*FM 22-100 FIELD MANUAL HEADQUARTERS NO. 22-5 DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY Washington, DC, 31 July 1990
MILITARY LEADERSHIP
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Preface Introduction CHAPTER 1. Concept of Leadership 2. Foundations of Army Leadership Doctrine 3. Leadership in Action 4. What a Leader Must Be 5. What a Leader Must Know 6. What a Leader Must Do 7. The Payoff 8. Stress in Combat 9. The Environment of CombatAPPENDIX A. Leadership Competencies B. Leadership Styles C. Assuming a Leadership Position D. Officer and Noncommissioned Officer Relationships E. Development Leadership Assessment
GLOSSARY REFERENCES AUTHORIZATION LETTER
FM 22-100 Preface A Trained and Ready Army has as its foundation, competent and confident leaders. We develop such leaders through a dynamic process consisting of three equally important pillars: institutional training, operational assignments, and self-development. This approach is designed to provide the education, training, and experience that enable leaders to develop the necessary skills, knowledge, and attitudes. FM 22-100, Military Leadership, is the Army's basic manual on leadership. It has two purposes: to provide an overview of Army leadership doctrine, including the principles for applying leadership theory at all organizational levels to meet operational requirements; and to prescribe the leadership necessary to be effective in peace and in war. While this manual applies to all Army leaders, its principal focus is on company grade officers, warrant officers, and noncommissioned officers, the junior leaders of soldiers at battalion-squadron level and below. FM 22-100 incorporates the professional military values, the bedrock of our service, that all Army leaders must internalize in the earliest years of their careers. Army leaders must learn to fulfill expectations of all soldiers including other leaders. FM 22-100 addresses fundamental expectations: •Demonstrate tactical and technical competence. Know your business. Soldiers expect their leaders to be tactically and technically competent. Soldiers want to follow those leaders who are confident of their own abilities. To be confident a leader must first be competent. Trust between soldiers and their leaders is based on the secure knowledge that the leader is competent. •Teach subordinates. In training, leaders must move beyond managing programs or directing the execution of operations. Our leaders must take the time to share with subordinates the benefit of experience and expertise. •Be a good listener. We must listen with equal attention to our superiors and our subordinates. As leaders we can help solve any problem for a soldier or a unit. However, we can only do so if we know about it. We won't know about it if we don't listen. •Treat soldiers with dignity and respect. Leaders must show genuine concern and compassion for the soldiers they lead. It is essential that leaders remain sensitive to family members and include them in unit activities to the extent possible. Remember, respect is a two-way street; a leader will be accorded the same level of respect that he or she shows for others. •Stress basics. Leaders must demonstrate mastery of fundamental soldiering skills such as marksmanship, first aid, and navigation, as well as the requisite skills for their particular specialty, and be able to teach them to their soldiers. •Set the example. Leaders abide consistently with the highest values of the military profession and its institutions. They encourage within their soldiers a commitment to the same values. Leaders take pride in selflessly dedicating their service to ensure mission accomplishment. They are aware that they are always on parade--24 hours a day, seven days a week--and that all their actions set personal and professional examples for subordinates to emulate. •Set and enforce standards. A leader must know, and always enforce, established Army standards. Perhaps the most fundamental standard which must be maintained is discipline. Our soldiers must promptly and effectively perform their duty in response to orders, or in the absence of orders take the correct action. The fundamental mission of our Army is to deter war and win in combat. The American people expect that officers and noncommissioned officers at all levels will lead, train, motivate, and inspire their soldiers. Our soldiers and units perform difficult tasks, often under dangerous, stressful circumstances. To achieve excellence in these tasks, leaders must explain the importance of the mission, articulate priorities, and focus soldier and unit efforts to perform in an efficient and disciplined manner. Well led, properly trained, motivated, and inspired soldiers will accomplish any mission. Leaders in our Army have a challenge. They must take care of soldiers' needs; develop them into cohesive teams; train them under tough, realistic conditions to demanding standards; assess their performance; assist them with their personal and professional growth; and reward them for their successes. To meet that challenge our leaders must be competent, and confident in their ability to lead. Such leaders will remain essential to our Trained and Ready Army, today and tomorrow.
FM 22-100 Introduction The changing face of war poses special challenges for our Army. Because of the increasing complexity of the world environment, we must prepare to respond across the entire spectrum of conflict. Just as we have changed our doctrine, weapons, and force structure, so have our potential enemies. These changes have dramatically altered the characteristics and demands of modern combat. More than ever, we need competent and confident soldiers, leaders, and units to meet these challenges. We must work to strengthen our ability to employ new equipment and to execute our operations doctrine. We must also focus on developing leaders at all levels who understand the human dimension of war and are able to go from theory to practice where its application is required. Understanding the human element will help us win in situations where we may be outnumbered or face an enemy with excellent weapons and equipment. This understanding is equally important in low-intensity conflicts where we expect to have better equipment than the enemy has, but face a struggle of competing principles and ideologies. In either environment, we can only succeed if we have better-prepared leaders, soldiers, and units than the enemy does. Examining situations where soldiers are likely to be called on to fight or to deter aggression helps identify future leadership challenges and focus on the kind of leaders needed. The worst-case war may be a "come as you are war," fought with little time for buildup or preparation. Because of the speed and devastation of modern warfare, battle success may well depend on the effectiveness of existing small units during the first weeks of battle. Across the entire spectrum of conflict, independent actions and operations within the commander's intent will be necessary. In limited and general war, the turbulent intermixing of opposing units may blur distinctions between rear and forward areas. Combat will occur throughout the entire length and breadth of the battlefield. In the midst of this fast-paced battlefield, leaders must take the initiative, make rapid decisions, and motivate their soldiers. They must effectively maneuver their units, apply firepower, and protect and sustain their force. In low-intensity conflicts, leaders will also be under great stress and have to display as much or more discipline than in conventional war. Short periods of intense fighting may interrupt long periods of relative inaction. The signs soldiers are trained to watch for may not help them distinguish friend from enemy. To achieve operational success, leaders may have to restrict the amount of combat power used. These restrictions can frustrate soldiers and leaders of small units. The stress of this environment, coupled with a possible lack of popular support on the home front, will require leaders to motivate their soldiers without many of the traditional supports accorded soldiers in battle. The nature of future operations places significant demands on leaders. Specifically, the Army needs leaders who- •Understand the human dimension of operations. •Provide purpose, direction, and motivation to their units. •Show initiative. •Are technically and tactically competent. •Are willing to exploit opportunities and take well-calculated risks within the commander's intent. •Have an aggressive will to fight and win. •Build cohesive teams. •Communicate effectively, both orally and in writing. •Are committed to the professional Army ethic. LEADERSHIP REQUIREMENTS The Army's leadership doctrine lays out principles that, when followed, provide the tools to execute our operations doctrine. It suggests that leaders must satisfy four leadership requirements: •Lead in peace to be prepared for war. •Develop individual leaders. •Develop leadership teams. •Decentralize. Lead in Peace to be Prepared for War The Army needs leaders who sustain their ability to look beyond peacetime concerns and who can execute their wartime missions even after long periods of peace. Difficulties in maintaining this focus in peace arise because responsibilities and priorities may blur. Leaders must guard against the natural peacetime tendency to use "efficient" centralized methods of training and "zero defects" approaches to day-to-day operations. Administrative activities are important, but they must not take priority over realistic combat training. The key to maintaining a proper perspective is the ability to look beyond garrison concerns. Leaders must develop units through their wartime focus on all activities. They must recognize that the fast pace of combat allows little time to learn new skills, so they must develop units that can respond rapidly to changing situations. The way leaders train their soldiers and organizations in peace is the way these organizations will fight in war. Develop Individual Leaders The Army has made a total commitment to develop leaders by providing the skills, knowledge, and attitude necessary for them to exhibit the leadership characteristics and traits discussed in this manual. This objective is accomplished through a dynamic leader development system consisting of three equally important pillars: •Schools. These institutions provide the formal education and training that all soldiers receive on a progressive and sequential basis to prepare them for positions of greater responsibility. The NCOES is a good example. •Experience. Operational experience through duty assignments provides leaders the opportunity to use and build upon what was learned through the process of formal education. •Self-development. Individual initiative and self-improvement are keys to training and developing every leader. The formal education system has limits to what it can accomplish; the leader can and must continue to expand that knowledge base whether through Army correspondence courses, civilian education, reading programs, or any of a number of self-study programs. •As a leader you have a responsibility to assist your subordinates in implementing all three of these leader development pillars: you must help obtain school quotas for deserving soldiers and then ensure prerequisites are met before attendance; you must have a plan to develop your subordinates while in your unit; and you must encourage the self-discipline required in your soldiers to want to learn more about their profession. At all levels, the next senior leader has the responsibility to create leader development programs that develop professional officer and NCO leaders. Leaders train their subordinates to plan training carefully, execute it aggressively, and assess short-term achievements in terms of desired long-term results. Effective leader development programs will continuously influence the Army as younger leaders progress to higher levels of responsibility. The purpose of leader development is to develop leaders capable of maintaining a trained and ready Army in peacetime to deter war, to fight and control wars that do start, and to terminate wars on terms favorable to US and allied interests. The ethical development of self and subordinates is a key component of leader development. To succeed in upholding their oath of office, leaders must make a personal commitment to the professional Army ethic and strive to develop this commitment throughout the force. Every leader must be a role model actively working to make his subordinates sensitive to ethical matters. Leaders must not tolerate unethical behavior by subordinates, peers, or superiors. We must develop and nurture trust that encourages leaders to delegate and empower subordinates. Subordinate leaders may then begin to make the decisions that are properly theirs to make and to develop the judgment and thinking skills they will need in battle. This approach requires leaders to recognize that subordinates learn by doing and gives subordinates a chance to try their own solutions. The purpose of leader development is to develop leaders capable of maintaining a trained and ready army in peacetime to deter war. Develop Leadership Teams The ability to develop a leadership team is essential to success in war. While we have traditionally viewed leadership as an individual influence effort, today's operations doctrine demands we also view it in terms of leadership teams. A leadership team consists of a leader and those subordinates necessary to plan and execute operations. For example, a platoon leader's leadership team usually consists of a platoon sergeant and the squad leaders. Developing leadership teams is even more important in larger, more complex organizations. Leaders must develop a team that anticipates requirements and exercises initiative within the commander's intent. Units may fail because of a single leader's ineptness, but units succeed in combat because of the collective efforts of leadership teams. An effective leadership team will provide continuity in combat that is tied to a commander's intent instead of to a specific leader or person. Responsive teams react quickly because of their common understanding of mission requirements. Decentralize Decentralization is a peacetime objective because you want to develop leaders capable of making tough decisions in a combat situation. To decentralize requires a more senior leader to release authority for execution at a lower level. Leaders must create a leadership climate where decision making is decentralized to the appropriate level. This climate is necessary for subordinate leaders to learn and then to demonstrate the mental flexibility, initiative, innovation, and risk-taking skills that our training and operations doctrine require. Army doctrine recognizes the high-quality soldier of today. The leader is responsible to develop each soldier's potential and to give competent subordinates authority and responsibility. Although leaders should not do most things themselves if subordinates can and should do them, they must be capable of performing those tasks. This requires the judicious interplay of centralization and decentralization. Leaders must tailor decentralization to the ability, training, and experience of subordinates who may need to be coached and supported as well as empowered. Although decentralization must allow for subordinate initiative in matters of judgment within the commander's intent, leaders must hold subordinates strictly accountable for their actions at their level of responsibility. When honest mistakes are made, leaders must be willing to coach, encourage, and train subordinates. All must realize that decentralization is not a cure-all and successful implementation requires patience. The key is to develop subordinates' ability to solve problems. The leader must establish standards, decide what needs to be done, and then let competent subordinates decide how to accomplish the mission. KEY ELEMENTS OF OUR LEADERSHIP DOCTRINE The study of the skills, knowledge, and attitudes of effective leaders of the past has identified certain leadership factors, principles, and competencies they have mastered. These are the key elements of our leadership doctrine and provide a framework at all levels for developing self, subordinates, and units. The leadership factors and principles are discussed in Chapter 2; the competencies are discussed in Appendix A. LEVELS OF LEADERSHIP There is general agreement that leaders lead in different ways at different organizational levels. Junior-level leaders accomplish missions and build teams primarily by using the direct face-to-face leadership mode. In larger organizations, the scope of missions broadens and leading is more complex. Senior-level leaders and commanders provide vision, influence indirectly through layers of large units, build organizations, and create conditions that enable junior-level leaders to accomplish tasks and missions. Two modes of leadership cut across all levels--direct and indirect. All leaders use both modes, but the following diagram shows how the proportion of influence shifts from predominantly the direct mode at junior levels to predominantly the indirect mode at senior levels. Do not try to use this diagram to put yourself or others in a particular category. Its value is only to show how the mix of the two leadership modes can vary at different levels. This manual focuses mainly on the direct leadership mode.
SOURCES OF LEADERSHIP DOCTRINE Five manuals contain our leadership doctrine. Each manual addresses specific leadership needs, supports our operations doctrine, and contributes to our Army's ability to fight or to deter aggression: •FM 22-100 tells leaders how to lead in a direct, face-to-face mode. •FM 22-101 tells leaders how to conduct leadership counseling. •FM 22-102 tells leaders how to develop soldier teams at company level and below that can meet the challenges of combat. •FM 22-103 gives principles and a framework for leading and commanding at senior levels. •FM 25-100 provides expectations and standards for leaders on training doctrine. THE STRUCTURE This manual presents a direct leadership framework that complements our operations doctrine. Where possible, it relates the concepts to the experiences of leaders of our Army in past conflicts. Part One of the manual discusses doctrinal factors and principles of leadership as they relate to the leadership used from squad and section through battalion and squadron levels. Part Two of the manual discusses leadership in action. It tells what a leader must BE, KNOW, and DO by relating the concepts to past conflicts and then discusses the payoff of applying sound leadership. Part Three discusses special considerations of leadership in battle: stress, leadership in continuous operations, and the effects of weather, terrain, and high technology. This manual presents the requirements for leading and points for you to consider when assessing and developing yourself, your subordinates, and your unit. It is not intended to tell you exactly how you should lead. You must be yourself and apply this leadership doctrine in the situations you will face.
FM 22-100 A Concept of Leadership PART ONE LEADERSHIP IN PRINCIPLE Our operations doctrine is leadership intensive. FM 100-5 states, "The most essential element of combat power is competent and confident leadership. Leadership provides purpose, direction, and motivation in combat." The mandate for competent military leadership is simple and compelling; quality leadership must exist throughout the force if the nation is to have an army ready for combat. Just as successful armies train as they intend to fight, successful leaders lead in peace to be prepared for war. The leadership doctrine in this manual can help you- •Identify the leadership challenges that exist across the entire spectrum of conflict and provide the means to meet those challenges. •Learn what a leader must BE, KNOW, and DO to lead soldiers, teams, and units that can operate effectively in all operational situations. •Understand the special leadership requirements of combat. •Find other sources of leadership information to help you develop your leadership skills. THE BATTLEFIELD CHALLENGE In battle, you must inspire your soldiers to do things against their natural will--possibly to risk their lives--to carry out missions for the greater good of the unit, the Army, and the country. To lead soldiers in peace and in war, there are certain things you must BE, KNOW and DO. Although some people seem to have a natural ability to lead others, most leadership skills do not come naturally. They are learned through hard work and study. Studying and discussing this manual and then putting the ideas into practice can help you meet the challenge. To make good decisions and take the right actions under the stress of battle, you must understand the demands that will be placed on you, your superiors, and your subordinates. Once you have a clear picture of the battlefield challenges, you can set goals for yourself, your subordinates, and your unit to prepare for combat. Without actually being in combat, you must get a realistic picture of what battle is like. Studying military history can give you insight into what combat has been like for past leaders and troops and help you relate the leadership challenges of the past to those of today. THE BATTLEFIELD CHALLENGE: Inspire soldiers to do things against their natural will -- to carry out missions for the greater good of the unit, the Army, and the country. The armies of some of our potential enemies outnumber us. They possess large numbers of excellent tanks, personnel carriers, artillery pieces, airplanes, and chemical and nuclear weapons. Our Army needs competent and confident leaders who are bold, innovative, and willing to take well-calculated risks within the commander's intent. Human nature has not changed since man first engaged in war; leaders and soldiers in future battles will experience the same fears and emotions felt in past battles. Leadership will continue to be the most essential element of combat power, providing the key to mission accomplishment, winning battles, and protecting the ideals of our nation. To help you understand the demands of battle, this manual presents some actual cases of soldiers in combat. These cases illustrate what you must strive to BE, KNOW, and DO to lead soldiers successfully in battle. LEADERSHIP DEFINED Leadership is the process of influencing others to accomplish the mission by providing purpose, direction, and motivation. Providing Purpose Purpose gives soldiers a reason why they should do difficult things under dangerous, stressful circumstances. You must establish priorities, explain the importance of missions, and focus soldiers on the task so that they will function in an efficient and a disciplined manner. Providing Direction Direction gives soldiers an orientation of tasks to be accomplished based on the priorities set by the leader. The standards you establish and enforce will give your soldiers order; tough training will give them confidence in themselves, their leaders, each other, and their equipment. Providing Motivation Motivation gives soldiers the will to do everything they are capable of doing to accomplish a mission; it causes soldiers to use their initiative when they see the need for action. Motivate your soldiers by caring for them, challenging them with interesting training, developing them into a cohesive team, rewarding successes, and giving them all the responsibility they can handle. Effective leaders use both direct and indirect influence to lead. You will probably influence your soldiers mainly in a direct manner, but others above you in your chain of command will use more indirect methods. SUMMARY Our operations doctrine is leadership intensive. Leadership is the most essential element of combat power. Leading effectively is not a mystery and can be learned through self- study, education, training, and experience. Successful leaders prepare for war by training and leading as they intend to fight. To prepare your soldiers to operate effectively across the entire spectrum of conflict, there are certain things you must BE, KNOW, and DO. Leadership is the process of influencing others to accomplish the mission by providing purpose, direction, and motivation. Purpose gives soldiers a reason why they should do difficult things under dangerous, stressful circumstances. Direction shows what must be done. Through motivation, leaders give soldiers the will to do everything they are capable of doing to accomplish a mission. Effective leaders use both direct and indirect influence to lead.
FM 22-100 CHAPTER 2 Foundations of Army Leadership Doctrine This chapter will help you understand the doctrinal factors and principles of leadership. As you lead and train soldiers, this information will help you accomplish missions and care for soldiers. The factors and principles are the foundation for leadership action discussed in Part Two of this manual. THE FACTORS OF LEADERSHIP The four major factors of leadership are always present and affect the actions you should take and when you should take them. They are the led, the leader, the situation, and communications. The Led The first major factor of leadership is those soldiers you are responsible for leading. All soldiers should not be led in the same way. For example, a soldier with a new job or task normally needs closer supervision than a soldier who is experienced at that same job or task. A soldier with low confidence needs your support and encouragement. A soldier who works hard and does what you know must be done deserves your praise; a soldier who intentionally fails to follow your guidance or meet clear standards may need to be reprimanded or punished. You must correctly assess your soldiers' competence, motivation, and commitment so that you can take the proper leadership actions at the correct time. You must create a climate that encourages your subordinates to actively participate and want to help you accomplish the mission. Key ingredients to develop this relationship are mutual trust, respect, and confidence. The Leader The second major leadership factor is you-- the leader. You must have an honest understanding of who you are, what you know, and what you can do. You must know your strengths, weaknesses, capabilities, and limitations so that you can control and discipline yourself and lead your soldiers effectively. You must continuously ensure that each soldier is treated with dignity and respect. Assessing others may be easier than looking honestly at yourself. If you have difficulty assessing yourself, ask your leader what he would like to see you change about the way you lead your soldiers or you support him. Do not put him on the spot. Give him time to think of specific suggestions and then meet with him to talk about them. You can also seek the counsel of your peers, or ask an experienced subordinate how well he thinks you issue orders or provide needed information. Consider all these points of view and then work on improving yourself. The Situation The situation is the third major leadership factor. All situations are different; leadership actions that work in one situation may not work in another. To determine the best leadership action to take, first consider the available resources and the factors of METT-T. Then consider the subordinate's level of competence, motivation, and commitment to perform the task or mission. In one situation, you may have to closely supervise and direct a subordinate's work. Another situation may require you to encourage and listen to ideas. In still another, you may need to both direct and encourage a soldier to ensure he can accomplish a task. Appendix B discusses styles of leadership in more detail. The situation also includes the timing of actions. For example, confronting a subordinate may be the correct decision, but if the confrontation occurs too soon or too late, the results may not be what you want. You must be skilled in identifying and thinking through the situation so that you can take the right action at the right time. Appendix C contains ideas to consider when you assume a leadership position. What if you take the wrong action? It happens. We all make mistakes. Analyze the situation again, take quick corrective action, and move on. Learn from your mistakes and those of others. Communications Communications, the fourth major leadership factor, is the exchange of information and ideas from one person to another. Effective communications occurs when others understand exactly what you are trying to tell them and when you understand precisely what they are trying to tell you. You may communicate what you want orally, or in writing, through physical actions, or through a combination of all of these. You must recognize that you communicate standards by your example and by what behaviors you ignore, reward, and punish. The way you communicate in different situations is important. Your choice of words, tone of voice, and physical actions all combine to affect soldiers. Leadership is more than setting the example and bravely leading a charge. The ability to say the correct thing, at the appropriate moment and in the right way, is also an important part of leadership. In peacetime you must create the kinds of bonds that enable soldiers to follow you so that they will conduct themselves properly in combat. You must win their trust and confidence before, rather than after, combat has commenced. An important element is to convey the facts and requirements accurately without the added confusion of your personal bias. What and how you communicate either builds or harms the strength of the relationship between you and your soldiers. Discipline and cohesion in units come from these relationships. Effective communications implies that your soldiers listen and understand you. Since soldiers listen to leaders who listen to them, you must work hard at understanding exactly what your soldiers are saying to you. Good listening is hard work but you can learn. Do not interrupt when others are speaking. Look at the person speaking; listen to what is said and also to how it is said since emotions are an important part of communications. If you listen to your subordinates, they will listen to you. Interaction of the Factors The four major leadership factors are always present but, in every situation, they affect each other differently. The most important factor in one situation may have little importance in another. You must constantly consider all four factors of leadership and choose the best course of action. Mistakes happen when leaders fail to consider all four leadership factors and see how they affect each other and mission accomplishment. Self-assessment, study, and experience will improve your understanding of the four major factors of leadership. THE PRINCIPLES OF LEADERSHIP The 11 principles of Army leadership are excellent guidelines and provide the cornerstone for action. They are universal and represent fundamental truths that have stood the test of time. Developed in a 1948 leadership study, the principles were first included in leadership doctrine in 1951. Use these principles to assess yourself and develop an action plan to improve your ability to lead. Examples throughout this manual give you ideas of how to apply these principles. Here is an explanation of each of the leadership principles. PRINCIPLES OF LEADERSHIP •Know yourself and seek self-improvement. •Be technically and tactically proficient. •Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions. •Make sound and timely decisions. •Set the example. •Know your soldiers and look out for their well-being. •Keep your subordinates informed. •Develop a sense of responsibility in your subordinate. •Ensure the task is understood, supervised, and accomplished. •Build the team. •Employ your unit in accordance with its capabilities. Know Yourself and Seek Self-Improvement To know yourself, you have to understand who you are and to know what your preferences, strengths, and weaknesses are. Knowing yourself allows you to take advantage of your strengths and work to overcome your weaknesses. Seeking self-improvement means continually developing your strengths and working on overcoming your weaknesses. This will increase your competence and the confidence your soldiers have in your ability to train and lead. Be Technically and Tactically Proficient You are expected to be technically and tactically proficient at your job. This means that you can accomplish all tasks to standard that are required to accomplish the wartime mission. In addition, you are responsible for training your soldiers to do their jobs and for understudying your leader in the event you must assume those duties. You develop technical and tactical proficiency through a combination of the tactics, techniques, and procedures you learn while attending formal schools (institutional training), in your day-to-day jobs (operational assignments), and from professional reading and personal study (self-development). Seek Responsibility and Take Responsibility for Your Actions Leading always involves responsibility. You want subordinates who can handle responsibility and help you perform your mission. Similarly, your leaders want you to take the initiative within their stated intent. When you see a problem or something that needs to be fixed, do not wait for your leader to tell you to act. The example you set, whether positive or negative, helps develop your subordinates. Our warfighting doctrine requires bold leaders at all levels who exercise initiative, are resourceful, and take advantage of opportunities on the battlefield that will lead to victory. When you make mistakes, accept just criticism and take corrective action. You must avoid evading responsibility by placing the blame on someone else. Your objective should be to build trust between you and your leaders as well as between you and those you lead by seeking and accepting responsibility. Make Sound and Timely Decisions You must be able to rapidly assess situations and make sound decisions. If you delay or try to avoid making a decision, you may cause unnecessary casualties and fail to accomplish the mission. Indecisive leaders create hesitancy, loss of confidence, and confusion. You must be able to anticipate and reason under the most trying conditions and quickly decide what actions to take. Here are some guidelines to help you lead effectively: •Gather essential information before making your decisions. •Announce decisions in time for your soldiers to react. Good decisions made at the right time are better than the best decisions made too late. •Consider the short- and long-term effects of your decisions. Set the Example Your soldiers want and need you to be a role model. This is a heavy responsibility, but you have no choice. No aspect of leadership is more powerful. If you expect courage, competence, candor, commitment, and integrity from your soldiers, you must demonstrate them. Yoursoldiers will imitate your behavior. You must set high, but attainable, standards, be willing to do what you require of your soldiers, and share dangers and hardships with your soldiers. Your personal example affects your soldiers more than any amount of instruction or form of discipline. You are their role model. Know Your Soldiers and Look Out for Their Well-Being You must know and care for your soldiers. It is not enough to know their names and hometowns. You need to understand what makes them "tick" and learn what is important to them in life. You need to commit time and effort to listen to and learn about your soldiers. When you show genuine concern for your troops, they trust and respect you as a leader. Telling your subordinates you care about them has no meaning unless they see you demonstrating care. They assume that if you fail to care for them in training, you will put little value on their lives in combat. Although slow to build, trust and respect can be destroyed quickly. If your soldiers trust you, they will willingly work to help you accomplish missions. They will never want to let you down. You must care for them by training them for the rigors of combat, taking care of their physical and safety needs when possible, and disciplining and rewarding fairly. The bonding that comes from caring for your soldiers will sustain them and the unit during the stress and chaos of combat. Keep Your Subordinates Informed American soldiers do best when they know why they are doing something. Individual soldiers have changed the outcome of battle using initiative in the absence of orders. Keeping your subordinates informed helps them make decisions and execute plans within your intent, encourages initiative, improves teamwork, and enhances morale. Your subordinates look for logic in your orders and question things that do not make sense. They expect you to keep them informed and, when possible, explain reasons for your orders. Develop A Sense of Responsibility in Your Subordinates Your subordinates will feel a sense of pride and responsibility when they successfully accomplish a new task you have given them. Delegation indicates you trust your subordinates and will make them want even more responsibility. As a leader, you are a teacher and responsible for developing your subordinates. Give them challenges and opportunities you feel they can handle. Give them more responsibility when they show you they are ready. Their initiative will amaze you. Ensure the Task is Understood, Supervised, and Accomplished Your soldiers must understand what you expect from them. They need to know what you want done, what the standard is, and when you want it done. They need to know if you want a task accomplished in a specific way. Supervising lets you know if your soldiers understand your orders; it shows your interest in them and in mission accomplishment. Oversupervision causes resentment and undersupervision causes frustration. When soldiers are learning new tasks, tell them what you want done and show how you want it done. Let them try. Watch their performance. Accept performance that meets your standards; reward performance that exceeds your standards; correct performance that does not meet your standards. Determine the cause of the poor performance and take appropriate action.1 When you hold subordinates accountable to you for their performance, they realize they are responsible for accomplishing missions as individuals and as teams. Build the Team Warfighting is a team activity. You must develop a team spirit among your soldiers that motivates them to go willingly and confidently into combat in a quick transition from peace to war. Your soldiers need confidence in your abilities to lead them and in their abilities to perform as members of the team. You must train and cross train your soldiers until they are confident in the team's technical and tactical abilities. Your unit becomes a team only when your soldiers trust and respect you and each other as trained professionals and see the importance of their contributions to the unit. Employ Your Unit in Accordance with Its Capabilities Your unit has capabilities and limitations. You are responsible to recognize both of these factors. Your soldiers will gain satisfaction from performing tasks that are reasonable and challenging but will be frustrated if tasks are too easy, unrealistic, or unattainable. Although the available resources may constrain the program you would like to implement, you must continually ensure your soldiers' training is demanding. Apply the battle focus process to narrow the training program and reduce the number of vital tasks essential to mission accomplishment. Talk to your leader; decide which tasks are essential to accomplish your warfighting mission and ensure your unit achieves Army standards on those selected. Battle focus is a recognition that a unit cannot attain proficiency to standard on every task, whether due to time or other resource constraints. Do your best in other areas to include using innovative training techniques and relooking the conditions under which the training is being conducted, but do not lower standards simply because your unit appears unable to meet them. Your challenge as a leader is to attain, sustain, and enforce high standards of combat readiness through tough, realistic multiechelon combined arms training designed to develop and challenge each soldier and unit. SUMMARY The factors and principles of leadership will help you accomplish missions and care for soldiers. They are the foundation for leadership action. The factors of leadership are always present and affect what you should do and when you should do it. Soldiers should not all be led in the same way. You must correctly assess soldiers' competence, commitment, and motivation so that you can take the right leadership actions. As a leader, you must know who you are, what you know, and what you can do so that you can discipline yourself and lead soldiers effectively. Every leadership situation is unique. What worked in one situation may not work in another. You must be able to look at every situation and determine what action to take. You influence by what you say, write, and, most importantly, do. What and how you communicate will either strengthen or weaken the relationship between you and your subordinates. The principles of leadership were developed by leaders many years ago to train and develop their subordinates. The principles have stood the test of time and the foremost test--the battlefield. Use the principles to assess how you measure up in each area and then develop a plan to improve your ability to lead soldiers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1Kenneth H. Blanchard and Keith L. Kettler, "A Situational Approach to Leader Development."
FM 22-100 CHAPTER 3 PART TWO LEADERSHIP IN ACTION CHAPTER 3 The Face of Battle and the Leader
You can learn about the human dimension of warfighting by studying past battles. To lead in combat, you must be competent and courageous, demonstrate initiative, understand human nature, consistently set the example, and inspire others. This chapter provides examples of effective combat leaders who demonstrated these characteristics. PAST BATTLES The following selected accounts of history illustrate the human side of warfighting by describing how leaders led their subordinates during combat engagements. As you read each account, think about answers to these questions: •How did the leader accomplish the mission? •How did the leader in each case inspire soldiers to willingly face the stress and danger of battle? •What was the key factor that led to victory? •What did the leader do prior to battle to prepare himself and his soldiers? •How do the actions of these leaders demonstrate the leadership factors and principles discussed in Chapter 2? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Battle of Gettysburg The fight at Little Round Top on 2 July 1863, between the 20th Maine Regiment and two Alabama regiments--the 15th and the 47th--provides a case study of leadership and unit cohesion in battle. It gives a picture of leadership In one of the most significant small-unit actions in the Civil War. The 20th Maine soldiers marched more than 100 miles in the five days before the fight. On the evening of 1 July, when they stopped to bivouac, an order came to continue the march. A decisive battle had just begun that day between General Lee's invading Confederate Army and the Union Army at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. All Union Army units were badly needed by the next day At about 0200, they stopped to sleep. At 0400--again without food--they continued their march, reaching Gettysburg around noon. The 20th Maine was one of four regiments in the brigade commanded by Colonel Strong Vincent. At about 1600, as the 20th Maine was moving to its assigned defensive position, an officer rode up and spoke excitedly to Colonel Vincent. There was much gesturing toward a rocky hill called Little Round Top. The soldiers of the 20th Maine did not know it then, but because of a series of mistakes, this key terrain was unprotected. General Buford's two cavalry brigades had been defending it, but since they had taken heavy casualties in another fight and were out of rations, they were allowed to withdraw. The Army commander incorrectly assumed that: another cavalry unit was available to replace Buford's unit. Wrong assumption, failure to communicate clearly, and failure to check had left Little Round Top unguarded. At about 1545, General Warren, the Army chief engineer, climbed to the top of Little Round Top to observe enemy movements. He saw its importance to the battle and, to his horror, realized it was unguarded. General Warren sent for help and Colonel Vincent volunteered his brigade to defend Little Round Top. During the 15 minutes remaining before the Confederates attacked, Colonel Vincent did an outstanding job of reconnaissance and selected defensive positions. His brigade followed him up Little Round Top. Colonel Vincent led the 20th Maine to its position and gave the commander, Colonel Chamberlain, his mission: ''This is the left of the Union line. You understand. You are to hold this ground at all costs ! '' 1 Chamberlain quickly gathered his company commanders and stressed the importance of their mission. He ordered them to move their units into a defensive line with the right flank company firmly anchored on the 83d Pennsylvania Regiment and the left flank on a large boulder that he pointed to. He showed them the trace of ground he wanted defended. He ordered them to move by using a battle drill maneuver to form a defensive line two ranks deep. This ensured that all companies were tied in on their flanks and that a soldier was ready to fight the moment he was in position. After placing his regiment, Chamberlain's thoughts turned to his exposed left flank, The soldiers saw him gazing intently at Big Round Top. They remembered past battles where he had shown a skill common to all good combat leaders. He could imagine the possible dangers and take actions in advance to guard against them. He realized the disaster that would occur if the enemy got around his weak left flank. So he ordered Captain Morrill to take B Company 100 or 200 meters toward Big Round Top, screen the left flank, and take appropriate actions. Captain Morrill positioned his company behind a stone wall at the base of Big Round Top. They were soon joined by 14 US sharpshooters who had been driven back from their earlier positions by General Hood's attacking division. The 20th Maine's defensive line was barely in position when it was fiercely attacked along its entire front. An officer reported to Chamberlain that he had seen a large body of troops moving behind the attacking Confederates. Climbing up on a rock, Chamberlain saw the force moving to attack his exposed left flank, B Company would not be able to stop this large force. Chamberlain had to think fast and creatively. Nothing in the tactical manuals covered this type of situation. His companies were in a defensive line, two ranks deep, as shown below. Quickly analyzing the situation, he ordered his company commanders to extend left and back to block the flank attack. Pointing to the large boulder at the left end of the line, he ordered the new line to be formed there--at right angles to the existing line. This meant that each company would cover twice the normal defensive frontage. Their defense would be thin--one rank deep. To deceive the enemy, Chamberlain directed that the maneuver be achieved while continuing the same volume of fire to the front. The noise of heavy fire made normal voice control impossible. Still, the regiment performed this difficult, unpracticed tactic with remarkable speed and coordination. Each soldier and squad moved together, keeping up the fire and avoiding gaps in the defense. After the battle, the survivors of the 20th Maine would always marvel at how well and how quickly they accomplished that maneuver under fire.2 It was a unique combination of tactical battle drills--created in the mind of Colonel Chamberlain to fit the particular situation on that day. Minutes after the new line was formed, it was attacked by the battle-hardened soldiers of the 15th Alabama Regiment. (This regiment and the 47th Alabama Regiment were under the command of Colonel Oates.) Oates' soldiers were tired and thirsty. They had marched all night and day and were unable to wait for a lost watering party sent out just prior to the attack. Even so, they attacked with great courage and violence. From this point on, the battle was so fierce that none of the participants were able to describe exactly what happened. For the soldiers involved, the battle took on the quality of a dream. Chamberlain saw that a cross fire had demolished the center of his line. The color bearer and single comrade were gallantly defending the entire center. Chamberlain sent his brother and an orderly to fill the gap. The Alabama Regiments charged at least six times. Chamberlain said that at times there were more of the enemy around him than of his own soldiers. Squads of attacking Confederate soldiers bayoneted their way through the defenses, but somehow the determined Maine men threw the Rebels back. Many soldiers on both sides were killed or wounded during this phase of the battle. Chamberlain was wounded in the foot by a flying shell fragment, and his thigh was severely bruised where a bullet struck his sword scabbard. A lull in the battle came after the sixth violent charge. Chamberlain knew that he was outnumbered and that each of his soldiers had only one or two rounds of ammunition remaining. He learned the Confederates were forming for another charge and knew his unit, out of ammunition, would be overpowered by the superior numbers and firepower of another Confederate assault. To withdraw would cause the defeat of the Union Army. He analyzed the situation and chose the course of action he believed had the best chance of success. He ordered his soldiers to fix bayonets and charge not for heroics but because that was their best chance for success. He reasoned his unit would have the advantage of attacking downhill. Furthermore, the surprise and violence of the attack might take the initiative from the enemy and give the 20th Maine the psychological advantage. That decision left Chamberlain with a tactical problem the field manuals did not address. He had to keep the two halves of his regiment together. He quickly developed a plan in his mind and ordered the left flank to charge first, anchoring its right flank company place. When the left half of the regiment was abreast of the right half, the entire regiment was to charge down and to the right--like a great swinging door the right flank company firmly hinged on the 83d Pennsylvania Regiment. After Chamberlain gave the order, young Lieutenant Melcher leaped in front of his company, sword flashing in the sun. Already under attack, the left half of the regiment charged, driving the Confederates before them. When the left half of the regiment was abreast of the right, Chamberlain quickly moved forward, leading his men down and to the right. The regiment was a raging body, charging toward the Alabama soldiers 30 yards away. Before the Alabamians could fire, the 20th Maine was upon them. At point- blank range, a Confederate officer fired his pistol at Chamberlain and missed. With Chamberlain's sword at his throat, he surrendered. The Confederates were stunned. They fell back to the position of the 4th and 5th Texas Regiments. There the 20th Maine charge might have failed if not for a great stroke of surprise--that powerful weapon of war that explodes in the mind, destroys reason, and incites panic. Captain Morrill's B Company and the US sharpshooters were hiding behind a wall at the base of Big Round Top. They had not been able to see the 15th Alabama moving to attack Chamberlain's left flank. After the 20th Maine's charge, however, the retreating Alabamians came into view. Captain Morrill's force started firing into the flank and rear of the Confederates. According to Colonel Oates, it was the devastating surprise fire of B Company that caused panic in his soldiers. They thought a large force of Union cavalry was attacking their rear--even though there was no Union cavalry in the battle. Colonel Oates and his company commanders thought they were surrounded. He ordered a retreat--each man to break out as best he could. At that point the two Alabama regiments panicked and ran. They did not realize that one more attack could have started the entire Union line tumbling like a house of cards. Colonel Oates later said General Lee was never so close to victory as that day on Little Round Top. He also said he never knew a greater regiment than the 20th Maine, or a greater leader than their gallant colonel. The 20th Maine swept their brigade's entire front. They wanted to keep attacking General Lee's whole army. Some were yelling that they were "on the road to Richmond.'' 3 Colonel Chamberlain's ability to stop them is a tribute to the discipline of the unit. They had captured about 400 prisoners from four different Confederate regiments. The slopes of Little Round Top were littered with hundreds of dead bodies--blue and gray. The 20th Maine started the battle with 358 riflemen; they suffered 90 casualties. Forty were killed or died of wounds. For a few moments, the fate of an Army and a nation rested on the shoulders of 358 farmers, woodsmen, and fishermen from Maine. They were led by a colonel who was a seminary graduate and who had been a professor of languages less than a year before the battle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Combat Patrol in Korea The regiment planned the patrol action on 28 March (1952), and named Lieutenant John Chandler patrol leader. His mission was to conduct a combat patrol to Noname Ridge to kill or capture any enemy encountered. For the job, he was to take a force consisting of two reinforced rifle squads. Chandler received the patrol plans on the afternoon of 2 April. He selected two squads from his 3d Platoon and several men from the other squads in order to have a total of 20. including himself. The next afternoon (3 April), he took his 19 men to a high point overlooking the planned route and briefed them on the patrol scheduled for that night. He pointed out the objective, one of the enemy construction sites on Noname Ridge, and explained that he hoped to surprise an enemy working party while it was digging and unarmed. If possible, the patrol would capture one or more North Koreans, or kill them if capture was impossible. Using available maps, Chandler constructed a sand model outlining the most prominent terrain features and the patrol objective. The model was good enough to plan the routes of advance and withdrawal and to show the known characteristics of the objective area. Finally Chandler reminded the men of the battalion's rule concerning casualties. ''Casualties, dead or wounded,'' he said "are never left by the rest of the patrol. If any man is left on the field, the entire unit will return to find him and bring him back." When the patrol assembled after supper, Chandler divided the men into two sections: an assault squad of 8 men and himself, and a fire support squad of the other 11 men. After satisfying himself that all details of his patrol were in order, Lieutenant Chandler--a man both careful and thorough--waved his men forward. The patrol crossed the main line of resistance at 2100. As Chandler led his men forward, the 105-millimeter howitzers of the 64th Field Artillery Battalion fired their usual harassing and interdiction missions. In planning the patrol, the regimental staff had timed the departure to coincide with this evening's fire, hoping the fire would keep the enemy under cover until the patrol was in defilade. About three and a half hours later, the patrol reached the objective. Chandler reported to his battalion commander, Colonel Walker, that the patrol had neither made contact with the enemy nor found any indications that there were enemy soldiers in the area. Walker instructed Chandler to continue with his original mission. ''Get a prisoner if you can,'' Walker told the patrol leader. "If you can't, shoot 'em up. Decide upon the route you are going to take to make contact, move forward a hundred yards, then report again. '' Chandler made his decision and relayed it to Walker who continued to plot the patrol's course. After the patrol moved forward without incident, Walker told Chandler to go another hundred yards and report again. After the second move, the patrol members saw and heard movement in the direction of the enemy's main defensive line. It appeared that enemy soldiers, still some distance away, were coming down toward Noname Ridge. Chandler called for artillery. In a few minutes, thirty-six 105-millimeter shells fell on the enemy movement. The movement stopped, but Chandler and his men could still hear voices from the vicinity of the impact area. Though the patrol had made contact, it had not captured a prisoner. Cautiously, Chandler led his men another hundred yards to a point about fifty yards from the very top of the ridge. He called back over the radio to Company C's observation post. ''We're going on radio silence from here on, so there won't be any chance that the radio will give us away before we're ready." Then he spent some time trying to determine the outline and construction of the enemy's position. From the patrol's location below the crest of the ridge, the men could see a large bunker that would be a little to the left of the patrol's route of approach. Smaller bunkers were on each side. Lieutenant Chandler formed the patrol into two lines facing the enemy's position. There was an automatic rifleman and a man with a carbine on each flank of the assault squad. The other men were close together in the center. Chandler and his South Korean interpreter, Corporal Kim Bae, were out in front. The fire support squad stayed about fifty yards behind the assault squad. The patrol moved quietly ahead. As it neared the enemy's position, a soldier stepped on a booby-trapped concussion grenade. Although he was not seriously injured, the patrol waited several minutes to make certain the North Koreans had ignored the noise. Then Lieutenant Chandler and the assault crew crept forward. As Chandler and Kim Bae approached the large bunker in the center, they came upon a communication trench that joined at least five bunkers. Chandler and Kim Bae jumped into the trench; only a few feet away, a North Korean came out of the big bunker and muttered a few words. Kim Bae answered in Korean. Apparently suspicious, the North Korean raised his gun to the ready position and fired. Several men from the assault squad opened fire at the same time. Six North Koreans came streaming out of the big bunker. The assault squad killed the first five with carbine and automatic rifle fire; the sixth ducked back into the bunker. One of Chandler's men threw two grenades into the big bunker. While no one came out, Chandler's men heard yelling and screaming for several minutes. North Koreans from other bunkers on each side of the large one soon appeared in the communication trench. The riflemen on the flanks either killed them or drove them back into protected positions. Maintaining a heavy rate of fire, the squad managed to hold the initiative. Two North Koreans from the left bunkers attempted to work their way along the communication trench. A rifleman at that end of the line killed them. Chandler's men tossed several grenades into the trench and toward the bunkers. After a few minutes, another of Chandler's men killed three North Koreans trying to get around the right flank. The North Koreans relied mainly on grenades. They preferred to remain in defilade beyond the crest of the hill or around the edge and throw grenades into the patrol. The assault squad was so close to the enemy's position in the trench that most of the grenades the enemy threw passed over the assault squad, falling in the space between the two squads. Still, early in the action, concussion grenades wounded both radio operators and put their radios out of commission. Two others in the fire support squad were also wounded by grenades; of the four casualties, only one was unable to walk. At about 0245, Chandler decided to withdraw. When he asked the radio operators to notify battalion headquarters, he discovered the casualties and damaged radios. He ordered the assault squad and the casualties to start moving toward the rallying point at the foot of the hill in front of friendly front lines. Several men improvised a litter to carry the seriously wounded soldier on. Throughout the firefight, Chandler's men had shouted and yelled. When they started to withdraw, however, the decrease of this noise and the noise of firing was noticed by men watching the action from Company C's observation post on the main line of resistance. The observers could see the firefight moving toward them and realized the patrol was withdrawing. They relayed this information to Colonel Walker. Walker immediately called for artillery and mortar concentrations in the vicinity of Noname Ridge. As Chandler moved back, the commander of Company C gave Colonel Walker the patrol's position, determining it by observing the small-arms fire from the patrol toward the enemy. By the same method, he traced the enemy's location as they pursued the patrol. From this information, battalion headquarters plotted both friendly and enemy positions on a map showing all artillery and mortar concentrations. As the engagement moved toward the main line of resistance, Walker personally shifted the mortar and artillery concentrations to keep the impact area as close as possible to the patrol. He would not shift the responsibility to his subordinate officers for directing the fires since they had no communications with the patrol they were supporting. Just before the patrol reached the rallying point at the foot of the hill, Lieutenant Chandler sent two men ahead to bring back litters and bearers from Company C. On the slippery, snowy slope of the ridge, it took them more than an hour to reach the main line. Once there, they learned that a relief squad was ready to return with them. As the two men led the squad down the ridge, an enemy mortar landed in the group, wounding four men of Company C. Chandler's two men helped take these wounded men back and waited for another relief squad. They finally rejoined the patrol at about 0530. Meantime, after forming a defensive perimeter at the rallying point, Chandler threw an illuminating grenade in the direction of the enemy to guide the supporting mortars. Colonel Walker shifted the mortar fire to protect the patrol from the North Koreans who were following with considerable determination. Besides the artillery fire, several tanks on the main line fired cannon and heavy machine guns. By this time, it was light enough for the enemy on Noname Ridge to see the patrol perimeter. Lieutenant Chandler, using the radio the relief squad had brought down from Company C, called for smoke. The smoke was effective and protected the patrol from enemy observation. The men returned to friendly lines despite the enemy's attempt to keep them pinned down.4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fight at Ia Drang, Vietnam The mission of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, was to conduct a search and destroy mission in the Pleiku area of the Republic of Vietnam, for a North Vietnamese Regiment which had been reported in the area. The following actions took place commencing on 14 November 1965. Company B, under the command of Captain John Herren, had been designated the first unit to airmobile into a battalion landing zone. Having secured the LZ without making enemy contact, the battalion commander directed B Company to commence search operations while A Company, which had been inserted earlier, assumed the LZ security mission. The B Company commander moved out with two platoons abreast and one platoon in reserve. Initial contact with North Vietnamese forces was made by 1st Platoon. Lieutenant Herrick, 2d Platoon leader, was directed to maneuver toward the 1st Platoon to provide assistance while moving toward the 1st Platoon, Herrick's platoon received a blistering volley of enemy fire from the right flank, killing the grenadier and pinning down the rest of the squad. Deploying his two M-60 machine guns toward the enemy force, Herrick yelled to the 3d Squad leader, Staff Sergeant Clyde Savage, to pull back under covering fire of the machine guns. As the gunners moved into firing position, Herrick radioed a situation report to his company commander and formed a hasty 25-meter perimeter. In the meantime, under the cover of the M-60s, Savage, carrying the dead grenadier's weapon, managed to withdraw his squad toward the platoon. Amid increasingly heavy fire, including mortars and rockets, Savage's squad reached the main body of that platoon and joined the other men. The North Vietnamese laced the small perimeter with fire so low to the ground that few of Herrick's men were able to employ their entrenching tools to provide themselves cover. Through it all, the men returned the fire, taking a heavy toll of the enemy. Sergeant Savage hit twelve of the enemy with his M-16 during the afternoon. In midafternoon, Herrick was hit by a bullet which entered his hip, coursed through his body, and exited through his right shoulder. Although fatally wounded, he continued to direct his perimeter defense. He gave his signal operation instructions book to Staff Sergeant Palmer, his platoon sergeant, with orders to burn it if capture seemed imminent. He told Palmer to redistribute the ammunition, to call in artillery fire, and, at the first opportunity, to try to make a break for it. Palmer, already slightly wounded, had no sooner taken command than he too was killed. The 2d Squad leader took charge. He rose on his hands and knees and mumbled that he was going to get the platoon out of danger. He had just finished the sentence when a bullet smashed into his head. Killed in the same hail of bullets was the forward observer for the 81-millimeter mortar. The artillery reconnaissance sergeant traveling with the platoon was shot in the neck. Seriously wounded, he became delirious and the men had difficulty keeping him quiet. Sergeant Savage, the 3d Squad leader, took command. Snatching the artilleryman's radio, he began calling in and adjusting field artillery fire. Within minutes he had ringed the perimeter with well-placed concentrations, some as close to the position as 20 meters. The indirect fire did much to discourage enemy attempts to overrun the perimeter, but the platoon was still in danger. Of the 27 men in the platoon, 8 had been killed and 12 wounded. Meanwhile, the enemy attacked the remnants of Savage's platoon with at least a reinforced platoon. Each time, it was turned back by the artillery and the small arms fire of the men in the perimeter, which included those who were wounded. Specialist 5 Lose, the medical aidman moved about the perimeter, exposed to fire while he administered to the wounded. His diligence and ingenuity throughout the day and following night saved at least six lives; having run out of first-aid packets as well as bandages from his own bag, he used C-ration toilet tissue packets to help stop bleeding. Calm, sure, and thoroughly professional, he brought reassurance to the men. Before the second attack, which came at 0345, enemy bugle calls were heard around the entire perimeter. Some sounds seemed to come from within 200 to 400 soldiers muttering softly to one another. He called down a 15-minute artillery barrage to saturate the area and followed it with a tactical air strike on the high ground near his position. Executed under flareship illumination, the two strikes in combination broke up the attack. A third and final enemy attack came over an hour later and was as unsuccessful as the previous two. Savage and his men, isolated but still holding throughout the night, could hear and sometimes see the enemy dragging off its dead and wounded. When the relief force arrived the next morning, each man still had adequate ammunition to continue to fight.5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Operation White Wing, Republic of Vietnam During Operation White Wing near Bong Son, Binh Dinh Province, in February 1966 the 2d Battalion, 5th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, was operating in extremely rugged mountainous terrain against a determined enemy. On 17 February, the battalion reserve force commander was tasked with protecting the battalion command post and conducting local security operations. Captain Tom Fincher, A Company commander, elected to accomplish the assigned mission by employing 3d Platoon and the weapons platoon within the battalion perimeter to protect the battalion CP and to use 1st and 2d Platoons for conducting local patrols. Meanwhile, B Company searched out enemy forces 2,500 meters to the northwest, while C Company did the same due north of the battalion base some 4,200 meters distant. Within an hour of departing the battalion base camp with the platoons conducting local security, Fincher monitored a B Company report of receiving enemy fire from the surrounding hills. After alerting his platoons, Fincher continued patrolling the area around the base camp. Fifteen minutes later B Company's situation worsened. Heavy enemy fire had caused significant casualties including the artillery forward observer. The high volume of fire precluded a maneuver against the foe, the B Company commander reported . Anticipating a change mission to support B Company, Fincher alerted the two platoons back at the battalion base, and directed them to move on order to a rendezvous point 1,500 meters north of the perimeter. He told the weapons platoon to orient its 81-millimeter mortars in B Company's direction if a call for help should come. Finally, he directed the two platoons with him to maneuver north toward the same rendezvous point. Fincher's reaction proved sound, for within twenty minutes, the battalion commander directed him to aid B Company. It took an hour traveling over rocky terrain for the A Company elements to assemble the selected rendezvous point. If he had not anticipated his commander's forthcoming directive, the time required could have been significantly increased. The site selected for the rendezvous was approximately 1,000 meters from B Company and placed the enemy force on a hill between the two American companies. In short order, Fincher deployed three platoons on line at the bottom of the enemy-held hill and ordered an assault. Maneuvering aggressively, preceded by mortar fires, Fincher's troops were able to defeat the enemy and relieve their hard-pressed sister company.6 SUMMARY Colonel Chamberlain, Lieutenant Chandler, Staff Sergeant Savage, and Captain Fincher understood the human dimension of warfighting. Each demonstrated his tactical and technical proficiency and used initiative to exploit opportunities for success by taking well-calculated risks within his commander's intent. The orders these men issued were effectively communicated and influenced their subordinates to accomplish the mission by providing purpose, direction, and motivation. The historical records are full of combat actions that cite examples of superb leadership and soldiers rising well above the normal call of duty to accomplish the assigned mission. In each of the accounts selected for this chapter, the leader led by example from the front, not by coercion and fear. We need leaders like the ones who were highlighted and we can develop them in our schools and units. You can become leaders like those discussed, and you can train your subordinates in similar fashion. This is your challenge and responsibility. These accounts of history should have raised many questions in your mind about the human dimension of warfighting. How can you develop yourself as a leader? Why do soldiers fight? What builds cohesion and discipline and motivates soldiers to fight bravely against great odds? What beliefs, values, character, knowledge, and skills must you have to lead soldiers successfully in combat? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1John J. Pullen, The Twentieth Maine, p 111. 2Pullen, p 118. 3Willard M. Wallace, Soul of the Lion, p 103. 4Condensed from Combat Actions in Korea by Russell A. Gugeler, pp 236-45 5Condensed from "Fight at la Drang" by John A. Cash in Seven Firefights by John Albright, et al, pp3-40. 6Condensed from Infantry in Vietnam: Small Unit Action in the Early Days: 1965-1966, edited by Albert N. Garland, pp 306-9.
FM 22-100 CHAPTER 4 What A Leader Must BeAs a leader, you are responsible for understanding and directly transmitting the Army's values to your soldiers. These values are the foundation for service to the nation. Since the Army's purpose is to protect the nation and its values, the Army's ethic must be consistent with national will and values. The oath you took pledged you "to support and defend the Constitution of the United States." Taken without reservation and regardless of personal sacrifice, this oath is formal and public recognition of your commitment to a professional ethic. This chapter describes what a leader must BE by discussing beliefs, values, and norms; character; and the professional Army ethic. It also discusses ethical responsibilities and an ethical decision-making process. BELIEFS, VALUES, AND NORMS Beliefs Beliefs are assumptions or convictions you hold as true about some thing, concept, or person. They can range from the very deep-seated beliefs you hold concerning such things as religion and the fundamentals upon which this country was established to recent experiences which have affected your perception of a particular person, concept, or thing. One soldier may believe that duty simply means putting in time from "8 to 5." Another may believe that duty is selflessly serving your country, your unit, and the soldiers of your unit. You have beliefs about human nature--what makes people tick. We usually cannot prove our beliefs, but we think and feel that they are true. For example, some people believe that a car is simply a means of transportation. Others believe a car is a status symbol. There are leaders who believe that rewards and punishment are the only way to motivate soldiers. In contrast, other leaders believe that rewards and punishment should be used only in exceptional cases. The important point to recognize is that people generally behave in accord with their beliefs. The beliefs of a leader impact directly on the leadership climate, cohesion, discipline, training, and combat effectiveness of a unit. Values Values are attitudes about the worth or importance of people, concepts, or things. Values influence your behavior because you use them to decide between alternatives. For example, you may place value on such things as truth, money, friendships, justice, human rights, or selflessness. Your values will influence your priorities. Strong values are what you put first, defend most, and want least to give up. Individual values can and will conflict at times. If you incorrectly reported a patrol checkpoint, do you have the moral courage to correct the report even if you know your leader will never discover you sent the incorrect report? In this situation, your values on truth and self-interest will collide. What you value the most will guide your actions. In this example, the proper course of action is obvious. There are times, however, when the right course of action is not so clear. The four individual values that all soldiers (leaders and led) are expected to possess are courage, candor, competence, and commitment. These four values are considered essential for building the trust which must exist for a unit to operate at peak efficiency. Courage comes in two forms. Physical courage is overcoming fears of bodily harm and doing your duty. Moral courage is overcoming fears of other than bodily harm while doing what ought to be done. Moral courage is as important as physical courage. It is the courage to stand firm on your values, your moral principles, and your convictions. You show moral courage when you do something based on one of your values or moral principles, knowing that the action may not be in your best interest. It takes special courage to support unpopular decisions and to make it difficult for others to do the wrong thing. Others may encourage you to embrace a "slightly" unethical solution as the easiest or most convenient method. Do not ease the way for others to do wrong; stand up for your beliefs and what you know is right. Do not compromise your professional ethic or your individual values and moral principles. If you believe you are right after sober and considered judgment, hold your position. Candor is being frank, open, honest, and sincere with your soldiers, seniors, and peers. It is an expression of personal integrity. If handled properly, disagreeing with others and presenting your point of view are not wrong. Remember these three important points: (1) select the right time and place to offer your criticism or advice; (2) do not criticize a plan without giving a constructive alternative; (3) recognize that when your leader has made the final decision, you must end your discussion and support legal and proper orders even if you do not personally agree with them. There is often no time in combat to verify reports or to question the accuracy of information. Consequences are too important, and time is too short to communicate anything but the truth. Candor is equally important in peacetime. Demand it from your subordinates and expect it from your peers and superiors. Candor expresses personal integrity. The beliefs of a leader impact directly on the leadership climate, cohesion, discipline, training and combat effectiveness of a unit. Competence is proficiency in required professional knowledge, judgment, and skills. Each leader must have it to train and to develop a cohesive, disciplined unit with all the required individual and collective skills to win on the battlefield. Competence builds confidence in one's self and one's unit; both are crucial elements of morale, courage, and, ultimately, success on the battlefield. Commitment means the dedication to carry out all unit missions and to serve the values of the country, the Army, and the unit. This is shown by doing your best to contribute to the Army, to train and develop your unit, and to help your soldiers develop professionally and personally. Norms Norms are the rules or laws normally based on agreed-upon beliefs and values that members of a group follow to live in harmony. Norms can fall into one of two categories. Formal norms are official standards or laws that govern behavior. Traffic signals, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and the Geneva Conventions are formal norms that direct the behavior of American soldiers. They dictate what actions are required or forbidden. Uniform regulations, safety codes, and unit SOPs are also formal norms. Informal norms are unwritten rules or standards that govern the behavior of group members. In the Korean Combat Patrol account, Lieutenant Chandler stressed the informal norm that casualties were never left by the rest of the patrol. At the root of this norm was a shared value about the importance of caring for each other. The soldiers found comfort in knowing they would be cared for if they became casualties. Importance of Beliefs, Values, and Norms Beliefs, values, and norms guide the actions of individuals and groups. They are like a traffic control system; they are signals giving direction, meaning, and purpose to our lives. Examples abound of soldiers throughout history who sacrificed their lives to save friends or help their unit accomplish a mission. These brave, selfless actions include blocking exploding grenades, personally taking out enemy fighting positions, and manning key positions to protect a withdrawal. Beliefs and values motivate this kind of heroic self-sacrifice. The motivating force may be the soldier's belief in the importance of retaining his personal honor, of saving a buddy, of helping the unit, of serving a cause, or a combination of these. Your soldiers will fight for you if they believe that the best chance for survival for themselves and their buddies is to do their job as part of a team. They will be more effective if they believe in themselves, in the unit, in you, and in the cause they are fighting for. Individual values, beliefs, and attitudes are shaped by past experiences involving such things as family, school, work, and social relationships. Leaders must understand the importance of nurturing and shaping beliefs and values in their subordinates because they are fundamental motivating factors. Influencing Beliefs, Values, and Norms As a leader, you have the power to influence the beliefs and values of your soldiers by setting the example; by recognizing behavior that supports professional beliefs, values, and norms; and by planning, executing, and assessing tough, realistic individual and collective training. Tough training does not mean training in which leaders haze or yell at troops in an effort to cause artificial stress. This merely creates an antagonistic atmosphere of "us against them." This kind of leadership does not succeed in combat, so why practice bad habits. Tough training occurs when leaders and soldiers mutually experience realistic, exhausting conditions that prepare both, as a team, for the stress of combat. Captain Herren, B Company commander, was concerned about the operation in the Ia Drang Valley because his men had gone without sleep the night before while performing another mission. He could only trust that the training his unit had received would enable them to overcome the lack of rest and that their fatigue would have little effect on their fighting ability. Training that simulates such conditions is tough. During a field exercise, you could plan for an all night road march, a few hours rest, then a simulated battle that is demanding on leaders and soldiers. This kind of training builds cohesion--positive respect and trust among soldiers and between leaders and soldiers. It builds a feeling of shared hardships and teamwork. It contributes to the respect and comradeship that help you influence beliefs and values of soldiers. Tough training conducted to standards will teach your soldiers to do things as individuals and as a team that they did not believe possible. It will give your soldiers confidence in themselves, in each other, and in you. If properly explained, it will help each soldier understand the linkage and the importance of his ability to perform individual tasks properly in support of the unit's collective mission. As a leader, you must respect your soldiers and must earn their respect if you are to influence their beliefs and values. Subordinates will always respect your rank, but they will base their genuine respect on your demonstrated character, knowledge, and professional skills. Once your soldiers respect you and want your approval, you can guide them to demonstrate unselfish concern for the unit and for other soldiers. They will become concerned with excellence in everything that relates to combat readiness if this is the value you demonstrate. If your soldiers respect and admire you, they want to be like you, and they naturally tend to adopt your professional beliefs and values as their own. You can reinforce this behavior with positive feedback and by praising them for things they do that support duty, cohesiveness, discipline, good training, and good maintenance. Praise, however, can be cheapened, either by overuse or when it is not sincere. CHARACTER Character describes a person's inner strength and is the link between values and behaviors. A soldier of character does what he believes right, regardless of the danger or circumstances. A soldier's behavior shows his character. In tough situations, leadership takes self-discipline, determination, initiative, compassion, and courage. There is no simple formula for success in all the situations you may face. The key is to remain flexible and attempt to gather as many facts as the circumstances will allow before you must make a decision. When dealing with others, every situation has two sides; listen to both. The way you handle problems depends on the interaction of the factors of leadership (the led, the leader, the situation, and communications). Character can be strong or weak. A person with strong character recognizes what he wants and has the drive, energy, self-discipline, willpower, and courage to get it. A person with weak character does not know what is needed and lacks purpose, willpower, self-discipline, and courage. A person who can admit when he is wrong is exhibiting strong character. Some believe that apologizing is a sign of weakness and causes a leader to lose power. Quite the contrary, admitting when you have made a mistake takes humility and moral courage. We are all human and make mistakes. Although placing blame on someone or something else when a mistake is made may be tempting, it indicates weak character, which your soldiers will readily recognize. We need leaders of strong and honorable character who support the values of loyalty to the nation, the Army, and the unit; duty; selfless service; and integrity. In this manual a soldier of character means a person with strong and honorable character. Importance of Character Your soldiers assess your character as they watch your day-to-day actions. They know if you are open and honest with them. They see whether you are indecisive, lazy, or selfish. They will quickly determine whether you know and enforce the Army standards. Your soldiers' perceptions of your actions combine to form a continuing assessment of your character. Soldiers want to be led by leaders who provide strength, inspiration, and guidance and will help them become winners. Whether or not they are willing to trust their lives to a leader depends on their assessment of that leader's courage, competence, and commitment. Future wars will be won by leaders with strong and honorable character. When mentally preparing for the stress of combat, it is good to know that ordinary people in past wars have shown that kind of character. An inspiring example of such a soldier follows. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sergeant York Alvin C. York was born to a poor family in the mountains of Tennessee. As a youth, York was known as a wild hellraiser with a particular hankering for alcohol, fighting, and gambling until he fell in love with a church-going girl who refused to date him unless he changed his ways. He started reading the Bible and adopted its fundamental teachings as his values. He changed his beliefs, values, and behavior and even became a respected leader in his church. When he was 30, World War I broke out. He was inducted into the Army and assigned to Captain Danforth's Company G, 328th Infantry Regiment, at Camp Gordon, Georgia. York told Danforth that he would do his duty, but that he did not want to fight and did not believe in killing enemy soldiers. Captain Danforth was troubled by York's beliefs and feelings. As training progressed, he could see that York was potentially the best soldier in the company. York's mountain life had made him a tough, hard-muscled, clear-thinking man. His body and mind were conditioned by years of hunting, plowing, and blacksmithing. He had been an expert shot since boyhood. Captain Danforth would have made York a sergeant except for his reservations about killing. Captain Danforth tried to convince York that killing enemy soldiers in a just war is not against the Word of God. York wouldn't budge. Captain Danforth then discussed York with the battalion commander, Major Buxton, a deeply religious man who knew the Bible as well as York. After talking to York, Major Buxton sent him home on leave. ''To York he said, 'That will give you time to do some thinking and praying. If you can then find it in your heart to return with a free conscience, we will take you with us. If you cannot . . . I will see that you are let out." 1 York went home for two weeks. Finally, on the last day of his leave, after searching the deepest regions of his mind and soul, he decided that for him, the highest moral good was to go to war with Company G. "He rejoined his company and told Captain Danforth that he had become convinced that he could fight for his country without violating the precepts of his faith. From that day on York marched in the ranks with a light heart and clear mind." 2 York changed his own belief about the ''moral rightness" of war. Respected leaders can influence the beliefs, values, and character of subordinates. York's decision had great consequences when he accomplished an almost unbelievable exploit that displayed his courage and initiative. "The essence of Alvin York's life was compressed into four hours of October 8,1918, in the mud and blood of the Argonne Forest [in France].... At 6:10 a.m., York's Company was ordered to . . . seize a German-held rail point. Hidden in woods overlooking a valley, a German machine gun battalion opened up on the company, killed most of its forward ranks." 3 York, the only surviving noncom, was left in command. He called for the others to move forward. They advanced and succeeded in overcoming the first machine gun nest and taking its crew prisoner. York told someone to see to getting the prisoners to the rear; then he moved out in advance of his tiny command to see what lay ahead of them. He had gone forward only a few yards when a line of 35 machine guns opened up and pinned him down. "The Tennessean found himself trapped and under fire within 25 yards of the enemy's machine gun pits. He began firing into the nearest enemy positioned, aware that the Germans would have to expose themselves to get an aimed shot at him. And every time a German head showed over the parapet, York drilled a bullet into it! "After he had shot down more than a dozen enemy gunners in this fashion, he was charged by six German soldiers who came at him with fixed bayonets. "York . . . drew a bead on the sixth man, and then on the fifth. He worked his way down the line, and practically before he knew it, the first man in line was charging the eagleeyed American sharpshooter all by himself. York dropped him with a dead-center shot. "York again turned his attention on the machine gun pits. Every time he fired, another enemy soldier fell. . . . In between shots York called for the Germans to surrender. At first it may have seemed funny to the well-entrenched enemy; but the joke had become rather hollow by the time the Tennessean his killed his twenty-second victim. Shortly afterward a German officer advanced under a white flag and offered to surrender if York would stop shooting at his men. "York demanded--and received!--the surrender of the remaining Germans. Having taken a total of 132 prisoners, and knocked 35 machine guns out of action, York finally returned to his regiment's lines. He left the prisoners . . . and headed back to his own outfit. "Intelligence officers questioned the prisoners and learned from their testimony the incredible story of how a fighting battalion was destroyed by one determined soldier armed only with a rifle and pistol. "What's more, it was learned that York had destroyed this battalion at a moment when it was supposed to support a German counterattack against the Americans." 4 His strong and honorable character enabled him to destroy the morale and effectiveness of an entire enemy machine gun battalion. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1Bruce Jacobs, Heroes of the Army, p 67. 2Jacobs, p 67. 3"Heroes: One Day's Work," p 26. 4Jacobs, pp 68-71. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ If we go to war again, many of our soldiers and units may find themselves in situations similar to York's. How will they behave? Will they rise to the occasion as York did? Will they have the necessary character and skills? The answers to these questions will depend on whether leaders have developed in their soldiers the required beliefs, values, character, knowledge, and skills. Today's soldiers have as much potential as Sergeant York did. They too can serve courageously under stressful circumstances if they are trained and led properly. Base your training program on building the motivation, confidence, and competence your subordinates will need on the battlefield. Character Building Building character demands the honesty to determine your own character weaknesses. Have you demonstrated the self-discipline and will on which strong and honorable character is based? How have you handled the tough situations? Sometimes you are the best judge of your strengths and weaknesses. Other times you may have blind spots that keep you from seeing your own weaknesses. You must be open to feedback and advice. However, you must take the responsibility for continually building and strengthening your character. Others can help, but they cannot do it for you. To build strong and honorable character, you should- •Assess the present strength of your values and character. •Determine what values you want to promote. •Seek out missions and situations that support developing such character. •Select a role model who demonstrates the values and character you are trying to develop. You build strong and honorable character by hard work, study, and challenging experiences. You must develop habits that force you to continually develop your mind and character. The better you understand yourself, the easier it is to exercise your will and self-discipline, and the more you strengthen your character. The character you want to instill in your soldiers, and should attempt to exhibit in the daily example you set, should be consistent with the values of courage, candor, competence, and commitment. For this reason, leading and training soldiers well must begin with their induction into the service. When they begin their Army training, individuals are prepared for change, and since most want to do well, they are willing to adopt the stressed Army values. All leaders need a good program for integrating new soldiers into their unit. As a leader, you must teach and demonstrate the right values and norms of working, training, and living. Changing Character of Problem Soldiers How much can you change the character of a problem soldier? What if a soldier comes from an environment where the parents themselves set a bad example or the soldier received little education? What about a soldier from a neighborhood where accepted conduct is lying and stealing. These norms became instilled as values while he was growing up. Lying to authority, "getting over," "shamming," and taking advantage of "the system" are normal behavior to this soldier. He is undependable and irresponsible; he lacks self-discipline. Can this soldier change? What is your responsibility to this soldier? You must understand human nature. There is good and bad in everyone. A leader must bring out the good in each soldier. You may be able to eliminate counterproductive beliefs, values, and behaviors and help a soldier develop character if he wants to change. Many soldiers want to improve, but they need discipline, organization, a good role model, and a positive set of beliefs, values, and habits to pattern themselves after. You, as a leader, must both demonstrate by example and assist in establishing the conditions for that individual which will encourage the change. You will not be able to influence the beliefs, values, and character of all your soldiers, but you can influence most soldiers. Your job is to make good soldiers out of all the people in your unit, even the problem soldiers. Gaining the respect of soldiers is important. A respected leader influences soldiers by teaching, coaching, counseling, training, disciplining, and setting a good example. If a soldier does not adopt soldierly values and behavior after you and the rest of the chain of command have done your best, eliminate him from the Army so that he cannot disrupt discipline and cohesion in your unit. Respected and successful leaders create a leadership climate that causes most soldiers to develop the right professional values and character. Leaders can often change soldiers' motivation from self-interest to selfless service to their unit and nation. You have another major responsibility in developing character. You must give your soldiers confidence that they can develop their character. Convince your soldiers that you are on their side, helping them. Their belief that you sincerely care about them and want them to develop the correct values and behavior (because that is right for them) helps give them confidence to become able soldiers with strong and honorable character. THE PROFESSIONAL ARMY ETHIC The doctrinal statement of the professional Army ethic is in FM 100-1. The ethic sets the moral context for service to the nation and inspires the sense of purpose necessary to preserve the nation, even by using military force. From the ideals of the Constitution to the harsh realities of the battlefield, the four elements of the professional Army ethic contain the values that guide the way you must lead. Loyalty to the Nation, the Army, and the Unit The oath every soldier takes requires loyalty to the nation and involves an obligation to support and defend the Constitution. Loyalty to the Army means supporting the military and civilian chain of command. Loyalty to unit expresses both the obligation between those who lead and the led and the shared commitment among soldiers for one another. American military professionals do not fight to force our political system on others or to gain power or wealth. Professional soldiers are protectors of the ideals of America, willing to fight for these ideals so that others can live in a free and just society. To do this, they must be experts at leading soldiers in battle. The military leader who deeply values loyalty to the nation sees himself as a person who will always do his best to defend American ideals. Your unit is your piece of the Army's action, your day-to-day part of the Army. By contributing to your unit's mission and combat readiness, you contribute to the defense of the nation. The unit is your family, your team. Loyalty to the unit means that you place the unit's needs and goals ahead of your own. Lieutenant Herrick demonstrated his total dedication and loyalty to his nation, Army, and unit as he continued to direct his perimeter defense in the Ia Drang Valley until he died of his wounds. Similarly, Staff Sergeant Savage, in this same engagement, continued to place his soldiers' needs ahead of his personal safety as he called in supporting fires and directed the perimeter defense until friendly relief was able to link up. Duty A duty is a legal or moral obligation to do what should be done without being told to do it. Duty means accomplishing all assigned tasks to the fullest of your ability. Duty requires willingness to accept full responsibility for your actions and for your soldiers' performance. It also requires a leader to take the initiative and anticipate requirements based on the situation. Captain Fincher superbly demonstrated these qualities when he alerted his platoons in anticipation of a new mission and provided timely guidance on actions to be taken. As a professional, your responsibility is to do your duty to the best of your ability. If you lie or tell a half-truth to make your unit look good, you may think you are doing your duty and being loyal to your leader and unit. In fact, you are being dishonorable and unethical, neglecting your duty to the Army and the nation. A leader cannot truly do his duty without being honorable. Selfless Service You may have to put the nation's welfare and mission accomplishment ahead of the personal safety of you and your troops. You must resist the temptation to put self-gain, personal advantage and self-interests ahead of what is best for the nation, the Army, or your unit. Selfless service is necessary to develop teamwork, and military service demands the willingness to sacrifice. FOUR ELEMENTS OF THE PROFESSIONAL ARMY ETHICS •Loyalty. •Duty. •Selfless service. •Integrity. As a leader, you must be the greatest servant in your unit. Your rank and position are not personal rewards. You earn them so that you can serve your subordinates, your unit, and your nation. Lieutenant Chandler and the men selected for the combat patrol in Korea recognized the inherent dangers in the mission they were about to undertake. His soldiers were ready to be led into combat by him because he had earned their confidence in earlier actions. He prepared a detailed plan, ensured the tasks were understood, and personally supervised preparation. Throughout the conduct of the patrol, he put the mission and welfare of his soldiers ahead of his personal safety. Integrity Integrity is woven through the fabric of the professional Army ethic. It means being honest and upright, avoiding deception, and living the values you suggest for your subordinates. Integrity demands that you act according to the other values of the Army ethic. You must be absolutely sincere, honest, and candid and avoid deceptive behavior. Integrity is the basis for the trust and confidence that must exist among members of the Army. Further, you must demonstrate integrity in your personal life. If you compromise your personal integrity, you break the bonds of trust between you, your soldiers, and your leaders. ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITIES Ethics are principles or standards that guide professionals to do the moral or right thing-- what ought to be done. As a leader, you have three general ethical responsibilities. First, you must be a good role model. Second, you must develop your subordinates ethically. Finally, you must lead in such a way that you avoid putting your subordinates into ethical dilemmas. Be A Role Model Whether you like it or not, you are on display at all times. Your actions say much more than your words. Subordinates will watch you carefully and imitate your behavior. You must accept the obligation to be a worthy role model and you cannot ignore the effect your behavior has on others. You must be willing to do what you require of your soldiers and share the dangers and hardships. Colonel Chamberlain was a respected role model who inspired his soldiers. His selflessness, kindness, compassion, and respect for others were evident in the way he led. Develop Your Subordinates Ethically You must shape the values and beliefs of your soldiers to support the values of the nation, the Army, and the unit. You develop your subordinates by personal contact and by teaching them how to reason clearly about ethical matters. You need to be honest with them and talk through possible solutions to difficult problems. When you make a decision that has an ethical component, share your thought process with your subordinates when time permits. They will respect you for caring enough to discuss your personal thoughts with them, and they will learn from you. Being sensitive to the ethical elements of soldiering is a big part of developing your soldiers. Your goal is to develop a shared ethical perspective so that your soldiers will act properly in the confusion and uncertainty of combat. Unless they have learned how to think clearly through ethical situations, they may not have the moral strength to do what is right. Avoid Creating Ethical Dilemmas for Your Subordinates Since your soldiers will want to please you, do not ask them to do things that will cause them to behave unethically to please you. Here are some examples that can get you in trouble: •I don't care how you get it done--just do it! •There is no excuse for failure! •Can do! •Zero Defects. •Covering up errors to look good. •Telling superiors what they want to hear. •Making reports say what your leader wants to see. •Setting goals that are impossible to reach (missions without resources). •Loyalty up--not down. These examples may seem as though they would never be a problem for you. Do not assume this is true for others. Learn to give orders and lead without creating these kinds of dilemmas for your soldiers. AN ETHICAL DECISION-MAKING PROCESS Regardless of the source of pressure to act unethically, you usually know in your heart the right thing to do. The real question is whether you have the character to live by sound professional values when under pressure. If you have the right beliefs and values, the thing to do in most situations will be clear and you will do it. Sometimes you will find yourself in complex situations where the right ethical choice is unclear. True ethical dilemmas exist when two or more deeply held values collide. In such situations, using a decision-making process can help you identify the course of action that will result in the greatest moral good. NOTE: The Geneva Conventions prohibit captors from using enemy prisoners of war or civilians under military control as hostages. You must not violate this prohibition even though doing so might ensure the immediate safety of yourself and your troops or ease accomplishing your mission. By signing and ratifying the Geneva Conventions, the United States declared that it is never acceptable to hold a hostage, regardless of what may happen as a result. Following are the steps of an ethical decision-making process to help you think through ethical dilemmas: Step 1. Interpret the situation. What is the ethical dilemma? Step 2. Analyze all the factors and forces that relate to the dilemma. Step 3. Choose the course of action you believe will best serve the nation. Step 4. Implement the course of action you have chosen. The ethical decision-making process starts when you confront a problem and continues until you develop and implement a solution. The process helps you analyze the problem, identify influencing forces, develop possible courses of action, assess them, and decide on a course of action. Forces That Influence Decision Making A variety of forces influence the ethical decision-making process. The factors and forces you should consider will depend on the dilemma. Here are some probable ones: •Laws, orders, and regulations--formal standards contained in laws, policies regulations, and legal and proper orders that guide behavior and decision making. •Basic national values--values established in documents, such as the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, and in traditions that provide the foundation for required behavior of all Americans. •Traditional Army values--values the Army establishes as standards of required behavior for all soldiers. They are loyalty to the nation, the Army, and the unit; duty; selfless service; integrity; courage; competence; candor; and commitment. •Unit operating values--values actually functioning in your unit that produce the standards governing day-to-day behavior. Unit operating values are often the same as traditional Army values. There are times, however, when they are not. Consider situations involving careerism, altered training and maintenance records, equipment borrowed from another unit for an inspection, or "eyewash" instead of truth. •Your values--your ideas and beliefs that influence your behavior. •Institutional pressures--elements of Army policies, procedures, and operations, and other aspects which influence your behavior. These six forces may not be the only important forces that you should identify and consider. Since ethics is a part of leadership, your decision-making process should also consider the four factors of leadership (the led, the leader, the situation, and communications). The ethical decision-making process can help you think through an ethical dilemma and arrive at a course of action. Once you have analyzed all the factors and forces involved, look at the values in conflict and determine the course of action that seems best for the nation. Complex Ethical Dilemmas It may seem that the ethical decision-making process is too mechanical. You may think you do not need it if you have strong will and moral courage. Normally, the "right" alternative is clear. The ethical decision-making process is for the complex dilemmas that haunt leaders when no clear best choice is evident. Here is an example of one leader's ethical dilemma in combat. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethical Dilemma in Combat Not long after I was commissioned, I found myself in a combat unit in Vietnam. I also found that combat generated many ethical dilemmas. Applying the guidelines for conduct as I understood them often did not produce obviously "right" answers. The infantry company I commanded was participating in patrolling operations as part of an antiguerrilla patrol campaign. We operated in an area that small guerrilla raiding forces had been moving through for some time Our daily patrolling routine went on for about six weeks Casualties in the company were high. Most casualties occurred in one sector within our patrol area designated as Bravo 7. Every time our patrols moved into the sector, they were ambushed or encountered booby traps. Because of other mission requirements, I could not leave a force permanently in Bravo 7. I talked to the village chief in the small village located in Bravo 7, but he was trying to remain neutral. He hoped to accommodate us and the VC. Although he would not help us I was sure he and the villagers knew where every booby trap in the area was located. Every time our patrols went into Bravo 7, soldiers were killed or injured. The resulting morale problem was so severe that I started going on the patrols myself. One night a booby trap exploded, killing two men and wounding a third, even though we had taken extensive precautions in our approach to the area. We were unable to locate enemy soldiers or VC in Bravo 7, yet time after time we were ordered to continue sending the patrols. The mission did not seem to justify the casualties we were receiving. I had a serious problem. I appealed to my battalion commander, but he stressed accomplishing our security mission and following orders. What should I do? The continued loss of soldiers for no apparent gain seemed intolerable. I could have reported sending the patrols out and sent none, but I could not accept that alternative. Simply lying to my superiors would have been discovered soon in any case. Restrictions on the use of artillery eliminated the idea of destroying the booby traps by thoroughly bombarding the area. After trying to sort it all out, it seemed to me that I had only two choices. I could either refuse to obey orders or continue sending men to death and injury for no understandable purpose. If I disobeyed orders, I knew I would be replaced and my successor would have to face the same problem. Other possibilities existed, of course. We could have forced villagers to lead patrols into the area although it was against law. No civilian casualties occurred from booby traps, indicating they knew the booby trap areas. We could have put pressure on the Bravo 7 villagers and forced them to give us information about the location of booby traps. My military background, with its emphasis on completing the mission despite obstacles, prompted me to consider such alternatives. As it turned out, events made my final choice unnecessary. We were shifted many miles to the west in a big operation on the Cambodian border an never returned to Bravo 7. I still wonder what I would have done if I had stayed. No logic or training I had received gave me a clear right answer. Obedience to orders demanded one course. Responsibility to my soldiers appeared to demand another. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This situation was a true ethical dilemma for this leader. He felt bound to be loyal to both his leaders and his followers. There is no "right" answer or "school solution" to this situation. Different leaders would come to different conclusions after analyzing all the factors and forces that relate to the situation. The important point is that using the ethical decision-making process can help you identify all the options and then eliminate ones that will not serve the nation well. If you ever find yourself in an ethical dilemma, think through the ethical decision-making process and the concept of the highest moral good. Tough leadership decisions do not always have happy endings. Some may praise your decision while others find fault with your logic. You may not always be rewarded for integrity and candor. The point is that you have to live with yourself. Before you can gain the respect of others, you must respect yourself. You gain honor and keep it by doing your duty in an ethical way, having the character to act by the professional Army ethic. SUMMARY Your ability to lead flows from your individual beliefs, values, and character. Your ability to inspire soldiers to do the brave and right thing-- things they may not think they are capable of performing--is influenced by the example you set. Beliefs, values, and norms have great motivating power. Respected leaders of strong and honorable character are able to influence the beliefs, values, and norms of their soldiers. As a professional, you are sworn to use your power for the good of the country, the Army, and those you lead. The professional Army ethic contains the values that guide the way leaders should carry out their professional responsibilities. The elements of the professional Army ethic are loyalty to the nation, the Army, and the unit; duty; selfless service; and integrity. As a leader, you have ethical responsibilities. You must be a worthy role model, develop subordinates ethically, and avoid creating ethical dilemmas for subordinates. When faced with a situation where the right ethical choice is unclear, consider all the forces and factors that relate to the situation and then select a course of action that best serves the ideals of the nation. The ethical decision-making process is a way to resolve those dilemmas. Fundamental to what leaders must BE are the moral strength and courage necessary to make hard decisions and to give soldiers the will to fight and the ability to win. As a Leader, You Must:Examples:Be a person of strong and honorable character. •Determination •Compassion •Self-discipline •Role Modeling •Initiative •Flexibility •Consistency Be committed to the professional Army ethic. •Loyalty to the nation, the Army, and the unit. •Selfless service. •Integrity. •Duty. Be an example of individual values. •Courage. •Candor. •Competence. •Commitment. Be able to resolve complex ethical dilemmas. •Interpret the situation. •Analyze all the factors and forces that apply. •Choose a course of action that seems best for the nation.
FM 22-100 CHAPTER 5 CHAPTER 5 What A Leader Must KnowA leader must learn before he leads. You need to KNOW (understand) standards, yourself, human nature, your job, and your unit to be an effective leader. This knowledge will give you a strong foundation for what you must BE and what you must DO. Keep in mind as you read this chapter that knowledge is far more than memorizing information. Knowledge is the understanding of information. KNOW STANDARDS You will need to meet and enforce the standards of behavior you expect from your soldiers. The Army has already established standards in many areas. Regulations, laws, ARTEP mission training plans, soldier training publications, field and training manuals, general defense plans, and SOPs all contain standards. Your role is often to take existing standards and translate them into goals that your soldiers understand and believe in. Standards define acceptable performance, control behavior, and influence actions. You must communicate standards clearly and ensure they are understood and attained. You must set and enforce high standards in all areas that relate to specific training missions and tasks critical to wartime mission accomplishment. Here is a word of caution, however. Sometimes leaders have a particular area of interest or expertise into which they put so much of the unit's energy that other standards are not met. You and your soldiers have only so much time and energy; use this time and energy to meet the standards in all areas. If your soldiers do not meet your standards, analyze the situation and decide on a course of action for handling the situation. Decide if your standards are realistic. What are the demands of combat? What makes good common sense? Ask your leaders and respected peers; listen to their ideas. Adjust your standards if necessary, but do not change them if they are correct. Ask yourself these questions: •Did your subordinates understand what was expected? •Did you provide the resources, authority, training, and direction your subordinates needed? •Did your subordinates know how to do what was expected? •Were your subordinates motivated to do what was expected? The answers to these questions will guide your actions. Your subordinates may need more training, supervision, or counseling. You may need to explain the standard better so that your subordinates understand it and its importance. If standards are not met and counseling is appropriate, do not become arrogant or abusive. When you counsel, explain what the subordinate did wrong and why it is unacceptable in terms of standards. Explain how to improve performance. Focus on the specific behavior you want to change. Do not degrade his feelings of self-worth. How you counsel affects the future behavior and attitude of your soldiers. Your manner can increase respect for you, or it can cause deep feelings of resentment, hostility, and injustice. FM 22-101 is devoted entirely to leadership counseling. All leaders want their soldiers to do well. Soldiers also want to do well. Poor performance frustrates soldiers and leaders and may cause anger. In these situations, you may be tempted to work off your frustrations by yelling at soldiers, threatening them, or otherwise verbally abusing them. You are in an official position of authority over soldiers and must keep yourself in check while reprimanding or counseling. You must maintain the right balance of military firmness and appreciation of human dignity. Here is a true example of how one leader in combat set standards and ensured they were met. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Rusty Rifles Incident While serving in the Republic of Vietnam, Sergeant First Class Jackson was transferred from platoon sergeant of one platoon to platoon leader of another platoon in the same company. His company commander had watched him and was impressed with his competence and leadership. He felt he was the man for the job. Sergeant Jackson quickly sized up the existing standards in the platoon. He was not pleased. One problem he found was that soldiers were not keeping their weapons cleaned properly; rifles were dirty and rusty. He knew he had to institute a system of checks to ensure weapons were cleaned daily. He put out the word--weapons would be cleaned to standard each day, each squad leader would inspect each day, and he would inspect a sample of weapons each day. He gave this order three days before the platoon was to go to the division R&R area on the South China Sea. The next day he checked several weapons in each squad. Most weapons were still unacceptable called the squad leaders together and explained the policy and his reasons for implementing it. Sergeant Jackson checked again the following day and still found dirty and rusty weapons. He decided there were two causes for the problem. First, the squad leaders were not doing their jobs. Second, the squad leaders and troops were bucking him--testing him to see who would really make the rules in the platoon. He could feel the resistance to his leadership-- probably because he was new and had been the platoon sergeant in another platoon. He knew he had a serious discipline problem he had to handle correctly. He called the squad leaders together again. Once again, he explained his standards clearly. He then said, "Tomorrow, we are due to go on R&R for three days, and I'll be inspecting rifles. We won't go on R&R until each weapon in this platoon meets the standard I have explained--rifles totally clean and rust free with a light coat of oil." The next morning Sergeant Jackson inspected and found that most weapons in each squad were still below standard. His patience had reached its limit. His squad leaders and troops had to learn that his standards would be met. Although the platoon was to board a helicopter for R&R at 1300, Sergeant Jackson received the company commander's permission to handle the situation as he saw fit. He called the squad leaders together. With a determined look and a firm voice, he told them he would hold a formal in-ranks inspection at 1300. If every weapon did not meet standards, he would conduct another in-ranks inspection for squad leaders and troops with substandard weapons. would continue the inspections until all weapons met standards. At 1300, the platoon formed up, surly and angry at their new platoon leader who was taking their hard-earned R&R time. Sergeant Jackson conducted a formal in-ranks rifle inspection. The soldiers could hardly believe it, but his message was starting to sink in. This man meant what he said, and this time all weapons met standards. After the inspection, Sergeant Jackson talked to his soldiers and explained they had a mission to perform. As their leader, he was responsible for ensuring their weapons and equipment were combat-ready. Duty and readiness come first. He told them "When I put out an order, a standard, or a policy, your duty is to carry out, and I will hold you to that. I intend to carry out my duties as best I can. That includes accomplishing the mission while looking out for your well-being. Weapons that aren't cleaned and properly maintained will jam in a firefight. That won't help carry out the mission or keep you alive. Part of my duty is to make you do certain things that are in your own interest. One of those things is to make sure you keep your weapons clean." Sergeant Jackson did not have any more problems with dirty, rusty weapons. Also, his squad leaders followed his lead and learned to supervise and inspect systematically for those details that contribute to combat-readiness. Within a few weeks, he had a pretty fair platoon; in two months, it was outstanding. Holding soldiers accountable for meeting standards was critical to producing this combat-effective platoon. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ KNOW YOURSELF "Know thyself." 1 To lead others successfully, you must know about people and human nature. Before you can understand other people, however, you must know yourself. Using Chapter 4 as a guide to self-evaluation, you can better understand yourself, your personality, and your strengths and weaknesses. Are you an analytical person who likes to work objectively with facts or are you intuitive, preferring to rely on your instincts and feelings as you gather information to make decisions? How sensitive are you to the feelings of other people? Do you tend to be a loner or are you outgoing and able to relate easily to other people? Do you like a planned, orderly way of life or a flexible, spontaneous one? Everyone has preferences, strengths, and weaknesses. Crucial to your development as a leader is knowing yourself so that you can maximize your strengths and work to improve your weaknesses. As a leader, you must realize you are three people: who you are, who you think you are, and who others think you are. In some cases, there is a close relationship between and among the three "you's." In other cases, the relationship is not close at all. Here are some questions you can ask yourself: •How do I establish priorities? •Am I reliable? •How well do I listen to others? •Do soldiers fear me, or trust, like, and respect me? •Do I show others I enjoy what I am doing? •Am I a delegator or a "micromanager"? •Am I an optimist or a pessimist? •Am I selfless or self-serving? •Am I a decision maker or a "decision ducker"? •Am I competent at my job? 2 •Do I lead by example? •Do I allow standards to slip when I am tired? Your seniors, peers, and subordinates will give you honest feedback if you ask for it and are open to it. Candid feedback can help you better understand yourself. If you know yourself and try to improve, you have a foundation for knowing your job and your soldiers. . . . YOU MUST REALIZE YOU ARE THREE PEOPLE •Who you are. •Who you think you are. •Who others think you are. KNOW HUMAN NATURE S. L. A. Marshall said that the starting point for understanding war is the understanding of human nature. This is a fundamental truth. As a leader, you need the support of followers, peers, seniors, and other people outside of your organization to accomplish your mission. You must be able to motivate all these people to support you. To understand and motivate troops and to develop a cohesive, disciplined, well-trained unit, you must understand human nature. People behave according to certain principles of human nature that govern behavior in war just as in peace. The stresses of war may unleash certain fears that have been suppressed in peace. War, however, does not change human nature. Since all humans react according to these principles, it is important that you understand the human dimension of warfighting. Human nature is the common set of qualities shared by all human beings. Chapter 4 examined some of these qualities--beliefs, values, and character--of individuals. The following discusses some basic aspects of human nature that you should consider as a leader. You must understand how these aspects affect the behavior of people under stress before you can become a skilled, inspirational leader. Potential for Good and Bad Behavior All people have the potential for good and bad behavior. One of your most important jobs is to suppress the bad, bring out the good, and direct that good behavior toward accomplishing the unit's mission. Most people want to do the right thing, but unfortunately, many lack the moral fiber or character to do the right thing under temptation or stress. You must realize this and know the conditions that bring out the good and the bad in people. You can then encourage the good and suppress the bad. The following example illustrates this point. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Soldiers on Patrol An American Infantry company moving at night in Vietnam had been taking casualties from booby traps. As the soldiers neared a village, they were fired on by Vietcong snipers who quickly retreated after killing a private, and a lieutenant. It was dark, and the American soldiers were scared anguished, resentful, and frustrated. They urged the commander to let them go into that village and kill whoever had killed their fellow soldiers. The commander was also anguished and frustrated, but he knew what could happen and controlled his emotions. Surprise, ambush, and retreat were standard Vietcong tactics. Since the commander thought the ambushers were gone, he did not allow movement toward the village. He knew that if the soldiers went into the village in their emotional state, they might lose control and cause inexcusable deaths and damage. In turn, this would create hatred in the Vietnamese and motivate more of them to became Vietcong guerrillas or sympathizers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ War can bring out the worst in human nature. There are examples in war of people committing horrible atrocities, such as murdering disarmed prisoners and innocent civilians. You must exercise self-discipline to bring out the good and suppress the bad in your subordinates. Why do such war crimes occur? Most Americans despise crime, violence, and especially killing. However, on the battlefield, soldier's desire for safety and survival will increase their willingness to kill. Most soldiers do not want to cause unnecessary suffering, but the stress of war and the emotion and anger that come with fatigue, fear, or loss of comrades can reduce their inhibitions against war crimes. Your task is to understand the effect stress can have on behavior and lead your soldiers by your example so that they know you will never approve or tolerate behavior that is a war crime. Every war has taught us that the leader's behavior is the single most important factor in preventing war crimes. Some people believe atrocities are inevitable in war and nothing can be done about them. It is true that human nature, allowed to run its course under certain conditions of war, can produce atrocities. However, it is also true that leaders can prevent atrocities. In nearly every case in past wars where atrocities have occurred, a competent leader could have prevented them. If the leader had controlled his own emotions, set the correct example, and given appropriate orders, the atrocities would not have been committed. A leader who values the American ideals of truth, justice, freedom, and human dignity does not condone atrocities. You must control yourself and your soldiers, no matter how difficult the situation. You must never forget that you are responsible for your subordinate's performance and accountable with them for their actions. Fear Fear is a natural human emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger. Interviews with seasoned World War II combat veterans indicated they primarily feared death and maiming; veterans with little combat experience were usually more afraid of letting their buddies down or being thought a coward. Over half of the combat veterans admitted to being "paralyzed" by fear at least once. It will be natural for you and your soldiers to feel fear if placed in a dangerous situation. If you feel fear and know your soldiers are experiencing it as well, let them know how you feel and that you are confident in the unit's ability. Earlier in this manual you read how the unexpected bayonet charge and devastating surprise fire by the 20th Maine caused Colonel Oates' Alabama regiments to panic at Little Round Top. The following illustrates soldiers' fear in war. During operations following the Battle of Antietam, the men of the 20th Maine felt the fear of battle for the first time. On 20 September 1862, the Union Army began following Confederate units across the Potomac River. As the men heard the sounds of fighting across the river, "the imminence of personal death began to develop its involuntary, uncontrollable physiological reactions--the too-fast, too-hard pounding of the heart, the dry knotting of the stomach, and a general shakiness." 3 Before the fight at Little Round Top, the men of the 20th Maine felt "blood beating harder and faster through the arteries; lungs seeming to dilate deep down, reaching for more oxygen; stomach and intestines shrinking and stopping all movement, and tension rising to the point where it could shake a man like the passage of a powerful electric current." 4 Fear causes definite physical reactions. You can see it in the eyes and sense it in the shakiness of a person. Fear is an emotion that occurs naturally before or during battle. What is important is how a person handles fear, and this depends on courage, competence, confidence, and strength of character. Courage is not the absence of fear. It is the ability to put fear aside and act as you believe you should. Courage is strength of will overcoming instincts and fear. Competence and belief in one's ability to succeed are powerful agents in counteracting fear. A soldier feels fear in direct proportion to his beliefs that he may fail. As a leader, you can counteract fear by building competence, motivation, and confidence in your soldiers. Train your soldiers and teams in peacetime as they will fight in wartime. Tough, realistic, and challenging training will build courage and confidence, bolster morale, and instill the will to fight and win. Prepare your soldiers for the fears of battle. Learn about the carnage and confusion of the battlefield by reading books about war and by discussing the details of past battles. Talk about why some units panic and other cohesive units have the discipline to overcome fear and hold together. Discuss the isolation soldiers feel on the battlefield when under fire. Without proper training and confidence, this isolation can cause paralyzing fear. Keep your soldiers active before battle if they do not need rest. Positive action conquers fear. You and your troops can overcome fear; soldiers have been doing it for centuries. Get your soldiers to think about the mission, each other, how to perform their duties, and what to do in various situations. If they force themselves to keep their minds on the task at hand, on their comrades, and on the unit, fear will not have a chance to take over. They must think positively and take positive action. Do not push your soldiers unnecessarily because fatigue drains courage. Try to give them adequate food, water, rest, and protection from the weather. In the words of S. L. A. Marshall: In battle, whatever wears out the muscles reacts on the mind and whatever impairs the mind drains physical strength. Tired men take fright more easily. Frightened men swiftly tire.... Half of control during battle comes from the commander's avoiding useless expenditure of the physical resources of his men while taking action to break the hold of fear . . . . As a man becomes dehydrated during summer fighting, his courage flows out through his pores, along with his muscular strength. He loses the will to fight or to take constructive action.5 Keep your soldiers informed of any information you have that will give them peace of mind. Do not allow rumors to start or spread. Get the facts and talk straight with your subordinates. Use the chain of command and the NCO support channel and quickly pass on information your soldiers need. This is one of the time-tested principles of leadership; it is fundamental to building trust and reducing fear. Emotions That Contribute to Fear Depression, sadness, and feelings of hopelessness and lack of self-worth are dangerous emotions that breed fear and lead to combat ineffectiveness and panic. You can have an important influence on these emotions. Control them in yourself by exercising self-discipline. Sense these emotions in your soldiers, and take actions to control them. Attack the emotions that contribute to fear by setting a positive, cheerful example and by talking with soldiers. Give your soldiers a sense of confidence, purpose, meaning, and self- respect. Often, sitting down and talking with a soldier who is depressed or scared is enough. If you have a soldier's confidence, he will tell you the causes of his fear. Sometimes, all it takes is for you to say "I understand. It is natural to doubt yourself and have the emotions that you are feeling. But you're a good soldier. I know you; you will do fine. I have confidence in you." Words like these inspire confidence and show that you sincerely care about the soldier. KNOW YOUR JOB Technical Knowledge Technical knowledge is the knowledge required to perform all tasks and functions related to your position, including the ability to operate and maintain all assigned equipment. You should strive to learn how to use your equipment in the most effective manner to support your mission accomplishment. Additionally, you must be able to train your subordinates on all job tasks and items of equipment. To obtain this knowledge, study and work hard in schools and in your unit. Individual study of Army manuals and publications is also invaluable for acquiring such expertise. Do not be afraid to ask your seniors, peers, and subordinates to help you learn. If your technical knowledge is deficient on a particular system, admit it and take immediate action to correct the deficiency. Any attempt to bluff your way through a situation will only result in your loss of personal credibility and could result in an accident or injury, if a soldier follows bad advice. Specialist Lose, the medical aidman supporting Sergeant Savage's platoon in Vietnam, used his technical competence and professionalism to save at least six lives. He calmly reassured wounded soldiers, administered competent first air to the wounded, and demonstrated initiative by using toilet tissue packets to bandage wounds after running out of first-aid packets. Tactical Knowledge Tactical knowledge is the ability to employ your soldiers and their equipment. Combat arms leaders work directly to gain an advantage over the enemy while combat support and combat service support leaders provide the necessary support for that employment.. The Army recognizes nine principles of war. You must understand these principles and consider their applicability to your situation: •Objective. Direct every military operation towards a clearly defined, decisive, and attainable objective. •Offensive. Seize, retain, and exploit the initiative. •Mass. Concentrate combat power at the decisive place and time. •Economy of force. Allocate minimum essential combat power to secondary efforts. •Maneuver. Place the enemy in a position of disadvantage through the flexible application of combat power. •Unity of command. For every objective, ensure unity of effort under one responsible commander. •Security. Never permit the enemy to acquire an unexpected advantage. •Surprise. Strike the enemy at a time, at a place, or in a manner for which he is unprepared. •Simplicity. Prepare clear, uncomplicated plans and clear, concise orders to ensure thorough understanding. Today's technology and warfighting doctrine have made tactics more complex than in the past, yet the fundamental principles continue to apply at all levels. In addition to understanding the Army's warfighting doctrine and tactics, your tactical knowledge will not be complete unless you also understand the doctrine and tactics of potential enemies. KNOW YOUR UNIT Tactical and technical knowledge is crucial but, by itself, will not make you an effective leader. You must couple it with knowledge of yourself and your unit--your team. General Omar Bradley said: The greatest leader in the world could never win a campaign unless he understood the men he had to lead. To build a disciplined, cohesive team, you must know your unit. What are your unit's limitations and capabilities? You must clearly understand discipline and cohesion. In effective units, soldiers know themselves and each other well. They care about each other; share mutual trust, respect, confidence, and understanding; and work as a disciplined team. Discipline Disciplined soldiers are orderly, obedient, controlled, and dependable. They do their duty promptly and effectively in response to orders, or even in the absence of orders. The forces that drive a disciplined unit come from within that unit. These forces are the values, character, and will of the leaders and troops. A unit's character reflects the character of its leaders and its troops. If the soldiers have discipline, courage, and initiative and think creatively, the unit develops a personality--a character--with these elements as its foundation. Self-discipline means forcing yourself to do your duty--what you ought to do--regardless of stress, exhaustion, or other conditions. A disciplined unit forces itself to do its duty in every situation. In a disciplined unit, soldiers have the self-confidence and initiative needed to take decisive actions, at the right time, that will help the unit accomplish the mission. Your soldiers will take pride in being a member of a unit with disciplined proficiency. Disciplined proficiency is more than just competency. It comes from realistic training and cross training, and from leaders who care enough to coach and teach their soldiers. It occurs when soldiers are so proficient and motivated that they want to focus all their energy on the mission. They willingly give of themselves to make the unit better. Morale is high because each soldier knows that what he is doing is important and contributes to accomplishing an important mission. Recall from Chapter 4 that beliefs and values influence soldiers' behavior. That is why a leader must understand how to influence the development of beliefs and values. Cohesion Cohesion represents the commitment of soldiers of all ranks to each other and strengthens their willingness to fight and sacrifice personal safety. It is a product of the bonding of soldiers with each other and the bonding of leaders and subordinates. Cohesion requires strong bonds of mutual respect, trust, confidence, and understanding within units. Cohesive units function smoothly and perform missions well under stress. Battle data from four divisions in World War II show that battle fatigue rates were much lower in cohesive units than in noncohesive units. Early in the North African Campaign, battle fatigue casualties from noncohesive units totaled 40 to 45 percent of those wounded in action. The conclusion is evident. You need to develop cohesion prior to combat and maintain it during combat. 6 Caring is essential to cohesion among all soldiers and leaders in a unit. A soldier's belief that his leaders and buddies care for him, and will always do their best to help him, increases his desire to fight to protect his fellow soldiers. This bonding is the basis for the cohesion needed on the battlefield. The following quotations by Ardant du Picq, a French military writer, give some perspective on cohesion: A wise organization [or leader] ensures that the personnel of combat groups changes as little as possible, so that comrades in peacetime maneuvers shall be comrades in war. 7 Four brave men who do not know each other will not dare to attack a lion. Four less brave, but knowing each other well, sure of their reliability and consequently of mutual aid, will attack resolutely. 8 In other words, cohesion actually builds soldiers' confidence, morale, courage, and will to fight. This has the following implications for leaders: •Do not continually reassign subordinate leaders and soldiers to different jobs and squads simply because one squad temporarily has fewer members than the other squads. Do not continually reassign drivers or they will not take pride in their vehicles. Do not rotate more experienced people into "softer" jobs as a reward for good service. Assign units (squads or platoons), not collections of individuals, to accomplish tasks. Bonds of respect, trust, confidence, and understanding take time to develop. When people or leaders are shifted, bonds are broken and new ones must be built. •Put your soldiers through tough and realistic training that requires them to do things they do not believe they can do as individuals or as a unit. As they go through the training, they must help each other learn and develop through the after-action review process. •Resolve interpersonal conflicts to restore respect, confidence, and candid communications between soldiers. Broken bonds between unit members cause the unit to deteriorate and become unable to function under stress. •Make garrison training interesting and as realistic as possible so that it does not become monotonous and destroy morale. •Keep unit members working as a team toward a common purpose that supports the mission. This principle applies to all training--details, maintenance, and administration. Unit cohesion is an important factor in peacetime and in combat. Cohesive units under good leadership will work together to ensure that training is properly planned, executed, and assessed with the objective of maintaining the highest possible readiness standards. Unit cohesion is an important factor in peacetime and in combat. Cohesive units under good leadership will work together to ensure that training is properly planned, executed, and assessed with the objective of maintaining the highest possible readiness standards. Unit cohesion cannot be developed and maintained without strong leadership, and small-unit leadership is the key. Good leadership ensures that the energy in the cohesive unit is used effectively and efficiently toward accomplishing unit objectives. FM 22-102 is an excellent source of additional information on developing and maintaining unit cohesion. Tactical and technical knowledge by itself will not make an effective leader. An effective leader must clearly and cohesion. Disciplined soldiers are orderly, obedient, controlled, and dependable. Cohesion represents the commitment of soldiers to each other and their willingness to fight and sacrifice personal safety. SUMMARY To be an effective leader, you must KNOW how the four factors of leadership affect each other and what standards your soldiers and units must meet to accomplish your warfighting mission. You must understand human nature and be completely familiar with your job and your unit. Most of all, you must be keenly aware of your own strengths and weaknesses. Implementing our warfighting doctrine requires you to be a competent and confident leader capable of building a disciplined and cohesive unit. You must be able to operate independently within your commander's intent and be willing to take well-calculated risks that have a high chance of ending with success on the battlefield. You must learn how to make a group of ordinary soldiers into an extraordinary team. You do this by caring for your soldiers and by building trust, suppressing the potential for bad behavior, and bringing out the potential for good behavior. As a Leader, You Must:Examples:Know the four factors of leadership and how they affect each other. •The Leader. •The situation. •The Led. •Communications. Know standards. •Sources of Army Standards. •How standards relate to warfighting. Know yourself. •Personality and performance. •Strengths and weaknesses. •Knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Know human nature. •Potential for good and bad behavior. •How depression and sadness contribute to fear and panic, and how fear affects performance. Know your job. •Plan and communicate effectively. •Supervise, teach, coach, and counsel. •Display technical and tactical competence. •Develop subordinates. •Make good decisions that your soldiers accept. •Use available systems. Know your unit. •Unit capabilities and unit limitations. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 Inscription over the entrance to Plato's Academy. 2 Perry M. Smith, Taking Charge, A Practical Guide for Leaders, pp 95-111. 3 John J. Pullen, The Twentieth Maine, p 27. 4 Pullen, p 115. 5 S.L.A. Marshall, The Soldier's Load and the Mobility of a Nation, pp 46-47. 6 Department of the Army Pamphlet 350-2, p i. 7 Ardant du Picq, Battle Studies, p 96. 8 Ardant du Picq, p 110.
FM 22-100 CHAPTER 6 CHAPTER 6 What A Leader Must Do
Leaders can lose battles, but only soldiers can win them. Having the right values, beliefs, character, ethics, and knowledge is necessary but does not ensure success on the battlefield. Soldiers must be properly trained, equipped, and employed (led) by their leaders to enhance their probability of winning. Leaders must also provide purpose, direction, and motivation to meet the demands of combat. The requirements are the same whether you lead a combat unit, a combat support unit, or a combat service support unit. PROVIDING PURPOSE Purpose gives soldiers a reason why they should do dangerous things under stressful circumstances. It focuses soldiers' attention and effort on the task or mission at hand, enabling them to operate in a disciplined manner in your absence. Soldiers can best relate to a task or mission if they know the ultimate purpose of their actions. Baron Friedrich von Steuben came to the United States in 1778, at General Washington's request. His mission was to help develop organization, control, discipline, and teamwork in the revolutionary force. He said that American soldiers do best when they know why they are doing something. This observation of over 200 years ago remains valid. The likely violence of modern war could result in mass casualties. Small groups of soldiers are likely to be isolated from their units. They will experience great stress from continuous day and night operations and from violent engagements with enemy forces. More than ever, success on the battlefield will depend on individual soldiers' determination and personal initiative. The nature both of the battlefield and of American soldiers demands that your subordinates understand the significance of each mission. You must teach your subordinates how to think creatively and solve problems while under stress. On the battlefield, soldiers must have a clear concept of the objective; they must clearly understand your intent. They must have the critical information that the next higher headquarters can supply about the mission, enemy, terrain, troops, and the time available. Then, when you are not available or communications with headquarters is cut off, your soldiers will be able to use their understanding of your intent and their initiative to accomplish the mission. To prepare for combat, train in situations where your subordinates must take actions without your help or direction. Follow up with an after-action review. Discuss the results and make this a learning experience for both you and your subordinates. You must communicate your intent so that your soldiers are able to understand the desired outcome clearly. Keep in mind that this can only happen if you explain what you want to happen in clear, concise, and complete terms. Communications are only effective if your soldiers listen and understand your intent. PROVIDING DIRECTION Your thinking skills are often referred to as directional skills because you set the direction or orientation of actions when you state what must be done in an established priority. Direction also establishes the relationship between officers and NCOs (see Appendix D). The direction you give your soldiers is often based on guidance from your leader. The key point to remember is that you must listen to your leader, support your leader, and help your leader accomplish the mission, recognizing that your mission is normally a subset of your leader's mission. Leaders provide direction by- •Knowing and maintaining standards. •Setting goals. •Planning. •Making decisions and solving problems. •Supervising and evaluating. •Teaching, coaching, and counseling. •Training. Knowing and Maintaining Standards The Army has established standards for all military activities. You as a leader have two responsibilities: first is to know the standards; and second, to enforce the established standard. You must assist subordinate leaders by explaining the standards that apply to your organization, giving them the authority to enforce the standards, and hold them accountable for ensuring they and their soldiers achieve the standards. Your soldiers will quickly recognize whether you know and enforce standards; it sets the direction for your unit. Setting Goals Goal setting is a critical part of leadership. The ultimate goal is to ensure that every soldier and unit is properly trained, motivated, and prepared to win in war. Achieving this objective will normally require that you and your subordinates jointly establish and develop goals. When developing goals for your unit, remember several key points: •Goals should be realistic and attainable. •Goals should lead to improved combat readiness. •Subordinates should be involved in the goal-setting process. •You must develop a program to achieve each goal. Planning Planning is as essential for success in peacetime training as it is for combat operations. Planning is usually based on guidance or a mission you receive from your leader or higher headquarters. With this guidance or mission, you can start planning using the backward planning process. First determine what the end result of the training or combat operations must be; then work backward, step by step. If you use common sense and experience, this process will help you eliminate problems, organize time, and identify details. Backward planning is a skill, and like other skills, you can develop it with practice. The steps in backward planning are- •Determine the basics: what, how, and when. •Identify tasks you want to accomplish and establish a sequence for them. •Develop a schedule to accomplish the tasks you have identified. Start with the last task to be accomplished and work back to the present time. When time allows, soliciting help from your subordinates is useful. If handled properly, you can accomplish several objectives simultaneously, to include: improve communications which can be beneficial in improving cohesion and discipline; provide motivation for the soldiers involved; and provide a clearer picture of the broader perspective of unit goals and objectives. Involving your subordinates in planning shows that you recognize and appreciate their abilities. Recognition and appreciation from a respected leader are powerful motivating forces. Your subordinates' ideas can help you develop a better plan; their participation in the planning process gives them a personal interest in seeing the plan succeed. Making Decisions and Solving Problems In combat and in training, you will face complicated problems and have to make decisions with less information than you would like. Here is a problem-solving process that can help you: •Recognize and define the problem. •Gather facts and make assumptions. •Develop possible solutions. •Analyze and compare the possible solutions. •Select the best solution. The problem-solving process is continuous. Time available, urgency of the situation, and your judgment will affect your approach to decision making. When time is scarce, you must take actions to ensure a timely decision. A good decision made in time to implement is better than the best decision made too late. After you have objectively and logically analyzed the possible courses of action in a situation using all available information, consider your intuitions and emotions. The problem-solving process is not a purely objective, rational mathematical formula. The human mind does not work that way, especially under stress. The mind is both rational and intuitive. Your intuition tells you what "feels" right or wrong. Your intuition flows from your instincts and your experience. Since the problem-solving process is a thought process, it is both rational and intuitive. However, do not make the mistake of making decisions guided totally by emotions or intuitions and immediately doing what feels right. This is a prescription for disaster. First, follow the problem-solving process as rationally and objectively as possible. Gather information; then develop, analyze, and compare courses of action. Consider your intuition or hunches, your emotions, and your values. Try to identify a "best" course of action that is logical and likely to succeed and that also feels right in terms of your intuition, values, and character. Finally, make your decision, plan, and take action. If you expect success, you must make high-quality decisions that your troops accept and support. When time permits, involve your soldiers in decision making if they have information or experience that will lead to the best decision or plan. This develops your subordinates and creates an open, trusting bond between you and them. Supervising and Evaluating Supervising means keeping a grasp on the situation and ensuring that plans and policies are implemented properly. Supervision includes giving instructions and continuously inspecting the accomplishment of a task. There is a narrow band of proper supervision. On one side of the band lies oversupervision; on the other side, undersupervision. Oversupervision stifles initiative, breeds resentment, and lowers morale and motivation. Undersupervision, however, can lead to frustration, miscommunications, lack of coordination, disorganization, and the perception that you do not care. This perception can lead to resentment, low morale, and poor motivation. The right level of supervision will depend on the task being performed and the person doing it. Here are some questions to ask yourself: •What is the experience level of the subordinate? •How competent is the subordinate at this task? •How confident is the subordinate about his ability to do this task? •How motivated is the subordinate to perform this task? All soldiers benefit from appropriate supervision by leaders with more knowledge and experience. Supervision has a major effect on building trust within your unit. Ensure your subordinates understand how and why you intend to supervise as part of your leadership or command philosophy. They can adjust to many styles of supervision once they understand that you are checking to ensure tasks are understood, to keep communications open, to teach, and to learn yourself. Evaluating is part of supervising and includes looking at the way soldiers accomplish a task, checking firsthand, and inspecting. You need a routine system for checking the things that are important to mission accomplishment, cohesion, discipline, morale, and unit effectiveness. Checking is such a simple word and concept. It is obvious that leaders must check, but human nature can cause us to fail to check the most simple things that can lead to big disasters. You will hear some people say "Worry about the little things and the big things will take care of themselves." Others say "Worry about the big, important things and don't sweat the small stuff." Both are poor guides. First, be concerned about the big things; that is where you exercise your thinking or directional skills. Next, check the little things that make the major things happen. Use your judgment and experience to ensure you do not undersupervise or oversupervise. Teaching, Coaching, and Counseling Teaching and counseling are fundamental responsibilities of every leader. Counseling alone is so important that FM 22-101 is devoted entirely to the subject. Use it. Study it. Learn how to fulfill your teaching and counseling responsibilities. Teaching involves creating the conditions so that someone can learn and develop. To influence the competence and confidence of your subordinates, you must be a skilled teacher. Coaching, counseling, rewarding, and taking appropriate disciplinary measures are all parts of teaching. You must be a good teacher if you are going to plan and conduct effective training and help your subordinates develop professionally and personally. Understanding how people learn is fundamental to being a good teacher. People learn- •By the example of others. •By forming a picture in their minds of what they are trying to learn. •By gaining and understanding necessary information. •By application or practice. Learning requires certain important conditions. One condition is that the person be motivated to learn. It is difficult to teach someone who has no motivation to learn or feels no need to learn what you are teaching. How do you convince the person he needs what you want to teach? You show the person that what you are trying to teach will make him a more competent soldier, better able to do his duty and survive on the battlefield. Use examples to show the person the importance of what you are teaching. The next condition of learning is to involve the student in the process. Keep your soldiers' attention by actively involving their minds and emotions in the learning process. Have your subordinates participate, either through discussion or through active practice of skill. Hand in hand with your responsibilities as a teacher are your responsibilities as a coach and counselor. It is critically important that you counsel all your soldiers frequently on their strengths and weaknesses and on any problems you may be able to help them with. Developmental leadership assessment (see Appendix E) can help you improve your subordinates' leadership effectiveness. Soldiers often think counseling is negative, equating it to getting chewed out or being told they are doing something wrong. This is not a full picture of what counseling means. Learn how you can use counseling as a positive tool to help your soldiers prepare for future responsibilities. Counseling is talking with a person in a way which helps that person solve a problem, correct performance, or improve good performance. Counseling is a leadership skill that is a particular form of coaching and teaching. It requires thinking skills, such as identifying the problem, analyzing the factors and forces influencing the behavior of the soldier being counseled, and planning and organizing the counseling session. It requires understanding human nature--what causes a soldier to behave in a certain way and what is required to change his behavior. Counseling requires listening skills to learn about the situation and the soldier. It also requires judgment about when to let the soldier make his own decisions and when you should make them for him, and when to be flexible and when to be unyielding. Just as there are no easy answers for exactly what to do in leadership situations, there are no easy answers for exactly what to do in specific counseling situations. When you see that a subordinate needs counseling, prepare yourself by reviewing the problem-solving process and studying FM 22-101. As a leader you want to teach soldiers new values, knowledge, or skills that will change behavior. You also want to help them become better soldiers through your counseling. Training Quality training must be your top priority--it is the cornerstone of total Army readiness. Lieutenant General A. S. Collins, Jr., in his book Common Sense Training, said: The essential characteristics of a good army are that it be well trained and well disciplined. These two characteristics are apparent in every unit achievement, whether in peace or war. Discipline derives and flows from training and serves to emphasize a fundamental point essential to a philosophy of training; that training is all encompassing. Training permeates everything a military organization does. Training must develop soldiers who are disciplined, physically tough, and highly motivated. Because soldiers spend the majority of their time in training, you play an especially important role in developing soldiers who are skilled in their jobs. The standards that guide training must reflect the requirements of the battlefield. Train your soldiers on every task critical to wartime mission accomplishment. Effective training is the key to sustaining a combat-ready Army and reducing human-error accidents. Training to standard produces skilled, disciplined soldiers who accept responsibility for the safety of themselves and others and for the protection of Army equipment. Good training- •Strengthens the morale of each soldier. •Builds mutual trust and respect between the leader and the led. •Concentrates on warfighting skills. •Is performance-oriented and has realistic objectives. •Follows Army doctrine and standardizes actions. •Means learning from mistakes and allowing for growth. •Means strong subordinate development. You must plan training so that your soldiers are challenged and learn. Some leaders find conducting training is threatening and embarrassing. When they present boring instruction, their soldiers balk at repetitive training on skills they have already mastered. When the leader discovers he has nothing else to teach, he reacts with defensiveness and reverts back to using his position power. He accuses good soldiers of having poor attitudes and tries to order soldiers to act interested in monotonous training. The result of this scenario is strong unity among soldiers but disrespect for the leader. PROVIDING MOTIVATION Motivation is the cause of action. It gives soldiers the will to do what you know must be done to accomplish the mission. If your subordinates have confidence in themselves, each other, the unit, and you, and support the cause, they will be sincerely motivated. Training them to fight and win as a cohesive, disciplined team will have a valuable motivating effect. Knowledge and skill combat fear and increase confidence. Confidence is a potent motivating force. It gives rise to morale, courage, and the will to fight. You must keep a broad point of view on human nature and motivation. Do not allow yourself to hold the narrow view that soldiers are only motivated by fear of their leaders. It is equally dangerous to believe the opposite--that all soldiers are motivated to work hard and do the right thing. You can motivate your subordinates by- •Serving as the ethical standard bearer. •Developing cohesive soldier teams. •Rewarding and punishing. Ethical Standard Bearer Your soldiers need you to be the example they can compare to their own behavior. They want to have a leader to look up to. They want to depend on you to provide the moral force the values of our society demand. Your soldiers want you to be good at your job, but they also want you to be decent and honorable. By being the ethical standard bearer, you motivate your soldiers and help them to develop the self-discipline and will to fight courageously and to do the right and brave thing, regardless of danger. Cohesive Soldier Teams Caring for your soldiers, and working hard to make soldiering meaningful for them, develop cohesive soldier teams. It takes a lot of work to properly teach, coach, counsel, and train your subordinates, but this creates the bonds that lead to cohesion, trust, and mutual respect. A soldier in a cohesive soldier team is confident in his peers, his leaders, and his equipment and training. He will willingly fight to destroy the enemy and keep himself and his buddies alive. Rewards and Punishment The hope of reward and the fear of punishment greatly affect soldiers' behavior. If you have been rewarded with a pat on the back for doing something well or punished with a reprimand for unsatisfactory performance, you know how it felt and how it changed your future behavior. Rewards and punishments have different purposes. Rewards promote desired behavior; punishments reduce undesired behavior. If used properly, rewards and punishments can change the behavior of your soldiers. Praise, recognition, a medal, a certificate, or a letter of commendation means a great deal to a soldier. Napoleon marveled at the motivational power of a small piece of ribbon. He once said that if he had enough ribbon, he could conquer the world. Rewards are visible evidence to the soldier that his leader, his unit, and his country appreciate his courage or hard work. Well-chosen rewards normally increase motivation to keep working for more recognition. Here are some ideas on applying this principle: •Obtain recommendations from the chain of command and NCO support channel on rewards, awards, and schooling. •Choose a reward valued by the person receiving it. •Use the established awards system of certificates, medals, letters of commendation, driver and mechanic badges, and safety awards. •Choose rewards that appeal to a soldier's personal pride; they will have the most motivational power. Praise before peers is often more powerful than a three-day pass. •Present awards at an appropriate unit ceremony so that others can see hard work is rewarded. •Reward promptly the desired behavior of an individual or group. •Stand up for your good soldiers when they need help. •Give lots of verbal praise. If a soldier is trying to learn the right values, character, knowledge, and skills, encourage him--even if he is still falling short. Do not reward his failure, but reward his honest diligent effort to do the right thing. That recognition will reinforce his efforts and motivate him to do even better. Be aware, however, that giving too much praise, or giving it when undeserved, cheapens its motivating value. •Develop awards and ways of recognizing good performance that motivate the large group of average people who make up the majority of your unit. There is nothing wrong with rewarding the majority of your soldiers if they exceed a standard. •Promote people who work and study hard, influence others to achieve unit standards, and show the capability for increased responsibility. •Recognize soldiers who meet standards and improve their performance. Every soldier does not have the ability to be the "soldier of the quarter" or earn a perfect score on the APFT. At the same time, you must also punish soldiers who just do not try or intentionally fail to meet your standards or follow your guidance. You do this because you want to change behavior and show others what they can expect if they choose to perform in a similar manner. Soldiers learn from the results of others' mistakes. Seeing what happens to a person who is unwilling or unmotivated to meet standards can have the same influence on behavior as firsthand experience. Here are some principles you should understand about punishing: •Let the soldier know you are upset about the behavior and not about him. Let him know you care about him as a person but expect more from him. •Make sure your soldiers know you will tell them how they are doing. •Do not punish soldiers who are unable to perform a task. Punish those unwilling or unmotivated to succeed. •Punish in private as soon as possible after the undesirable behavior. Do not humiliate a soldier in front of others. •Ensure that soldiers being punished understand exactly what behavior led to the punishment. •Ensure that punishment is neither excessive nor unreasonable. It is not only the severity of punishment that restrains soldiers but also the certainty of it. •Do not hold a grudge after punishing. When a punishment is over . . . it is over. •Never lose control of your temper. SUMMARY You must provide purpose, direction, and motivation to meet the demands of combat. Purpose gives soldiers a reason why they should do difficult things under dangerous, stressful circumstances. Direction shows what must be done. Motivation gives soldiers the will to do everything they are capable of doing to accomplish a mission. Some people say "behavior is believable." Your behavior sets the example for your subordinates. Saying all the right words and having all the right values and knowledge will have no meaning to others if not reinforced by your actions. Your actions are what soldiers, peers, and leaders see. Actions give life to purpose, direction, and motivation to see units through the tough demands of combat. Actions tell what must be done and why it is important; actions inspire others to follow and fight bravely. As a Leader, You Must:Examples:Provide purpose. •Explain the "why" of missions. •Communicate your intent. Provide direction. •Plan. •Maintain standards. •Set goals. •Make decisions and solve problems. •Supervise, evaluate, teach, coach, and counsel. •Train soldiers and soldier teams. Provide motivation. •Take care of soldiers. •Serve as the ethical standard bearer. •Develop cohesive soldier teams. •Make soldiering meaningful. •Reward performance that exceeds standards. •Correct performance not meeting standards. •Punish soldiers who intentionally fail to meet standards or follow orders.
FM 22-100 CHAPTER 7 The Payoff
This chapter discusses the payoff for applying the fundamentals discussed in this manual. That payoff is in leaders and soldiers who are prepared for war. It is in an Army that has the competence, confidence, motivation, and will to win on the battlefield. RESULTS OF EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP If you apply the principles discussed in this manual and strive to BE the kind of leader described in Chapter 4, KNOW the things discussed in Chapter 5, and DO the things discussed in Chapter 6, you can develop ordinary soldiers who are willing and capable of doing extraordinary things in combat. The chart that follows gives some examples of what a leader must BE, KNOW, and DO. When developing your subordinates, identify the skill, knowledge, or attitude you want to change. If performance does not meet standards, use your experience to develop an appropriate action plan to close the gap. Use the BE, KNOW, DO framework to help you determine if you want to change a skill, a knowledge, or an attitude. Your success as a leader in combat will depend on your ability to get soldiers to do things that are against their nature. Soldiers are used to certain creature comforts, such as being well fed, warm, dry, and safe. They expect these things and depend on leaders to take care of them. In training and in combat, soldiers have to sacrifice most creature comforts and some or all assurances of personal safety. In training you must motivate your soldiers to do physically demanding tasks with little sleep and in all weather conditions to prepare them for the rigors of combat. You owe it to them and to the nation to mentally and physically prepare them for the hardships they will have to endure on the battlefield. This requires expert leadership; it is what you, as a leader, have been charged to do. WILL AND WINNING IN BATTLE Will is normally used in the leadership context to express determination or persistence. The normal manifestation of will is an individual demonstrating extraordinary mental discipline to accomplish an exceptional physical feat. We often use expressions such as "gutting it out" when referring to a particularly difficult task. Your job as a leader goes beyond teaching your soldiers how to fight and survive; you must also develop their will to fight and win. Some people call this the "winning spirit" or "warrior spirit. " It is the ability to forge victory out of the chaos of battle--to overcome fear, hunger, deprivation, and fatigue. The soldier who can overcome these physical factors and continue to apply his skill and knowledge learned in training will ultimately have the ability to overcome any opponent in combat. As a leader, your ability to give your soldiers this will to win starts with the example you set, the attitudes you express, the expectations you establish, and the standards you enforce. You can, and must, develop this kind of will in yourself and your soldiers. It takes personal commitment from you to take this responsibility seriously and to lead with determination and will. Building strength of will in yourself and your soldiers is not something that is just good to do; success on the battlefield demands it! SUMMARY The value of the fundamental leadership doctrine found in this manual is to help you prepare yourself and your soldiers for war. Success as a combat leader hinges on your ability to get soldiers to do things that are against their nature. This is your challenge and it requires expert leadership. The ultimate test of a leader's or soldier's will may be in a combat situation with the outcome resulting in who wins or loses--who lives or dies. Building strength of will or the "winning spirit" is not a frivolous training phrase, but an absolute requirement for success in war.
FM 22-100 CHAPTER 8 Stress in CombatThe intensity of war is so demanding that stress in combat requires special attention. This chapter will tell you about stress in combat--how it affects you and your soldiers and what you can do to prepare for and treat it. THE HUMAN SIDE OF WARFIGHTING In World War II and Korea, the average casualty ratio was one battle fatigue victim for every four or five WIA. In extremely difficult battles, the ratio commonly reached 1 to 3 and occasionally 1 to 2. At battalion and company levels, units in desperate situations have had as many casualties from battle fatigue as from enemy weapons. Stress in Army operations is so critical that FM 26-2 is devoted entirely to this subject. The old saying "everybody is afraid in combat" seems obvious, but the concept is worth considering. Here is one past leader's descriptions of the human side of warfighting. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A Leader's Account I was psychologically and morally ill-prepared to lead my platoon in the great Seventh Army attack of March 15, l945. But lead it I did . . . . Before that day was over I was sprayed with the contents of a soldier's torso when I was lying behind him and he knelt to fire at a machine gun holding us up: he was struck in the heart, and out of the holes in the back of his field jacket flew little clouds of tissue, blood, and powdered cloth. Near him another man raised himself to fire, but the machine gun caught him in the mouth, and as he fell he looked back at me with surprise, blood and teeth dribbling out into the leaves. He was one to whom early; on I had given the Silver Star for heroism, and he didn't want to let me down. After clearing a woods full of Germans cleverly dug in, my platoon was raked by shells . . . and I was hit in the back and leg by shell fragments. They felt like red-hot knives going in, but I was interested in the few quiet moans . . . of my thirty-seven-year platoon sergeant . . . killed instantly by the same shell . . . My platoon was virtually wiped away. I was in disgrace, I was hurt. I bore up all right while being removed from ''the field'' and passed back through the first aid stations. But when I got to the evacuation hospital 30 miles behind the lines and was coming out from the anesthetic from my first operation, all my affectations of control collapsed, and I did what I'd wanted to do for months, I cried, noisily and publicly, and for hours . . . . I must have cried because I felt that there, out of "combat," tears were licensed. I was crying because I was ashamed and because I'd let my men be killed and because my sergeant had been killed and because I recognized as never before that he might have been me and that statistically if in no other way he was me, and that I had been killed too. But ironically I had saved my life by almost losing it. 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Here is another combat veteran's account of the intensity of combat. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Another's Account Early in the morning I was awakened by the thunderous sound of aircraft engines As I crept out from under my tank I saw the first bomber waves approaching. From this moment on, our concentration area was subject to air bombardment which lasted for two and a half hours without interruption . . . . It was like hell and I am still astonished that I ever survived it. I was unconscious for a while after a bomb had exploded just in front of my tank almost burying me alive. I could see that another tank about 30 meters away had received a direct hit which had set it on fire instantly. A third tank was turned upside down by the blast, and when I tell you that the tanks weighed 58 tons and were tossed aside like playing cards you will see just what a hell we found ourselves in. It was next to impossible to see anything as so much dirt had been stirred up by the explosions It was like being in a very thick fog. It was impossible to hear anything because of the unceasing crashing of explosives around us . . . . It was so nerve-shattering that we could not even think. All one could say to oneself was ''Will there never be an end to these explosions?" After two and a half hours the air bombardment stopped suddenly and the following silence was uncanny. . . . All the tanks were completely covered with earth . . . . Fifty men of the Company were dead, two soldiers had committed suicide during the bombardment, and another had to be sent to a mental hospital for observation. The psychological shock of these terrible experiences remained with us for a long time. 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ STRESS IN BATTLE Stress is the body's response to a demand placed on it. The demands may be physical (cold, injury, disease) or mental (fear, conflict, pressure). Stress also occurs when soldiers think they cannot meet the demands they expect to face. Sometimes soldiers overestimate the difficulty of a task or mission and sometimes they underestimate their abilities. Use your experience and influence to give your subordinates a better appreciation of the mission requirements and confidence in their actual abilities. Stress is usually thought of as a destructive force that harms performance. This is only partially correct. If the level of stress is not too high, it can be positive and enhance performance. It can actually help soldiers meet and overcome unpleasant or painful situations. It can also be the positive force that motivates soldiers to act selflessly and heroically in combat. Stress can reduce soldier performance, however, if its intensity is great enough. For you, stress is only a problem when it adversely affects performance. High stress reduces combat strength by lowering soldier performance and increasing battlefield stress casualties. It is just as normal for leaders to experience fear as it is for younger soldiers, so do not feel you must hide it from your subordinates. Tell your subordinates that you also experience fear when you think about what you may see or have to do, but do not let fear keep you from performing your leadership duties. You must discipline yourself and be the example of what to do when one is afraid. Leaders who cannot control themselves or become indecisive cause their soldiers to lose confidence. Your soldiers must be confident in your leadership to succeed in combat. Soldiers who lack confidence in their leaders are reluctant to respond promptly and appropriately to orders. Loss of trust is devastating to morale, reducing performance on the battlefield and further increasing stress. BATTLE FATIGUE Battle fatigue is a psychoneurotic reaction that can develop in an individual from stress in a combat environment. Every individual has a different capacity to cope personally with traumatic stress whether it is a result of an external physical factor such as an enemy threat or an internal factor such as guilt. Mental and physical fitness helps soldiers endure stress, but fear and other unpleasant feelings will naturally be present before, during, and after combat. It is impossible for you as a leader to determine in advance either your personal resistance or that of your soldiers to succumb to battle fatigue. There are indicators of battle fatigue that you as a leader must recognize. Indicators of Battle Fatigue Indicators of battle fatigue may differ from soldier to soldier. You must constantly watch for these indicators and take steps to help individuals before they become combat ineffective. Recognize that while most soldiers exhibit some of these signs during periods of extreme stress, they can remain effective. The indicators of battle fatigue include- •Tension: aches, pains, trembling, and fidgeting. •Jumpiness at sudden sounds or movement. •Cold sweat: dry mouth, pale skin, eyes hard to focus. •Pounding heart: may feel dizzy or light-headed. •Feeling out of breath. •Upset stomach: may throw up. •Diarrhea or constipation: frequent urination. •Fatigue: feel tired, drained; takes an effort to move. •Distant, haunted ("1000-yard") stare. •Anxiety: keyed up, worrying, expecting the worst. •Irritability: swearing, complaining, easily bothered. •Difficulty paying attention, remembering details. •Difficulty thinking, speaking, communicating. •Trouble sleeping, awakened by bad dreams. •Grief: tearful, crying for dead or wounded buddies. •Feeling bad about mistakes or what had to be done. •Anger: feeling let down by leaders or others in unit. •Beginning to lose confidence in self and unit. Protection From Battle Fatigue There are actions you can take to protect you and your soldiers from battle fatigue. Ensure your soldiers know what they are capable of doing. Tough, demanding, realistic training will increase their confidence in self, the unit, their leadership, and equipment. Keep your subordinates informed on the situation and do not allow your soldiers to exaggerate the enemy's capabilities or the difficulty of upcoming missions. Use the after-action review process after every mission to learn things that will help the unit in the future and to keep your soldiers informed and involved. Help your soldiers talk through their problems when things are tough at home or in the unit. Develop and enforce a sleep plan to provide each individual opportunity to rest. Remember that leaders too need sleep so that they can make sound, timely decisions. The sustained stress of fighting and waiting to fight wears soldiers down mentally and physically; it can lead to battle fatigue. Though less visible, but equally dangerous, soldiers' ethical sensitivities may degenerate. Past war crimes are a frightening reminder of the need for our soldiers to sustain the ethical norms of our society. "Stand downs," such as moving a unit to an area of lower risk or resting the unit for about 48 hours, can significantly reduce the most serious effects of sustained stress. Although you may lack the authority to decide when your unit will stand down, you have a moral responsibility to advise your leader when your unit needs this rest. Casualties will be sustained during combat operations which will require replacement soldiers. You must welcome new members into your unit and get to know them quickly. New soldiers have the added stress of being unfamiliar with you as a leader and the other soldiers in the unit. It is your responsibility to teach them as quickly as possible how the unit operates and to help them feel a part of the team. Treating Battle Fatigue Perhaps the most powerful thing you can do for your soldiers in tough situations is to look calm and in control. Your soldiers will key on your behavior and focus on the unit's immediate mission. Your soldiers should expect to continue their duties. Have them focus on a well-learned task or drill and follow the SOP. Think of yourselves succeeding; talk about it. Take a deep breath and shrug your shoulders to reduce tension; have your soldiers do the same. Remember that battle fatigue is normal. Talk about it; make sure your soldiers understand it and are able to recognize it in themselves and others. Stay in touch with your soldiers; keep talking to them. When there are rumors, get the facts; do not jump to conclusions. Reduce your soldiers' anxiety and increase their peace of mind by keeping them informed. When the tactical situation and safety permit, ensure you and your soldiers- •Sleep. •Drink plenty of fluids. •Continue to eat normal portions of food. •Continue to conduct training. •Clean up (wash, shave, change). •Talk about what happened; put things in perspective; clear up misunderstandings; talk about lessons learned. •Share grief; talk out personal worries; talk with the chaplain. •Keep busy when not resting (do recreational activities, equipment maintenance, et cetera). If you have a soldier whose battle fatigue signs do not improve after resting, tell your leader or medic. Sometimes you may have to send a soldier to the rear or to a medical unit to get more rest. If this happens, let the soldier know the team is counting on him to come back quickly. Do not let him feel ashamed about his need for rest or time to recover from battle fatigue. Welcome him back and expect him to do his full share when he returns. Don't be surprised or worried if some battle fatigue signs (as jumpiness and bad dreams) continue awhile after soldiers come out of combat. Help your soldiers understand this is normal human behavior. SUMMARY The intensity of combat is so demanding that even the most fit can temporarily become unable to function because of stress. Stress is the body's response to a demand placed on it. It is usually thought of as destructive, but it can be positive and enhance performance if its intensity is not too high. Negative reactions to the extreme stresses of the battlefield are called battle fatigue. Battle fatigue is entirely normal and may be recognized by leaders who know the indicators to watch for. Since soldiers watch their leaders closely for signs of panic or loss of confidence, you must look and sound as calm as possible. Talk about battle fatigue and teach your soldiers what symptoms to watch for in themselves and others. The symptoms of battle fatigue will usually go away after rest but medical units that are located in the rear may have to treat severe cases. You can protect soldiers from battle fatigue by keeping them in good physical condition and by ensuring they have adequate sleep, food, water, shelter, hygiene, and sanitation. Leaders can also suffer from battle fatigue; you must take care of yourself the same way you take care of your subordinates. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 Paul Fussell, The Boy Scout handbook and Other Observations, pp 261-62. 2 P. Abraham, "Training for Battleshock," (text of presentation at the USAREUR and Seventh Army Medical Surgical Conference, Garmisch, Germany, 18 May 1981)
FM 22-100 CHAPTER 9 CHAPTER 9 The Environment of Combat
Weather, terrain, and the day-night cycle form the basic setting for all military operations. This setting, coupled with high technology equipment, affects the firepower, maneuver, protection, and leadership of units in battle. You must also recognize the effects combat itself has on soldiers and units. The danger, destruction, and confusion of combat; the effects weapons and obstacles have on terrain; and the chaos associated with the unexpected all cause simple things to become difficult. This chapter will help you understand the effect of the combat environment on soldiers, equipment, and weapons. WEATHER AND TERRAIN Weather affects soldiers, equipment, operations, and the ability to maneuver on terrain. Temperature extremes, wind, rain, snow, fog, mud, and dust all combine in various ways to affect soldier efficiency and limit the use of weapons and equipment. Leading soldiers is more difficult in bad weather and in difficult terrain. The time and effort you need to care for soldiers increase in bad weather. You must think about cold and hot weather injuries. Security of positions and fighting formations are harder to maintain and successful operations require more planning. You must rehearse simple plans when possible and then execute aggressively. CONTINUOUS OPERATIONS Continuous land combat is a reality. Our potential enemy's doctrine calls for rapid advance, deep penetration, relentless attack, and the bypassing of strongly defended points. The battlefield may not have a clearly defined forward line and could reach a depth exceeding 100 kilometers. The demands of continuous operations compound the normal battle stresses soldiers must cope with. The expected effects of these demands are so significant that FM 22-9 is devoted entirely to soldier performance in continuous operations. FM 22-9 points out that the adverse conditions associated with continuous operations will degrade the fighting performance of you and your soldiers. These conditions do not respect military rank or position. Because of your leadership responsibilities, performing continuously without rest will exhaust you sooner than it will your troops. You may be the first battle fatigue casualty. Force yourself to rest. Soldier Performance Continuous operations can reduce critical human abilities as a result of sleep loss. Many predictable effects occur as a result of insufficient sleep which you must be aware of and take into consideration. You and your soldiers will- •Be less alert. •Be slow to make sense of things you see or hear. •Start to see things that are not there. •Be unable to concentrate, perform complex operations, or readily understand instructions. •Be unable to remember events clearly. •Begin to skip routine tasks. •Have difficulty deciding what to say, and how to say it. •Experience mood changes and become irritable, depressed, or apathetic. Leadership Expectations about future warfare point to a tremendous challenge during the first few days or weeks. Extended periods of continuous ground combat operations reduce soldier performance, adding to the problems caused by casualties and illness. There are actions you can take to slow down the rate of performance decline. You cannot use these actions haphazardly or selectively; their effectiveness in wartime depends on sound planning, execution, and assessment of training prior to commencing combat operations. Lead Your Unit. The single most important element to sustained unit excellence is the leadership you provide. Successful preparation depends on applying the kind of fundamental leadership described in this manual. You must plan for the well-being of your soldiers and your unit and know when and how to shift your leadership style to meet the situation. The directions you give should be simple, clear, and complete. Recognize that if your soldiers are tired you may have to repeat orders and directions, double-check yourself and others, and be prepared to spend more time reassuring soldiers to restore their confidence. All soldiers must learn to cope with the adverse conditions of continuous operations. In all training and combat plans, consider the human need for you and your soldiers to sleep. Encourage, not discourage, sleeping when the opportunity arises. Severe problems develop after several days if you and your soldiers cannot get at least three hours of sleep every day. Ideally, these three hours should be continuous; however, the tactical situation may make this impossible. Taking catnaps at every opportunity, even for brief periods, is the best technique for reducing the effects of sleep loss. Falling asleep quickly and waking up quickly and alert are skills that improve with practice. Build Cohesion. Although enduring the strain of combat builds cohesive soldier teams, you must build cohesion before battle so that your unit can fight, defeat the enemy, and stand the strain of prolonged combat. One of your primary peacetime responsibilities is to create the trust and strong bonds with and among soldiers that will sustain them, and you, in battle. You must constantly stress bonding, learning, training, teaching, coaching, caring, and teamwork because they lead to cohesion. Your goal is to develop the full potential of every soldier in your unit so that individually or collectively they could continue and complete the mission in your absence. Develop Confidence. Withstanding the adverse conditions of continuous operations is easier when soldiers are optimistic and confident. Confidence gives your soldiers the deep-seated belief the unit can and will accomplish the mission, no matter how unfavorable the odds. Confident, cohesive units withstand adverse conditions far better than other units do. You cannot order confidence. Soldiers develop confidence through realistic training and simulated combat experiences that make them optimistic about themselves, their equipment, their unit, and their leaders. Train Your Unit. Effective training improves the performance of soldiers and units. Well- trained soldiers and units can better resist the adverse effects of continuous operations. Training also improves soldiers' ability to maintain self-control and to think when exhausted. Therefore, preparing for continuous operations requires carefully designed training plans and vigorous assessment of progress toward standards. Practicing continuous operations helps everyone recognize the problems that arise and learn how to cope. As training progresses, the unit demonstrates its ability to achieve extraordinary results. Making a reasonable sleep plan is easier if you have cross trained your subordinates. You will probably never have enough people to set up two full shifts for every job, so cross training will allow a person to sleep a few hours while someone else performs his job. Tough training experiences furnish convincing evidence the unit is combat ready and help develop a winning attitude. Develop a Physically Fit Unit. You must develop the physical fitness of your soldiers. Physical strength and endurance improve their ability to "bounce back" from exhaustion. Fit soldiers can call upon their minds and bodies to perform strenuous activity for extended periods and return to normal effectiveness after a relatively short period of rest. Develop a Winning Attitude. Finding better and easier ways to perform important tasks in continuous operations is a leadership challenge. You must reassure your soldiers that they, their unit, and their country will prevail. Remind soldiers they must depend on one another. Winning depends on all soldiers working together to perform beyond what they believe possible until the mission has been accomplished. SIX ACTIONS A LEADER MUST TAKE TO DEFEAT BATTLE STRESSES ARE: •Lead your unit. •Build cohesion. •Develop confidence. •Train your unit. •Develop a physically fit unit. •Develop a winning attitude. HIGH TECHNOLOGY Technology has brought great change to waging war. With night vision devices, armies can now fight in darkness and fog, conditions that have traditionally forced lulls in battle. Further, violence and confusion on the battlefield will be greater than ever because of the potential to fight under NBC conditions, the sophistication of electronic warfare capabilities, and the increased use of smoke as an obscurant. Every one of these advances in technology has an accompanying effect on soldiers--the human side of warfighting. Electronic Warfare Since our command and control systems depend heavily on radios and radar, the enemy will certainly try to destroy them or disrupt their use at critical times. Because tactical radios produce electronic signals that can be detected, the enemy may identify the location of radio transmissions coming from tactical operations centers and then attack with air strikes, artillery, or land forces. Our tactics and SOP will help cope with the enemy's electronic warfare efforts, but you must recognize the effect on soldiers and leaders. Disrupted communications will make it more difficult to transmit or receive battlefield intelligence, process calls for fire, or request resupply and medical evacuation. These restraints will cause a feeling of isolation on the battlefield that can lead to panic. You must recognize this as fact and make your tactical training in electronic warfare as realistic as possible. Train under electronic warfare conditions so that your soldiers will know what to expect. Teach your soldiers how to defend your unit from electronic warfare, and ensure they are confident in your ability to lead them. Follow up with an after-action review. Discuss the results and make this a learning experience for you and your subordinates. New Weapons on The Battlefield Emerging technology may develop weapons for the future battlefield that are more devastating than any used in previous wars. Directed-energy weapons could become an entirely new class of tactical weapons using powerful energy beams to detonate ammunition, destroy vehicle electronic systems, and disrupt communications. Exposure to directed-energy weapons could also lead to disorientation, blindness, brain damage, or even death. Because the technology is still being developed, it is too early to predict their use or exact destructive power. One thing is certain. If directed-energy weapons are used, they will have an impact on the human side of warfighting and make the demands on leaders even greater. NBC Warfare The threat of NBC warfare will be a major source of stress. Fear of the unknown and knowledge of the lethality of NBC weapons cause significant psychological stress. Sinceunsupported rumors aggravate this stress, you must ensure accurate information passes through the chain of command to every soldier. You cannot wait for war to prepare. Likewise, you cannot wait for the enemy to use NBC weapons to prepare to defend yourselves. You must be a leader of strong will and prepare yourself and your troops to operate under NBC conditions. To prepare for NBC warfare, you must- •Talk with your soldiers. Tell them what to expect from you and their equipment. Tell them what you expect from them. •Develop procedures so that you can recognize each other while in MOPP gear. For example, have soldiers wear name tags or colored tape marking that will not damage the protective suit. •Keep plans simple. Follow SOPs and well-rehearsed drills. •Enforce a sleep and rest program to protect from exhaustion. •Ensure soldiers drink plenty of water to protect from dehydration. •Learn to pace yourself and to delegate. Do not allow you or your troops to become casualties of physical exhaustion. •Discipline yourself to give calm patient leadership. Your troops will certainly panic if they sense panic in your voice or actions. •Promote physical fitness for endurance to protect you and your soldiers from early exhaustion. •Train in MOPP gear to gain confidence and experience. Command and Control. Command and control suffers significantly under NBC conditions because activities, such as directing fire, maneuvering, operating equipment, and reading maps, take longer and are more difficult. Because MOPP gear impairs navigational abilities, leaders can easily become disoriented. The result of these factors and the increased physical exhaustion that accompanies extended wear of the MOPP gear can cause irritability and frustration in leaders; simultaneously, the soldiers' confidence in their leaders can deteriorate rapidly. Communications. Protective masks make face-to-face communications difficult; facial expressions, voice tone, and physical actions can be misunderstood. Soldiers and leaders even have difficulty recognizing one another since everybody looks about the same in MOPP gear. When radio operators are wearing protective masks, the number and length of radio transmissions increase and transmissions are difficult to understand. Combat Power. The nature of battle changes dramatically under NBC conditions. Operations take longer or require more troops to complete successfully. Firing rates decrease for individual and crew-served weapons. Soldiers and crews often use terrain less effectively for cover and concealment, and the possibility increases of soldiers accidentally firing at friendly personnel. Units rely more on indirect fire. Calls for fire take longer, and locating targets accurately is more difficult. The time required to process fire missions and deliver effective indirect fires increases accordingly. Human and Physiological Considerations. In MOPP gear, soldiers tend to omit, or poorly complete, tasks such as camouflage and maintenance. This is especially true after six hours in MOPP4. Every task requires more time and effort to complete. Fatigue, frustration, dehydration, and less effective leadership contribute to lower overall performance under NBC conditions. Soldiers in MOPP gear dehydrate without realizing it and fail to drink adequate fluids to rehydrate their bodies. Eating is not possible while in protective masks and physical endurance suffers. SUMMARY The environment of future combat operations will probably place greater stress on soldiers than in past wars. Our potential enemy's doctrine and equipment indicate an intent to fight around the clock and advance rapidly. Technology has also created the capability to disrupt radio and radar use and locate command posts where radio transmissions originate. Future technology will create other offensive weapons that are more devastating than any used in previous wars. The effects of this technology on soldiers can be great. After long periods of continuous operations and sleep loss, the ability to think and reason suffers. You must take actions to reduce the rate of performance decline. You will need to repeat instructions, give simple directions, and double-check yourself and others. You must develop soldiers' confidence through tough training that simulates combat conditions. Ensure you and your subordinates get as much sleep as the tactical situation permits; severe problems develop after several days if soldiers get less than three hours of sleep each day. Since the enemy may use NBC weapons, you must train your soldiers to perform the mission under simulated NBC conditions. Command and control suffers significantly because of exhaustion and leader behavior changes. Communicating is difficult when wearing MOPP gear and soldiers and leaders have difficulty recognizing each other. Soldiers and crews use terrain much less effectively for cover and concealment, and land navigation and orientation are more difficult. In peacetime, you must train under simulated combat conditions, develop SOP, and practice sleep discipline. Talk with your soldiers and let them know what they can expect from their equipment and what you will expect from them.
FM 22-100 APPENDIX A APPENDIX A Leadership Competencies The leadership factors and principles addressed in Chapter 2 are the basis for the Army's leadership education and training framework. This education and training must take place in a logical order, build on past experience and training, and have a warfighting focus. The nine leadership competencies provide a framework for leadership development and assessment. They establish broad categories of skills, knowledge, and attitudes that define leader behavior. They are areas where leaders must be competent.
The leadership competencies were developed in 1976 from a study of leaders from the rank of corporal to that of general officer. The study identified nine functions all leaders must perform if an organization is to operate effectively. Although all leaders exercise the competencies, their application depends on the leader's position in the organization. For example, the amount and detail of supervision a squad leader normally gives to his soldiers would be inappropriate for a battalion commander to give to his company commanders. Like the principles of leadership, the competencies are not simply a list to memorize. Use them to assess yourself and your subordinates and develop an action plan to improve your ability to lead. COMMUNICATIONS Communications is the exchange of information and ideas from one person to another. Effective communications occurs when others understand exactly what you are trying to tell them and when you understand exactly what they are trying to tell you. You communicate to direct, influence, coordinate, encourage, supervise, train, teach, coach, and counsel. You need to be able to understand and think through a problem and translate that idea in a clear, concise, measured fashion. Your message should be easy to understand, serve the purpose, and be appropriate for your audience. This competency is addressed further in Chapter 2 of this manual. SUPERVISION You must control, direct, evaluate, coordinate, and plan the efforts of subordinates so that you can ensure the task is accomplished. Supervision ensures the efficient use of materiel and equipment and the effectiveness of operational procedures. It includes establishing goals and evaluating skills. Supervising lets you know if your orders are understood and shows your interest in soldiers and the mission. Remember that oversupervision causes resentment and undersupervision causes frustration. By considering your soldiers' competence, motivation, and commitment to perform a task, you can judge the amount of supervision needed. This competency is discussed further in Chapters 5 and 6 of this manual. TEACHING AND COUNSELING Teaching and counseling refer to improving performance by overcoming problems, increasing knowledge, or gaining new perspectives and skills. Teaching your soldiers is the only way you can truly prepare them to succeed and survive in combat. You must take a direct hand in your soldiers' professional and personal development. Counseling is especially important in the Army. Because of the Army's mission, leaders must be concerned with the entire scope of soldiers' well-being. Personal counseling should adopt a problem-solving, rather than an advising, approach. You also need the judgment to refer a situation to your leader, the chaplain, or a service agency if it is beyond your ability to handle. You will, of course, follow up on this action. Performance counseling focuses on soldiers' behavior as it relates to duty performance. Military counseling is discussed further in Chapter 6 of this manual, and FM 22-101 is devoted entirely to the subject. SOLDIER TEAM DEVELOPMENT You must create strong bonds between you and your soldiers so that your unit functions as a team. Since combat is a team activity, cohesive soldier teams are a battlefield requirement. You must take care of your soldiers and conserve and build their spirit, endurance, skill, and confidence to face the inevitable hardships and sacrifices of combat. The effectiveness of a cohesive, disciplined unit is built on bonds of mutual trust, respect, and confidence. Good leaders recognize how peers, seniors, and subordinates work together to produce successes. Soldier team development is significant in training and orienting soldiers to new tasks and units. You can help new soldiers become committed members of the organization if you work hard at making them members of your team. This competency is discussed further in FM 22-102 and Chapter 6 of this manual. TECHNICAL AND TACTICAL PROFICIENCY You must know your job. You must be able to train your soldiers, maintain and employ your equipment, and provide combat power to help win battles. You will gain technical proficiency in formal Army training programs, self-study, and on-the-job experience. You have to know your job so that you can train your soldiers, employ your weapons systems, and help your leader employ your unit. Tactical competence requires you to know warfighting doctrine so that you can understand your leader's intent and help win battles by understanding the mission, enemy, terrain, troops, and time available. Technical proficiency and tactical proficiency are difficult to separate. This competency is discussed in detail in Chapter 5 of this manual. DECISION MAKING Decision making refers to skills you need to make choices and solve problems. Your goal is to make high-quality decisions your soldiers accept and execute quickly. Further, it is important that decisions be made at the lowest organizational level where information is sufficient. Like planning, decision making is an excellent way for you to develop your leadership team. Include subordinates in the decision-making process if time is available and if they share your goals and have information that will help produce high-quality decisions. Decision making is discussed further in Chapter 6 of this manual. PLANNING Planning is intended to support a course of action so that an organization can meet an objective. It involves forecasting, setting goals and objectives, developing strategies, establishing priorities, delegating, sequencing and timing, organizing, budgeting, and standardizing procedures. Soldiers like to have order in their lives, so they depend on you to keep them informed and to plan training and operations to ensure success. Including your subordinate leaders in the planning process is an excellent way for you to develop your leadership team. Remember, one of your tasks is to prepare your subordinates to replace you, if necessary. Planning is discussed further in Chapter 6 of this manual. USE OF AVAILABLE SYSTEMS You must be familiar with techniques, methods, and tools that will give you and your soldiers the edge. Use of available systems literally means that you know how to use computers, analytical techniques, and other modern technological means that are available to manage information and to help you and your soldiers better perform the mission. This competency may vary dependent upon your leadership position. You must recognize,however, that understanding computer technological advances is important. You must use every available system or technique that will benefit the planning, execution, and assessment of training. PROFESSIONAL ETHICS Military ethics includes loyalty to the nation, the Army, and your unit; duty; selfless service; and integrity. This leadership competency relates to your responsibility to behave in a manner consistent with the professional Army ethic and to set the example for your subordinates. As a leader, you must learn to be sensitive to the ethical elements of situations you face, as well as to your orders, plans, and policies. You must learn to use an informed, rational decision-making process to reason through and resolve ethical dilemmas and then teach your subordinates to do the same. Professional ethics is discussed further in Chapter 4 of this manual.
FM 22-100 APPENDIX B Leadership Styles Leadership style is the personal manner and approach of leading (providing purpose, direction, and motivation). It is the way leaders directly interact with their subordinates. Effective leaders are flexible in the way they interact with subordinates. They deal with subordinates differently, changing the way they interact as a subordinate develops or as the situation or mission changes. Your manner and approach of leading will obviously depend on your training, education, experience, and view of the world. You have to be yourself, yet flexible enough to adjust to the people you lead and to the missions you are assigned. Some say they admire a certain leader because he always seems to know exactly what to do in a particular situation. Or they admire a leader who knows just the right words to say at the right time to ensure the mission is accomplished and soldiers are cared for. Experience has taught you that you should not deal with all people the same. For example, you know it is not effective to deal with a new soldier the same as you would deal with an experienced tank commander or section chief. For years, when people talked about leadership styles, they thought about two extremes--an autocratic style and a democratic style. Autocratic leaders used their legitimate authority and the power of their position to get results while democratic leaders used their personality to persuade, and involved subordinates in solving problems and making decisions. Thinking like this fails to consider the possibility of a leader using different styles and being flexible enough to be autocratic at times and democratic at other times, or to combine the two extreme styles at still other times. There are three basic styles of military leadership--directing, participating, and delegating. DIRECTING STYLE A leader is using the directing leadership style when he tells subordinates what he wants done, how he wants it done, where he wants it done, and when he wants it done and then supervises closely to ensure they follow his directions. This style is clearly appropriate in many situations. When time is short and you alone know what needs to be done and how to do it, this style is the best way to accomplish the mission. When leading subordinates who lack experience or competence at a task, you need to direct their behavior using this style. They will not resent your close supervision. You will be giving them what they need and want. In fact, asking inexperienced subordinates to help you solve complex problems or plan an operation would be frustrating for them. If a leader announces that the unit will conduct day and night land navigation training over an 8-kilometer course in full field uniform, he is using the directing style of leadership. He did not ask for any information or recommendations before making and announcing the decision. Some people think that a leader is using the directing style when he yells, uses demeaning language, or threatens and intimidates subordinates. This is not the directing style. It is simply an abusive, unprofessional way to treat subordinates. PARTICIPATING STYLE A leader is using the participating style when he involves subordinates in determining what to do and how to do it. The leader asks for information and recommendations; however, he still makes the decisions. He simply gets advice from subordinates before making the decision. This style is appropriate for many leadership situations. If your subordinates have some competence and support your goals, allowing them to participate can be a powerful team-building process. It will build their confidence and increase their support for the final plan if they help develop it. If a leader asks subordinates to recommend the location and course layout for the land navigation training before making his final plans, he is using the participating style of leadership. He still makes the decision but considers information and recommendations from his subordinates first. Do not be concerned that asking a subordinate for advice or using a subordinate's good plan or idea shows weakness. The opposite is true; it is a sign of strength that your subordinates will respect. On the other hand, you are responsible for the quality of your plans and decisions. If you believe an idea one of your subordinates offers is not a good one, you must reject the idea and do what you believe is right, regardless of pressure to do otherwise. DELEGATING STYLE A leader is using the delegating style when he delegates problem-solving and decision-making authority to a subordinate or to a group of subordinates. This style is appropriate when dealing with mature subordinates who support your goals and are competent and motivated to perform the task delegated. While you are always accountable to your leader for the results of any task you delegate, you must hold your subordinates accountable to you for their actions and performance. If a leader tasks an experienced and motivated subordinate to plan, organize, and run the land navigation training, he is using the delegating style of leadership. Some things are appropriate to delegate; others are not. The key is to release your subordinates' problem-solving potential while you determine what problems they should solve and help them learn to solve them. CHOOSING A STYLE Choosing the correct style of leadership requires you to understand the four factors of leadership (Chapter 2). You (the leader) must size up every situation and subordinate (the led) carefully to choose the right style. Consider how competent, motivated, and committed those you lead are at the task (the situation) you want performed. Have they done it before? Were they successful? Will they need your supervision, direction, or encouragement to accomplish the mission to standards? The answers to these questions will help you choose the best leadership style and manner to communicate so that your soldiers will understand your intent and want to help you accomplish the mission. As a leader you want to develop and train your subordinates so that you can confidently delegate tasks to them. The delegating style is the most efficient of the three leadership styles. It requires the least amount of your time and energy to interact, direct, and communicate with your subordinates. Because it is the most efficient style, it is in your best interest to use the delegating style with as many of your subordinates and as much of the time as possible. But before you can use the delegating leadership style, you must train and develop your subordinates. An inexperienced subordinate needs your direction. You must tell him what needs to be done and how to do it. After he gains some competence, and if he is motivated and shares your goals, you can reduce the amount of supervision you give to him. Encourage him, ask him for advice, and allow him to participate in helping you make plans and decisions. With time, experience, and your skillful leadership, this person will gain even more competence and become even more motivated and committed to helping the unit accomplish its missions. When you have trained and developed a subordinate to this level of competence and commitment, use the delegating style of leadership. As missions change or as new tasks are assigned, you will need to continue to be flexible in the leadership style you use. Even though you have successfully used the delegating leadership style with a subordinate, you may need to temporarily return to the directing style of leadership if you give him an unfamiliar, or a new, task. Because the soldier is unfamiliar with the task, you will need to tell him what to do and how to do it. As the subordinate gains competence, confidence, and motivation in this new task, you can gradually shift your style again to the participating or delegating style. By assessing the leadership needs of your subordinates, you can determine what leadership style to use. Do not confuse emotion or anger with styles of leadership. A company commander frustrated with a poor maintenance program in his unit might angrily say to his platoon leaders, "The state of maintenance in this unit is terrible! I do not have the answers, but you are going to develop a plan to fix it. Nobody is leaving this office until you all develop a plan and agree on it!" He is using a delegating style because after he identifies the problem, he gives his platoon leaders complete freedom to develop the plan. Another leader might announce that the unit will observe the unit's organization day with a barbecue followed by three hours of athletics and recreation. This is an example of the directing style since the leader makes the decision without asking for advice or recommendations. There is no one best leadership style. What works in one situation may not work in another. You must develop the flexibility to use all three styles; further, you must develop the judgment to choose the style that best meets the situation and the needs of the subordinate.
FM 22-100 APPENDIX C Assuming A Leadership Position Assuming a leadership position is one of the special leadership situations you will face. Everything discussed in this manual about what you must BE, KNOW, and DO is relevant to assuming a leadership position. DIRECTING INITIAL EFFORTS When assuming a leadership position, you should consider the four factors of leadership (Chapter 2). Direct your initial efforts- •To determine what is expected of your organization . •To determine who your immediate leader is and what he expects of you. •To determine the level of competence and the strengths and weaknesses of your subordinates. •To identify the key people outside of your organization whose willing support you need to accomplish the mission. CHOOSING THE BEST LEADERSHIP STYLE Do not fall into the trap of believing that some techniques always work, such as observing for a week or two and then making changes or going into an organization "like a lion" and then becoming "like a lamb." Such beliefs will cause you to miss the benefits of the thought process used to select the appropriate leadership style (directing, participating, or delegating). The best strategy in one situation can be exactly the wrong strategy in another situation. For example, you would use a different leadership style when taking over a well-trained and proficient organization than when replacing a leader relieved for inefficiency or inability to discipline or train. As a leader, you must always establish and enforce standards and provide purpose, direction, and motivation for your soldiers. When assuming a leadership position, you must assess the readiness of the organization to perform its mission and then develop a strategy to provide what the organization needs. You should use the leadership style that your experience tells you is most appropriate after you have assessed the unit's level of competence, motivation, and commitment to accomplish the mission. In fact, you will probably use all three styles with different subordinates or in different situations. Your style will need to change when new missions are received, new soldiers and leaders are assigned, or the competence, motivation, or commitment of your soldiers changes. When you assume a leadership position, talk to your leader, your peers, and key people such as the chaplain and the sergeant major. Seek clear answers to the following questions: •What is the organization's mission? •How does this mission fit in with the mission of the next higher organization? •What functions am I responsible for, such as training, maintenance, and administration? •What are the standards the organization must meet? •What resources are available to help the organization accomplish the mission? •What is the current state of morale? •Who reports directly to me? •What are the strengths and weaknesses of my key subordinates and the unit? •Who are the key people outside of the organization who support mission accomplishment? What are their strengths and weaknesses? Be sure you ask these questions at the right time, of the right person, and in the right manner. Answers to these questions, and others that flow from them, should give you the information you need to correctly assess the situation and select the right leadership strategy. You must also remain flexible enough to adapt your leadership style as you continually assess the competence, motivation, and commitment of your subordinates and the organization. Sharing your leadership or command philosophy with your subordinates will make your transition more efficient. Your subordinates will appreciate the chance to see how you intend to lead and welcome the chance to ask questions. Your leadership philosophy is your promise of how you intend to lead and interact with your subordinates. Command philosophies at company level and higher are often written when the situation permits.
FM 22-100 APPENDIX D Officer and Noncommissioned Officer Relationships An important part of effective leadership is the ability of commissioned and warrant officers to work together with NCOs. To develop effective working relationships, both must know the similarities and differences in their respective roles, duties, and responsibilities. Since officers and NCOs share the same goal--to accomplish their unit's mission--it is evident their responsibilities overlap and must be shared. Much discussion, however, concerns who is really responsible for what. What is "officer business," and what is "NCO business"? TRADITIONS AND LAWS The complementary relationship and mutual respect between officers and NCOs are traditions in the US Army. Since the Army's beginning in 1775, Officer and NCO duties have been separate but necessarily related. Traditions, functions, and laws determine the particular duties of officers and NCOs. Commissions are legal instruments by which the President appoints and exercises direct control over qualified people to act as his legal agents and help him carry out his duties. The Army retains this "direct-agent" relationship with the President through its commissioned officers. It is the basis for commissioned officers' legal authority and placement in positions of authority in Army organizations. Warrant officers are appointed by the Secretary of the Army. Public Law provides for commissioning chief warrant officers, and their authority comes from the same source as other commissioned officers. NCOs do not derive authority from commissions. Rather, officers delegate the authority NCOs need to get the mission accomplished. NCOs serve as agents for officers. OFFICER AND NCO RESPONSIBILITIES No sharp, definitive lines separate officer and NCO responsibilities. In general, commanders set the overall policies and standards. Officers lead NCOs and help them carry out their responsibilities. Officers cannot simply say, "That's sergeants' business," nor should they do NCOs' work for them. Officers must give NCOs the guidance, resources, assistance, and supervision necessary for them to do their duties. By the same token, NCOs are responsible for assisting and advising officers in carrying out their duties. Missions demand that officers and NCOs work together and advise, assist, and learn from one another. In a unit, officers and NCOs must determine the best division of responsibilities and tasks of each by considering the mission, the situation, and individual abilities and personalities. The following chart has general responsibilities for officers and NCOs. COMMUNICATIONS The Army has but one chain of command. The NCO support channel parallels and reinforces it. Both are means of communication and control. For the chain of command to work efficiently, the NCO support channel must operate effectively. The battalion or higher-level NCO support channel begins with the CSM and ends with section chiefs, squad leaders, or team leaders. Between these points are intermediate levels such as first sergeants and platoon sergeants. NCOs use the support channel to pass information, issue orders, and accomplish routine, but important, missions. Most often, they use it to put policies and procedures into effect and to enforce standards of performance, training, appearance, and conduct. In addition to conducting normal operations, NCOs advise commanders on individual soldier proficiency and training needed to ensure unit readiness. Commanders are then free to plan, make decisions, and program future training and operations. Although a commander usually consults with his first sergeant or CSM before giving orders to the chain of command, this does not mean these NCOs are in the chain of command. Senior NCOs must know what instructions are being issued in order to supervise the NCO support channel effectively. Officers and NCOs at all levels must continually communicate with one another. Whether the information or tasks begin in the chain of command or in the NCO support channel, informing counterparts prevents duplicating, or issuing conflicting, orders. Besides the chain of command and the NCO support channel, most units at battalion level and above have staff and technical channels. For example, a battalion staff has S1, S2, S3, and S4 sections. RESPONSIBILITIESTHE OFFICERTHE NONCOMMISSIONED OFFICERCommands, establishes policy, and manages the Army.Conducts the daily business of the Army within established policy.Focuses on collective training leading to mission accomplishment.Focuses on individual training that leads to mission capability.Is primarily involved with units and unit operations.Is primarily involved with individual soldiers and team leading.Concentrates on unit effectiveness and readiness.Ensures subordinate NCOs and soldiers, with their personal equipment, are prepared to function as effective unit members.Concentrates on the standards of performance, training, and professional development of officers and NCOs.Concentrates on the standards of performance, training, and professional development of subordinate NCOs and soldiers. AUTHORITY Authority is the legitimate power of leaders to direct subordinates or to take action within the scope of their responsibility. Legal authority begins with the Constitution. It divides authority for the military between Congress and the President. Congress has the authority to make laws to govern the Army; the President has the authority to command the Army as Commander in Chief. Command Authority Command authority can come from regulations or laws, but it primarily originates with the President. Leaders have command authority when they fill positions requiring the direction and control of other members of the Army. That authority is restricted, however, to the soldiers and facilities in their own units. Command authority is not limited to commissioned and warrant officers. Commanders are leaders who direct and control soldiers as an official part of their duties. Such leaders have the inherent authority to issue orders, carry out the unit mission, and care for soldiers, unless contrary to law or regulation. Enlisted soldiers can have command authority. Tank commanders, squad leaders, platoon sergeants, and dining facility managers all use command authority to direct and control. General Military Authority General military authority is the authority extended to all soldiers to take action. It originates in oaths of office, law, rank structure, tradition, and regulation. For example, the UCMJ gives authority to "commissioned officers, warrant officers, petty officers, and noncommissioned officers to quell quarrels, frays, disorders . . . and to apprehend personnel . . . who take part." Leaders may exercise general military authority over soldiers from different units. When an NCO of one battalion stops a soldier from another to give instruction on military courtesy, he is exercising general military authority. Delegation of Authority Just as it is impossible for Congress and the President to participate in every facet of the armed forces, it is impractical for commissioned officers to handle every action directly. To meet the organization's goals, they must delegate authority to NCOs. Accountability When you are responsible for something, you are liable, or accountable, for the outcome. You must answer for either an action or an omission. Responsibilities fall into two categories: individual and command. Soldiers have individual responsibilities. They are responsible for their own actions. Nobody gives or delegates individual responsibilities. Soldiers assume them when they take their oath of enlistment. Command responsibilities refer to collective or organizational accountability and include how well units perform their missions. For example, the platoon sergeant is responsible for all the tasks and missions assigned to his platoon, as directed by the platoon leader. The sergeant of the guard is responsible for all activities related to guard duty.
FM 22-100 APPENDIX E Developmental Leadership Assessment Developmental leadership assessment is a process used to improve a person's ability to lead. It involves comparing performance to a standard or performance indicator, giving feedback, and developing a plan to improve leadership performance. It is an essential element of your leader development responsibilities. Just as you need your leaders' coaching, your subordinates need your help to improve their leadership performance. You have two leadership assessment responsibilities. First, assess your own leadership performance. Identify your strengths and weaknesses and work to improve yourself. Second, assess your subordinates' leadership performance, give them feedback, and help them overcome their weaknesses. THE LEADERSHIP ASSESSMENT PROCESS The goal of leadership assessment is to develop competent and confident leaders. Leadership assessment should be a positive, useful experience that does not confuse, intimidate, or negatively impact on leaders. It should be conducted as follows: •Decide what leadership skill, knowledge, or attitude you want to assess. •Make a plan to observe the leadership performance. •Observe the leadership performance and record your observations. •Compare the leadership performance you observed to a standard or performance indicator. (Performance standards or indicators must be based on the nine leadership competencies discussed in Appendix A.) •Decide if the leadership performance you observed exceeds, meets, or is below the standard or performance indicator. •Give the person leadership performance feedback. (FM 22-101 can help you learn to give useful and accurate feedback your subordinates will accept.) •Help the person develop an action plan to improve leadership performance. Normally, leadership assessment will not lead to improved performance unless it includes an action plan designed to change undesirable performance and reinforce desirable performance. The leader and the subordinate must- •Design the action plan together. •Agree on the actions necessary to improve leadership performance. •Review the action plan frequently to see if the subordinate is making progress and to determine if the plan needs to be changed. Naturally, when assessing your own leadership performance you have to modify the steps. First, examine your performance in a particular situation. Then, compare your performance to a leadership standard or performance indicator. Finally, decide how you can improve your leadership performance, if appropriate. You may want to discuss your self-assessment with your leaders, peers, subordinates, and others. FEEDBACK SOURCES A complete and accurate leadership assessment includes feedback from these six sources: •The person himself. •Leaders. •Peers. •Subordinates. •Close friends and family members. •Trained leadership assessors. Some service school instructors have received special leadership assessment training. It will not always be possible to get feedback from all of these sources, but each of them can give valuable information about a person's leadership performance. If you can get feedback from all six sources, you will have a complete picture of the person's leadership performance.
FM 22-100 GLOSSARY APFT Army Physical Fitness Test AR Army regulation ARTEP Army Training and Evaluation Program CP command post CSM command sergeant major DA Department of the Army FM field manual HQ headquarters LZ landing zone METT-T mission, enemy, terrain, troops and time available MOPP mission-oriented protection posture NBC nuclear, biological, chemical NCO noncommissioned officer pam pamphlet R&R rest and recuperation S1 Personnel Officer (US Army) S2 Intelligence Officer (US Army) S3 Operations and Training Officer (US Army) S4 Supply Officer (US Army) SOP standing operating procedure TC training circular TRADOC United States Army Training and Doctrine Command UCMJ Uniform Code of Military Justice US United States VC Vietcong WIA wounded in action WW world war
FM 22-100 REFERENCES REQUIRED PUBLICATIONS: Required publications are sources that users must read in order to understand or to comply with this publication. FIELD MANUALS (FMs): FM 100-1 The Army FM 100-5 Operations RELATED PUBLICATIONS: Related publications are sources of additional information. They are not required in order to understand this publication. ARMY REGULATIONS (ARs): AR 600-20 Army Command Policy AR 600-100 Army Leadership DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY PAMPHLET (DA PAM): DA PAM 600-25 US Army Noncommissioned Officer Professional Guide FIELD MANUALS (FMs): FM 3-4 NBC Protection FM 3-100 NBC Operations FM 22-9 Soldier Performance in Continuous Operations FM 22-101 Leadership Counseling FM 22-102 Soldier Team Development FM 22-l03 Leadership and Command at Senior Levels FM 25-2 Unit Training Management FM 25-3 Training in Units FM 25-100 Training the Force FM 26-2 Management of Stress in Army Operations FM 101-5 Staff Organization and Operations TRAINING CIRCULARS (TCs): TC 22-9-1 Leader Development Program, Military Professionalism (Platoon/ Squad Instruction) TC 22-9-2 Leader development Program, Military Professionalism (Company/ Battery Instruction) TC 22-9-3 Leader Development Program, Military Professionalism (Battalion Instruction) OTHER PUBLICATIONS: Albright, John, John A. Cash, and Allan W. Sandstrum. Seven Firefights. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1970. Ardant du Picq, Charles Jean Jacques Joseph. Battle Studies: Ancient and Modern. Trans. Colonel John W. Greely and Major Robert C. Cotton. Harrisburg, PA: Military Service Publishing Co., 1947. Blanchard, Kenneth H., and Keith L. Kettler. "A Situational Approach to Leader Development." Student Text 22-3, USA Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, KS, 1987. Draper, Edward S., and John J. Lombardi. Combined Arms in a Nuclear/ Chemical Environment Force Development Testing and Experimentation: Summary Evaluation Report, Phase I, U.S. Army Chemical School, Fort McClellan, AL, 1986. Fussell, Paul. The Boy Scout Handbook and Other Observations. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982. Garland, Albert N., ed. Infantry in Vietnam: Small Unit Actions in the Early Days: 1965-66. Nashville: The Battery Press, 1967. Gugeler, Russell A. Combat Actions in Korea. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1984. "Heroes: One Day's Work." Time, 11 September 1964, p 26. Jacobs, Bruce. Heroes of the Army: The Medal of Honor and Its Winners. New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1956. Marshall, S. L. A. The Soldier's Load and the Mobility of a Nation, Quantico, VA: The Marine Corps Association, 1980. Pullen, John J. The Twentieth Maine. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co.,1957; Dayton, OH: Press of Morningside Bookshop, 1980. Puryear, Edgar F., Jr. Nineteen Stars. Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1971. Smith, Perry M. Taking Charge: A Practical Guide for Leaders. Washington, D.C.: National Defense University Press, 1986. Wallace, Willard M. Soul of the Lion. New York: Thomas Nelson and Sons,1960. SUGGESTED READINGS: Suggested readings are significant works for additional study and reflection on leadership and on the military profession. Associates, Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership, USMA. Leadership in Organizations. Garden City Park, NY: Avery Publishing Group Inc., 1988. Bass, Bernard M. Stogdill's Handbook of Leadership. New York: Free Press, 1981. Bass, Bernard M. Leadership and Performance Beyond Expectations. New York: Free Press, 1985. Bennis, Warren, and Burt Nanus. Leaders: The Strategies for Taking Charge. New York: Harper and Row, 1985. Blanchard, Kenneth H., Patricia Zigarmi, and Drea Zigarmi. Leadership and the One Minute Manager. New York: Morrow, 1985. Burns, James MacGregor. Leadership. New York: Harper and Row, 1978. Chamberlain, Joshua Lawrence. The Passing of the Armies. Dayton, OH: Press of Morningside Bookshop, 1981. Clarke, Bruce C. Guidelines for the Leader and the Commander. Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1973. Clausewitz, Carl von. On War. Ed. and trans. Michael Howard and Peter Paret. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1976. Collins, Arthur S., Jr. Common Sense Training. San Rafael, CA: Presidio Press, 1978. Crane, Stephen. The Red Badge of Courage. Logan, IA: Perfection Form,1979. Forester, C. S. Rifleman Dodd. Garden City, NY: Sun Dial Press, 1944. Gabriel, Richard A. To Serve with Honor: A Treatise on Military Ethics and the Way of the Soldier. Holmes, Richard. Acts of War: The Behavior of Men in Battle. New York: Free Press, 1985. Keegan, John. The Face of Battle. New York: Viking Press, 1976. Kellett, Anthony. Combat Motivation: The Behavior of Soldiers in Battle. Boston: Kluwer-Nijhoff Publishing, 1982. MacDonald, Charles B. The Battle of the Huertgen Forest. New York: J. P. Lippincott Co., 1963. Malone, Dandridge M. Small Unit Leadership: A Commonsense Approach. San Francisco: Presidio Press, 1983. Marshall, S. L. A. Men Against Fire. Gloucester, MA: Peter Smith, 1947. Myrer, Anton. Once an Eagle. New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1970. Newman, Aubrey S. Follow Me. San Francisco: Presidio Press, 1981. Norton, Oliver Willcox. The Attack and Defense of Little Round Top. Dayton, OH: Press of Morningside Bookshop, 1978. Nye, Roger H. The Challenge of Command. New York: Avery Publishing Group, Inc., 1986. Peters, Thomas J., and Nancy Austin. A Passion for Excellence, The Leadership Difference. New York: Random House, 1985. Pullen, John J. The Twentieth Maine. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co.,1957; Dayton, OH: Press of Morningside Bookshop, 1980. Sajer, Guy. The Forgotten Soldier. New York: Harper and Row, 1971. Shaara, Michael. The Killer Angels. New York: Ballantine Books, 1974. Smith, Perry M. Taking Charge: A Practical Guide for Leaders. Wash D.C.: National Defense University Press, 1986. Stockdale, James B. A Vietnam Experience: Ten Years of Reflection. Stanford, CA: Hoover Press, 1984. Taylor, Robert L. and William E. Rosenbach. Military Leadership In Pursuit of Excellence. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1984. Truscott, L. K., Jr. Command Missions. New York: E. P Dutton and Co.,1954. Wakin, Malham M., ed. War, Morality, and the Military Profession. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1979. Walzer, Michael. Just and Unjust Wars. New York: Basic Books Inc., 1977. Waterman, Robert H., and Thomas J. Peters. In Search of Excellence. New York: Harper and Row, 1982.
FM 22-100 31 JULY 1990 By Order of the Secretary of the Army: CARL E. VUONO General. United States Army Chief of Staff Official: THOMAS F. SIKORA Brigadier General, United States Army The Adjutant General DISTRIBUTION: Active Army, USAR. and ARNG. To be distributed in accordance with DA Form 12-11E, requirements for FM 22-100, Military Leadership (Qty rqr Block No. 0180). *U.S. Government Printing Office: 1993-342-421/62576
