Military Leadership Essay

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Recommended: Discipline in the armed forces

According to a Gallup Poll from June 2016, the United States Military has the most confidence placed into it by the American people over any other institution. Military service is often either reputed as an honorable, selfless job centred on the well being of the United States and the world, or, as this paper will prove incorrect, a platform for people who were too poor, unintelligent or unsuccessful to go to college. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that veterans of the U.S. Military are trained to be better citizens, and have a distinct edge in community and workforce leadership after retirement from armed service. The United States Military provides leadership training and discipline skills, and creates patriots who better understand …show more content…

In this chain of command, everybody has someone they report to, and a very large amount have someone who reports to them. Exposure to the chain of command lets service members learn to lead in real-world situations, and be held accountable if their leadership fails. Every step of military life is focused on leadership and followership. Followership is also critical to civilian life, and the discipline required for success in general. Basic training is designed to break service members down, so they can follow, and then build up a clean slate of leaders. Most individuals spend their childhood and young adult life without any form of real leadership experience. Professional leadership does not come easily to most people, especially when they have had no experience with it in formative years.
Famous leadership schools, such as the U.S. Army’s Ranger School (which is open to all service branches) force trainees to cooperate due to the extreme situations they are pressed into. Many candidates for the Ranger Tab often are awake for multiple days straight without one complete meal in their stomachs. The instructors then have the platoon leader “killed off” in an exercise, and assign a junior enlisted member to take his place, necessitating teamwork and leadership from every member of the unit. The prestigious Ranger School is just an example of formal leadership training accessible to service

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