Analysis Of Sergeant Alvin York

“Leaders are made, they are not born.” Through the turbulence of the first World War, many leaders rose from the ranks of average citizens. One Medal of Honor Recipient exemplifies this quote to its fullest. Sergeant Alvin York and he experienced numerous leadership challenges throughout his military career. This analysis evaluates the techniques used by himself or others to handle his issues with discipline, the Army Values, and ability to lead others.

Prior to Alvin York’s induction into the United States Army, he lived a hedonistic lifestyle that took only himself into consideration. An example of this occurred during the beginning of the movie, where him and his friends disturbed an ongoing church session by yelling and shooting

It stems from an individual’s values and beliefs. To mitigate someone’s absence of self-discipline, they need a strong base of values and beliefs to use as reference. In the movie, Alvin York found religion and began attending church. Thus, the values and beliefs of his religion formed the foundation of his decision making. He transformed himself from a man who acted on emotion and turned to alcohol, to someone who puts thought into his actions and their consequences. Unfortunately for Alvin York, these religious beliefs caused him trouble during his time in the United States Army. At the time, Alvin York designated himself as a conscientious objector. He believed that, because war involved killing and the bible prohibits killing, then the bible prevents him from going to war. Regardless of his reasoning, Alvin York became Private York after the United States Army drafted him. Private York’s status as a conscientious objector created a myriad of leadership problems for his superiors, hence it became the second leadership problem that he

This produced distrust between himself and his leadership. But, Private York quickly blew away this doubt with his spectacular accuracy with a rifle. Due to his performance, Major Buxton wanted to promote Private York to Corporal. Yet he declined, since his belief in conscientious objection. Major Buxton understood this predicament and skillfully found the solution. He worked with Private York to find out what will help him figure things out on his own. This technique of mentoring worked well, because Major Buxton guided Private York towards the Army Value of selfless service and allowed him to think about the situation. Major Buxton gave Private York time without an ultimatum, which made Private York’s resolution even stronger. On October 8, 1918, the second week of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, Corporal York performed a feat of extreme heroism. Under the command of Sergeant Early, Corporal York and several other soldiers flanked around the German defenses to calm the machine gun nests. Regrettably, the plan fell through and left Corporal York as the last Non-Commissioned Officer in charge. With his fellow soldiers pinned down under machine gun fire, Corporal York faced his third leadership challenge in the