“Effective, professional military leadership requires that certain standards of officer behaviour be met. Officers’ attitudes, actions, and abilities contribute to the formation of unit integrity. At a very minimum, these standards do not permit soldiers to be ‘used’ in pursuit of an officer’s career.” Richard A. Gabriel and Paul L. Savage (1978) Crisis in Command:… Read More
“[The platoon commander] must have in a supreme degree …the will to win. The thirty men whom he leads take their inspiration from him; they will be lions or lizards in harmony with the tune he pipes.” Colonel W.N. Nicholson, C.M.G., D.S.O. (1939) Behind the Lines.
“With a decent troop officer, when we rode up to an outlying pub on the edge of a village, he’d say, ‘It’s all right to go in for a drink.’ …… After several grand days like this we’d ride back into Tidworth camp, and probably see the wretched infantry fellows staggering in off a route… Read More
“Battalions certainly differed in their character and their competence both from others and within themselves over time. Battalions are much like an organic family. They are held together by intangibles – leadership, comradeship, motivation, morale – that defy quantification or even easy description. In good units, soldiers feel – know – they are in the… Read More
“…the legitimate fatigue of responsible command.” T.E. Lawrence (1926) Seven Pillars of Wisdom
“In return for their privileges, what did officers actually do? The simple answer, at least for regimental officers, is that they gave leadership, took responsibility, and set an example, if necessary, by dying. … Implicit was the assumption that the officer would be the first to die in battle. Officers were the first out of… Read More
“In the British Army, there are no good battalions and no bad battalions, no good regiments and no bad regiments. There are only good and bad officers.” Field Marshall Sir William Slim (1891 to 1970) echoing Napoleon. William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim of Yarralumla and Bishopston, was a British Field Marshal and Chief of the… Read More
Boot Camp & Military Fitness Institute 