A Comparison Of Leadership In Kelly's Heroes And The Dirty Dozen

This paper will provide a comparison of leadership principles and concepts between the movies “Kelly’s Heroes” and “The Dirty Dozen.” Kelly’s Heroes is about a group of worn out infantry Soldiers that voluntarily put themselves back into the line of combat to liberate a fortune of 14,000 gold bars from behind the German lines. The commanding officer, CPT Maitland, is inattentive and privileged due to being the commanding general’s nephew. The two key non-commissioned offices, Big Joe and SGT Kelly, have to keep their Soldiers alive. The leadership of Big Joe (MSG) is put in question because SGT Kelly stumbles upon an officer in charge of transporting 14,000 gold bars behind the German lines. Kelly, behind Big Joe’s back, convinces the

I selected The Dirty Dozen because I found them on the same DVD and they are both great examples of the challenges of leadership. MAJ Reisman must take a group of criminals and make them Soldier’s again. This is extremely difficult because they do not trust each other, they do not trust Reisman, and some of them are looking for the first opportunity to escape. This is an extreme case in leadership because he has to get a dozen convicted Soldiers, many facing the death penalty, to work together as a

MAJ Reisman, with the help of his MP SGT Bowren, works to get the men into shape and act as a team. One method he uses is that if one of the ex-prisoners escapes, he will hold all the others accountable and return them to their cell and sentences. The team runs afoul of an arrogant airborne brigade commander, COL Breed, who uses his Soldiers to break into the dozen’s training compound. Without Reisman around, they are lined up and questioned, but they refuse to answer any questions. This is one of the first examples of unity that they show; where they refuse to answer the COL’s questions. MAJ Reisman arrives to sneak into camp and pull his weapon on the COL; this allows the dozen to disarm the COL’s men and get some revenge hits on the airborne Soldiers. This is also the first signs of respect they show the MAJ. COL Breed reported his side of what happened up the chain of command; from this, the generals were ready to dissolve the unit and return them to prison. MAJ Reisman, suggested that they prove their validity as a non-conventional force in an upcoming battle exercise. Using cunning and deceptive tactics, they are able to capture COL Breed without direct actions against his elite airborne units. This is an example that Reisman used unconventional tactics that his men felt appropriate to their former status as prisoners; this