The Impact Of Visionary Leadership In 'We Were Soldiers'?

1129 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Importance of discipline in the military

Imagine being in a battle where you were outnumbered 4 to 1, a platoon cut off and surrounded, all the leadership in that platoon killed and your landing zone was just overrun. For many battlefield commanders it is the worst scenario possible. Most would deem the situation unwinnable. However, Hal Moore believe in a no win situation. Furthermore, through applying visionary leadership traits his unit won the engagement (Moore, 2015). The name Hal Moore is well recognized due to the popular movie “We Were Soldiers”. The story captures the true events of the 1965 battle of Ia Drang valley in Vietnam between the 7th Calvary and North Vietnamese Army. In that 4 day battle Hal Moore exemplified himself as a visionary and ethical leader. However, …show more content…

He switched his officer boar’s nest position with the men occupying the worst one. Through dispositional flexibility he immersed himself into the situations as well as conditions his men were experiencing. Thus, it provided him a better understanding of his men’s hardships. Consequently, it also allowed him to recognize other issues not mentioned, such as accessible showers and latrines for the men. The closest facilities were an hour trip to the regiment encampment. He considered this …show more content…

Providing the men a conveniently located facility did wonders for the morale (Guardia, Heller, & Moore, 2018, p. 1011). According to the Thomas N. Barnes Center for Enlisted Education [BCEE] (2014) change management lesson, key attributes of dispositional flexibility are being genuine in addition to immersing yourself into situations to understand subordinates view. However, this is not the only aspects of a visionary leader that Moore employed. He also utilized idealized influence adhering to standards he set for his men. Idealized influence is where a leader holds themselves accountable to the standards they set for their men (BCEE, 2014, FRL p. 11). One such expectation was the three strikes and you are not out rule he set. No one under his command was allowed to quit no matter how difficult the task and Moore held himself to the same

Show More
Related

  • The Boys of ’67 Charlie Company’s War in Vietnam, by Dr. Andrew Wiest

    901 Words  | 2 Pages

    Dr. Andrew Wiest graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi and the University of Illinois, Chicago. He is currently a Professor of History at The University of Southern Mississippi. He is a founding director of the Center for the Study of War and Society, and has served as a Visiting Senior Lecturer at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, and as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Warfighting Strategy in the United States Air Force Air War College. He is a widely published award winning author. In addition, he appears in and consults on historical documentaries for several publishers. He began with a desire to help students understand Vietnam better. He met a Vietnam veteran, John Young, and discovered that the story of Charlie Company was a tale that needed to be told. He researched using personal papers, collections of letters, newspaper...

    Read More

  • We Were Soldiers Historical Accuracy

    562 Words  | 2 Pages

    The setting is June of 1965 at the beginning of America’s full military involvement in the Vietnam War, and is based on the book “We Were Soldiers Once… and Young” by LT GEN Harold G. Moore (Ret). The first location depicted in the movie is Ft. Benning GA the home base of the new Airmobile Cavalry. The second location shown is the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) base at Plei Me. The Third location is somewhere in the Ia Drang valley northeast of Chu

    Read More

  • Dbq Valley Forge

    554 Words  | 2 Pages

    We have had to deal with, “poor food- hard lodging- cold weather- fatigue, “(Document B). In this diary by Dr Waldo, a doctor we have at camp, he has accurately described what life is like at camp. The factors that we undergo make us sick both physically and mentally, these factors make us lose all sense of empowerment to win this war that we once felt, these factors make us want to go home more than anything just to hear our mother’s voice just once more. The absence of encouragement from other colonists and countries, and how I have to go to bed with my stomach empty every single night pushes me over the edge to give up and just

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Essay On Fallen Angels

    1225 Words  | 3 Pages

    Units get ambushed by North Vietnamese Army forces, who kill the commanding officers. After defeat, the Vietcong commander orders final attack using the rest of his soldiers and reserve forces. Hal Moore seeing it coming, prepares for this fight. In the last scene, Lt. Moore kept his promise, being he was the last person to step onto the helicopter.

    Read More

  • The Battle of Dong Ap Bia

    1624 Words  | 4 Pages

    For this case study I will be covering the Battle of Dong Ap Bia also known as “Hamburger Hill”, one of the bloodiest and most infamous battles of the Vietnam War. This battle took place from May 10-20, 1969 in the A Shau Valley of Vietnam. This battle took place during “Operation Apache Snow” which was the second part of a three phase campaign intended to destroy North Vietnam Army (NVA) Base Areas in the remote A Shau Valley1. This was not the most casualty producing battle but because it took place toward the end of the Vietnam War when it had become very unpopular with the American public it received an excessive amount of negative political and press coverage. It became the focal point of the media and started a debate on our military strategy that led to a major turning point in the War.

    Read More

  • Conflict In Rory Kennedy's Last Days In Vietnam

    718 Words  | 2 Pages

    All in all, every year since 1975, Vietnamese have been killed or injured and they are so disappointed. The war causes chaos and is a sign of bad omen to Vietnam. This never-ending horror could be remedied if enough Americans cared about saving Vietnamese lives, as the stars of this documentary claim they did. After all, what kind of people seed a foreign land with hundreds of thousands of tons of explosives and then allow succeeding generations to lose eyes and limbs and lives? Only a “violent and unforgiving”

    Read More

  • On leadership Written by John W. Gardner

    1123 Words  | 3 Pages

    “On leadership” was written by John W. Gardner (The Free Press, New York, 1990). He used seventeen chapters to explain and describe essential components for the leadership should be in a successful organization. This book not only has significant influence now, but also for the future. Below are my understanding about this book, which was divided into two parts. For the first part, I will pick up some perspectives which influence me most from this book. For the second part, which is my comments and critique about this book.

    Read More

  • Distracted Leadership: Tragedies in 'The Things They Carried'

    973 Words  | 2 Pages

    People can carry many things with them as they go through life. Individuals can carry tools to do their jobs, knowledge to aid in a successful outcome of a task, or even guilt of something that happened on their watch. These are some of the struggles that Tim O’Brien’s the main character has to deal with, in the story “The Things They Carried” because the character is the leader of a military unit. O’Brien’s main character is plagued throughout the story by a fantasy romance that constantly distracts the character First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and causes a terrible tragedy. Like the main character of O’Brien’s story, I to had a distraction in the place in which I was employed, and it also caused a terrible tragedy as well. Both O’Brien’s character

    Read More

  • We Were Soldiers Once, And Young: A Review

    799 Words  | 2 Pages

    General Norman Schwarzkopf notes that, "We Were Soldiers... Once and Young is a must reading for all Americans." And indeed it is. Lieutenant General Harold Moore and Joseph Galloway did a remarkable job writing a historiography that critically examined a variety of authentic sources and wrote an unbiased work that will stand the tests of time. We Were Soldiers is not just a story about the battles of X-Ray and Albany. It tells the stories of Americans and Vietnamese soldiers who endured the atrocities in the Ia Drang Valley. It is an impartial piece of literature that does not demonize the Vietnamese soldier, yet still praises the American soldier. The book is a marvelous account of history, absent of political opinions, detailing the true story of the Ia Drang Valley. And just as General Schwarzkopf stated, it is a MUST read for all Americans.

    Read More

  • Critique on the Book The Leadership Challenge

    1035 Words  | 3 Pages

    Transformational leadership also integrates well with a biblical worldview because both advocate valuing followers as well as leaders, the importance of ethical behavior, the need to forgive and learn from mistakes, and the value of a high moral example. Kouzes and Posner advocate leaders having a “moral authority to lead” (2007, p. 41), practicing personal accountability and working to improve all aspects of their follower’s lives. This others-centered leadership approach fits well in the Christ centered atmosphere of a Christian school.

    Read More

  • Slave: My True Story

    1686 Words  | 4 Pages

    “…a camp – made up of twenty or more khaki green tents, arranged in rows. We approached the camp in a long line, and at the gates we were met by a group of men in military uniforms”(Nazer 105).

    Read More

  • The Theme Of Leadership In Twelve Angry Men

    1863 Words  | 4 Pages

    All of our live it is a constant series of elections, complex or not. But what confronts us with a choice, and puts us in front of the doubt whether everything is always clear as twice two, then the problem would not exist. Here you turned out to take a choice, took notes, all calculated and no problems! But our life is much more complicated than the mathematical formulas and calculations. And so to make a choice is often so difficult.

    Read More

  • Leadership In Robert Dees The Resilience Trilogy

    480 Words  | 1 Pages

    This discussion will focus on leadership as described by Robert Dees in The Resilience Trilogy, Resilient Leaders text. The points made in the book can be personally related. The three most important concepts learned from chapter 1 and 2 are tribulation, risk management, and selflessness. It is crucial for anyone is seeking to delve into leadership that everything will not happen as planned all the time. After a leader experience failure, knowing the avenues to take to regain a solid footing is also key to successful leadership. Often leaders who are unaware of available resources fold and give up. In the military profession, when someone gets knock down they get up brush themselves off and get back in the fight.

    Read More

  • Platoon Sergeant

    1446 Words  | 3 Pages

    Regardless of the career you choose in your life, whether it be an accountant or a Soldier in the United States Army, someone, somewhere most likely had an influence to bring you to that decision. The Army defines leadership as the process of influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation while operating to accomplish the mission and improve the organization (JP, p. 1). Now imagine you are a young Private, in one of the most dangerous places in Iraq and you have constant leadership changes, and not much support from your direct leadership. I am sure at this point you can imagine, it is not the best scenario to be in. Throughout the duration of this essay you will read about Sergeant First Class Rob Gallagher and Sergeant First Class Jeff Fenlason, their leadership abilities, and the techniques they attempted to use to resolve the issues in this Platoon that was in a downward spiral after losing many leaders to the hell of war.

    Read More

  • Adaptable Leader: Cognitive Flexibility

    371 Words  | 1 Pages

    In this module, I believe the most important concept in being an adaptable leader is Cognitive Flexibility. Cognitive Flexibility are people that have the ability to adapt their thoughts to unexpected change to their workplace and life. I truly believe that cognitive flexibility is important to me since it is an area that I can always improve on.

    Read More

More about The Impact Of Visionary Leadership In 'We Were Soldiers'?

Open Document