July-August - Air Defense Artillery School

By Lieutenant John H. Thornton, Jr., Coast Artillery Corps
EDITOR'SNOTE: ]\lany articles on the subject of Leadership
cover the same ground with but a variation of phraseology.
Lieutenant Thornton's article approaches the subject
from a different angle-and in forceful, direct and simple
language, as one lieutenant to another.
CHECK AND COBBECT
T odav in the oreatest of all wars the demand for J' unior
, 0
officers far exceeds the supply of previously-trained troop
leaders; the rest will have to be "made" -and in a relatively
short period of time. Unless this training is successful, missions
will fail. The tragic examples of armies taking the
field without good, steady, "common garden" variety type of
troop leaders are legion; and with every instance of disaster
stemming from weak officers, follows a flood of additional
literature on the leading of troops into battle. ]\lost of it is
fraught with generalities and frequent exhortations f~r
junior officers to rise and assume the roles of aggressive, intelligent
commanders.
Such phrases are all toO easy to repeat and their repetition
adds but little to the rapid development of a battle
commander. To the average junior officer, these publications
serve to inspire momentarily, but offer little else.
These eager second lieutenants are in the position of a man
with the desire to enter the Olympic 100 yard backstroke
finals without first learning to swim. Unless they are
given some hard-headed, realistic procedure in the highways
and byways of command, their lessons will be learned
the hard way, often the fatal way and always at the expense
of the organization.
What junior officers most frequently yearn for is some
practical instruction in the technique of leadership. Perhaps
a course in command, the application of military psychology
or the development of a strong personality-it all adds up
to the same. It is not enough that a young officer wants to
lead; he must be shown how to lead. His appetite is geared
for less caviar and more meat and potatoes.
Before considering some of the concrete factors which
face a young officer in the various phases of troop command,
there is one guiding rule which has to be burned into the
consciousness of every lieutenant from the first day with his
platoon until he is relieved from command.
The deciding factor in every battle ever won has been
the ability of its commanders to be informed of each small
detail of the situation. The ancient nursery rhyme, "For
want of a nail, the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe, the
horse was lost; for want of a horse the rider was lost ... " is
a tragic, burning reality to an officer in battle.
It is perfectly evident, for example, that General Sir
Bernard Law Montgomery is not every minute with hj~
men at the front in Africa, poring over each tiny scrap of
infor~ation on the s~tuatio~, t~1fou.ghany. personal Whim~1
or flaIr for the dramatIc. TIm, hIS mIghty EIghth Army will
testify, is the recipe for success in war. And the strands of \
this success lead back from the front, back through the
staging area and port of embarkation, back to the first da, 1
a unit began its training. ~
Cause and effect are usually difficult to relate, but in~
battle as in no other human activity, the difference betweentit
life and death is indissolubly linked to the performance of
small details in training. Sudden death stalks every laz~~
act of a junior officer in garrison. Unless he is made to react~
subconsciously to the importance of attention to detaiLp
then he is not qualified to direct the lives of other men in I
combat.
Clzeck!
It means that no matter how distasteful or boring the
task, no order is issued unless an officer follows it up personally
to see that it has been carried out completely and
precisely.
To tell a corporal that all machine guns will be cleaned
and assembled; to warn the mess sergeant that the floor
will be scrubbed and mopped dry; to admonish the platoon
sergeant that each man will change his socks after a hikeit
is not enollgll. The junior officer must personally, with
his own eyes, check every detail during the day, and his
officers' day is from an hour before reveille until long after~
bed check.
Nor is it enough that the work was merely done. HO\lI
was it done? Was the floor still damp two hours after
scrubbing? \\Tere all the hoses and water chests tested with
each machine gun? Did three men in the first platoon
fail to change their socks? Did the young officer follow up 1
these items? Unless he did, the chain of command has ~
begun to rust. Eventually, when the strafing planes diveI
over the position, the guns in the first platoon won't ha\'e
proper headspace adjustment. Next time, the slipshod
corporal will check each gun. But half dozen shallo\l ,
graves will then tell the story-there is no "next time" in ,
war.
Correct!
The best inspection in the Army isn't worth a tinker's
dam if the deficiencies located are not corrected. Th("\' I
must be remedied on the spot.
It is one of the hardest things in the world for a young
officer to stand over a grizzled sergeant and make him keep
his gun crew in the artillery park after hours. Usually it
means that the officer himself will miss the movies. i\lore