“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
“How many commanders have we produced who, like General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, could stand alone wrapped in a British Warm at a cross-roads to watch a brigade of infantry go by? It may have looked like wasted time to the staff but his sole question to a passing young company commander (who did not realize… Read More
“Our success over our enemies will depend upon the degree of development of certain essentials of military personnel: 1. Skillful and resolute leadership. 2. A high morale. 3. Well organized and disciplined troops. If we have the first of these three we are bound to have the last two.” General Alexander M. Patch (1889 to… Read More
“The efficiency of an army depends on many different things, but one is outstanding – and that is morale. You can have all the material in the world, but without morale it is largely ineffective. You must have morale, first and foremost, and morale is determined by a great many things. Primarily it depends, of… Read More
“Leadership and morale are not synonymous; yet they are … inseparable …” Lieutenant Colonel Edward Lyman Munson, Jr. (1942) from Leadership For American Army Leaders published by The Infantry Journal.
“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
“A competent leader can get efficient service from poor troops while … an incapable leader can demoralize the best of troops” John Pershing (1860 to 1948) John J. Pershing, in full John Joseph Pershing, byname Black Jack, was a US Army general who commanded the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in Europe during World War I.… Read More
