By the Books: Leadership, Cohesion and the Military Novel

a BY THE BOOKS:

Leadership, Cohesion and the Military Novel by Lieutenant Colonel Bruce T. llWoodv Caine There is a marvelous leadership development tool lurking out there just waiting for us to pick up and exploit. It's not anew computer-based simulation game, although it does bring a solid dose of realism to the learning experience. I don't think you'll find it in many of our current training circulars, or on the video shelves of our training aids or learning centers, but you will find it on other shelves, in old footlockers, and stuck in the desk drawers of crusty old infantrymen like me. It's a grand companion that has been around in one form or another for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. It's the military novel.

Yes, that's right - good old "read it on the bus" and "before bedtime" fiction. You do remember novels, don't you? They were a primary source of entertainment and, yes, even education and socialization before TV and videotapes usurped much of our leisure time. You still have leisure time, don't you?

Oh, I know, we Army workaholics put in 16-hour days and take piles of official paper home on weekends, but surely, there is still a place in our professional lives for a "good read." And it may just help us overcome the major leadership challenge of the 1990s - learning how to build and sustain cohesive units and prepare them for the stark 1 realities of war on a "paperback budget."

For the past 15 or so years, I have been formally studying and teaching about leadership to groups of young, and sometimes not so young, leaders, both military and civilian. One day years ago at West Point, a spark of inspiration caused me to pull some of my favorite war novels off aback shelf and bring them to the leadership class I was teaching. Most of my cadets had never heard of these "classics," although some remembered "seeing the movie." Readings selected from these novels have stimulated many a fine leadership and human motivation discussion since that first class back in 1976.

The war novel was, and is, a more intimate medium than film or TV. Reading a novel requires imagination, the ability and willingness to visualize a reality from limited descriptions.

In many ways, it parallels the development of an intelligence e! timate. Reading a novel places us u side the minds and emotions of thr; characters, rather than making us simple observers of their actions. Reading allows us the luxury of stopping to consider an act or thought for its moraVethica1 component, and to assess its justification and consequences. A quality novel combines detail with scope, imagery with action, failure with success, emotion with insight - a perfect medium for in-depth discussion of combat motivation, cohesion, and the moral-ethical aspects of war. War Novels as Training Aids Preparation for war is much more than tactics and logistics, deployment exercises and range firing. The essence of war is shock and fear, terror and deprivation, and leaders must deal with the reality that, in war, human needs are often in conflict with organizational expectations. While the graphic nature of current war movies may simulate some of the sights and sounds of combat more accurately than those of an earlier era, they can never duplicate the lasting impact of the written word. Bv its very nature. the * in-the 5-novel provides opportunities for 1-sight and introspection, forcing - ---3-- *-:-A:-.:A---ll-. -2 -__-1:--rr;iiur;r LO inuiviuuaiiy VISUIILT. and analyze the actions and circumstances of the characters. By providing the reader access to inner thoughts and feelings, the novel focuses our attention on motivations. In contrast, the rapid pace of most current, action-based movies allows little opportunity for presentation of anything but the most transparent and immediate of motives.

World War I1 novels such as 77te Yoiirig Lions, TIte lliirt Red Line, The Naked and the Dead, Never So Few, and Vietnam's Fragrrtents, Another War, Another Peace, Tlte 13th Valley, A Riirrrior of War, Meditations in Green, and The Big V offer us opportunities to confront the issues of fear and courage, trust and distrust, guilt and rationaliza-tions. They provide a balance to the super-hype of training committee instructors who pontificate about bringing death and destruction through firepower and mobility, as if these were immutable American virtues without human liits. War is never as clean and clinical as our firepower demonstrations and ARTEP scenarios seem to portray. Certainly, we need to instill confidence in our weapons systems and tactics, but war is a human endeavor, and preparation for it requires we anticipate, with candor, the pain, htration, confusion, and, yes, exhilaration of combat. What About Military History? We soldiers have been strongly encouraged to reawaken our interest in military history, and rightfully so. But most histories are written at, and about, levels of military operations few of us will ever see. I guess that's why I love those well-written accounts of battles or campaigns that read more lie novels, such as John Toland's 1914 and Battle: rite Stofy of the Bulge, Cornelius Ryan's nte Last Battle, and John Keegan's Face of Battle.

They are so much more readable than the average history textbook or tactical manual because they focus on the human element, the emotions, weaknesses, strengths, complexities, and uncertainties of war and leadership in war. Like novels, they create an "I can't wait to see how it ends" compulsion that makes the work of reading fun.

And reading to learn is work, real work, although we modem soldiers often forget this. If you don't believe me, try to think of the last time you saw a peer, subordinate, or superior reading military history or, the Pentagon forbid, a military novel during duty hours! Rare, right? Unless, of course, his or her job was writing or teaching military history.

We are an action-oriented profession, and the rewards for careful reading and analysis are often lost in our rush to present another VIP briefing, publish another memorandum of instruction, conduct another practice emergency deployment exercise, or make another coordination telephone call. Even in our professional schools, the incentives for reading outside of the required curriculum often seems to be missing.

If we, as members of the profession of arms, truly believed reading military history and battle narratives (factual or fictional) was real work for a soldier, reading periods and analytical discussions of our studies would be regularly featured on our training schedules.

Battle from a Personal Perspective Military fiction clearly predates formal military history as a means for training and inspiring soldiers. The recounting of battles through the personal reminiscences of participants, or those gifted with the storyteller's art, were a favored past-time of many generations of soldiers. In those societies where one's prowess as a warrior determined social status and prestige, the retelling of the exploits of heroes served both as a means of public recognition and an instructional tool. War and warrior values have been major literary themes throughout human history and pre-history, and rightfully so, if we accept Gwynne Dyer's assertion in his 1985 book WAR that "The soldier is one of the first inventions of civilization." Cave paintings, tribal dances, oral histories, legends, epic poems, mythologies, and dramas each served to record and share cultural values and social expectations.

Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, the Old Testament, the plays of classical Greece and Rome, myths such as Beowilf - even Shakespeare -reveal the.expectations of these societies for the soldier and the soldier's leaders.

Historian Michael Howard, in his insightful study, War in Eiiropeart History, points to just such a link Miicli of the "Middle Ages" is still seen tltroiigli the distortirtg lenses of fijteeittlt certhiIy legend, whicli cast iipon the world of '%ltivalry" a golden arid jktitioiis glunioiir... But the coli-cept of '*chivalry" itserf; wlticli is in essence sirrrip& the behavior.of Cltevaliers, or knig\tts, was certaiiilv older - as old at least as the tmiibadoiirs, whose poetry iii tlte dawn of European literahire in the twelfth ceiihiry ltwttrted tlte times riot only of cowage biit of ltortor, gentleness, coiirtesy and by artd large, chastity.

How do we, the sophisticated soldiers of the late 20th ceiihiry, sliare siiclt concepts? Wto are our heroes? How are oiir legends pomayed? Does the reading of a dry regiiitaital history and recitation of past honors at a rare cereiiiony adequate@ senre to instill pride, passion arid contrttit-merit?

Stories Can Shape Values Practical experience is a great teacher, and contemporary adult education theory argues that adults learn best by doing. But this can be costly because, without proper preparation, action learning is fundamentally trial-and-error.

Although we try to create realism in our training, the full understanding of the leadership dimension of battle cannot be gained on the playing fields of Grafenwohr or the National Training Center.

Knowing the umpires are around somewhere, and that ENDEX is, at most, only a few days away, creates a special set of reactions in most of us to tactical training. No matter how realistic, training only approximates some of the emotions of battle. We need to read honest, and yes, even some not-so-honest personal accounts of the human experience of war to awaken us to the stark realities that have always been part of the soldier's world. fears and joys, the pulls and tugs of duty versus self-interest, honor versus expediency, compassion versus cruelty. Leon Uris' Battle Cry, Anton Myrer's Once art Eagle, and Irwin Shaw's llte Yoiing Lions create for the reader real people who experience the frustrations, terrors, exhilarations, and sorrows that are the common currency of the soldier's world.

We come to know their loneliness and friendships, their perceptions of leaders and peers, their needs and values.

Some personal narratives, like the World War I1 autobiographical Cornpart?, Coiiirtiartder and the Vietnam era's Platoon Leader, Once a Wanior King, Die Killing Zone, and Green Kliiglit, Red Mounting, mirror the insights into the minds of soldiers that novels provide, but their perspective is unilateral. We see the world through a single set of eyes, those of the autobiographer. We can only guess at the actual reactions of others to the behavior of these soldier-authors. With a novel, we often see through many eyes (granted, these are created by the author), and the contrasting perceptions add to our awareness of the complexity of the leadership process under extreme stress. An example may help make the point. I've read more than a half-dozen accounts of the Battle of Gettysburg and visited the battleground on three occasions, but it wasn't until I read Michael Shaara's nie Killer Angels that I really understood Gettysburg from an "on the ground" leadership perspective. Although Shaara's musings on the thought processes and emotions of the participants cannot mirror a 125-year-old reality any more accurately than autobiographical records permit (and it is the rare human who records personal thoughts and emotions with 100-percent candor), the plausibility of his portrayal brought formerly larger-than-lie historic figures like Lee, Pickett, and Chamberlain alive for me as very human leaders. Colonel Lawrence Chamberlain is a positive role model in our basic leadership manual, FM 22-100, but there is aside of him we don't see until we read Sharra: "Doit 't swear, " Cliarttberlairt said mitoitiatically. He tltoiiglit of yesterday. I iised hint to plug a hole. My brother. Did it mitontaticalIv, as if lie was expendable. Reached oiit artd pit ltirtt there, as you itiose a chess piece. nLawmiice? R Cltaitiberlaiit hinted.

Toni was gazing at hint, owl-eyed. "You wereit 't afraid, ittiicli, yesterday. " "Too biisy, I' Cltantberlain said. "No." Tom shook Itis head. "I shoot and niit around and all the time I'm scared green. But yo11 weren't scared at all. Not at all. But at Fredericksburg yoii were scared."

By its very nature, the novel does what even the best battle histories can only brush. It focuses on the individual's internal conflicts, the -I 50 ARMOR - Cltaittberlairi said, "I was too biisy. Had tltirtgs to do. CoiildnT tltink of getting Iiiirt." But he rentenibered: lliere was ittore to it titan that. There was ail miltation, a Itiige delight: I was alive. (u.281-2) There are leadership lessons here that we need to teach as we strive to build truly cohesive units. Such scenes take us beyond the disembodied concepts of duty and selfless service cited in our doctrine, and force us to face the seeming incom-patability of policies forbidding superior-subordinate "fraternization" and the goal of building vertical cohesion. Brotherhood and the essential trust between soldiers and leaders are both built on common experience under stress.

Scenes drawn from quality novels are so much more real than the sterile case studies we put in our lesson plans for ethical and professional values training. Development of an honest sense of what it takes to face risks, and order others to do so, demands analysis of Chamberlain's kind of reality.

A stroll down the stacks of the library reveals a wealth of biographies and autobiographies that portray the leadership dilemmas at the highest levels of command, but the military novel is far better suited as a catalyst for discussions of leadership and ethics in the mud.

The first half of Anton Myrer's Once an Eagle, Erich Maria Remar-que's All Quiet on tlte Westent Front, and even Sam Fuller's llte Big Red One provide numerous portrayals of leadership dilemmas common to the experience of junior leaders. Take for example, the insightful message on human adaptation to military lie and to war revealed by one of James Jones' characters in 7Ie niirt Red Line: Doll had learned sontetliirtg during the past si. rirorttlts of lqe. Chiefly what lie had learned was that everyone lived by a selection fictioii. Nobody was really what lie pretended to be. It was as if eveybody made iip a fiction story aboiit ItiitiselJ arid then lie just pretended to eveyoite that that was what lie was arid everybody believed hint, or at least accepted Itis fiction stay (p. 13) Dealing successfully with such "fic-tions," or self-presentations to use the current psychological term, is apart of every leader's reality. And what of the impact of failure, of defeat, on soldiers? Jones' stark description of an exchange between a senior officer and a soldier whose unit had just been severely bloodied in an unsuccessful assault is a terrific catalyst for discussion of combat motivation. Walking among the soldiers, the general says: "We're not goitrta let tltese Japs whip lis, are we boys? Hiilt? But they're riot as toiigli as we are, are they?" One boy, young ertotiglt to be the general's son, if not his grandsoit, looked tip at him from where he sat w*th distended eyes. "General, yoti go out there! Yori go out there, General, you go oiit there!" llte General smiled at ltirn, pityingly, and walked on. The boy did riot even look afier hint.

Another of Jones' soldiers voices the very foundation of cohesion: lltere was, for Band, a ntysterioiis qiali9 of deepest, ritost!y ritaii<v friendship wlticli coiild aist betweeit inen who shared the pain arid death, the fear arid tlte sadness of coritbat -arid tlie happiness too. For there was happiness. Happiness in doing your best, happiness irt fighting by tlie side of yoiirjiiend.

Building Cohesion For me, there are few more graphic portrayals of the value of personal example and risk-taking in the building of esprit de corps and cohesion than "Highpockets" Hux-ley, the battalion commander, in Leon Uris' Battle Cry, when he challenged his young marines to push themselves beyond their perceived physical limits on the last day of along forced march: We hit the road. Hiuley limped like a cripple. His body looked all oiit of proportion arid trembled with each step.... No, it was no show. He wds in trouble,.. Higlipockets is going to dmp.. A mile, another. We neared Otaki again... We piilled to a halt. We were finished and we knew it. We'd rrever make tlte last day. llte saturation point was past.

Savi Hzxley felt nothing in his long legs. He looked at Itis watch... His only order was to get tip the galley along tlie road quick ly... Suddenly, he sprang to his feet arid sltoiited, "Get your mess gear aitd line iip along tlie road for cltow, on tlte double!" We staggered tip to the highway to where the field kitchen was. Eight Itiiiidred aitd fifry meit... Hiixlqy kept looking at his watch... Tltert lie siitiled as tlte sowtd of motors was heard... Tnicks rolled down near tis. In tliem sat the nien of Pawnee Blue, the ntird Battalion was contirig back from Foxtort. On their asses! "Caiidy-assed Marines!" A roar went up fmnt 11s 011 tlie mad-side... TIte redfaced iiieit of the niird Battaliort held their tongues, asltariicd of their position... The tnicks mared out of sight. I felt wonde@il... Husky was startding oii top of a table, his liarids 011 his hips. "Well,' lie mared '!dial1 I call tlte

- _ -ARMOR - "How many have been led through the events of an actual battle by a participant or have been challenged to feel the emotions as well as to critique the tactics of a battle? Unfortunately, we don't do this in our busy Army." hicks iip for tis, or does the Second Battalion walk?" "rite hell with cltow!" A cheer went iip. And when we Itit tlte camp gate, Hixlq sltoiited over the din, "Let's show thein what tlte best oiitjit in tlte Cops looks like!" (p.346-7) Reading and Leading One of the real challenges of our time is that many leaders and soldiers don'tread, and if they do, they certainly don'tread the classics of military fiction.

Part of the responsibility rests with our professional development programs. Recent editions of the Department of the Army's Contemporary Military Reading List contain few novels and, although a number of listings would clearly make excellent material for junior leader professional development, the great novels are remarkable by their absence.

Although the professional ethics curriculum of the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) mandates the reading and written analysis of a military novel, autobiography, or historical narrative, and the Military Qualification System (MQS 11) program for lieutenants requires a similar effort, these tasks are viewed by many leaders as detours from the immediate tasks of day-to-day operations.

But such efforts harken back to an earlier time in our Army when an officer's duty was more clearly focused on preparing for command in war than on simply getting today's details done.

And what about our after-action reviews of training exercises? Do we ever consider the impact of fear on the performance of soldiers and leaders? Sure, fear of failure is present in training. We know that doing poorly will reflect on the evaluations of our fitness to lead, but what about the fear of dying or being maimed?

When done well, after-action reviews of training events are a tremendous cohesion builder and useful leadership development tool as well. But as a group, we warriors aren't too good at analyzing our own motivations and feelings in the presence of subordinates, and our fear of making or admitting mistakes often produces greater harm than the mistake itself.

More to the point, how many have been led through the events of an actual battle by a participant or have been challenged to feel the emotions as well as to critique the tactics of a battle? Unfortunately, we don't do this in our busy Army. Personal war stories are viewed as, well, a bit self-serving, even by the tellers. So what tools are left? Obviously, battle histories, particularly those written about small unit operations, and the military novel. Because few of us have written a war novel, we can use those that others have written without embarrassment. We can encourage each new generation of leaders who have not faced fire to walk point with Wilson, Gallagher, SSG Craft and LT Heam across Anopopei Island; rally defenders with Max Shapiro; measure the ethics of Sam Damon and Courtney Massengale.

We can challenge them to understand what makes soldiers go back up "The Dancing Elephant," walk the thirteenth valley, or assault a fortified farmhouse after a walk in the sun. We may even encourage them to read factual history and to compare the historian's view of war with the novelist's sensings of battle. We. don't need to write original case studies for our professional development classes - the professionals of imagery have done it for us. AU we have to do is read, encourage others to do likewise, and then take the time to talk about the human side of war.

T. "Woody" Caine, Ph. D., is a Regular Army Infantryman, who has spent much of his career in armored divisions. He is a graduate of the Armed Forces Staff College, Command and General Staff College, and the Army War College, and received his Masters and Doctoral degrees in Social Psychology and Organizational Behavior from the University of Florida. A former Inspector General, he is currently commanding the ROTC battalion at Vanderbilt University and has published articles in Parameters, Milltaw Review, m. and ARMOR.