The basis of strong leadership, and problem solving; a look at Aggression.
Written by: LCpl. Franklyn Holland.
Every field leader of the M.I. from the lowly Lance Corporal to a grizzled veteran Colonel will all have their own opinions on what makes a field commander strong. But most will agree on three major points.
Speed.
Aggression.
Tempo.
Example.
S.A.T.E:
Those three words all have their own meanings, and will always changed per person. While that is the case with all language, these three words will only have one meaning in this document and will help those lacking in experience understand what it means to be an effective field leader.
Speed:
The ability to always be pushing both yourself, your men and your equipment to their maximum REQUIRED effort for each situation, in effect. You are always making decisions based on all the information you will obtain in your time leading men into battle.
Always analysing your movement, your team’s movement, where the enemy is where they can and cannot attack always be thinking, deciding, planning. A difference between a slow leader and a fast leader is if either one of them finds themselves in a situation of peril, the faster leader will react and capitalize on the fight.
Remember, if you are not always prepared, then make the enemy THINK you are.
Your team is your weapon, without your team YOU are useless. Without proper leadership your team is worthless. Every field commander must be able to utilize the members of their fire team effectively. Analyze your members, their equipment and post them accordingly. A man with a pistol should not take a position where a man with a scope should occupy. A team is a self contained unit that will first ensure their safety and combat effectiveness before they worry about the platoon. An enemy that engages one force is much less effective if that force can split, maneuver and engage with lethality.
The strength of the wolf is the pack. The strength of the pack is the wolf.
In every team, there are more than enough men who can engage effectively with their rifles. Every man in the Mobile Infantry is a rifleman, akin to Earth’s old United States Marine Corps. In the paraphrased words of General “Maddog” Mattis, “The only thing more dangerous than a marine with his rifle, is a man educated with knowledge and is willing to share it.” Every team leader must educate themselves on the battlefield, use that knowledge they have gained to outwit, outmaneuver and to destroy the enemy with the tools of his team. Always remember, as a collective your team is intelligent, cunning and dangerous. As an individual your skills will vary.
Every effective team leader will always be able to deal with a problem thrown at them. They themselves do not always have an answer on hand but someone in their team will. There are at least three heads per team. That is three minds united on the same idea, to seek out the enemy. To destroy the enemy and more importantly and above all else to trust themselves and the men around them to get the job done.
Aggression:
It will never be enough to just be the quickest, the smartest or the strongest.
A man who is all three but is a coward will never be able to utilize his own strengths if he is afraid to use them.
A man who is too fast will lose sight on the goals he has set out for himself.
A man too strong, will break whatever it is he is holding. A man too smart may spend too much time thinking and not doing.
The best man for a job will, in a fight, know how to use his strengths to apply maximum pressure on the enemy, knowing when to seize the moment and when to maneuver and gain ground. But most importantly of all things, the man will never give the enemy an inch he is not willing to take back with their blood.
Aggression is the cornerstone of every greatest achievement mankind has ever dared to embark on. It is what keeps a man from merely suggesting an idea. To take action is to exercise your aggression, and aggression is violence. Violence has solved more problems than any other form of resolution in history.
The more you do, the more you learn; the better you are at your job.
Those who hesitate, rest on their behinds or wait for the perfect plan may see their opportunity gone at the cost of a life, limb or resources for themselves, their comrades or their company. To put it another way, you must always exercise a proper restraint when conducting yourself aggressively, biting off more than you can chew will lead to choking.
Exercising aggression is to show everyone on the field confidence in yourself. Showing those under you that you can trust your own calls, should by extension show you trust in their ability to get the job done. Showing the enemy your confidence shows you are a determined threat. As you apply pressure to the enemy you will see their weak links, you break one part of their chain the rest will crumble allowing less of your company’s lives to be lost and more of the enemy’s. Grab your enemy by the nose, and kick right in the ass.
Aggression does not mean to keep moving in a singular fashion forward, but in an manner that is adaptive and cunning.
To show the enemy your path is to allow them to hold you.
To show the enemy your intent is to allow them to move it.
To change your focus of aggression is to kept the enemy on their toes and unable to match you equally in the balance of struggle.
You must always be willing to change direction, to change your plans, to commit as heavily or as lightly as the situation needs, but more importantly you never allow the enemy to dictate the battle to you. You are the master of your own destiny, and you should force your will upon the enemy as they will upon you.
Tempo:
Every field leader comes to understand that being constant will ease the tension of battle on themselves, their men and their commands. More importantly, the orders need to be comprehensible and related to the previous orders. Understand that if you must cease flow, you will have confused soldiers and a moment of uncertainty and uncontrolled chaos. Your job as a leader is to offer control and direction to your men.
Your testament as a leader is how often you make those around you understand their current goal. This in essence means that they have a clear and understood order, as well as the means to adapt in the absence of your presence. A mistake anyone can make is to underestimate the intelligence of your team as a whole.
You must always make sure your intent is known to your men so they may adapt their own plans to yours. The less you have to manually move them leads to less time keeping an eye on them, providing time for you to focus on the pressing issue: Making sure the weaker of the team is sought after and in turn made a useful tool.
Never assume that your men do not need to understand the objective, as that handicaps your over all fighting spirit and effectiveness.
In battle the biggest hurdle any person will face is uncertainty. You will never know anything for sure. From Intel to spacing, it is always dependent on the moment, and because of that you must improvise, adapt and overcome. A credence that the U.S. Marines in their day would claim was their second motto.
Face every problem as a new one, find out how to get around it, deal with it, blow it up. But never in your time toss your hands in the air and condemn you, your team and the platoon to death because you did not give yourself enough time to analyze the threat, and to find a solution to the problem. You may not always have the answers but you are never alone and more minds are better than one.
“In the absence of orders, go find something and kill it.”
– Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
Be an Example:
Having read through that, you must realize you will always be held up as an example. The utmost example for everyone to ever follow your footsteps. In the birth you sleep in, the chair you eat from. Everything will be a shining beacon to someone down the line. The man who fails to realize his influence is not a man who one will follow. You must always be magnanimous in victory or in defeat, for how you act defines not just who you are but those who are inspired by you. Your attitude will be reflected in those around you. Your actions repeated a hundred fold, every act of cowardice and every act of bravery shown. Understand that your morals will not be tested by you, but those around you. Respect yourself, so you may respect those that echo you. You are the man someone else will strive to be. You will know the day you have set a bad example because that is the day you find yourself surrounded by those you may seem to hate, but they are just reflections of yourself. To lash out at your peers is to cause distrust and fear. To tear down is to break down the bonds that war will form. And to betray the trust of those who are expected to follow you is to betray the trust you have in yourself to demand excellence and compassion from. Any officer can do these things and get away from it, no modern military has ever found itself winning based on the behaviors of officers. But on the backs of the Non-Commissioned officers, for they inspire the greatest acts of heroism and pride any man in a swivel chair may request.
You are the rock. You are the foundation. You are the paint, the wood, the brick and mortar. You will be the light house for which others will look for. If you allow yourself to be mundane, to be plain, bland and uninteresting. You allow your subordinates to do the same, no man goes in history for having the most basic of soldiers.
- Overlooked and approved by SSgt. Sebastian J. Bently
