.......
On the 25th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, Gen. Moore returned to his alma mater at the invitation of the Department of History to address the Corps of Cadets on battlefield leadership during the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley. Following a brief narration of the battle, Moore got to the main purpose of his visit: the preparation of American soldiers for combat. Cadet time is carefully regimented, but 200 of the 1,000 cadets remained one hour beyond the scheduled lecture to hear the old warrior’s remarks. For an additional hour, Moore captivated his audience, dividing his comments between a leader’s preparations for battlefield leadership and his own philosophy on the conduct of a leader in battle.
In preparing America’s sons and daughters for combat, Gen. Moore directed the cadets to read military history, particularly small unit actions. The personality of a big battle is often formed by a small unit action. During the Ia Drang Battle, for example, much of Moore’s efforts were directed at rescuing an isolated platoon of one of his companies. In addition to Steven Pressfield’s Gates of Fire, Moore cited Stephen E. Ambrose’s Band of Brothers and Ian Knight’s books on the defense of Rorke’s Drift during the Zulu Wars of 1879. Both books have appeared on the Army Chief of Staff’s recommended reading list.
Second, Moore urged cadets to visit historic battlefields with maps, books and narratives from actual participants to understand the intricacies of battles and campaigns. The staff ride concept was pioneered by Capt. Arthur L. Wagner at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., at the turn of the 20th century and emerged as a vital component of officer professional development for more than a hundred years. Today most commanders incorporate some aspect of the staff ride in their training to enhance unit morale and to determine how and why key leaders made their decisions under hazardous conditions. Moore himself recently returned from the Normandy battlefields where he contemplated the decisions by the senior Allied commanders.
Next Moore stressed the necessity of installing the will to win in one’s command. He was adamant that commanders should not place any second place trophies in the unit. "Focus on winning, being first," and the soldiers will respond more rapidly. His remarks were reminiscent of former Green Bay Packer coach Vince Lombardi who demanded a commitment to excellence and victory above all else. To Lombardi the greatest joy in life was to give one’s last ounce of strength and to lie exhausted in victory.
Fourth, Moore concentrated on building unit discipline and teamwork. When he commanded Fort Ord in 1971, Moore instituted bayonet and pugil stick training, hand-to-hand combat training, confidence and close combat courses, field marches and rappelling to improve morale and prepare his soldiers for combat. Such combat-enhancing courses resulted in a "family of warriors," much the same as his 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry in the Ia Drang Valley. Only by installing "layer after layer after layer of personal discipline on one’s troops" will units "stand tall, hang in, and stay alive when the going gets tough."
Fifth, Moore urged the cadets to prepare their commands for their own death and that of their subordinate leaders. Squad leaders must be ready to assume command of a platoon and a company.
To illustrate his point, Moore remembered on the first day of the Ia Drang fight, one of Bravo Company’s platoons lost every officer and noncommissioned officer save one. Faced with overwhelming pressure from the North Vietnamese Army, Sgt. Ernie Savage, the fourth man to inherit Lt. Henry Herrick’s Lost Platoon, called indirect fire upon his own position. His action saved the remainder of the platoon, which had suffered nine dead and 13 wounded in the first 90 minutes of combat.
Not only must platoon leaders train squad and fire team leaders to adjust artillery and mortar fire, but leaders at all levels must prepare for wounded men yelling for "Medic" or "Mom." In battle, leaders must divorce themselves from the sounds of combat and concentrate on making clear, logical decisions.
Gen. Moore concluded his comments on preparation for battlefield leadership by reminding the cadets that mission accomplishment comes first, then care of their soldiers. The easiest part is responding to the soldiers’ personal needs -- food, water, mail and information on what is going on. The more important steps are developing stressful realistic training, rigorous physical conditioning and "stern, fair and square discipline."
With respect to his own battalion, Moore’s pre-combat training inculcated the Spartan qualities of self-denial, discipline and sacrifice into the troopers who deployed to Vietnam in 1965.
So important was the work of Crandall and his helicopter crews that Hal Moore (then a Lt. Col. and now a retired Lt. General) wrote a personal letter thanking Crandall for his heroism during Ia Drang. "We on that field would have gone down" without the "extraordinarily heroic effort" of Crandall and his men.
Treated right, Moore said, the least PFC is capable of acts of valor and sacrifice that are breathtaking. One only has to return to the Ia Drang to confirm Moore’s theory. Two cavalry troopers, Russell Adams and Bill Beck, manned an M-60 machine gun and with another crew, they protected Alpha Company’s left flank during the opening stages of the battle. When Adams suffered a debilitating wound, it fell to assistant gunner Beck to maintain a withering fire on the enemy, now within 30 yards of his position. Moore later recalled that when Spc. 4 Beck’s company and his country needed him most, Beck rose to the occasion and answered the call.
Gen. Moore summarized his remarks on battlefield preparation by reminding the cadets to "live each of your troop duty days to the fullest." No one ever wrote a book about the joy and delights of being a staff officer, stated Moore, so "spend time with your soldiers. Talk with them. Never ever abuse them by act of omission. They are the secret to successful command on or off the battlefield." Again his words are reminiscent of the Spartan warrior who described his king Leonidas as a monarch "who did not command his men’s loyalty through fear nor purchase it with gold, rather he earned their respect by the sweat of his own back and the pains he endured for their sake."
............
Turning his attention to conduct in battle, Moore next outlined four basic principles to govern ground combat. First, "Three strikes and you are not out!" A commander has two alternatives in battle. He can either contaminate his environment and his unit with his attitude and actions, or inspire confidence. To inspire confidence a leader must be visible on the battlefield and must be in the battle. Moore cautioned cadets to possess and display the will to win by one’s actions, one’s words, one’s tone of voice on the radio, and face to face.
Lt Col Hal Moore at the Battalion command post in LZ Xray on 15 Nov 65.
Moreover, a commander must display quiet confidence and display no fear, ignoring "the noise, dust, smoke, thirst, explosions, screams of wounded, the yells, the dead lying around him." Such chaos is normal in battle, not the exception. Battle by its nature is chaotic. Good commanders strive to make battle organized chaos, rather than disorganized carnage. In Ia Drang, Moore’s lead helicopter pilot, Maj. Bruce Crandall, remembered Moore as "always making the right decision, always fully aware of the situation."
Second, "There’s always one more thing you can do to influence any situation in your favor -- and after that one more thing -- and after that one more thing." Taking a few seconds to separate one’s self mentally from the battle, Moore repeatedly asked himself, "What am I doing that I should not be doing? And what am I not doing that I should be doing to influence the situation in my favor?" These quiet seconds of reflection allowed Moore to enter a "zone" in which opportunities rapidly crystallized. By refusing to surrender the tactical initiative to the enemy, Moore dictated the course of the battle to the best of his ability, directing arriving units to the most dangerous portions of the battlefield, often minutes before the enemy attacked.
The third principle is "When there’s nothing wrong, there is nothing wrong except there’s nothing wrong!" That was exactly when a leader must be most alert. On the morning of the battle’s second day, Moore noticed that things were too quiet, not even the birds were singing. Something in his gut told him that something was wrong, so he directed each company to send out patrols. Within minutes these patrols intercepted the enemy as the NVA moved into position to assault Moore’s beleaguered troopers. The Americans repelled the attack, inflicting massive casualties on the enemy.
Last, Moore urged the cadets to trust their instincts. In a rapidly developing battle, one’s instincts amount to an instant estimate of the situation. There is no time to conduct a detailed commander’s estimate by the book and to make a matrix of alternative courses of action. An officer’s instincts are the product of education, training, reading, personality and experience according to Moore. Leaders must act fast and impart confidence. Don’t second guess decisions. Face up to the facts, deal with them and move on to the next situation. In the Ia Drang’s opening minutes, Moore’s instincts told him that the enemy commander was likely to strike on his left flank, heading for the clearing that marked the landing zone. As soon as Moore’s Charlie Company arrived on the landing zone, he directed them to take position on Alpha Company’s left, taking the risk of leaving his own rear unguarded from the north and east. They arrived just as the NVA launched an attack.
PFC Ira Rolston uses the bugle captured during the Battle of the Ia Drang to signal Co. B, 1st Plt., to move toward a valley objective, Feb. 1966.
Moore concluded his remarks by stressing the bond that exists between a commander and his soldiers. When one cadet inquired about the feeling of comrades in arm, Moore’s eyes welled with tears and he said, "When your men die and you don’t, you feel guilty. That’s all I can say about it." Today 37 years after the Battle in the Ia Drang Valley, Moore makes annual pilgrimages to the cemetery at Fort Benning, Ga., where several of his troopers are interred, and to the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial in Washington, D.C. In the wake of the tragedy of September 11, the old commander, now in his 80th year, paid his respects to Rick Rescorla, a former lieutenant who died in the destruction of the World Trade Center.
How was Moore received by West Point’s Corps of Cadets? A random sample of unedited comments tells the story. "The most important part of Gen. Moore’s lecture was the advice on how people should lead," noted one cadet. Another said, "The single most noteworthy accomplishment was being able to keep his cool and composure while on the verge of being overrun. ... He inspired me to always remain optimistic, even when things look bad." Yet another remarked, "I was hanging on every word. It was the best lecture I have ever heard at West Point. ... I would have stayed and listened to him all night if that were possible."
COMPANY B SWEEPING FORWARD OF THE BATTALION PERIMETER
Perhaps the most touching comment came from a first class cadet who said Moore’s presentation was the "best, most down-to-earth lecture I have ever experienced. It made me feel proud becoming an officer and entering into the Army as a profession. His words are inspirational and his experiences are a model of admiration. I wish I would have gone Infantry."
How many other cadets Moore inspired to select Infantry as a branch is speculative, but the general consensus that April evening was that listening to Hal Moore made these cadets better future commanders. Listening to Moore could make one a better officer and possibly a better person.
One final observation. In the audience the night Moore addressed the Corps was New York Times reporter John Kifver, who asked Moore if his comments were on the record. "All my comments are for the record," Moore replied, "Feel free to publish anything you desire." In the subsequent column that graced the front page of the Times, Kifver described Moore as a "courtly old warrior."
In the final analysis, Moore typifies the finest attributes of the U.S. Army’s officer corps and West Point’s motto of "Duty, Honor, Country."
His mantra for years has been and continues to be "hate war, love the American warrior." As heroic and inspirational as his battlefield leadership was in countless battles in two foreign wars, however, Moore’s greatest legacy remains the preparation of future officers to lead America’s finest soldiers into battle. That is why he is cherished by officers and soldiers alike.
Additional Sources: www.cav57.org
www.jbs.org
www.army.mil
www.cantho-rvn.org
www.lzxray.com
www.vva.org
www.heritagestudio.com
The FReeper Foxhole Profiles Lt. Col. Harold G.(Hal) Moore - Sep. 6th, 2003
On This Day In History
Birthdates which occurred on October 22:
1689 Johan V king of Portugal
1810 Henry Bohlen Brig General (Union volunteers), died in 1862
1811 Franz Liszt Raiding, Hungary, romantic composer/virtuoso pianist
1845 Sarah Bernhardt France, silent film actress (Camille, Queen Elizabeth)
1880 Joe Carr Ohio, NFL hall of famer/NFL president (1921-39)
1885 Giovanni Martinelli Montagnana Italy, opera singer (NY Met)
1887 John Reed journalist who reported on Mexican, Russian revolutions
1896 Charles Glenn King biochemist (discovered vitamin C)
1905 Karl Jansky discovered cosmic radio emissions in 1932
1907 Jimmie Foxx baseball HR hitter (Detroit Tigers)
1917 Joan Fontaine Tokyo Japan, actress (Gunga Din, Ivanhoe, Rebecca)
1919 Doris Lessing novelist (Golden Notebook)
1920 Mitzi Green NYC, actress (Little Orphan Annie, So This is Hollywood)
1920 Timothy Leary Harvard prof, LSD taker
1922 John Chafee (Sen-R-RI)
1933 Donald H Peterson Winona Mississippi, Col USAF/astronaut (STS 6)
1934 Donald McIntyre Auckland NZ, Bass-Baritone (Wotan-Das Rheingold)
1935 Judy Devlin Hashman 10 time badminton champ (1957-67)
1938 Christopher Lloyd Stamford Ct, actor (Taxi, Back to the Future)
1938 Derek Jacobi London England, actor ("I, Claudius")
1942 Annette Funicello Utica NY, actress (Mickey Mouse Club)
1943 Catherine Deneuve [Dorleac], Paris, actress (Repulsion, Hunger)
1943 Paul Zukofsky Brooklyn NY, violinist (Cappricio)
1945 Leslie West [Weinstein] rocker (Mountain-Mississippi Queen)
1947 Lee Meredith [Judith Lee Sauls], River Edge NJ, actress (Producers)
1948 John Peterson US, Middleweight (Olympic-gold-1976)
1952 Jeff Goldblum Pitts Pa, actor (The Fly, Thank God it's Friday)
1952 Patti Davis aka Patricia Ann Reagan, 1st daughter (House of Secrets)
1961 Barbara Potter Ct, tennis player (changed shirt on Wimbledon Court)
1961 Leonard Marshall NFL defensive end (NY Giants)
1963 Brian Boitano US, figure skater (Olympic-gold-1988)
Deaths which occurred on October 22:
0741 Charles (the Hammer) Martel, ruler of the Franks, dies at 63
1383 Ferdinand I the wise, king of Portugal, dies
1725 Pietro Alessandro Gaspare Scarlotti composer, dies at 65
1906 Paul Cezanne, French painter, dies at 67
1932 Anna Dickinson dies just a week shy of her 90th birthday
1934 Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd shot dead by FBI in Ohio
1965 Paul Tillich German/US Theologist (Courage To Be), dies
1975 Arnold Toynbee, English historian/cultural sociologist, dies at 86
1979 Jesse Bishop murderer, dies in Nevada gas chamber
1984 Napoleon Whiting actor (Silas-Big Valley), dies at 75
1992 Red Barber, sportscaster (Dodgers, Yankees), dies at 84
1994 Harold Horace Hopkins, inventor (Endoscope), dies at 75
Reported: MISSING in ACTION
1964 TOWERY HERMAN---FT BRAGG NC.
[REMAINS RECOVERED ID 10/27/64]
1965 CHERRY FRED V.---SUFFOLK VA.
[02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE IN 98]
1965 MANN ROBERT LEE---LAFAYETTE IN.
[FIREBALL NO RADIO CONTACT]
1965 MC EWEN JAMES ARTHUR---WASHINGTON PA.
[FIREBALL NO RADIO CONTACT]
1965 WEGER JOHN JR.---SAN FERNANDO CA.
[FIREBALL NO RADIO CONTACT]
1966 HARRIS HAROLD L.---DURHAM NC.
1966 KLENERT WILLIAM BLUE---BELLMORE NY.
[03/18/77 SRV RETURNED REMAINS TO PCOM]
1966 KOLSTAD THOMAS CARL---PARKVILLE MN.
[03/18/77 SRV RETURNED REMAINS TO PCOM]
1966 MC BRIDE EARL PAUL---VOLANT PA.
1967 DOOLEY JAMES E.---MANCHESTER CENTER VT.
1971 GARRETT MAURICE E. JR.---MERCER PA.
POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.
On this day...
4004 BC Universe created at 8:00 PM, according to the Anglican archbishop James Ussher 1650
1746 Princeton University (NJ) received its charter
1819 1st ship sails by Erie-channel (Rome-Utica)
1824 The Tennessee Legislature adjourns ending Davy Crockett's state political career
1836 Sam Houston inaugurated as 1st elected pres of Republic of Texas
1861 1st telegraph line linking West & East coasts completed
1862 Union troops push 5,000 confederates out of Maysbille, Ark., at the Second Battle of Pea Ridge
1862 Confederate troops reconquer Cumberland Gap, Tennessee
1875 Sons of the American Revolution organized
1883 1st NY Horse Show held (Madison Sq Garden)
1883 Original Metropolitan Opera House (NYC) grand opening (Faust)
1906 3000 blacks demonstrate & riot in Phila
1918 The cities of Baltimore and Washington run out of coffins during the "Spanish Inflenza" epidemic.
1922 Parsifal Place laid out in Bronx, named for knight in Wagner's Opera
1928 Pres Hoover speaks of "American system of rugged individualism"
1936 1st commercial flight from mainland to Hawaii
1938 Chester Carlson invents the photocopier. He tries to sell the machine to IBM, RCA, Kodak and others, but they see no use for a gadget that makes nothing but copies.
1939 1st TV NFL game-Eagles vs Dodgers
1948 Egyptian flagship King Farouk sunk by Israel
1949 200 killed in train derailment near Nowy Dwor Poland
1950 LA Rams beat Baltimore Colts 70-27
1953 Laos gains full independence from France
1954 West Germany joins North Atlantic Treaty Organization
1955 The prototype of the F-105 Thunder Chief makes its maiden flight
1962 JFK imposes naval blockade on Cuba, beginning missile crisis
1964 EMI rejects audition by "High Numbers," they go on to become The Who
1963 225,000 students boycott Chicago schools in Freedom Day protest
1964 Jean Paul Satre declines the Nobel Prize for Literature.
1966 USSR launches Luna 12 for orbit around Moon
1968 Apollo 7 returns to Earth
1969 KAPN-AM in Santa Barbara CA changes call letters to KDB-AM
1972 Oakland A's 1st championship; beat Reds, 4 games to 3 in 69th World Series
1972 Operation Linebacker I, the bombing of North Vietnam with B-52 bombers, ends.
1973 Security Council Resolution 338-cease fire to the Yom Kippur War
1974 Yanks trade Bobby Murcer to Giants for Bobby Bonds
1975 Cin Reds beat Boston Red Sox, 4 games to 3 in 72nd World Series
1975 Soviet spacecraft Venera 9 soft-lands on Venus
1975 World Football League disbands
1976 Rick Barry (SF), begins then longest NBA free throw streak of 60
1977 International Sun-Earth Explorers 1 & 2 launched into Earth orbit
1978 Laugh-in's Judy Carne arrested at Gatwick Airport for drug possession
1979 Deposed Shah of Iran arrives in NY for medical treatment
1979 Walt Disney World's 100-millionth guest
1980 New South Korean constitution comes into effect
1981 Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization decertified
1981 US national debt tops $1 trillion
1984 NFL quarterback Ken Stabler retires
1984 Paul McCartney releases "Give My Regards to Broad Street" soundtrack
1988 Supreme Ct Justice Sandra Day O'Connor OK after breast cancer surgery
1991 General Motors announces 9 month loss of $2.2 billion
1994 Statue of Sam Houston unveiled in Texas
2001 The Pentagon announced nearly 200 U.S. jets struck Taliban and al-Quaida communications facilities, barracks and training camps (Can Osama come out and play?)
Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
India, Mauritius, Singapore : Deepavali Day
Japan : Jidai Matsuri/Festival of the Eras (1895)
Puerto Rico : Veterans Day
Vatican City : National Day
US : Francis E Willard Day-temperance day
National Forrest Products Week (Day 4)
National Copycat Day
National Pharmacy Week (Day 4)
Country Music Month
National Sarcastics' Awareness Month
Religious Observances
Christ : SS Philip, bishop of Heraclea, & his companions, martyrs
RC : Commemoration of St Theodoret, priest/martyr
Religious History
0451 During the Fifth Session of the Council of Chalcedon, the final form of the Chalcedonian Creed was drafted. It became the Early Church's highest and most enduring "definition" of the person and work of Jesus Christ.
1844 The "Great Disappointment" began when this latest date, set for the return of Christ by religious leader William Miller, passed without event. Over 100,000 disillusioned followers returned to their former churches, or abandoned the Christian faith altogether.
1899 American Presbyterian missionary James B. Rodgers, 34, baptized his first Filipino converts to the Christian faith, thus inaugurating the beginning of Philippine Protestant churches.
1952 The complete Jewish Torah was published in English for the first time. A collection of oral and written commentary (dating 200 BC to AD 500) on the first five books of the Old Testament, the Torah comprises the basic religious code of Judaism.
1966 Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth declared in a letter: 'God makes no mistakes.'
Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Thought for the day :
"He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe is as good as dead; his eyes are closed."
Childrens Impression of Love...
CONCERNING WHY LOVE HAPPENS BETWEEN TWO PARTICULAR PEOPLE
"No one is sure why it happens, but I heard it has something to do with how you smell. That's why perfume and deodorant are so popular." (Jan, 9)
"I think you're supposed to get shot with an arrow or something, but the rest of it isn't supposed to be so painful." (Harlen, 8)
Signs Your Cat is Overweight...
Fifteen month gestation period, and still no kittens.
Handy Latin Phrases...
Noli me vocate, ego te vocabo.
Don't call me, I'll call you.
Things you would like to say at work, but won't...
You are validating my inherent mistrust of strangers.