> The best military leaders I’ve known never ate or slept until they’d first seen to the needs of their soldiers. Never. Got that? NEVER.
The list of “the best military leaders” Joe Galloway would know is impressive indeed: it includes Gen. Hal Moore, S-Maj Basil Plumley and the late Rick Rescorla (all heroes of Ia Drang). Galloway therefore writes with some considerable authority, and the Army should take immediate steps to pay careful attention.
Somewhere along the line, an inversion occurred amongst the top brass's outlook that, IMHO is the root of these types of problems. At one time, "leadership," was the foremost quality sought amongst the officer class. Pre-commissionees, whether Academy, OCS or ROTC were all inculcated with the desire to lead effectively...with "management" being but one of many qualities necessary to lead. It seems that during my 10 years of active commissioned service, "Management" became the primary sought after trait, with, "leadership" being just another quality in the long list of traits of a "manager."
When viewed in this context, it's not really hard to see how the barracks of America's premier combat division can fall into such disrepair. I'm sure at some point, cleaning them up was not considered, "cost-effective."