moderation that is here
+suggested. The armed services put great store by this. A man with a
+strong flair for physical training can usually find a good berth.
+
+By the same token, the officer who has shunned sports in school,
+either because he didn't have the size or the coordination, or was
+more interested in something else, will frequently have an
+understandable hesitation about trying to play a lead hand in anything
+which he thinks will make him look bad. Of this comes much
+buck-passing. There is often a singular courtesy between officers
+within a unit, and they'll switch details, just to be friendly. So it
+frequently happens that the man who has no great knack at leading in
+exercise and recreation gets the mouse's share of it. And thereby the
+whole point is missed. For it should be perfectly clear that the man
+who has had the least active experience in this field is usually the
+one in greatest need of its strengthening effects. His case is no
+different than that of the enlisted man. If he has not kept himself in
+good physical shape, his nerves will not be able to stand the strain
+of combat, to say nothing of his legs.
+
+It can be said again and again: _The highest form of physical training
+that an officer can undergo is the physical conditioning of his own
+men._ Nothing else can give him more faith in his own ability to stay
+the course and nothing else is likely to give him a firmer feeling of
+solidarity with his men. Study, and an active thirst for wider
+professional knowledge, have their place in an officer's scheme of
+things. But there is something about the experience of bodily
+competition, of joining with, and leading men in strenuous physical
+exercise, which uniquely invigorates one's spirit with the confidence:
+"I can do this! I can lead! I can command!" Military men have
+recognized this since long before it was said that Waterloo was won on
+the playing fields of Eton. Bringing it down to the present, Gen. Sir
+Archibald Wavell said: "The civil comparison to war must be that of a
+game, a very rough and dirty game, for which a robust body and mind
+are essential." Even more emphatic are the words of Coach Frank Leahy
+of Notre Dame, an officer of the United States Navy in World War II:
+"The ability to rise up and grasp an opportunity is something that a
+boy cannot learn in lecture rooms or from textbooks. It is on the
+athletic field primarily that Americans acquire the winning ways that
+play such an important part in the American way of life. The burning
+desire to emerge the victor that we see in our contact sports is the
+identical spirit that gave the United States Marines victory at Iwo
+Jima. If we again know war, the boys who have received sound training
+in competitive athletics will again fight until the enemy has had
+enough."
+
+Men like to see their officers competing and "giving it a good college
+try" no matter how inept, or clumsy they may be. But they take a
+pretty dim view of the leader who perennially acts as if he were
+afraid of a sweat or a broken thumb. In team sports, developing around
+interorganized rivalry, the eligibility of an officer to participate
+among enlisted men is a matter of local ground rules, or special
+regulations. There is nothing in the customs of the services which
+prohibit it. To the contrary, it has been done many times, and is
+considered to be altogether within an officer's dignity. Where there
+is a flat ruling against it, it is usually on the theory that the
+officer, by competing, is robbing some enlisted man of his chance.
+
+Need it be said that in any event, going along with the team, and
+taking an active interest in its ups-and-downs, is not only a service
+officer's duty, but a rewarding privilege, if he is a real leader? In
+this respect, he has a singular relationship to any group that
+represents his unit. He becomes part of their force, and his presence
+is important not only to the team but to the gallery. It is not
+unusual to hear very senior officers excuse themselves from an
+important social function by saying, "I'm sorry, but my team is
+playing tonight." That is a reason which everybody understands and
+accepts.
+
+As for the ranks, even among those men who have had no prior
+acquaintance with organized sports, there is a marked willingness to
+participate, if given just a little encouragement. This is one of the
+effects of getting into military uniform. As someone said about
+gunpowder, "it makes all men alike tall," and provides a welcome
+release from former inhibitions. The military company is much more
+tightly closed than any other. When men are thinking and working
+together in a binding association, they will seek an outlet for their
+excess spirits, and will join together in play, even under the most
+adverse circumstance. During World War I, it was common to see
+American troops playing such games as duck-on-the-rock, tag and touch
+football with somebody's helmet in close proximity to the front.
+Because no other equipment was available, they improvised. So it is
+that in any situation, the acme in leadership consists, not in
+screaming one's head off about shortages, but in using a little
+imagination about what can be done.
+
+The really good thing about the gain in moral force deriving from all
+forms of physical training is that it is an unconscious gain. Will
+power, determination, mental poise and muscle control all march
+hand-in-hand with the general health and well-being of the man, with
+results not less decisive under training conditions than on the field
+of battle. A man who develops correct posture and begins to fill out
+his body so that he looks the part of a fighter will take greater
+pride in the wearing of the uniform. So doing, he will take greater
+care so to conduct himself morally that he will not disgrace it. He
+will gain confidence as he acquires a confident and determined
+bearing. This same presence, and the physical strength which
+contributes to it, will help carry him through the hour of danger.
+Strength of will is partly of the mind and partly of the body. In
+combat, fatigue will beat men down as quickly as any other condition,
+for fatigue inevitably carries fear with it. Tired men are men afraid.
+There is no quicker way to lose a battle than to lose it on the road
+for lack of preliminary hardening in troops. Such a condition cannot
+be redeemed by the resolve of a commander who insists on driving
+troops an extra mile beyond their general level of physical endurance.
+Extremes of this sort make men rebellious and hateful of the command,
+and thus strike at tactical efficiency from two directions at once.
+For when men resent a commander, they will not fight as willingly for
+him, and when their bodies are spent, their nerves are gone.
+
+Looking after the welfare of men, however, does not connote simply
+getting them into the open air and giving them a chance to kick the
+ball around. The services are pretty well organized to provide their
+personnel with adequate sport and recreational facilities, and to
+insure an active, balanced program, in any save the most exceptional
+circumstance. Too, the provisions made for the creature comforts of
+men are ample, experience-tested, and well-regulated.
+
+It is not so much that a young officer needs to have book instruction
+about the detail of these things. Such is the system that they can
+hardly escape his notice, any more than he can escape knowing where to
+get his pay check and by which path he goes to the barbershop.
+
+What counts mainly is that he should fully understand the prime
+importance of a personal caring for his men, so that they cannot fail
+of a better life if it is within his power and wisdom to lead them to
+it.
+
+Once the principle is grasped, and accepted without any mental
+reservation, time and experience will educate him in the countless
+meetings of situations which require its application.
+
+There are times and situations which require that all men be treated
+identically, for the good of organization. There are also occasions
+when nothing else suffices but to give the most help, the most
+encouragement, the most relief to those who are most greatly in need.
+Grown men understand that, and the officer, approaching every
+situation with the question in his mind: "What does reason say about
+what constitutes fair play in this condition?" cannot go far wrong in
+administering to the welfare of those who serve under him.
+
+_It is moral courage, combined with practice, which builds in one a
+delicate sense of the eternal fitness of things._
+
+One example: Under normal training conditions, it would be fair play,
+and the acceptable thing, to rotate men and their junior leaders to
+such an onerous task as guard duty. But if a unit was "dead beat"
+after a hard march, and an officer, pursuing his line of duty, walked
+among his men, inspecting their blistered feet and doing all he could
+to ease each man's physical discomfort, he would then be using
+excessively poor judgment if he did not pick out the men most
+physically fit to do whatever additional duty was required that night.
+
+But infinite painstaking in attending to the physical welfare of men
+is not more important than thoughtful attention to their spiritual
+wants, and their moral needs. In fact, if we would give a little more
+priority to the latter, the former would be far more likely to come
+along all right.
+
+The average American enlisted man is quite young when he enters
+service, and because he is young, he is impressionable. What his
+senior tells him becomes a substitute for the influence and teaching
+that he shed when he left his home or school. That need not mean a
+senior in age! _He looks to his officer, even though the latter may be
+junior in years, because he believes that the man with rank is a
+little wiser, and he has faith that he will not be steered wrong._
+
+Despite all the publicity given to VD, American kids don't know a
+great deal about its reality, and even though the greater number of
+them like to talk about women, what they have to say rarely reveals
+them as worldly-wise.
+
+If an officer talks straight on these subjects, and believes in what
+he says sufficiently to set the good example, he can convince his
+better men that the game isn't worth the candle, and can save even
+some of the more reckless spirits from a major derail.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
+
+KEEPING YOUR MEN INFORMED
+
+
+Nobody ever told the South Sea savage about the nature of air in
+motion. He had never heard of wind and therefore could not imagine its
+effects. Thus when he heard strange noises in the treetops and there
+was a howling around certain headlands, while other headlands were
+silent, he could believe only that the spirits were at work. He would
+strain his ear to hear what they had to say to him, and never being
+able to understand, he would become all the more fearful.
+
+It all sounds pretty silly. And yet civilization is a great deal like
+that. We pride ourselves today in saying, particularly within the
+western nations, that men and women are better informed than ever
+before in the history of the world. What we really mean by that is
+that they are overburdened with more kinds of fragmentary information
+than any people of the past. They know just enough about many major
+questions of the day that either they are driven to the making of
+fearful guesses about the unknown, or they try to close their minds to
+the subject, vainly seeking consolation in the half-truth, "What I
+don't know can't hurt me."
+
+Therein lies a great part of the problem. For it is a fair statement
+that if all of the mystery could be stripped from such a complex topic
+as the nature of atomic power, so that men everywhere would understand
+it, universal fear would be displaced by universal confidence that
+something could be done, and society would be well along the road
+toward its control.
+
+In World War I, the men who had the least fear of the effects of gas
+warfare were the gas officers who understood their subject right down
+to the last detail of the decontamination process and the formula for
+dichlorethylsulphide (mustard gas). The man to whom the dangers of
+submarine warfare seem least fearsome is the submariner. Of all hands
+along the battle line, the first aid man has the greatest calm and
+confidence in the face of fire, largely because he has seen the
+miracles worked by modern medicine in the restoring of grievously
+wounded men. The general or the admiral who is most familiar with the
+mettle of his subordinate commands will also have the most relaxed
+mind under battle pressure.
+
+This leads to a point, which it is better to state here than anywhere
+else. In all military instruction pertaining to the weapons and
+techniques of war, the basis of sound indoctrination is the teaching
+that weapons when rightly used will invariably produce victory, and
+preventive measures, when promptly and thoroughly taken, will
+invariably conserve the operational integrity of the defense. It is
+wrong, _dead wrong_, to start, or carry along, on the opposite track,
+and try to persuade men to do the right thing, by dwelling on the
+awful consequence of doing the wrong thing. Confidence, not fear, is
+the keynote of a strong and convictive doctrine.
+
+In war, in the absence of information, man's natural promptings
+alternate between unreasoning fears that the worst is likely to
+happen, and the wishful thought that all danger is remote. Either
+impulse is a barrier to the growth of that condition of alert
+confidence which comes to men when they have a realization of their
+own strength and a reasonably clear concept of the general situation.
+
+Man is a peculiar animal. He is no more prone to think about himself
+as the central figure amid general disaster than he is to dwell
+morbidly upon thoughts of his own death. Left in the dark, he will get
+a certain comfort out of that darkness, at the same time that it
+clouds his mind and freezes his action. Disturbed by bad dreams about
+what might happen, he nonetheless will not plan an effective use of
+his own resources against that which is very likely to happen. Only
+when he is given a clear view of the horizon, and is made animated by
+the general purpose in all that moves around him, does he understand
+the direction in which he should march, and taking hold, begin to do
+the required thing.
+
+It is almost gratuitous that this even needs to be stated. No high
+commander would think of moving deliberately into the fog of war if
+he was without knowledge of either the enemy or friendly situation.
+Even to imagine such a contingency is paralyzing. But in their nervous
+and spiritual substance, admirals and generals are no different than
+the green men who have come most recently to their forces. Such men
+can not stand alone any more than can the recruit. They draw their
+moral strength and their ability to contend intelligently against
+adverse circumstance largely from what is told them by the men who
+surround them. That is why they have their staffs. They could not
+command even themselves if they were deprived of all information.
+
+Toward the assuring of competent, collected action, the first great
+step is to remove the mystery. This is a process which must be
+mastered in peacetime, if it is to stand the multiplied strains of
+war. What mystery? Let it be said that it surrounds the average file
+on every hand, even though the average junior officer does not realize
+it, while at the same time he himself is completely mystified by much
+that transpires above him. For example, we all like to throw big words
+about, to air our professional erudition; and we do not understand
+that to the man who does not know their meaning, the effect is a
+blackout which makes even the simplest object seem formidable. To
+illustrate, we can take the word "bivouac," common enough in military
+parlance, but rare in civilian speech. When green men are told, "We
+are going into bivouac," and they are not sufficiently grounded in the
+service to know that this means simply going into camp for the night
+without shelter, their instinctive first thought is, "This is another
+complex military process that will probably catch me short." Similarly
+if told that they are detailed "on a reconnaissance mission along the
+line of communications with a liaison function," they could not fail
+to be "flummoxed." And if then instructed to take a BAR up to the MLR
+and follow SOP in covering a simulated SFC party, they wouldn't be far
+from justified if they blew their tops, and ran shrieking from the
+place.
+
+These are horrible examples, put forward only to illuminate a fairly
+simple point. Exaggerated though they may be, something of the same
+sort happens in almost every installation nearly every day. The
+difference is only in degree. _Every man in the service has an
+inalienable right to work and to think in the clear._ He is entitled
+to the why and the wherefore of whatever he is expected to do, as well
+as the what and the how. His efficiency, his confidence and his
+enthusiasm will wax strong in almost the precise measure that his
+superior imparts to him everything he knows about a duty which can be
+of possible benefit to the man. Furthermore, this is a two-way
+current. Any officer who believes in the importance of giving full
+information in a straight-forward manner, and continues to act on that
+principle, will over the long run get back more than he gives. But the
+chump who incontinently brushes off his subordinates because he thinks
+his time is too valuable to spend any great part of it putting them on
+the right track dooms himself to work in a vacuum. He is soon spotted
+for what he is, and if his superiors can't set him straight, they will
+shrug him aside.
+
+These are pretty much twentieth century concepts of how force is
+articulated from top to bottom of a chain of command. Yet the ideas
+are as old as the ages. Ecclesiastes is filled with phrases pointing
+up that clarification is the way of strength and of unity. "All go
+unto one place." "Two are better than one." "Woe to him that is alone
+when he falleth." "A threefold cord is not quickly broken."
+"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." "Folly is
+set in great dignity." "Truly the light is sweet." Great commanders of
+the past have reflected that knowledge is the source of the
+simplifying and joining of all action and have pondered how better to
+resolve the problem. But it is only in our time that this great
+principle in military doctrine has become rooted deep enough to stay,
+because the technological complexity of modern war is such as to
+permit of no other course.
+
+It is folly to attempt to oversimplify that which is of its nature
+complex. War cannot be made less intricate by conjuring everyone to
+return to kindergarten and henceforth use only one-syllable words. No
+such counsel is here intended. The one thought worth keeping is that
+the military system, as we know it, will prove far more workable, and
+its members will each become a stronger link in the chain of force, if
+all hands work a little more carefully toward the growth of a common
+awareness of all terminology, all process and all purpose.
+
+Once pronounced, the object also requires to be seen in due
+proportion. The principle does not entail that a corporal must
+perforce know everything about operation of a company which concerns
+his captain, to be happy and efficient in his own job. But it does set
+forth that he is entitled to have all information which relates to his
+personal situation, his prospects and his action which it is within
+his captain's power to give him. A coxswain is not interchangeable
+with a fleet admiral. To "bigot" him (make available complete detail
+of a total plan) on an operation would perhaps produce no better or
+worse effect than a slight headache. But if he is at sea--in both
+senses of that term--with no knowledge of where he is going or of his
+chances of pulling through, and having been told of what will be
+expected of him personally at the target, still has no picture of the
+support which will be grouped around him, he is apt to be as
+thoroughly miserable and demoralized as were the sailors under
+Columbus, when sailing on and on, they came to fear that they would
+override the horizon and go tumbling into space.
+
+Lt. Gen. Sir Frederick Morgan wrote of the policy applied at his
+COSSAC planning headquarters during World War II: "Right down to the
+cook, they were told what had happened, what was happening, along with
+their part in it, and what it was proposed to do next."
+
+Paraphrasing Montaigne, President Roosevelt told the American people
+during a great national crisis that the main thing they need fear was
+fear itself. In matters great and small, the fears of men arise
+chiefly from those matters they have not been given to understand.
+Fear can be checked, whipped and driven from the field when men are
+kept informed.
+
+The dynamics of the information principle lies in this simple truth.
+We look at the object through the wrong end of the telescope when in
+the military service we think of information only as instruction in
+the cause of country, the virtues of the free society and the record
+of our arms, in the hope that we will make strong converts. These are
+among the things that every American needs to know, but of themselves
+they will not turn an average American male into an intelligent,
+aggressive fighter. Invigorated action is the product of the free and
+well-informed mind. The "will to do" comes of the confidence that
+one's knowledge of what requires doing is equal to that of any other
+man present.
+
+This is the controlling idea and all constructive planning and work in
+the field of information is shaped around it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
+
+COUNSELING YOUR MEN
+
+
+Among the ever-pressing problems of the commander, and equally of the
+young officer schooling himself to the ways of the service, is the
+seeking of means to break down the natural timidity and reticence of
+the great majority of men.
+
+This he can never do unless he is sufficient master of himself that he
+can come out of his own shell and give his men a chance to understand
+him as a human being rather than as an autocrat giving orders. Nothing
+more unfortunate can happen to an officer than to come to be regarded
+by his subordinates as unapproachable, for such a reputation isolates
+him from the main problems of command responsibility as well as its
+chief rewards. So holding himself, he will never be able to see his
+forces in their true light, and will either have to exercise snap
+judgment upon the main problems within his own sphere, or take the
+word of others as to the factors on which promotions, rewards and
+punishments are based within the unit.
+
+When the block is due to an officer's own reticence, mistaken ideas
+about the requirements of his position, or feeling of strangeness
+toward his fellows, the only cure for him is to dive head-first into
+the cold, clear water, like a boy at the old swimming hole in the
+early spring. Thereby he will grow in self-confidence even as he
+progresses in knowledge of the character of his men and of human
+nature in general.
+
+If an officer is senior, and is still somewhat on the bashful side, by
+watching the manner of his own seniors when he gets counsel, and
+thawing toward his immediate juniors, thereby increasing his
+receptiveness toward them, there will occur a chain reaction to the
+bottom level.
+
+The block, however, is not always of the mind and heart. No man can
+help his own face, but it can sometimes be a barrier to communication.
+One commander in European Theater was told by his Executive that his
+subordinates were fearful to approach him because of his perpetual
+scowl. He assembled his officers and he said to them: "I have been
+told that my looks are forbidding. The mirror reminds me of that every
+morning. Years ago I was in a grenade explosion, and a consequent eye
+injury and strain have done to me what you have to see every time we
+get together. But if you cannot look beyond the face, and judge my
+disposition by all else that you see of me in our work together, you
+do not yet have the full perception that is commensurate with your
+responsibility."
+
+The too-formal manner, the overrigid attitude, the disposition to deal
+with any human problem by-the-numbers as if it were only one more act
+in organizational routine, can have precisely the same chilling effect
+upon men as came of this officer's scowl. Though no man may move
+wholly out of his own nature, a cheerfulness of manner in the doing of
+work is altogether within any individual's capabilities, and is the
+highest-test lubricant of his human relationships.
+
+As a further safeguard against making himself inaccessible, the
+officer needs to make an occasional check on the procedures which have
+been established by his immediate subordinates. At all levels of
+command it is the pet task of those "nearest the throne" to think up
+new ways to keep all hands from "bothering the old man." However
+positive an order to the contrary, they will not infrequently contrive
+to circumvent it, mistakenly believing that by this act they save him
+from himself. Many a compassionate commander leads an unwontedly
+lonely life because of the peculiar solicitude of his staff in this
+matter and his own failure to discover what is happening to him. In
+this way the best of intentions may be thwarted. There is no sure cure
+for the evil but personal reconnaissance.
+
+It is never a waste of time for the commander, or for any officer, to
+talk to his people about their personal problems. More times than not,
+the problem will seem small to him, but so long as it looms large to
+the man, it cannot be dismissed with a wave of the hand. Ridicule,
+sarcasm and the brush-off are equally inexcusable in any situation
+where one individual takes another into his confidence on any matter
+which does not involve bad faith on the part of the petitioner. Even
+then, if the man imparts that which shows that his own conduct has
+been reprehensible or that he would enlist the support of his superior
+in some unworthy act, it is better to hear him through and then skin
+him, than to treat what he says in the offhand manner. An officer will
+grow in the esteem of his men only as he treats their affairs with
+respect. The policy of patience and goodwill pays off tenfold because
+what happens to one man is soon known to the others.
+
+In this particular there has been a radical change within the services
+during the current century, simply because of broader understanding of
+human relationships. In the Old Army, the man could get through to his
+commander only if he could satisfy the First Sergeant as to the nature
+of his business; this was a roadblock for the man who either was
+afraid of the First Sergeant, or was loath to let the latter know
+about his affairs. Custom dies hard and this one has not been entirely
+uprooted. But the distance we have traveled toward humanizing all
+command principles is best reflected by the words of General
+Eisenhower in "Command in Europe": "Hundreds of broken-hearted
+fathers, mothers, and sweethearts wrote me personal letters begging
+for some hope that a loved one might still be alive, or for additional
+detail as to the manner of his death. Every one of these I answered."
+
+It is not necessary that an officer wet-nurse his men in order to
+serve well in the role of counsel. His door should be open, but he
+does not play the part either of a father confessor or of a hotel
+greeter. Neither great solemnity nor effusiveness are called for, but
+mainly serious attention to the problem, and then straight-forward
+advice or decision, according to the nature of the case, _and provided
+that from his own knowledge and experience he feels qualified to give
+it_. If not, it is wiser to defer than to offer a half-baked opinion.
+To consider for a time, and to seek light from others, whether higher
+authority or one's closer associates, is the sound alternative when
+there is a great deal at stake for the man and the problem is too
+complex for its solution to be readily apparent. The spirit in which
+this work should be undertaken is nowhere more clearly indicated than
+in the words of Schuyler D. Hoslett who in his book, "Human Factor in
+Management," said this: "Counseling is advising an individual on his
+problem to the extent that an attempt is made to help him understand
+it so he may carry out a plan for its solution. It is a process which
+stimulates the individual's ability for self-direction."
+
+Family affairs, frictions within the organization, personal
+entanglements which prey upon the mind, frustrations and anxieties of
+varying kind, the sense of failure and other nameless fears which are
+rooted deep in the consciousness of nearly every individual, are the
+more general subjects in counseling.
+
+Whatever impairs the man that he wishes to take up with his officer
+becomes ipso facto the officer's rightful business. Equally so, on the
+positive side, when his only desire is to bring forward something that
+he believes would serve the interests of organization, he should be
+heard.
+
+In either case, the perfecting of counsel develops around two
+controlling ideas, stated in the order of their importance: (1) what
+is in the best interests of the unit, and (2) what is for the good of
+the man. In this particular, the officer as counselor is rarely in the
+role of a disinterested party. Unlike the preacher, the lawyer, the
+teacher or the best friend, he has to look beyond what is beneficial
+simply to the spiritual, mental and moral need of one individual.
+There is an abiding necessity to equate the personal problem to the
+whole philosophy within which a command operates. _To keep in mind
+that every individual has his breaking point is everlastingly
+important. But to remember that the unit is also made of brittle stuff
+is not less so._
+
+When undue personal favors are granted, when precedents are set
+without weighing the possible effects upon all concerned, when men are
+incontinently urged, or even sympathetically humored by their
+superiors toward the taking of a weak personal course, the ties of the
+organization are injured, tension within it mounts and the ranks lose
+respect for the manhood of their leaders.
+
+All things are to be viewed in moderation, and with compassion, but
+with a fine balance toward the central purpose. Let us take one
+example. Within a given command, at a particular time, leaves have
+been made so restricted, for command reasons, that there must be a
+showing of genuine urgency. One man comes forward and says that he is
+so sick for the sight of home that he can no longer take duty. As
+certainly as his superior tries to facilitate this man's purpose
+because of fear that he will break, the superior will be harassed by
+other requests with no better basis, and if they are not granted,
+there will be general discontent. On the other hand, suppose another
+man comes forward. A wire from home has informed him that his mother
+is dying. If the superior will not go to bat on such a case, he will
+win the deserved contempt of the same men who were ready to take
+advantage of the other opening, but in this instance would seek
+nothing for themselves.
+
+To know the record, the character and the measure of goodwill of the
+subject is all-important in counseling. It puts the matter in much too
+dim a light to say that after the call comes, the officer should check
+up on these points so that he can deal knowledgeably with the man.
+That is his first order of business within the unit--to learn all that
+he can about the main characteristics of his men. This general duty
+precedes the detail work of counseling. Under normal circumstances, no
+officer is likely to have more than 250 men in his immediate charge.
+There are exceptions, but this is broadly the rule. It is by no means
+an excessive task for one individual to learn the names and a great
+part of the history of the men he sees daily, when not knowing them
+means that he has neglected the heart of operations.
+
+What the man says of himself, in relation to the problem, deserves
+always to be judged according to his own record. If he has proved
+himself utterly faithful, action can be taken on the basis of his
+word. If he is known to be a corner-cutter and a cheat, his case,
+though listened-to with interest and sympathy, needs to be taken with
+a grain of salt, pending further investigation.
+
+World War II officers had to abide by this standard in dealing with
+the general malaise which arose out of redeployment. When a man came
+forward and said that he couldn't take it any more, and the commander
+knew that he had always been a highly dutiful individual, it became
+the commander's job to attempt to get the man home. But when a second
+man came forward with the same story, and the record showed that he
+had always shirked his work, the question was whether he should be
+given the final chance to shirk it again. To favor the first man meant
+furthering discipline; his comrades recognized it as a fair deal. To
+turn back the second man was equally constructive to the same end. In
+a general situation of unique pressure, commanders found that these
+principles worked.
+
+Many of the problems on which men seek advice of their officers are of
+a legal nature; unless an officer is versed in the law, the inquiry
+must be channeled to a qualified source. Other problems are of a kind
+that use should be made of the home services of such an organization
+as the Red Cross. A knowledge of the limits beyond which the help of a
+special office or agency must be sought is therefore as important to
+the officer-consultant as an ability to give the man full information
+about the whereabouts and use of these facilities.
+
+The Red Cross is usually an effective agent in checking the facts of a
+home situation and returning the data. But at the end of the line
+where officer and man sit together, its resources for helping the
+individual (when what is needed mainly is advice on a human equation)
+are not likely to be any better than what his military superiors can
+do for him. In any time of crisis, the normal human being can draw
+strength and composure far more surely from a person he well knows
+than from a stranger.
+
+There is this illustration. During World War II, many a man overseas
+got word that his home had been broken up. The counselor could talk
+the thing out with him, learn whether a reconciliation was the one
+most important thing, or whether the man was groping his way, looking
+for a friend who could help him see the matter in proportion, and
+weigh, among other things, his duty to himself. The Red Cross could
+check the facts of the home situation. But the man's readjustment
+depended in the main on what was done by those who were closest to
+him.
+
+Sooner or later every commander has to deal with some refraction of
+this kind of problem. When it comes, moralizing and generalizing about
+the weakness of human nature does no good whatever. To call the man a
+fool is as invidious as to waste indignation upon the cause of his
+misfortune. Likewise, any frontal approach to the problem, such as
+telling the man, "Here's what you should do," should be shunned, or
+used most sparingly. The more effective attitude can be expressed in
+these words: "If it had happened to me instead of to you, and I were
+in your same situation, here are the things I would consider, and here
+are the points to which I would give greatest weight." To tell any
+subject to brace up and be a man is a plain inference that he is not
+one. To reflect with him on the things which manhood requires is the
+gentle way toward stirring his self-respect. So doing, a counselor
+renews his own character. _Also worth remembering is that in any man's
+dark hour, a pat on the back and an earnest handclasp may work a small
+miracle._
+
+There is much counseling over the subject of transfer. Herein lies an
+exception to a general rule, for in this case the good of the man
+takes precedence over the good of organization. No conscientious
+officer likes to see a good man depart from his organization.
+Nevertheless, the service is not in competition with itself, and it
+advances as a whole in the measure that all men find the niche where
+they can serve most efficiently, and with the greatest satisfaction.
+There are officers who hold to every able subordinate like grim death,
+seeing no better way to advance their personal fortunes. This is a
+sign of moral weakness, not of strength, and its inevitable fruit is
+discontent within the organization. _The sign of superiority in any
+officer, at whatever level, is his confidence that he can make another
+good man to fill any vacancy._ When it is self-evident that a man can
+better himself and profit the service through transfer, it is contrary
+to all principle to deny him that right. This does not mean that the
+unit's exit door should be kept open, but only that it should be ready
+to yield upon a showing of competent proof. It is not unusual that
+when the pressure mounts and war danger rises, many a man develops a
+sudden conviction that he would be more useful in a noncombat arm. The
+officer body itself is not unsusceptible to the same temptation.
+Unless the great majority are held to that line of duty which they had
+accepted in less dangerous circumstance, the service would soon cease
+to have fighting integrity. But it makes no point to keep men in a
+combat arm or service who are quite obviously morally and physically
+unequipped for its rigor, and it is equally wasteful to deny some
+other arm or service the use of a specialist whose skills fill it
+particularly. Some of the ablest commanders in our service have abided
+by this rule: They never denied the man who had a legitimate reason
+for transfer, and they never shuffled off their lemons and goldbricks
+under a false label. Though seemingly idealistic, the rule is also
+practical. The time wasted in excessive worry over a discard is
+sometimes better spent by concentrating on the value of trumps.
+
+Men tend to seek officer counsel when they feel discriminated against
+by lesser authority. When that happens, it is the duty of the officer
+to get at the facts, and act according to them. Complaints against any
+junior are always unpleasant to hear because of their air of intrigue.
+Tactlessly handled, without due weighing of the case from both sides,
+they turn one blunder into two. But no officer is well-advised if he
+believes that his duty automatically is to uphold the arm of a
+subordinate when the facts say that the latter is dead wrong. His duty
+is to reduce friction wherever it is caused by a misuse of power. This
+implies dealing discreetly with the offender instead of directly
+discountenancing him.
+
+There are a few broad, common-sense rules which, when followed, will
+enable any officer to play his part more effectively in the counseling
+of men.
+
+    Privacy is requisite and the interview should not be held at an
+    hour when interruptions are likely.
+
+    A listless manner spoils everything, diminishes the force of
+    reason and discourages confidence.
+
+    To put the man at ease immediately by some personal gesture is
+    more important than observing forms.
+
+    Thereafter the situation is best served by relaxation of bearing
+    rather than by tension.
+
+    All excess of expression is a failing, but above all in the man to
+    whom another looks for guidance.
+
+    To listen well is the prelude toward pondering carefully and
+    speaking wisely.
+
+    No counsel is worthy that has any lower aim than one's own ideals
+    of self-respect.
+
+    Early enough is well; quickly done can be quickly undone.
+
+    To refuse with kindness is more winning than to acquiesce
+    ungraciously.
+
+    To note another man's mood, and to become congenial to it, is the
+    surest way to engage his confidence.
+
+    Decisions which are wholly of the heart and not of the mind will
+    ultimately do hurt to both places.
+
+    No man will talk freely if met by silence, but an intelligent
+    question encourages frankness above all else.
+
+    When one man loses possession of himself it is the more reason
+    that the other should tighten his reserve.
+
+    Affectation in one's own manner gives the lie to one's own credit
+    and destroys it with others.
+
+    To express pity for a man does not serve to restore him and put
+    him above pity.
+
+    When a man is so burdened by a personal problem that it shuts out
+    all else, he must be led to something else.
+
+    Imprudent tactics can undo the wisest strategy.
+
+While these dispositions have particular value in relation to the
+counseling of one's subordinates, they also have some application to
+any situation in which men work and commune together. Men at any level
+do not mistake the touch of sincerity, nor fail to mark as unworthy of
+trust the man who pays only a superficial regard to a matter which
+they deem important.
+
+For the officer already burdened with other duties, counseling may
+seem like a waste of time, and an activity that more properly belongs
+to the chaplain. The wise and understanding "padre" may sometimes
+counsel men on their material problems and thereby assist the officer
+who is over troops. But so doing, he is committing a trespass unless
+he acts with the commander's knowledge and consent. The commander is
+the foster father of the men in his organization. When he renounces
+this role, he neglects a trust.
+
+That neglect cuts the fighting efficiency of the unit at its root.
+Finally, counseling, like all else in military life, has a combat
+purpose. Other things being equal, the tactical unity of men working
+together in combat will be in ratio to their knowledge and sympathetic
+understanding of each other. Whatever the cause, aloofness on the part
+of the officer can only produce a further withdrawal on the part of
+the man. Finally, the cost comes high. In battle, and out of it, the
+failure to act and to communicate is more often due to timidity in the
+individual than to fear of physical danger.
+
+Described in cold type, the counseling process probably appears a
+little sticky. Actually, it is nothing of the sort. For it has been
+going on ever since man became civilized. It is a force in all
+organized human relationships, beginning in infanthood and lasting
+through old age. Because of the nature of a military group, and
+particularly because of the deriving of united strength from
+well-being in each of the component parts, there is much more need to
+regularize it and to qualify all men in a knowledge of those things
+which will enable them to assist a fellow in need of help. But in the
+military society, far more than in civil life, confidence is a two-way
+street. It would be almost impossible to express the collective
+gratitude of tens of thousands of lieutenants and ensigns who in times
+past have learned to rely on the friendly counsel of a veteran
+sergeant or petty officer, and have usually gotten it straight from
+the shoulder, _but with respect_. The breaking-in of most young
+officers, and the acclimating of them to their role in a command
+system, is due, in large measure, to support from this source. Nor are
+senior commanders reluctant to receive moral comfort of this same kind
+in periods of crisis.
+
+When the planes of the First Tokyo Raid under Col. James H.
+Doolittle, crashed among the mountains and along the sea-coast of
+Eastern China, after one of the most valiant strokes in our military
+annals, their commander was among the few who had the added misfortune
+of coming to earth within the Japanese lines. By fate's mercy, he just
+happened to escape by walking between the enemy outposts. Farther
+along, he saw the wreck of another of his planes. Then he came to a
+third; it was smashed beyond hope. But its crew had already heard from
+several other parties. They too had lost their B-25's to the fog, the
+night and the crags. Doolittle realized then that everything was gone,
+lives saved yes, but otherwise the expedition was a total ruin.
+
+The Commander sat for a long time in the cockpit of the wrecked plane,
+terribly depressed, thinking only of how totally he had failed.
+
+At last one of the younger men, Sgt. Paul Leonard walked up to him and
+said: "What's the matter, Colonel?"
+
+Doolittle said: "It couldn't be worse. We've lost everything. We've
+let the country down."
+
+The kid said: "Why, Colonel, you've got this all wrong. You have no
+idea how this looks to the United States. Don't you realize that right
+now they're getting ready to make you a general? Why I'll make you a
+bet they give you the Congressional Medal."
+
+Doolittle thanked him. He thought it was a nice thing for the boy to
+say. That kind of loyalty was worth having in a bad hour. The boy
+started to walk away; he could tell that Doolittle didn't believe a
+word of it. Then suddenly he turned and came on back.
+
+"Colonel," he said, "I'd like to make a deal with you. Suppose I'm
+right about it and you're wrong. So they give you a star and the
+Congressional Medal. If that happens, will you agree to take me with
+you wherever you go?"
+
+Doolittle made him a solemn promise. Fresh courage came to him out of
+the boy's tremendous earnestness.
+
+And of course the boy was right, and the contract was kept, and all
+things went well until, by a savage irony, Sgt. Leonard was killed in
+the last German raid against Doolittle's headquarters in Europe
+shortly before the war ended.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
+
+USING REWARD AND PUNISHMENT
+
+
+One of the illusions having greatest currency among our people is that
+any green member of the fighting establishment is merely an American
+civilian in a uniform, and that therefore, his spirit is nourished to
+the extent that accommodations and usages of the service most nearly
+duplicate what he has known elsewhere.
+
+This belief is especially prevalent during wartime when every mother's
+son puts on a new suit; it is natural to think that everything in the
+service will better suit the boy if it smells like home. The corollary
+of this rather quaint idea is that military organization is therefore
+most perfect when it operates in the same way as the civil society.
+
+Earlier in this book it has been suggested that these ideas need to be
+questioned on two broad grounds: Do not both of them run counter to
+the facts of encharged responsibility, and to human nature itself?
+
+To emphasize it once again, the military officer is not alone an
+administrator: _he is a magistrate_. There are special powers given
+him by the President. It is within these powers that he will sit in
+judgment on his men and that he may punish them when they have been
+grievously derelict. This dual role makes his function radically
+different from anything encountered in civil life--to say nothing of
+the singleness of purpose which a fighting service is supposed to move
+forward.
+
+Moreover, the military officer is dealing with men who are submitted
+to him in a binding relationship which by its nature is not only more
+compelling but more intimate than anything elsewhere in society. As
+much as the parent in the home, and far more than the teacher in the
+school or the executive in business, he is directed to center his
+effort primarily on the building of good character in other
+individuals.
+
+One need only compare a few points of advantage and disadvantage to
+see why a better balanced sense of justice and fair play is required
+of the military officer than of his brother in civil life, and why the
+aim would be far too low if the fighting services did not shoot for
+higher standards of personnel direction than are common in the
+management of American business. Here are the points:
+
+    If any subordinate in the civilian vineyard feels that he is
+    getting a bad deal from his boss, and has become the object of
+    unfair discrimination, it is his royal American privilege to quit
+    on the spot, be he a policeman, a government factotum or a hod
+    carrier. He can then maintain himself by carrying his skill into a
+    new shop. But an enlisted member of the armed establishment cannot
+    quit summarily, and finally, if his commander is just wrong-headed
+    and arbitrary, it can be made almost impossible for him to
+    transfer out. However bad his fortune, he's stuck with it.
+
+    Nepotism is so general in our business and political life that the
+    people who suffer from its effect accept it more or less as the
+    working of nature; the results are therefore less destructive of
+    efficiency than they might be otherwise. It is common to see the
+    boss's nephew or his son get a good spot in the office and then
+    rise like a rocket, even though he is a third-rater. And it is not
+    less common to see a straw boss in a factory favor the man whom he
+    thinks might grease the wheels for him on the outside. But in the
+    armed establishment, favoritism on any grounds, and particularly
+    on such treacherous grounds as these, will destroy the foundations
+    of work and of control.
+
+    The armed establishment has its own body of law. Therein, too, it
+    differs from any civilian autonomy except the state itself. The
+    code is intended to enable a uniform standard of treatment to all
+    individuals in the regulating of all interior affairs. The code is
+    not rigid; its provisions are not absolute. It specifies the
+    general nature of offenses against society, and special offenses
+    against the good of the service. But, except for the more serious
+    offenses, particularly those which by their nature also violate
+    the civil code, it does not flatly prescribe trial and punishment.
+    Military law, in this respect, has more latitude, and is more
+    congenial, than civil law covering minor offenders. Rarely
+    arbitrary in its workings, it premises the use of corrective good
+    judgment at all times. It regards force as an instrument only to
+    be used for conserving the general good of the establishment. The
+    essential power behind the force is something spiritual--the will
+    and conscience of the great majority, expressing itself through
+    the action of one or several of their number. Its major object is
+    not punishment of the wrong-doer but protection of the interests
+    of the dutiful. This view of military law is four-square with the
+    basic principle of all action within the armed services--_that in
+    all cases the best policy is one which depends for its workings on
+    the sense of duty in men toward each other, and thereby
+    strengthens that sense through its operations._
+
+Put in these terms, the attitude of the service toward the problem of
+correction as a means of promoting the welfare of the general
+establishment obviously reposes a tremendous burst in the justice and
+goodwill of the average officer. It would be useless to blink the
+fact. But there is this to be said unalterably in favor of the
+military system's way of handling things: If the organization of the
+whole human family into an orderly unit is ever to be made possible,
+it will be done only because many men, of all ages and working at many
+different levels, develop this faculty for passing critical, impartial
+judgment on the conduct and deserts of those whom they lead, instead
+of regarding it as a special kind of wisdom, given only to the few
+anointed. Nor is that all. Not only the knowledge but the sense of
+duty in men is imperfect. In every society are men who will not obey
+the law of their own accord. Unless the authority which receives and
+interprets the law will also impose it, by force if necessary, the
+reign of law soon ceases. Whether an ordered society is to exist thus
+depends upon whether there are citizens enough, fixed with a sense of
+duty, to obey it and to enforce it.
+
+At first glance, the responsibility seems extraordinarily heavy and
+difficult. But with broadening experience, it becomes almost second
+nature to an officer quickly to set a course by which to judge
+individual men in relation to the affairs of organization, provided
+that he has steered all along in the light of a few elementary
+principles.
+
+Concerning reward, and equally with respect to punishments, no more
+pertinent words could be said than those uttered long ago by Thomas
+Carlyle: "What a reflection it is that we cannot bestow on an unworthy
+man any particle of our benevolence, our patronage or whatever
+resource is ours--without withdrawing it, and all that will grow out
+of it, from one worthy, to whom it of right belongs! We cannot, I say;
+impossible; it is the eternal law of things."
+
+He said a number of important things in this one brief paragraph.
+There is first the thought that when any reward, such as a promotion,
+a commendation or a particularly choice assignment is given other than
+to the man who deserves it on sheer merit, some other man is robbed
+and the ties of organization are weakened.
+
+Next, there is this proposition: if, in the dispensing of punishment,
+undue leniency is extended to an individual who has already proved
+that he merits no special consideration, in the next round a bum rap
+will be given some lesser offender who is morally deserving of a real
+chance. The Italians have an epigram: "The first time a dog bites a
+man, it's the dog's fault; the second time, it's the man's fault."
+
+According to Carlyle, these things have the strength of a natural law.
+Nor is it necessary to take his word for it. Any wise and experienced
+military administrator will say approximately the same thing and will
+tell of some of the bad examples he has met along his way.... The
+commander who was afraid to punish anybody and by his indecision
+punished everybody.... The lieutenant who had such a bad conscience
+about his own weak handling of a bad case of indiscipline that he
+threw the book at the next offender and thereby spoiled a good man and
+gained the ill will of the company.... The old timer who smarted under
+excessive punishment for a trivial offense, broke under it, got into
+worse trouble, and became a felon.... The officer who promoted his
+pets instead of his good men and at last found that there were no good
+men left.... The skipper who condoned a small case of insolence until
+it swelled into a mutiny.... The fool who handled every case alike, as
+if he were an animal trainer instead of a builder of human character
+... and so on, ad infinitum. It is a long and sorry list, but the
+overwhelming majority of dutiful executives in the armed services
+avoid these stupid blunders by following a Golden Rule policy toward
+their men.
+
+If lack of obedience is the most frequent cause of service men being
+brought on the carpet, then as obedience is a moral quality, so should
+punishment be employed as a moral act, its prime purpose being to
+nourish and foster obedience. Before meting punishment, it is
+necessary to judge a man, and judgment means to think over, to
+compare, to weigh probable effects on the man and on the command, and
+to give the offender the benefit of any reasonable doubt. Before any
+punishment is given, the questions must be faced: "What good will it
+achieve?" If the answer is none, then punishment is not in order.
+Punishment of a vindictive nature is a crime; when it is given
+uselessly, or handed out in a strictly routine manner, it is an
+immoral act.
+
+But when punishment has to be awarded, the case must be handled
+promptly, and its issue must be stated incisively, so that there is no
+room for doubt that the officer is certain about his judgments. Men
+know when they are in the wrong, and even when it works to their
+disadvantage, they will feel increased respect toward the officer who
+knows what should be done, and states it without hemming and hawing.
+The showing of firmness is the first requirement in this kind of
+action. It is as foolish to go back on a punishment as to threaten it
+and not follow through. The officer who is always running around
+threatening to court martial his subordinates is merely avowing his
+own weakness, and crying that he has lost all of his moral means. Even
+the dullest men do not mistake vehemence and abuse for signs of
+strength.
+
+To punish a body of men, for offenses committed by two or three of
+their number, even though the offense is obnoxious and it is
+impossible to put the finger on the culprits, is the act of a sadist,
+and is no more excusable within military organization than in civilian
+society. Any officer who resorts to this stupid practice will forfeit
+the loyalty of the best men in his command. There is no reason why it
+should be otherwise.
+
+As a general rule, it is a serious error to reprimand a subordinate in
+the presence of any other person, because of the unnecessary hurt to
+his pride. But circumstances moderate the rule. If the offense for
+which he is being reprimanded involves injury of any sort to some
+other person, or persons, it may be wholly proper to apply the
+treatment in their presence. For example, the bully or the smart-aleck
+who wantonly humiliates his own subordinates is not entitled to have
+his own feelings spared. However, in the presence of his own superior,
+an officer is always ill-advised to administer oral punishment to one
+of his own juniors, since the effect is to destroy confidence both up
+and down the line.
+
+It is always the duty of an officer to intervene, toward the
+protection of his own men against any manifest injustice, whatever its
+source. In fact, this trust is so implicit that he should be ready to
+risk his professional reputation upon it, when he is convinced beyond
+doubt that the man is being unfairly assailed, or that due process is
+not being followed. Both higher authority and civil authority
+occasionally overreach; an officer stands as a shield protecting his
+men against unfair treatment from any quarter. _But it is decidedly
+not his duty to attempt to cheat law or thwart justice for the sake of
+his men simply because they are his men._ His job, as Shakespeare puts
+it, is "to unmask falsehood and bring truth to light, to wrong the
+wronger till he render right."
+
+Finally, the best policy on punishments is to eliminate the frictions
+which are the cause of most transgressions. When a ship is happy, men
+do their duty. Scarcely anything will cross them up more quickly than
+to see rewards given with an uneven hand. Even the stinker who has no
+ambition but to duck work can recognize a deserving man, and will burn
+if that man is bypassed in favor of a bootlicker or some other
+lightweight.
+
+Nothing is more vain than to give a promotion, or any reward, in the
+hope, or on the promise, that the character who receives it will hit
+the sawdust trail and suddenly reform.
+
+Duty is the only sure proving ground. Men, like motors, should be
+judged on their all-around performance. There is no other way to
+generate the steady pull over the long grind.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
+
+FITTING MEN TO JOBS
+
+
+In civilian society, what amounts to a cult has developed around the
+idea that the average person has a natural bent for some particular
+job or profession, which if thwarted will fill him with those
+frustrations which are conceded to be the cause of most of the mental
+and moral disorders of mankind.
+
+Therefore if all men could become rightly placed, we would have Utopia
+tomorrow.
+
+This theory of what humanity mainly cries for is perforce rejected by
+the military establishment, for several eminently practical as well as
+ideal reasons.
+
+It discounts man, his plastic and impressionable nature, his response
+to all that goes on around him and his marked ability to adjust to any
+environment. He is not like a bolt fitted into a hole by a riveter,
+nor merely clay in the hands of the potter. What he becomes is mainly
+of his own making.
+
+Further, the theory does not meet the needs of the situation, since in
+the services, as elsewhere, there are not enough better holes to go
+around, and no man is ready to say that he is good for nothing but
+life as a file-closer.
+
+But the last and main reason why the theory is no good is that it
+doesn't square with human experience. A narrow classification system
+invites the danger of overspecialization and lessens the team play
+which is so indispensable to all military enterprise. It is possible
+for the machine to break down totally from lack of interchangeability
+in its parts.
+
+We learn much from war, but some of the most obvious lessons are
+disregarded. One of the things that it should teach us is the
+tremendous adaptability of the average intelligent man, his ability to
+take hold of work altogether remote from any prior experience, master
+it, and find satisfaction in it, provided he is given help and
+encouragement by those who already know.
+
+This is the great phenomenon of war--greater than the atomic bomb or
+supersonic flight. Former bookkeepers emerge as demolitions men.
+Divinity students become pharmacist's mates. School teachers operate
+tanks. Writing men turn into navigators. Woodsmen become lecturers.
+Longshoremen specialize in tactics. And all goes well.
+
+Then when it is all over, and everyone gets back in his well-worn
+groove, the social scientists explain that these miracles occurred
+because under the stimulus of great fear and excitement which attends
+a period of national emergency, individuals will sublimate their main
+drives, and adjust temporarily to what would be otherwise an onerous
+personal difficulty. Sheer poppycock! Normal men do not feel pressed
+by fear simply because a state of war exists; their chief emotions
+change scarcely at all. These transformations occur only because the
+man had the potential all along, and with someone backing him up _and
+giving him the feeling of success_, his incentives became equal, at
+least, to anything he had known in his peacetime occupation.
+
+That is the long-and-short of it. If our average man couldn't become a
+jack of many trades, and a master of several, the United States would
+never be able to meet a major war emergency.
+
+For these reasons, service concepts of how men should be fitted to
+jobs do not develop around the simple notion that it is all a matter
+of putting a square peg in a square hole--which is the one best way to
+deny the peg any room for expansion. The doctrine is that _men are
+many sided, that they learn their own powers and likes through
+experiment, that they are entitled to find what is best for them, and
+that having found it, their satisfactions will still derive mainly
+from intelligent and interested treatment by their superiors_.
+
+Every officer arrives sooner or later at the point where he has a
+direct hand in the placement of men. By way of preparation for that
+responsibility he should do two things mainly--learn all that he can
+from his superiors about its technical aspects, and in his own
+thinking, concentrate on principles to the exclusion of detail.
+
+The fundamental purpose of all training today is to develop the
+natural faculties and stimulate the brain of the individual rather
+than to treat him as a cog which has to be fitted into a great
+machine.
+
+The true purpose of _all_ rules covering the conduct of warfare and
+all regulations pertaining to the conduct of its individuals is to
+bring about order in the fighting machine rather than to strangle the
+mind of the man who reads them.
+
+Thus in the assignment of men to work within any military
+organization, no amount of perfection in the analysis of skills and
+aptitudes can compensate for carelessness in their subsequent
+administration. The uniformed ranks are not mechanics, storekeepers
+and clerks primarily, but fighting men. This makes a difference. The
+optimum over-all results do not come from the care exercised in seeing
+that every man is placed at exactly the right job but from the concern
+taken that in whatever job he fills, he will feel that he is supported
+and that his efforts are appreciated. There is scarcely a good man who
+has served long within the profession without filling a half-dozen
+roles requiring vastly different skills. And looking back, what would
+the average one say about it? Not that he was happiest where the
+nature of the task best suited his hand, but happiest where his
+relations with his superiors gave him the greatest sense of
+accomplishment.
+
+That is the human nature of the equation. We can let the economist
+argue that what a man puts into a job is largely dependent on what he
+takes out of it. And we can let the philosopher answer him that the
+fault in his proposition is that he has turned it the wrong way
+'round. Regardless of which man has put the cart before the horse,
+there are two basic truths which outweigh the merits of the argument.
+
+First. _All human progress has come of the willingness of a man at a
+particular time to undertake a job which no one had ever done before._
+
+Second. _The main reward of any job is the knowledge that worthwhile
+work has been accomplished._
+
+This last may sound like a corny maxim, but it's true. The reason
+maxims become corny is because they're true.
+
+Despite all of the present-day emphasis on paycheck security as the
+mainspring of human action, the far stronger force which moves man as
+a social being is his desire for a secure place in the respect and
+affections of his associates, including his chief or his employer.
+Gary Cooper, playing in "The Cowboy and the Lady," used the line, "I
+aims, ma'm, to be high-regarded." Except for the few wrong-headed
+people, he was speaking for the whole human family.
+
+The man who can get along without wanting or needing words of approval
+from other people is fit for a cell by himself, either padded or
+barred.
+
+Loyalty in the masses of men waxes strong in the degree that they are
+made to believe that real importance is attached to their work and to
+their ability to think about their work. It weakens at every point
+where they consider that there is a negative respect for their
+intelligence; the dignity in any work is not inherent in the job
+itself but in the attitude of others toward it. Cabinet ministers,
+college presidents and industrial magnates will quit their jobs when
+they feel they no longer have the confidence of those to whom they are
+responsible. That experience is as demoralizing to great men as to the
+mine-run. Equally, the feeling of compensation which comes with any
+token of recognition is one of those touches of human nature which
+make all men akin. If men of genius and good works did not find Nobel
+prizes and honorary college degrees highly gratifying, this custom
+would have faded long ago. It is as rewarding to them to be called
+good at their job as it was to the New Jersey street sweeper who
+pushed his broom so diligently that he swept halfway into the next
+town before discovering his mistake.
+
+The far inferences of these things should be reasonably clear to every
+officer of the fighting establishment. It makes little difference
+whether a man is digging a ditch or is working up a loading table for
+an invasion: what he thinks about his work will depend in large
+measure upon the attitude of his superiors. He will develop no great
+conviction about what he is doing except as it is transmitted to him.
+_The fundamental cause of any breakdown of morale and discipline
+within the armed service usually comes of this, that a commander or
+his subordinates transgress by treating men as if they were children
+or serfs instead of showing respect for their adulthood._
+
+The requirements of modern war are such that we certainly do not want
+to turn out one man exactly like another, or turn the majority into
+mechanical men, capable of one set function. But the rule applies to
+officers as well as men. The greater freedom which is needed has
+nothing to do with social behavior or privilege. It is the freedom to
+think boldly and originally for the common good, for, to quote Kant
+again: "What one learns the most fixedly and remembers the best is
+what one learns more or less by oneself."
+
+Thus in the matter of sizing up men, judging of their capacities and
+trying to get them rightly placed, the need is not a formula, since no
+formula will work. It is only by keeping principles uppermost in our
+thoughts that the greatest measure of common sense will prevail in our
+actions. That is what is needed, rather than clairvoyant powers, or a
+master's degree in psychology, if the service officer is to handle
+personnel efficiently. There are no great wizards in this field: there
+are only men who know more about the human nature of the problem than
+others because they have had a zest for meeting humanity and have
+built a text out of what others have told them.
+
+The job begins by the search for data on the individual--all of the
+data that may be obtained. It goes on from that to sitting down with
+the subject, getting him to open up and talk freely about himself,
+what he has done, what he would like to do with his life, and his
+reasons for so feeling, et cetera. But the information from all
+sources has to be balanced against one's impression of the outer man,
+not just what he says but how he talks, the degree of his
+attentiveness, his bearing, his eye, his self-control. The decision is
+made on the basis of all these reckonings. This is common sense in
+action, and the only alternatives to it are to act upon a hunch or
+purely emotional grounds; one might, with better reason, determine
+another man's fortune by the flip of a coin.
+
+Let's see briefly how the method works out in practice.
+
+If the record shows that a man is a bad speller, careless about
+punctuation, not interested in writing, non-experienced at clerkship,
+and something of a rough diamond in his nature, he would be a bad bet
+for the administrative side, or in supply work, or in a communications
+role, though with a little polishing, and provided that he seems
+self-assured and is what we would call a "likeable" man, he might
+become a capital leader of a tactical group.
+
+On the other hand, the man who says he had tried in vain to develop a
+manual skill, but has always been clumsy with his hands, and is
+supported in what he says by the records of his service, isn't
+necessarily excluded from becoming a good weapons or demolitions man,
+if he seems strong in body and nerve, though he would hardly do for a
+mechanic's berth, or a carpenter's assistant or as a radio repairman.
+Weapons and demolitions require strength, carefulness and good sense
+rather than great dexterity.
+
+Take the man who is uncommunicative, or morose or unusually shy. From
+the day that he starts his service, his superiors should do their best
+to help him to change his ways; these ingrown men are roadblocks to
+group cooperation. But if he does not pick up and become outgiving, he
+hasn't the quality of a junior leader and there is no point in wasting
+space by sending him to any school or course out of which it would be
+expected that duties as an instructor would devolve upon him.
+
+However, there is one word of extreme caution on this point. For as
+long as 6 months after entering service, some men are under abnormal
+constraint because they are in a new element, and feel a little
+frightened inside. Whether this is the case is to be judged best by
+getting full information on the man. If the record shows that he had
+led his class in college, managed an athletic team, headed a debating
+team in high school, been the main wheel in a boy's club or a Scout
+troop, or led any kind of group, this is to be taken as a sign that
+the potential is there and that he is a sleeper. The most common error
+made in the services is that we are prone to underscore that a man was
+a lieutenant in a cadet company while taking no note of the file who
+had greater prestige in other activities because of his natural
+qualities as a leader.
+
+These are only a few average samples of personnel handling, and of
+elementary reasoning. As Mother Goose might say, if the list had been
+longer, the case still wouldn't have been stronger. Far more
+profitably, we can dig a little deeper into the subject of principles.
+
+In two senses, every decision as to the placing of men in the armed
+service is a moral decision, and therein it differs from average
+civilian responsibility. What is best for the man has always to be
+measured against the ultimate security and fighting objects of the
+establishment.
+
+For example, it is dead wrong, even in time of peace, to commit
+tactical leadership to the hands of the man whose moral force clearly
+falls short of what is required on the field of war, no matter how
+congenial he may be. And it is just as wrong to let a blabbermouth
+work his way into security channels, even though the hour is such that
+he can do no immediate harm.
+
+What importance should be attached to a man's estimate of his own
+capabilities? It is always pertinent, but it is by no means decisive.
+This is so for two reasons, the first being that the majority of men
+tend to over-sell themselves on the thing they like to do, and the
+second, that very few men know their own dimensions. Almost
+consciously, men resist the thing that they do not know, because of
+premonitory fears of failure. When the Armored Force School was first
+organized in 1941, a private from a unit stationed in Georgia was
+arbitrarily assigned to take the radio course. He protested, saying
+that he did not like anything about the field and therefore had no
+talent for it. But his commander sent him along. Within 1 week after
+arriving at Fort Knox, he was operating at a faster rate than any man
+in the history of the Army. Every service could tell stories of this
+kind; they are not miracles; they are regular features of the daily
+show.
+
+At the same time, the man who volunteers for a particular line of
+duty--especially if it is a hard duty--already has one mark in his
+favor. The fact that he wants to do it is one-half of success. Before
+turning him down, there must be a substantially clear showing that he
+lacks the main qualifications. It must be a _compelling_ reason,
+rather than the overweening excuse that it is more convenient to keep
+him where he is. In any case, he should be thanked for coming forward,
+and earmarked as a good prospect for the next likely opening.
+
+There is a slack saying in the services that "the good man never
+volunteers." That is an outright canard. The best men still do.
+
+In job placement, mistakes are inevitable. Any authority in this work
+will say so. Every experienced man who has had conspicuous success in
+picking the right men, and in getting scores of individuals started up
+the right ladder, will also shudder a little as he recalls his
+particularly atrocious blunders. Outward appearances are so greatly
+deceiving! The prior estimates placed on men are so frequently highly
+colored or outright dishonest!
+
+As to the making of mistakes, it is just not enough to comment that
+they have value, provided one has sufficient breadth to learn from
+hard experience. What is vastly more important is that the mistake,
+once made, will not be needlessly compounded. That is a normal, human
+temptation. The attitude, "I don't care if he is a chump; he's my
+chump," has nothing in its favor. Yet it becomes a point of pride in
+some men that they will not admit their judgments are fallible.
+Consequently, having chosen the wrong man for a given responsibility,
+they will sustain him there, come hell or high water, rather than make
+public acknowledgement of error.
+
+With what result? Mainly this, that for the sake of the point, they
+win, with it, the contempt of their other subordinates. For there is
+something very childish about this form of weakness, though it is a
+failing not unknown in many men otherwise qualified for high
+responsibility. To put it plainly, _no man_ has the moral right to
+suffer this upon any organization he is professing to serve.
+
+The advice of one's subordinates, as to the placement and promotion of
+men with whom they are in close contact, is not to be followed
+undeviatingly. Men play favorites: they will sometimes back an
+individual for no better reason than that they "like the guy." Too,
+each small group leader, even the best one, will work to advance the
+interests of his own men, because so doing is part of his own buildup.
+Unless decisions are made from a central point of view, the
+subordinate who talks the most convincingly will get an extra portion
+of favor for his men, and jealousies will wrack the organization.
+
+There is one last point. No officer can progress in fitting men to
+jobs except as he becomes better informed about job requirements. This
+is an essential part of his education. There is no administrative
+technique which is separate and apart from knowledge of how basic work
+is performed in the fields which have to be administered. A great many
+officers resist this truth, but it is nonetheless valid.
+
+What is eternally surprising in the fighting services is how the
+aggressive questing for knowledge continues to pay large dividends,
+and leads, in the average case, to a general forgiveness of one's
+little sins and vices.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
+
+AMERICANS IN COMBAT
+
+
+The command and control of men in combat _can_ be mastered by the
+junior leaders of American forces short of actual experience under
+enemy fire.
+
+It is altogether possible for a young officer his first time in battle
+to be in total possession of his faculties and moving by instinct to
+do the right thing, provided that he has made the most of his training
+opportunities.
+
+Exercise in the maneuvering of men is only an elementary introduction
+to this educational process. The basic requirement is a continuing
+study, first of the nature of men, second of the techniques which
+produce unified action, and last, of the history of past operations,
+which are covered by an abundant literature.
+
+Provided always that this collateral study is sedulously carried
+forward by the individual officer, at least 90 percent of all that is
+given him during the training period becomes applicable to his
+personal action and his power to lead other men when under fire.
+
+Each service has its separate character. The fighting problem of each
+differs in some measure from those of all others. In the nature of
+things, the task of successfully leading men in battle is partly
+conditioned by the unique character and mission of each service.
+
+It would therefore be gratuitous, and indeed impossible, to attempt to
+outline a doctrine which would be of general application, stipulating
+methods, techniques, etc., which would apply to all Americans in
+combat, no matter in what element they engaged.
+
+There are, however, a few simple and fundamental propositions to which
+the Armed Services subscribe in saying to the officer corps what may
+be expected of the average man of the United States under the
+conditions of battle. Generally speaking, they have held true of
+Americans in times past from Lexington to Okinawa. The fighting
+establishment builds its discipline, training, code of conduct and
+public policy around these ideas, believing that what served yesterday
+will also be the one best way tomorrow, and for so long as our
+traditions and our system of freedoms survive. These propositions are:
+
+I
+
+When led with courage and intelligence, an American will fight as
+willingly and as efficiently as any fighter in world history.
+
+II
+
+His keenness and endurance in war will be in proportion to the zeal
+and inspiration of his leadership.
+
+III
+
+He is resourceful and imaginative, and the best results will always
+flow from encouraging him to use his brain along with his spirit.
+
+IV
+
+Under combat conditions he will reserve his greatest loyalty for the
+officer who is most resourceful in the tactical employment of his
+forces and most careful to avoid unnecessary losses.
+
+V
+
+He is to a certain extent machine-bound because the nature of our
+civilization has made him so. In an emergency, he tends to look around
+for a motor car, a radio or some other gadget that will facilitate his
+purpose, instead of thinking about using his muscle power toward the
+given end. In combat, this is a weakness which thwarts contact and
+limits communications. Therefore it needs to be anticipated and
+guarded against.
+
+VI
+
+War does not require that the American be brutalized or bullied in any
+measure whatever. His need is an alert mind and a toughened body. Hate
+and bloodlust are not the attributes of a sound training under the
+American system. To develop clearly a line of duty is sufficient to
+point Americans toward the doing of it.
+
+VII
+
+Except on a Hollywood lot, there is no such thing as an American
+fighter "type." Our best men come in all colors, shapes, and sizes.
+They appear from every section of the Nation, including the
+territories.
+
+VIII
+
+Presupposing soundness in their officer leadership, the majority of
+Americans in any group or unit can be depended upon to fight loyally
+and obediently, and will give a good account of themselves.
+
+IX
+
+In battle, Americans do not tend to fluctuate between emotional
+extremes, in complete dejection one day and in exultation the next,
+according to changes in the situation. They continue, on the whole, on
+a fairly even keel, when the going is tough and when things are
+breaking their way. Even when heavily shocked by battle losses, they
+tend to bound back quickly. Though their griping is incessant, their
+natural outlook is on the optimistic side, and they react unfavorably
+to the officer who looks eternally on the dark side.
+
+X
+
+During battle, American officers are not expected either to drive
+their men or to be forever in the van, as if praying to be shot. So
+long as they are with their men, taking the same chances as their men,
+and showing a firm grasp of the situation and of the line of action
+which should be followed, the men will go forward.
+
+XI
+
+In any situation of extreme pressure, or moral exhaustion, where men
+cannot otherwise be rallied and led forward, officers are expected to
+do the actual physical act of leading, such as performing as first
+scout, or point, even though this means taking over what normally
+would be an enlisted man's function.
+
+XII
+
+The normal, gregarious American is not at his best when playing a
+lone-handed or tactically isolated part in battle. He is not a
+kamikaze or a one-man torpedo. Consequently, the best tactical
+results obtain from those dispositions and methods which link the
+power of one man to that of another. Men who feel strange with their
+unit, having been carelessly received by it, and indifferently
+handled, will rarely, if ever, fight strongly and courageously. But if
+treated with common decency and respect, they will perform like men.
+
+XIII
+
+Within our school of military thought, higher authority does not
+consider itself infallible. Either in combat or out, in any situation
+where a majority of militarily-trained Americans become undutiful,
+that is sufficient reason for higher authority to resurvey its own
+judgments, disciplines and line of action.
+
+XIV
+
+To lie to American troops to cover up a blunder in combat rarely
+serves any valid purpose. They have a good sense of combat and an
+uncanny instinct for ferreting out the truth when anything goes wrong
+tactically. They will excuse mistakes but they will not forgive being
+treated like children.
+
+XV
+
+When spit-and-polish are laid on so heavily that they become onerous,
+and the ranks cannot see any legitimate connection between the
+requirements and the development of an attitude which will serve a
+clear fighting purpose, it is to be questioned that the exactions
+serve any good object whatever.
+
+XVI
+
+On the other hand, because standards of discipline and courtesy are
+designed for the express purpose of furthering control under the
+extraordinary frictions and pressures of the battlefield, their
+maintenance under combat conditions is as necessary as during
+training. Smartness and respect are the marks of military alertness,
+no matter how trying the circumstances. But courtesy starts at the
+top, in the dealing of any officer with his subordinates, and in his
+decent regard for their loyalty, intelligence, and manhood.
+
+XVII
+
+Though Americans enjoy relatively a bountiful, and even luxurious
+standard of living in their home environment, they do not have to be
+pampered, spoon-fed and surfeited with every comfort and convenience
+to keep them steadfast and devoted, once war comes. They are by nature
+rugged men, and in the field will respond most perfectly when called
+on to play a rugged part. Soft handling will soften even the best men.
+But even the weak man will develop a new vigor and confidence in the
+face of necessary hardship, if moved by a leadership which is
+courageously making the best of a bad situation.
+
+XVIII
+
+Extravagance and wastefulness is somewhat rooted in the American
+character, because of our mode of life. When our men enter military
+service, there is a strong holdover of their prodigal civilian habits.
+Even under fighting conditions, they tend to be wasteful of drinking
+water, food, munitionment and other vital supply. When such things are
+made _too_ accessible, they tend to throw them away, rather than to
+conserve them in the general interests. This is a distinct weakness
+during combat, when conservation of all supply is the touchstone of
+success. The regulating of all supply, and the preventing of waste in
+any form, is the prime obligation of every officer.
+
+XIX
+
+Under the conditions of battle, any extra work, exercise, maneuver or
+_marching which does not serve a clear and direct operational purpose_
+is unjustifiable. The supreme object is to keep men as physically
+fresh and mentally alert as possible. Tired men take fright and are
+half-whipped before the battle opens. Worn-out officers cannot make
+clear decisions. The conservation of men's powers, not the exhaustion
+thereof, is the way of successful operation.
+
+XX
+
+When forces are committed to combat, it is vital that not one
+unnecessary pound be put on any man's back. Lightness of foot is the
+key to speed of movement and the increase of firepower. In judging of
+these things, every officer's thought should be on the optimistic
+side. It is better to take the chance that men will manage to get by
+on a little less than to overload them, through an over-cautious
+reckoning of every possible contingency, thereby destroying their
+power to do anything effectively.
+
+XXI
+
+Even a thorough training and long practice in weapons handling will
+not always insure that a majority of men will use their weapons freely
+and consistently when engaging the enemy. This is particularly true of
+Americans. In youth they are taught that the taking of human life is
+wrong. This feeling is deep-rooted in their emotions. Many of them
+cannot shake it off when the hour comes that their own lives are in
+danger. They fail to fire, though they do not know exactly why. In
+war, firing at an enemy target can be made a habit. Once required to
+make the start, because he is given personal and intelligent
+direction, any man will find it easier to fire the second and third
+time, and soon thereafter his response will become automatic in any
+tactical situation. When engaging the enemy, the most decisive task of
+all junior leaders is to make certain that _all_ men along the line
+are employing their weapons, even if this means spending some time
+with each man and directing his fire. Reconnaissance and inspection
+toward this end, particularly in the early stages of initial
+engagement, are far more important than the employment of weapons by
+junior leaders themselves, since this latter tends to distract their
+attention from what the men are doing.
+
+XXII
+
+Unity of action develops from fullness of information. In combat, all
+ranks have to know what is being done, and why it is being done, if
+confusion is to be kept to a minimum. This holds true in all types of
+operation, whatever the service. However, a surfeit of information
+clouds the mind and may sometimes depress the spirit. We can take one
+example. A commander might be confronted by a complex situation, and
+his solution may comprise a continuing operation in three distinct
+phases. It would be advisable that all hands be told the complete
+detail of "phase A." But it might be equally sensible that only his
+subordinates who are closest to him be made fully informed about
+"phase B," and "phase C." All plans in combat are subject to
+modification as circumstances dictate; this being the case, it is
+better not to muddle men by filling their minds with a seeming
+conflict in ideas. More important still, if the grand object seems too
+vast and formidable, even the first step toward it may appear doubly
+difficult. Fullness of information does not void the other principle
+that one thing at a time, carefully organized all down the line, is
+the surest way.
+
+XXIII
+
+There is no excuse for malingering or cowardice during battle. It is
+the task of leadership to stop it, by whatever means would seem to be
+the surest cure, always making certain that in so doing it will not
+make a bad matter worse.
+
+XXIV
+
+The Armed Services recognize that there are occasional individuals
+whose nervous and spiritual makeup may be such that, though they erode
+rapidly and may suffer complete breakdown under combat conditions,
+they still may be wholly loyal and conscientious men, capable of doing
+high duty elsewhere. Men are not alike. In some, however willing the
+spirit, the flesh may still be weak. To punish, degrade or in any way
+humiliate such men is not more cruel than ignorant. When the good
+faith of any individual has been repeatedly demonstrated in his
+earlier service, he deserves the benefit of the doubt from his
+superior, pending study of his case by medical authority. But if the
+man has been a bad actor consistently, his officer is warranted in
+proceeding on the assumption that his combat failure is just one more
+grave moral dereliction. To fail to take proper action against such a
+man can only work unusual hardship on the majority trying to do duty.
+
+XXV
+
+The United States abides by the laws of war. Its armed forces, in
+their dealing with all other peoples, are expected to comply with the
+laws of war, in the spirit and to the letter. In waging war, we do not
+terrorize helpless non-combatants, if it is within our power to avoid
+so doing. Wanton killing, torture, cruelty or the working of unusual
+and unnecessary hardship on enemy prisoners or populations is not
+justified in any circumstance. Likewise, respect for the reign of law,
+_as that term is understood in the United States_, is expected to
+follow the flag wherever it goes. Pillaging, looting and other
+excesses are as unmoral where Americans are operating under military
+law as when they are living together under the civil code. None the
+less, some men in the American services will loot and destroy
+property, unless they are restrained by fear of punishment. War looses
+violence and disorder; it inflames passions and makes it relatively
+easy for the individual to get away with unlawful actions. But it does
+not lessen the gravity of his offense or make it less necessary that
+constituted authority put him down. The main safeguard against
+lawlessness and hooliganism in any armed body is the integrity of its
+officers. When men know that their commander is absolutely opposed to
+such excesses, and will take forceful action to repress any breach of
+discipline, they will conform. But when an officer winks at any
+depradation by his men, it is no different than if he had committed
+the act.
+
+XXVI
+
+On the field of sport Americans always "talk it up" to keep nerves
+steady and to generate confidence. The need is even greater on the
+field of war, and the same treatment will have no less effect. When
+men are afraid, they go silent; silence of itself further intensifies
+their fear. The resumption of speech is the beginning of thoughtful,
+collected action, for self-evidently, two or more men cannot join
+strength and work intelligently together until they know one another's
+thoughts. _Consequently, all training is an exercise in getting men to
+open up and become articulate even as it is a process in conditioning
+them physically to move strongly and together._
+
+XXVII
+
+Inspection is more important in the face of the enemy than during
+training because a fouled piece may mean a lost battle, an overlooked
+sick man may infect a fortress and a mislaid message can cost a war.
+In virtue of his position, every junior leader is an inspector, and
+the obligation to make certain that his force at all times is
+inspection proof is unremitting.
+
+XXVIII
+
+In battle crisis, a majority of Americans present will respond to any
+man who has the will and the brains to give them a clear, intelligent
+order. They will follow the lowest-ranking man present if he obviously
+knows what he is doing and is morally the master of the situation, but
+they will not obey a chuckle-head if he has nothing in his favor but
+his rank.
+
+XXIX
+
+In any action in which the several services are joined, any American
+officer may expect the same measure of respect from the ranks of any
+other service as from his own, provided he conducts himself with a
+dignity and manner becoming an American officer.
+
+For all officers, due reflection on these points, relating to the
+character of our men in war, is not more important than a continuing
+study of how they may be applied to all aspects of training, toward
+the end that we may further strengthen our own system. This is the
+grand object in all military studies. That service is most perfect
+which best holds itself, at all times and at all levels, in a state of
+readiness to move against and destroy any declared enemy of the United
+States.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX ONE
+
+RECOMMENDED READING
+
+
+    Army Historical Division--Okinawa: The Last Battle, 1949.
+                                       Omaha Beachhead, 1946.
+
+    H. H. Arnold--Global Mission, 1949.
+
+    Basil Bartlett--My First War, 1941.
+
+    William Liscum Borden--There Will Be No Time, 1946.
+
+    David L. Brainard--The Outpost of the Lost, 1929.
+
+    Bernard Brodie--A Guide to Navy Strategy, 1944.
+                    The Absolute Weapon, 1946.
+
+    Vannevar Bush--Modern Arms and Free Men, 1949.
+
+    Winston S. Churchill--The World Crisis, 1931.
+                          The Unknown War, 1931.
+                          The River War, 1933.
+                          Marlborough: His Life and Times, 1933-35.
+                          A Roving Commission, 1939.
+                          The Second World War, 1948--.
+
+    Hugh M. Cole--The Lorraine Campaign, 1950.
+
+    W. F. Craven and J. L. Cate--The Army Air Forces in World War II,
+                                                              1948--.
+
+    Edward S. Creasy--Decisive Battles of the World, 1862.
+
+    James P. S. Devereux--The Story of Wake Island, 1947.
+
+    Giulio Douhet--Command of the Air, 1927.
+
+    Clifford Dowdey--Experiment in Rebellion, 1946.
+
+    Theodore Draper--The Six Weeks' War, 1944.
+
+    Dwight D. Eisenhower--Crusade in Europe, 1948.
+                          Report by the Supreme Commander, 1946.
+
+    George Fielding Eliot--The Ramparts We Watch, 1938.
+                           If Russia Strikes, 1949.
+
+    Charles W. Elliott--Winfield Scott, 1937.
+
+    Cyril Falls--The Nature of Modern Warfare, 1941.
+
+    Ferdinand Foch--The Principles of Warfare, 1913.
+
+    J. F. C. Fuller--Decisive Battles, 1940.
+                     The Generalship of Ulysses S. Grant, 1929.
+                     Armament and History, 1946.
+                     The Second World War, 1948.
+                     Armored Warfare, 1943.
+
+    Douglas F. Freeman--R. E. Lee, 1934.
+
+    William A. Ganoe--History of the United States Army, 1942.
+
+    James M. Gavin--Airborne Warfare, 1947.
+
+    Joseph I. Greene--The Living Thoughts of Clausewitz, 1943.
+
+    Russell Grenfell--The Bismarck Episode, 1949.
+
+    U. S. Grant--Personal Memoirs, 1885.
+
+    Augustin Guillaume--Soviet Arms and Soviet Power, 1949.
+
+    Francis de Guingand--Operation Victory, 1947.
+
+    W. F. Halsey--Admiral Halsey's Story, 1947.
+
+    Gordon A. Harrison--The Cross-Channel Attack, 1950.
+
+    B. H. Liddell Hart--Sherman, 1934.
+                        The Future of Infantry, 1934.
+                        The German Generals Talk, 1949.
+
+    G. F. R. Henderson--Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War,
+                                                                1898.
+                        The Science of War, 1905.
+
+    Pendleton Herring--The Impact of War, 1941.
+
+    R. D. Heinl, Jr.--The Defense of Wake, 1947.
+                      Marines at Midway, 1948.
+
+    John Hersey--Into the Valley, 1943.
+
+    Russell Hill--Desert War, 1942.
+
+    Max von Hoffmann--The War of Lost Opportunities, 1925.
+
+    Ralph Ingersoll--The Battle Is the Pay-Off, 1943.
+
+    Douglas Wilson Johnson--Topography and Strategy in the War, 1917.
+
+    Melvin M. Johnson and Charles T. Haven--Automatic Arms, 1941.
+
+    Walter Karig, Russell L. Harris and Frank A. Manson--Battle Report,
+                                                             1944-1949.
+
+    George C. Kenney--General Kenney Reports, 1949.
+
+    Roger Keyes--Naval Memoirs, 1933.
+
+    Alexiei Kuropatkin--The Russian Army and the Japanese War, 1909.
+
+    Lee J. Levert--Fundamentals of Naval Warfare, 1947.
+
+    Bert Levy--Guerilla Warfare, 1942.
+
+    Charles B. MacDonald--Company Commander, 1947.
+
+    A. T. Mahan--Influence of Seapower Upon History.
+
+    George McMillan--The Old Breed, 1949.
+
+    George C. Marshall--General Marshall's Report, 1946.
+
+    S. L. A. Marshall--Island Victory, 1944.
+                       Bastogne: The First Eight Days, 1946.
+                       Men Against Fire, 1948.
+
+    Giffard Martel--An Outspoken Soldier, 1944.
+
+    Walter Millis--The Last Phase, 1946.
+                   This Is Pearl, 1947.
+
+    John Miller, Jr.--Guadalcanal: The First Offensive, 1949.
+
+    Drew Middleton--Our Share of Night, 1946.
+
+    Samuel Taylor Moore--America and the World War, 1937.
+
+    Samuel Eliot Morison--History of United States Naval Operations in
+                                      World War II (14 vols.), 1947--.
+
+    W. F. P. Napier--History of the War in the Peninsula (6 vols.) 1828.
+
+    James R. Newman--The Tools of War, 1942.
+
+    Frederick Palmer--America in France, 1921.
+                      John J. Pershing, 1921.
+
+    George S. Patton, Jr.--War As I Knew It, 1947.
+
+    Thomas R. Phillips--Roots of Strategy, 1940.
+
+    Frederick Pile--Ack-Ack, 1949.
+
+    Fletcher Pratt--Ordeal by Fire, 1935.
+                    Road to Empire, 1939.
+                    The Marine's War, 1948.
+                    Navy: A History.
+
+    Leonard Rapport and Arthur Northwood--Rendezvous With Destiny, 1948.
+
+    Roland Ruppenthal--Utah Beach to Cherbourg, 1947.
+
+    W. T. Sherman--Memoirs, 1886.
+
+    Robert E. Sherwood--Roosevelt and Hopkins, 1948.
+
+    Milton Shulman--Defeat in the West, 1948.
+
+    Holland M. Smith--Coral and Brass, 1949.
+
+    E. L. Spears--Liaison 1914, 1930.
+                  Prelude to Victory, 1939.
+
+    Joseph W. Stilwell--The Stilwell Papers, 1948.
+
+    Alfred Vagts--The History of Militarism, 1937.
+
+    Yorck von Wartenburg--Napoleon as a General.
+
+    Archibald Wavell--Allenby, 1941.
+                      Generals and Generalship, 1941.
+
+    John W. Wheeler Bennett--The Forgotten Peace, 1939.
+                             Munich: Prologue to Tragedy, 1948.
+
+    Kenneth P. Williams--Lincoln Finds a General, 1949.
+
+
+
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