We Were Soldiers, Reading IV

The Warrior Ethos is for us and all US Army Warriors, a reminder of what is important. There are four things that we should always (or never) do. In this reading, the easiest and most clear example of a soldier that embodies this, and I think my fellow cadets will agree with me, is Crandell. Running in and out, through incredible danger to self, he brings more soldiers in to the battle and evacuates casualties. That sentence alone sums up all for points of the ethos. No thoughts of surrender, he never quits, he places the mission first by bringing these men into battle and never leaves a fallen comrade, taking back the casualties. This man is a hero in every sense of the word, and the entire mission depends on him.

We Were Soldiers, Reading III

There is a quote in Chapter 10. "No commander ever knows all that is happening on the battlefield." This sums up the chaos in this chapter, and would, I imagine, come close to capturing the intensity and confusion felt by anyone, especially someone new to command. This is why the decentralized command is so important. Even if the commander does not know what is going on with all of his men everywhere, he can trust in his NCOs to know what is going on with their men, and so is able, indirectly, to know and affect far more of the battlefield than he would be able to otherwise.

Towards the end of this chapter, we also see Moore wrestling with the problem solving method, in trying to determine how to best defend his men for the night. He IDs and studies the problem, looking at the strength of each company, the need to defend the chopper landing zones, enemy routs of attack, and the rest. He looks at every aspect of the situation and uses them to come up with a plan, rather than rushing through the planning and doing whatever comes first.

We Were Soldiers, Reading I

In this first section of this book, we see several very crucial examples of what it means to be a good leader, through LTC Moore's example. First and possibly most important is his theory of "decentralized command", as he calls it. By giving more responsibility to the NCOs and alloweing them more freedom of action, he is maximizing the flexibility and adaptability of his command, which is especially crucial since he knows he is going to be short-handed, both in manpower as well as in other resources, such as his Hueys. Moore is clearly in command, and well respected by his men, which also will be crucial, because as we begin to see, the intelligence theyve been given is not the best, and this respect his men have for him will be tested as his men struggle to adapt to the unexpected. Essentially, Moore is giving his men the flexibility they need to adapt to situations, while also inspiring a confidence in his men that will give them the decisiveness of action to follow through on his plans, even in the face of unknown odds.