This week I finished Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove. While reading, I came across a passage that ties in well to one of the war lessons I think junior military leaders need to understand (**spolier alert for this whole post**). While on a Texas-to-Montana cattle drive with some of the men from his former Texas Ranger unit, there is a point where one of the cowboys, Augustus McCrae, has just fought off six of 12 attacking Indians alone. Stranded and away from support, McCrae’s mind wandered before the second part of the battle with the Indians. He reminisced about some of the Rangers’ abilities in battles with Indians. I particularly noted the description of a character named Josh Deets: “Deets’s great ability was in preventing ambushes. He would seem to feel them coming, often a day or two early, when he would have no particular clues. “How’d you know?” they would ask him and Deets would have no answer. “Just knew,” he said. In Lonesome Dove, Josh Deets is an free black, high-performing cowboy. Recognizing Deets’ abilities as a reconnaissance man and tracker, Woodrow Call–McCrae’s business partner and leader of the cattle drive–assigned Deets the scouting duties for the cowboys when…Continue reading War Lesson #2–Put the right Marine in the right spot, regardless of rank
Category: Leadership
The military leaders’ guide to writing letters of recommendation for your former subordinates (and a draft letter you can use to save time)
As most of my readers (I think there are almost ten of you now) know, I was a Marine Corps infantry officer. In this job, I oversaw many young men. The Marine Corps has the lowest retention rate of all the branches of service, so the vast majority of these young men served four years and then returned to civilian life. After the Marine Corps, these Marines have spread to the wind. Many have started families. Some have rejoined the Marines in some capacity, whether reservist or active duty. Some have gone to college, law school, or (unfortunately) jail. Others have become plumbers, teachers, firefighters, or police officers. No matter where these fine men have gone, they need character references or letters of recommendation. Because these guys mostly enlisted out of high school, their only non-Marine Corps work experience was their high school, minimum wage job. That experience does not speak to recruiters, colleges, or juries like a good account of their Marine Corps service. And it is hard for these guys to encapsulate their service in a palatable way for civilians. To my knowledge, the Marine Corps offers no centralized clearinghouse of an enlisted Marine’s reviews that he can…Continue reading The military leaders’ guide to writing letters of recommendation for your former subordinates (and a draft letter you can use to save time)
Profiles in courage: Fr. Ben Morin, S.J. (Lieutenant U.S. Army)
It’s late December 1941–the first fortnight of the U.S.’s involvement in the Second World War. You’re a 21-year old tank platoon commander. Just four weeks earlier, you and your men arrived in the Philippines. When you arrived, complacency ruled. American military members concerned themselves more with nightlife and parties than fighting the Japanese. Now a short month later, you’re at war. The Japanese have landed and are bearing down on your position as American and Filipino forces withdraw all around. Your whole tank company unit is running out of fuel. Someone needs to stop–or at least slow down–the advancing Japanese to facilitate the withdrawal. Your commanding officer informs higher echelon commanders that his company will pool its remaining fuel and that you will be taking your platoon of five tanks into the Japanese force’s teeth to buy the main body more time. Such was the position Ben Morin of Maywood, Illinois found himself in on December 22, 1941. A child of the Great Depression, Morin enlisted in the Army as a high school senior in 1938. By late ’41, he had been selected as an officer and given command his platoon. On December 22 of that year, Morin’s tank platoon…Continue reading Profiles in courage: Fr. Ben Morin, S.J. (Lieutenant U.S. Army)
Here we go…!
Well, there it is: my wife is just over 13 weeks pregnant. I’ve been wanting to shout it out to everyone I see all day, everyday! “Pregnant,” I want to shout. “With a baby!” “I’m going to be a dad!” “I’m going to be a dad!” It’s hard to express the happiness this news brings to one’s life. It’s a blessing from God. We received this great news less than a month after our wedding. Already looking back on it I am so glad we were open to pregnancy right away. I wouldn’t have it any other way. The perfect time for this baby isn’t next year. The perfect time for this baby isn’t when we are “set” in our career or “secure” money-wise. No. The perfect time for this baby is now. It’s amazing how this news puts life into perspective. Priorities formerly in flux have settled down and are now set in stone. This is our family This is us versus the world. I cannot wait to meet this baby. I cannot wait to see it grow up. My little brother had a good story: for years, he told us, he’s seen friends and acquaintances announce that they would be uncles or aunts…Continue reading Here we go…!
War Lesson #1: Vanity
Something about veterans that bothers me is how widely and freely some share their war stories. A funny story here and there is fine. A story about someone else’s heroism is great. But all too often the stories smack of vanity and end with some self-aggrandizing point. I have also been guilty of this myself. After my first deployment, I moved from a rifle platoon to weapons company. When I arrived, I shared stories of my platoon’s firefights and other action too freely with the officers in my new company. Another officer in my new company—we’ll call him Michael—did not. After about a week, I noticed that he was taking the high road, and literally walked away from me and the others sharing stories. At one point, one of Michael’s other lieutenant buddies started making fun of me behind my back. But Michael steadfastly refused to participate in the storytelling and, to my knowledge, did not engage in the backstabbing. After hearing that another officer was talking poorly behind my back, I tried to table my anger and instead listened to the criticism. While I think the other lieutenant misunderstood me and had his own anger issues, I recognized some…Continue reading War Lesson #1: Vanity