Military Leaders in Developing Countries
The role of the military in any country is one of prestige. Unless having been through it personally, one could not imagine willingly subjecting oneself to the rigorous training received by so many young men and women today. The role played by the military is always to protect, defend, and assist its country in both war and peacetime, but in developing nations there are quite different roles as well. To be a leader in the armed forces, one must be strong both physically and mentally, as well as having a certain charisma, or skill with people. This is true because in order to lead, one must appeal to those he or she is leading. Not only does a developing country have armed forces for defense, but on occasion, the leaders of third world militaries use them for the overthrow of their own government. Currently serving as a soldier(reservist), I can identify with the saying, "spilling blood in the mud ," as we are trained, contracted, and sworn to do so on command, but if ever asked to help plan or execute an act against our government, I would be appalled.
This is exactly what several third world country military officers have done. Momar Quadaffi was a Lieutenant in the Libyan military and with the help of some other lower ranking officers, he successfully staged a revolution. Which is not at all bad because he is so popular he can drive around in his Volkswagen Convertible without any type of security but could you imagine Bill Clinton riding a bike down Pennsylvania Avenue without the secret service along for the ride ( I apologize if I have just created a bad mental image)? The point is, where on earth could a group of officers secretly join together and overthrow the government, oth...
... middle of paper ...
...itself. One could make several connections between Castro's military background and government.
In conclusion, there are many ideals and virtues that are instilled when one goes through formal military training, and these involve leadership, charisma, and a fair sense of judgment. All of these virtues can be shown in several developing nation's leaders as they themselves have gone through rigorous physical and mental training in order to help them better defend their country and its way of life. Though each leader may differ in terms of race, color, creed, or culture, their primary objective and ideologies are quite similar. While each leader has his or her country's best interest at heart when making policies and decisions that have long-standing ramifications, one can be assured that these leaders and their policies are based upon their firm military training.
Natural born leaders are almost nonexistent in today’s military. Military members have to complete numerous leadership classes as you progress through the military ranks whether you are an enlisted or as an officer. There are many attributes that people would have to possess to be considered a great leader. Some of those attributes include honesty, respect, trustworthy, and enthusiasm just to name a few. There have been many leaders I have worked with or for over my past 19 years in the Army. One of the most important one would have to be honesty. Honesty is important because if the people that work for you cannot believe what you tell them, they will never trust you or support you. Employees can make or break their supervisor. If they do not like or trust the manager they will not respect them and they will only do the least amount possible. When your employees believe that, you value their opinion and their work ethic. Like you and trust, you they will do anything you ask of them. Whether the decision is right or wrong it is a decision, a leader never want to leave their subordinat...
“Military leadership qualities are formed in a progressive and sequential series of carefully planned training, educational, and experiential events—far more time-consuming and expensive than similar training in industry or government. Secondly, military leaders tend to hold high levels of responsibility and authority at low levels of our organizations. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, military leadership is based on a concept of duty, service, and self-sacrifice; we take an oath to that effect.”
There are a variety of ways to define both leader and leadership. There is not, however, a clear definition of how to become one. There is no set list of mandatory traits, either innate or learned, that a person must embody to be considered successful or proved a failure. What I feel it takes is the right mix of strengths and weaknesses in a given situation to demonstrate effectiveness. No one person has abilities without accompanying deficiencies. It’s all in the way they are balanced. The balance in the way one uses his or hers’ abilities will ultimately determine the type of leadership one has throughout time. To support these claims I will examine a well-known leader throughout the military, General James “Mad Dog” Mattis. This essay will provide some insight into both his strengths and weaknesses while discussing some personality traits he is said to possess.
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” (BAM, 2010, p.20) These words were first written down over 2,400 years ago by a Chinese general named Sun Tzu in his famous military strategy treatise known today as The Art of War. These words, in fact the entire book, are just as valid today as they were during Sun Tzu’s lifetime. He was one of the first truly visionary and ethical military leaders in the world. Despite the fact that there is not much known about Sun Tzu today other than his writings, in this essay, I intend to extract his essence from his treatise to prove he was a visionary leader. I will then continue to prove he was also an ethical leader. Finally, I will finish by detailing how his seminal work has inspired me to self-reflect on how I can be a better visionary and ethical leader in the 21st Century Air Force. So, what exactly is a ‘visionary’ leader?
Military Leadership is always an important factor in wars. Good commanders will accomplish the goals of their side while inferior generals will only hinder performance and fail their leader. However, not all great generals are victorious. Victories depend heavily on the availability of resources. Leadership does not relate to the supplies one has to draw from, but instead the personal traits of the man himself. General Robert E. Lee is a prime example of an excellent general whose brilliance was impeded by the Confederate’s lack of resources. General Ulysses S. Grant’s genius is rebuffed when compared to that of Lee’s.
Well, what are the standards of a U.S. military officer? I mean, what characteristics must a person posses in order to reach the level of Colin Powell? I am certain that there are more than a few characteristics one must exhibit in order to become an officer in the U.S. military (not just anyone can be an officer, you know), but the three that I find the most essential are: a person must be able to think rationally in the time of a crisis; a person must display determination and confidence when confronting a crisis; a person must keep in mind those who depend on the decisions he or she is making. If someone possesses these three abilities, I think the person can be considered a good leader.
...ented by decision-makers in crises. First, every group meeting should have a designated devil's advocate, who will point out potential risks. Second, special care should be taken so that no one agency or coalition of experts can monopolize the flow of incoming information. Janet Reno, by allowing the FBI to monopolize the information coming to her, made it almost inevitable that she would eventually do what the FBI wanted. Finally, the virtues which make the military such an effective international killing force--such as uniformity, obedience, and group cohesion--make it especially susceptible to groupthink. For this reason, the military should have no participation in law enforcement; quasi-military units such as the FBI's HRT and the BATF SRT should be thoroughly demilitarized, and should play, at most, a very subordinate role in law-enforcement decision-making.
John F. Kennedy once famously said, “Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.” It has been said a few decades ago but the theme of war is relevant at all times. One might share Kennedy’s point of view, when another one not. The most obvious example of different views and approaches on how to deal with conflicts are of the Western and Eastern civilizations. The Western is focused on physical aggressiveness and getting things done through power and coercion, while the Eastern approach is more philosophical, rational, and strategic. We see such method of approach in Sun Tzu’s military treatise, “The Art of War.” Even though he wrote a manual on how to defeat an enemy, Sun Tzu emphasized that a large portion of success is based on the army’s moral duty, which is cultivated by incentives, leaders’ examples, and the ability to listen to their soldiers.
Adaptive leadership is becoming widespread in the United States Army amongst junior officers in leadership positions that require quick thinking and innovation. Leonard Wong discusses how the versatile and unpredictable enemy and situations in Iraq produces adaptable junior officers. These officers are learning to make decisions under chaotic conditions and are becoming more mentally agile. The Army is changing. The Army is transforming its capabilities in the war in Iraq to be effective and successful. General Schoomaker states that we will not accomplish our goals as a nation in the 21st century unless our Army becomes much more agile but with the capacity for long term, sustained level of conflict. The Army is in the process of eliminating its old ways of war, it has to become somewhat of a decathlete. Trained for multiple events across a broad spectrum not just one event like a track athlete.
In a recent verbal bout with my History of the Military Art professor, I contended that the true might of a nation may be inversely proportional to the size of its military during peacetime. My thinking, though perhaps idealistic, was that the maintenance of a large military during relative international tranquility is an overt admission of weakness and increases the likelihood of unnecessarily employing that force—it is contextually irrelevant. Instead, I proposed that a strong and stable economy is the best metric of national prowess, for such an economy can resource many opportunities as they arise. On the contrary, a robust standing military has a much narrower utility. To be sure, this author is not one that intentionally seeks to take an interdisciplinary approach to academia, but the connection seems relevant given the nature of this assignment. Whereas a nation may accomplish a strategic goal through military force, a leader may accomplish a task relying upon coercive power; whereas a nation may transform and develop the world through its economic strength and versatility, a versatile leader may transform others through the employment of one or many leader development principles—both theoretically based and experientially acquired. This piece serves to describe acquired PL499 course concepts and their relevance to my project team and the West Point Leader Development System (WPLDS). Only through a...
The current military system is based on obedience and respect for authority. From entering boot camp where personnel are mentally reconditioned to be a soldier, airman, or sailor in the United States Armed Forces, they’re taught that following orders comes before personal feelings or beliefs. Following orders is paramount to accomplishing a mission and ensuring that the job is done correctly, and that what you think or feel isn’t worth shari...
The Army spends a great deal of time making followers into leaders and leaders into followers by utilizing several levels of training throughout their military career. This training allows a Soldier to perfect the knowledge and skills required to be an effective leader in every aspect of their job. ...
“A prince, therefore, must not…take anything as his profession but war…” these are the words of Nicollo Machiavelli and which he exclaims very clearly in his philosophies, that a good ruler must be great at the art war to succeed. One of the ways M shows his outlook on war, is by explaining how important it is to bear arms at all times and to never be without a weapon, for weapons are the tools of war and if used correctly and intelligently you will prevail over all during times of war. Secondly, M explains that a necessary induced order, unity, and fealty to the leader of a nation by projected and incited fear of that leader or leadership is the only way a leader can be looked can be respected by his own military. Moreover, with the respect of that military, a leader must have a good knowing of his home terrain in order to plan both offensive and defensive actions, and also to know history of great past leaders bouts with other countries, for this knowledge gai...
Current military leadership should comprehend the nature of war in which they are engaged within a given political frame in order to develop plans that are coherent with the desired political end state. According to Clausewitz, war is an act of politics that forces an enemy to comply with certain conditions or to destroy him through the use of violence. A nation determines its vital interests, which drives national strategy to obtain or protect those interests. A country achieves those goals though the execution of one of the four elements of power, which are diplomatic, informational, military and economical means. The use of military force...
In this essay we will be introduced to a leader who holds a high place of authority in the military and gain some personal insight on leadership and management. Then will look at this writer’s own personality traits and what leadership model the personality traits best match. Then look at the tenets of motivation and how this writer’s personality suites these tenets. Also look at the relationship between effective communication and motivation. Then finally we will look at some thoughts of what it takes to be an effective employee, successful manager, and an exemplary citizen.