Role of Commander
Heroes Remember
Role of Commander
I forget the place, Farmington,
I think in England and I was an officer and
you would go to that school training and
they would have the complement of men
as you would have in battle and they
would put you through a series of
exercises to see your ability to
assess the situation, make the decision.
That’s the one thing about battle,
you will always go back later on saying,
“Did I make the right decision?
Should I have done this,
should I have done that?”
As a commander you got terrible decisions
to make as to as I said, how to attack,
when to attack, who to put out on patrol,
what patrols should go out,
where should they go,
it’s a day of constant decision making
under stressful conditions.
The difficult hours in battle is dawn,
if there’s an attack it’s going to be at dawn.
If it’s not at dawn, it’s at night or
just before sunset and so those
are the times you would stand to with
bayonets fixed in your trench.
And one thing about World War Two
I experienced was it was such a tiring
thing going through that mud of Europe and
advancing one hundred yards and
hitting the ground when you’re fired upon
up another hundred yards and
also receiving the constant shelling.
I don’t think I ever had any problems
as a matter of leadership.
One of the things that first confronts
you as a soldier and leader,
is will you be able to stand up
to the strains of battle,
will I have the fortitude and
I hope I am not going to be a coward in
this situation and it doesn’t take long
before you have the confidence
of your men.
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