“Major General James Utino once said that morale exists when ‘a soldier thinks that his army is the best in the world, his regiment is the best in the army, his company is the best in the regiment, his squad the best in the company, and that he himself is the best damned soldier in… Read More
“Leaders create command climate. Positive leadership can eliminate micro‐management, careerism, integrity violations and the zero defects mind‐set. These attitudes are an unfortunate side effect of the turmoil created by the downsizing of our Army. These attitudes have appeared in the past‐but we defeated them. We will do so again.” General Dennis J. Reimer, Chief of… Read More
“The state of ethical conduct is abysmal. Few battalion commanders can afford integrity in a zero defects environment. Telling the truth ends careers quicker than making stupid mistakes or getting caught doing something wrong. I have seen many good officers slide into ethical compromise.” Army Research Institute’s (ARI’s) command climate assessment, quoted in General Dennis… Read More
‘A British General after viewing the work of the Canadians in attack at Paardeberg [sic], said: “Those men can go into battle without a leader, they have intelligence and resourcefulness enough to lead themselves.’ They did not stand beside stones waiting for an order to get behind them and save their lives. They saved their… Read More
“Message: ‘German attack east of St. Eloi. PPCLI relief postponed.’ … That extra sentence seemed a lot to men who had not slept for five days and there was some cursing in the darkness. Colonel Farquhar, following his usual custom of considering the front line as healthy as a village lane, appeared at the back… Read More
“The heart of the matter is to relate the man to his fellow soldier as he will find him on the field of battle, to condition him to human nature as he will learn to depend on it when the ground offers him no comfort and weapons fail. Only when the human, rather than the… Read More
“When the civil leadership is ignorant of military manoeuvres but shares equally in the command of armies, the soldiers get confused.” Sun Tzu (400 BCE to 301 BCE) Sunzi, Wade-Giles romanisation Sun-tzu, also spelled Sun Tzu, personal name Sun Wu, (flourished 5th century BC), reputed author of the Chinese classic Bingfa (The Art of War),… Read More
