Army Captain Christopher J. Courtney recently offered new lieutenants ten rules for success in his recent piece “The Successful Lieutenant.” This is the second part in my ten part series on his rules (here is the first). Put The Troops First. This rule is perhaps best summarized in a quotation from Field Marshal Sir William Slim. He was the commander of the British 14th Army in the Burma Campaign of World War II. I tell you as officers, that you will not eat, sleep, smoke, sit down, or lie down until your soldiers have had a chance to do these things. If you hold to this, they will follow you to the ends of the earth, if you do not, will break you in front of your regiments Quite simply, you put the needs of your troops ahead of your own with every chance you get. As a platoon leader, I had a simple rule in the field, no squad leader could eat until all of his soldiers had eaten, the platoon sergeant could not eat until all of the squad leaders had eaten, and I could not eat until the platoon sergeant had eaten. On the surface it appears a…Continue reading The Successful Lieutenant Part Two: “Mission First”

Army Captain Christopher J. Courtney offered new lieutenants ten rules for success in his recent piece “The Successful Lieutenant.” I am beginning a series on this article and will try to post my thoughts on each of Courtney’s ten rules. Here is the first: Lead From The Front. The privilege of leading U.S. Army soldiers is an honor you should not take lightly. Your first priority must be to become worthy of leading them. Lead by example every day and in everything you do, whether it is at physical training, on field exercises, or on the range. Face it, you will have to prove yourself every day as a lieutenant. Put yourself in their shoes and take a hard look at yourself. Would you follow a person with your standards? Would you follow a person with your level of tactical and technical expertise? Do not be a hypocrite. If you expect the soldiers to meet a certain standard, ensure you exceed it. Stay cool under pressure and be a calming presence in the platoon when things get stressful. Remember this when you arrive as a new platoon leader, you are like a transplanted organ. The body (platoon) either accepts or…Continue reading The Successful Lieutenant Part One: “Lead from the Front”

This week I finished Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove. While reading, I came across a passage that ties in well to one of the war lessons I think junior military leaders need to understand (**spolier alert for this whole post**). While on a Texas-to-Montana cattle drive with some of the men from his former Texas Ranger unit, there is a point where one of the cowboys, Augustus McCrae, has just fought off six of 12 attacking Indians alone. Stranded and away from support, McCrae’s mind wandered before the second part of the battle with the Indians. He reminisced about some of the Rangers’ abilities in battles with Indians. I particularly noted the description of a character named Josh Deets: “Deets’s great ability was in preventing ambushes. He would seem to feel them coming, often a day or two early, when he would have no particular clues. “How’d you know?” they would ask him and Deets would have no answer. “Just knew,” he said. In Lonesome Dove, Josh Deets is an free black, high-performing cowboy. Recognizing Deets’ abilities as a reconnaissance man and tracker, Woodrow Call–McCrae’s business partner and leader of the cattle drive–assigned Deets the scouting duties for the cowboys when…Continue reading War Lesson #2–Put the right Marine in the right spot, regardless of rank

Something about veterans that bothers me is how widely and freely some share their war stories. A funny story here and there is fine. A story about someone else’s heroism is great. But all too often the stories smack of vanity and end with some self-aggrandizing point. I have also been guilty of this myself. After my first deployment, I moved from a rifle platoon to weapons company. When I arrived, I shared stories of my platoon’s firefights and other action too freely with the officers in my new company. Another officer in my new company—we’ll call him Michael—did not. After about a week, I noticed that he was taking the high road, and literally walked away from me and the others sharing stories. At one point, one of Michael’s other lieutenant buddies started making fun of me behind my back. But Michael steadfastly refused to participate in the storytelling and, to my knowledge, did not engage in the backstabbing. After hearing that another officer was talking poorly behind my back, I tried to table my anger and instead listened to the criticism. While I think the other lieutenant misunderstood me and had his own anger issues, I recognized some…Continue reading War Lesson #1: Vanity