Military Leadership Essay

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Recommended: Leadership in armed forces

The purpose of this essay is to select two essential characteristics the United States Armed Forces must possess, in order to achieve operational success in combat. Conversely, evidence substantiates that the Armed Forces relies on several characteristics and collectively, they become the essential components in order to face the complexity of war. According to the ADP 1, United States Forces are organized, equipped, and trained for winning the Nation’s wars. Currently, the military is in the middle of a seven-year phase force reduction process totaling 562,000 Soldiers in 2010 to 450,000 Soldiers in 2017. However, during this transitional period the Armed Forces will apply lessons learned from recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in preparation …show more content…

Ultimately, the state of the military preparedness lies within our leadership. Military leaders are the most influential asset of an organization and their actions ultimately have the ability to transform and reinvigorate a ‘mediocre’ organization into a ‘great organization’. My personal example of ‘organizational transformation’ was during my third deployment in Kabul, Afghanistan. I worked for a toxic leader who yelled, used profanity and habitually degraded the staff. During the fifth month of my deployment, his behavior continued to escalate and eventually his was removed from the position. As I reflect back, during this ordeal he made me a better officer because I became the Subject Matter Expert on ‘all thing logistics’ in order to avoid the personal humiliation however, toxic leadership has no place in the military and must be eradicated from our formations. History proves no Army leader is irreplaceable. The Army will not stop functioning because one leader, no matter how senior or central, steps aside. In combat, the loss of a leader can be a shock to a unit, but the unit must, and will, continue its mission. Great leaders provide mentorship to their subordinates using their work experience and knowledge, gained through institutional training and education, organizational training and

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