Why do some military leaders shout and bully to get their way?

B

British Army Veteran

New member
Wouldn't it be a better idea to win the respect of your men instead of expecting it? Something that always occurred to me whilst as a soldier, i mean i used to hate the way some of them expected us to bow down, whats up with that bad leadership skills? I mean i can react to orders and don't have a problem with it but some of these guys used to walk around like they were god, some even used to say "I am god to you", i can think of 2 nco's in my time who i respected, the rest were just buffoons, why is this? Surely there is a better way to motivate people isn't there?
ignant, a soldier who can't think is a liability, battlefield casualties put privates into sargents places, what then, obey orders? who from?
ignant, how can a soldier think if he is so accustomed to doing what he is told without question?
 
They aren't there to earn your respect, nor is it required for the soldier to do his duty. The idea is to have the men under him do as he says when he says it without question. When thought enters into it in a combat situation, then lives can be lost through hesitation, even if that hesitation is but momentary. This is why they breakdown the recruits in this manner, so that they will simply react to to what they are being told and nothing else.

It is the recruit who has the ego problem if they think their feelings should come above all else. Even if you believe you would have been able to react accordingly to orders issued you, you aren't the only one there. They don't have time to pull out the ones who might be like this and work one on one with them in a manner more suiting to their egos. They are working with masses of soldiers and they need to treat them as such, and so their methods to handle them need to be generalized and suited for this.

Quit misreading what is written. Of course a soldier thinks, but they are being trained to think in a specific manner as an instinct to situations they will encounter, and to do so without hesitation. So they react and pull from their training more readily in the situations they will encounter instead of having other things like "their feelings" mucking up their thoughts at the time.

Did you ever make it past the rank of Private? Every soldier is given training, so their thoughts when given an order or caught in a situation without someone to give further instruction should be to respond accordingly, and not to allow other garbage to enter into it, or so that is the idea. And consider again that at this stage they are being readied as a group for generalized situations. and so the dynamics of training them need to be addressed in this manner. As this changes throughout their service, then so do the methods employed to handle the soldiers.
 
In theory, the reason for this is "its not about respect, its about staying alive"

I didn't understand your ? at 1steven though I am a VET, I was never in a position of Combat. When my husband read the ? he explained it to me.

A thinking Marine is great, although during a Combat situation you obey or come home in a body bag.
 
You are right brother.
Unthinking soldiers are stupid. Ask the Germans about that.
Unfortunately if you read the politics section America is becoming binary in it's political thought.
The right does act somewhat fascist and the left is starting to act communist. They even delete each others answers and questions instead of raising better arguments. I am concerned that democracy is dying. Militaries reflect the society that produced them
 
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