Military Leadership
Essays

¶ … Vietnam Conflict ) to Viet Nam enumerated in Loren Baritz' BACKFIRE. Or, using those reasons why we did what we did and Baritz' tripartite scheme that says the U.S. goes to war because of its (1) mythology, (2) its…

Gates of Fire written by Steven Pressfield is a famous historical novel published in 1998. It tells the story of 480 B.C when Persian King decided to attack Greece. Persia was the biggest power of the world in those times and it used all its supremacy to focus on this singe goal. Persian King brought with him a huge army of around two million soldiers with a simple message of "surrender or death" for the Greeks. On the other side, Greece put forward their 300 finest Spartan warriors under the commandment of King Leonydas and ordered them to take immediate action.

Greetings and salutations to all the distinguished guests, family members, and the Non-Commissioned Officers of Advanced Leaders Course Graduation Class in attendance.

Military leadership is active, purposeful and authoritative, and captures the lessons of experience and uses the wisdom and methods of history's great captains to show the way for current and future leaders (Jantzen pp).

This study concerns the Battle for the Aleutians which was the only time during World War II that Japanese occupied American soil and was the first incursion on American soil since the War of 1812. The Aleutian Islands were strategically significant during World War II for both sides but many military historians agree that both sides would have been better off if they had foregone this campaign. The purpose of this study was to provide a review of the primary and secondary peer-reviewed and scholarly literature concerning this battle to develop an informed answer to the study's guiding research question: "How might the American response to the Japanese invasion and occupation be directly linked to the chain of events in the Pacific, and did the ‘forgotten battle' mobilize Americans more than historians have admitted?"

An Analysis of Successful Leadership in the 21st Century

How the Skirmish at Blackburn's Ford Shaped the Battle of First Manassas The Skirmish at Blackburn's Ford shaped the Battle of First Manassas by discouraging the Union Army, altering the Union Army's battle plans and encouraging the Confederate Army. The Confederacy's chances of successfully seceding from the Union were initially poor, as the Union had the obvious upper hand: the Union Army was considerably larger and better equipped; their commander was George McClellan, whose abilities were undoubted; the Union had the international advantage of being a recognized nation; finally, the Union had the lion's share of factories that could steadily mass produce ordnance for the Union forces. In sharp contrast, the Confederacy: was an agrarian society with far fewer people, fewer factories and considerable resentment at being reduced to "economic vassalage" by the North's industrialization; much of the Confederacy's fortune involved cotton and the reliance of foreign markets on that cotton; the Confederate Army was significantly composed of farmers who were eager to finish the war and get back home by Autumn for the harvest; Confederacy's first days were quite shaky, with anti-secessionist cabinet members, no established office space, little money even for its cabinet's office furniture, and continued reliance on the North for even Confederate currency. Clearly the Union was at least theoretically far likelier to win the Civil War. Understandably confident, the initially planned frontal attacks on Confederate forces. Fortunately for the Confederacy, the Skirmish at Blackburn's Ford deeply affected First Manassas. The untested Union forces, determined and resourceful Southern forces, and outcome of a Skirmish that consisted of relatively equal damage on both sides combined for the South and against the North. Seen as a humiliating defeat for Union forces, the Skirmish at Blackburn's Ford succeeded in significantly altered both sides' approach to First Manassas. Though casualties were mutually light, Union confidence was considerably shaken. In addition, due to the Union failure at the Skirmish, Union McDowell decided against a frontal assault and opted to cross Bull Run Creek farther upstream, beyond the Confederate left flank, which ultimately allowed the Confederacy to withstand the Union onslaught, regroup and counterattack at First Manassas. Finally, Confederate leadership, Confederate forces and the people they represented all gained a significant amount of confidence from the Skirmish, assisting them in withstanding, counterattacking and ultimately winning at First Manassas. All these factors stemming from the Skirmish at Blackburn's Ford ultimately lead to a debilitating a defeat at First Manassas. Thus the Confederate victory at the Skirmish at Blackburn's Ford and the eventual Confederate at First Manassas led to wildly diverging reactions on each side of the conflict. Aptly representing the Confederate reaction to the Skirmish and First Manassas, Confederate President Jefferson Davis publicly boasted that the Confederate Army "has met the grand army of the enemy, routed it at every point, and it now flies, inglorious in retreat before our victorious columns." Meanwhile, an influential voice for Union abolitionists, New York editor Horace Greeley, performed a nearly 180 degree reversal of his prior strident stance and began to call for a speedy peace with the Confederacy. These representative Confederate and Union responses to the Skirmish and eventual First Manassas show the profound effects enjoyed by the Confederacy and suffered by the Union.

The main reason that historians and scholars believe America lost the war in Vietnam is that politicians in Washington set "rules of engagement" that limited the ability of the troops on the ground (and commanders) in Vietnam. Lyndon Johnson, President, wanted to avoid killing civilians, and he wanted to avoid bombing close to China, so he set policies that were unrealistic and limiting for American soldiers.

Unconventional Warfare: The Mujahidin of Afghanistan

¶ … leadership different for joint operations? Do you think this is a critical component for effective military leadership for today's military?