The officer's paradox: Obedience, critical thought, and the soul of military education

“ Military Discipline. Next to the forming of troops, military discipline is the first object that presents itself to our notice: it is the soul of all armies; and unless it be established among them with great prudence, and supported with unshaken resolution, soldiers become a contemptible rabble, and are more dangerous to the very state that maintains them than even its declared enemies. See Discipline.
Military Execution. The ravaging or destroying of a country or town that refuses to pay the contribution inflicted upon them. Also, the punishment inflicted by the sentence of a court-martial. ”

“ In a military sense discipline may be defined as the cheerful, unquestioned and implicit obedience to the orders from higher authority in such manner as to secure systematic action and the cooperation of all of the component parts of a military force whatever its size may be. ”

“ It is toward this ultimate object that all rules of discipline tend. In war, the value of this habit of instantaneous and instinctive obedience is invaluable, and during the time of peace everything possible should be done to ingrain into the very blood of the soldier this spirit, this habit, of instantaneous, instinctive obedience to the word of command. ”

“ If at every emergency of their life at war soldiers had to go through a series of conscious persuasions to wake up their will and set their energies at work, and if they had to occupy themselves every time in presenting motives why this activity should not be delayed, then military discipline, at least in so far as it involves prompt obedience, would almost inevitably be considerable of a joke. What is needed is unthinking, immediate obedience, and this can be secured only by the formation of deeply graven habits which enable a man to set about the next thing that duty calls for at once. ”

“ The first principle which ought to be inculcated and impressed upon the mind of every officer and soldier is obedience to all lawful commands. It is the mainspring, the soul and essence of military duty. It is evident that if all officers and soldiers are to judge when an order is lawful and when not, the captious and mutinous would never be at loss for a plea to justify their insubordination. ”

“ The discipline that I speak of is a process of education whereby a man’s mental attitude is trained to a certain viewpoint; whereby his actions unconsciously respond to the correct ethical view of his duty. It is aimed to teach respect for law and order, to teach truthfulness and honesty, loyalty and obedience. It inculcates respect for superiors, if not for the man, then for the office that he holds. It teaches a soldier the sacredness of orders; it is the quality without which no army is successful. ”

“ Great commanders of the past have reflected that knowledge is the source of the simplifying and joining of all action and have pondered how better to resolve the problem. But it is only in our time that this great principle in military doctrine has become rooted deep enough to stay, because the technological complexity of modern war is such as to permit of no other course.
It is folly to attempt to oversimplify that which is of its nature complex. War cannot be made less intricate by conjuring everyone to return to kindergarten and henceforth use only one-syllable words. ”

“ Military knowlege, as far as it regards a general or commander in chief, may be divided into two parts, one comprehending mere discipline and settled systems for putting a certain number of rules into practice; and the other originating a sublimity of conception, that method may assist, but cannot give.
“If a man be not born with faculties that are naturally adapted to the situation of a general, and if his talents do not fit the extraordinary casualties of war, he will never rise beyond mediocrity. ”

“ They appear like men, whose presence of mind deserts them the instant they are taken out of the beaten track, or are reduced to supply unexpected calls by uncommon exertions; and from whence continues the same sensible writer, do these contradictions arise? from an ignorance of these high qualifications without which the mere routine of duty, methodical arrangement, and studied discipline must fall to the ground, and defeat themselves. Many officers spend their whole lives in putting a few regiments through a regular set of manœuvres ”

“ This thinking, we need not tell experienced teachers, is the great thing which education is to teach. If a student can not, or will not think studiously and industriously, he will not long remain at West Point. There is not, as in civil colleges, the great fallow field of poetry, history, and metaphysics, in which he may show his classical professor that he has acquired rich things, although ignorant of mathematics. ”

“ The service officer is charged only to take a lively interest in all such discussions. He has no more right to condemn the service unfairly than has any other American. On the other hand he is not expected to be an intellectual eunuch, oblivious to all of the faults in the institution to which he gives his loyalty. To the contrary, the nature of that loyalty requires that he will use his force toward the righting of those things which reason convinces him are going wrong, though making certain that his action will not do more damage than repair. ”

“ It comes from discipline, the discipline of the body, the discipline of the mind, and the discipline of the soul. It is the one governing factor in the success of West Point. All three kinds of it begin on the day that the cadet reports for duty, and continues without interruption during his entire course. The discipline of the body and the mind is a comparatively simple affair, especially when there is a willingness on the part of the subject, but the discipline of the soul is the influence that is hardest to make cadets appreciate. Some people shy when the word discipline is mentioned ”

“ When he entered the Academy he was just a boy, fresh from the hands of his parents and still malleable, but when his course has been completed under the painstaking care of his foster mother, his standards have been crystallized and he has developed into a man of courage, intellect, and honor. And when graduation day arrives, and West Point hands each man his diploma, with it she gives her stamp of approval and acknowledges her willingness to entrust to his keeping the cherished traditions of the Military Academy. ”

“ But it is in the autumn and spring when the athletic contests with outside teams take place that the misery of walking tours becomes terribly acute. The cheering of the fortunate cadets witnessing the games is like some magnet which draws and draws. The longing must be resisted and stifled while they continue upon their monotonous walk, chained to an inexorable task.
The work demanded of a cadet is hard, but without the restrictions, obstacles, the petty annoyances, the young plebe that comes to West Point so plastic and yielding would never grow and develop. ”

“ On the June morning of the Outdoor Meet, West Point usually offers one of her incomparably beautiful days as a fitting setting for the display of her cadets’ physical prowess. And when the Meet ends, the cadets all feel that one more year’s progress been made in their physical development. The First Classmen who on the morrow will go forth into the Army, leaving the protecting walls of West Point, reflect with emotion 212 and gratitude upon all that West Point’s training has done to strengthen their bodies to endure whatever hardships that might arise in their new lives as officers. ”

“ The instructor at West Point has one great advantage over his fellow instructors in the colleges. 179 His time is not occupied with trifling on the part of the students. The cadets are so thoroughly disciplined by the Tactical Department that their deportment in class is irreproachable. It is very rare that the recitation is interrupted to make corrections other than academic. The cadets are held to a high standard of discipline all the time. In class they are not permitted to communicate with one another, but they talk freely with the instructor about points in the lesson. ”

“ Men are esteemed at West Point for what they are and not for what they have. Each man feeling that he has as good an opportunity to succeed as the other man becomes imbued from the outset of his cadet career with the spirit of democracy that exists at the Academy.
From the moment that a cadet enters West Point, his past life, experiences, advantages, record, disappear into oblivion so far as the authorities and other cadets are concerned. No reference is ever made to any cadet’s home, to his connections, to his family, unless he introduces the subject. ”

“ The great charm of West Point is that so many things never change. Some of the cadets, sons of graduates, are doing exactly as their fathers did at 174 their age, and again a few cadets are reacting the youth of their grandfathers.
While the instructor is watching the cadets in the area, the section marcher reports to the officer of the day all absentees in his section which he then marches off to the Academic Building. On the sections come in military formation straight to the classroom door. ”

“ Occasionally, however, where a man stands especially well in all of his studies but fails in one, he may be conditioned by the Academic Board, or in some cases turned back to join the next class. Among the cadets, he becomes known as a “turnback,” a name that usually sticks to him, but conveys no reproach or stigma.
Again, the cadet must recite every day. Owing to the small section of ten or twelve cadets the instructor is ordinarily able to hear every man, so that the studies must be prepared. There is no such thing at West Point as a “cut.” ”

“ Since the marks determine a cadet’s graduation standing and affect his whole career as an officer, they naturally are given by him no little consideration. Sometimes I think that the cadets give entirely too much thought to attaining a good grade rather than to the thorough mastering of the subject; that is, they have a tendency to develop the memory at the expense of the thinking functions. As I have explained before West Point methods are strictly opposed to such a system, and the departments discourage verbatim recitations. ”

“ In the immense army that will soon be ours, the graduates of West Point will indeed be a small leaven, but I am confident they will bring to this mass of raw soldier material the ideals and the spirit of their Alma Mater. They will not forget the lessons learned at her knee, but will justify to the nation that has given them their education the soundness of West Point’s methods of training officers. ”

“ Upon graduation from West Point, I dare say 171 that there is no more highminded, well-trained, and efficient body of young men in the world. The graduates join their commands brimming over with youth, intelligence, enthusiasm, and energy and ruled by intense loyalty. They want to do what is right. They want to go forward in their profession. They make every effort to perform well their duties. All that they need are leaders among their superiors who will develop their aspirations. ”

“ The truth is, (and it can not be much longer concealed from the view of the people, by the reports of boards of visitors,) that the whole system of education at West Point is well calculated to form military pedants and military dandies, but will never form efficient soldiers. ”

“ This debasement of feeling and character, I imagine, arises from the system of discipline pursued by many commanding officers, which teaches the soldier to believe that he is a mere piece of machinery in the hands of his superiors, to be moved only as they please without any accordance of his own reason or judgment, and that he has no merit in his own actions, independent of this moving power. Such a belief has naturally the effect of making a man so little in his own eyes, that he feels he cannot sink lower, let him keep what company he may. ”

“ Instruction is just about the begin-all and end-all of every military officer's job. He spends the greater part of his professional life either pitching it or catching it, and the game doesn't stop until he is at last retired. Should he become a Supreme Commander, even, this is one thing that does not change; it remains a give-and-take proposition. Part of his time is taken instructing his staff as to what he wants done and just as much of it is spent in being instructed by his staff as to the means available for the doing of it. ”

“ If he does not form the habit of so talking, he forfeits his power of leadership. For what good is an intelligent or inventive officer, if he cannot put his intelligence or invention out through his lips? The military profession is one which depends upon quick instruction by word of mouth. The officer who does his own work and the work of his sergeants too, is plainly inefficient. He has avoided the harder task—that of teaching others how to carry on the work. He has done worse. He has lessened the value of his organization as an automatic machine. ”

“ Because there has been a holdover of these mistaken sentiments right down to the present, there persists in many military officers a defensive attitude toward their own profession which has no practical relation to the strength of the ground on which they are enabled to stand. Toward any unfair and flippant criticism of the "military mind" they react with resentment, instead of with buoyant proof that their own minds are more plastic and more receptive to national ideals than those of any other profession. ”

“ An officer, who is not under the influence of that species of intrepidity which we have described, when he has once got upon equal ground, or finds it necessary to risk an action, will, without hesitation, advance against his enemy, depending wholly upon military skill and the superior disposition of his line of battle. Full of resources and with great presence of mind, he will march forward and obtain a victory, not by dint of courage or by the mere favor of fortune, but through judgment, military ingenuity, and great tactical knowlege. ”

“ That union cannot be perfected, however, unless there is a sufficient number of men on both sides of the table who can think halfway into the field of the man opposite. Just as the civilian expert in electronics, airplane manufacture or motion picture production needs to know more about the military establishment's problem and requirements if he is to do his part, the service officer with whom he is dealing needs to be informed on industry's resources, possibilities and limitations if he is to enable the civilian side to do its part well. ”

“ It is evident that we are going to have to write messages, field orders, and operation orders when the enemy is upon us, and when every second is vital. If we must stop in that crisis and putter over the forms and methods of drafting our thoughts, how useless we shall be! When that time comes, one thing alone should occupy our conscious [23] thought—our military idea. That will be sufficient to keep busy the most brilliant intellect. ”

“ When one has qualified himself to write or dictate orders and instructions properly he has already learned to interpret those he may receive from others. Accuracy of language demands discipline of mind. Under our system of raising war armies much has had to be entrusted to men without either discipline of mind or of character. This makes it necessary for officers not only to be qualified themselves to prepare and to interpret orders, but to teach the art to others. ”

“ Carelessly or improperly phrased instructions have caused many miscarriages of military plans. The attainment of perfection in the use of language is a matter of painstaking study and the gradual refinement of practice. Merely dreaming of what one will do when responsibility is thrust upon him is not the way to prepare for successful achievement. It is the duty of every self respecting officer to be ready to do not only his best but to do what is right. ”

“ Nothing more radical is being suggested here than that the officer who would make certain that the morale of his men will prove equal to every change cannot do better than concentrate his best efforts upon his primary military obligation—his duty to them. They dupe only themselves who believe that there is a brand of military efficiency which consists in moving smartly, expediting papers and achieving perfection in formations, while at the same time slighting or ignoring the human nature of those whom they command. ”

“ To harass the man who is trying, but can't quite do it, therefore cuts double against the strength of organization. It may ruin the man; it may also give his comrades the feeling that he isn't getting a decent break.
The military crowd requires, above all, maturity of judgment in its leaders. It cannot be patronized safely. Nor can it be treated in the classroom manner, as if wisdom were being dispensed to schoolboys. When it has been remiss, it expects to catch unshirted hell for its failings, and though it may smart under a just bawling out, it will feel let down if the commander quibbles. ”

“ It makes little difference whether a man is digging a ditch or is working up a loading table for an invasion: what he thinks about his work will depend in large measure upon the attitude of his superiors. He will develop no great conviction about what he is doing except as it is transmitted to him. The fundamental cause of any [Pg 250] breakdown of morale and discipline within the armed service usually comes of this, that a commander or his subordinates transgress by treating men as if they were children or serfs instead of showing respect for their adulthood. ”

“ On the other hand, because standards of discipline and courtesy are designed for the express purpose of furthering control under the extraordinary frictions and pressures of the battlefield, their maintenance under combat conditions is as necessary as during training. Smartness and respect are the marks of military alertness, no matter how trying the circumstances. But courtesy starts at the top, in the dealing of any officer with his subordinates, and in his decent regard for their loyalty, intelligence, and manhood. ”

“ Even to those who best understand the reasons for the regimenting of military forces, a discipline wrongfully applied is seen only as indiscipline. Invariably it will be countered in its own terms. No average rank-and-file will become insubordinate as quickly, or react as violently, as a group of senior noncommissioned officers, brought together in a body, and then mishandled by officers who are ignorant of the customs of the service and the limits of their own authority. ”

“ Discipline destroys the spirit and working loyalty of the general force when it is pitched to the minority of malcontented, undutiful men within the organization, whether to punish or to appease them. ”

“ The officers of the company should do everything possible to make the organization contented and harmonious. Contentment and harmony are not only conducive to good discipline and efficiency, but they also make the government of the company easy and reduce desertions to a minimum.
The showing of favoritism on the part of the captain is always a cause of great dissatisfaction amongst the soldiers in the company. Soldiers do not care how strict the captain is, just so he is fair and impartial, treating all men alike. ”

“ An officer just joining a company should learn without delay the names of all the men. A roll of the organization should be gotten and studied.
While an officer can gruffly order a soldier to do a thing and have his orders obeyed, it should be remembered that, as a rule, human nature, especially American human nature, responds best to an appeal to pride, fairness, justice, reason, and the other nobler instincts of man. It is only in rare instances that the average man will give the best there is in him under coercion or pressure of authority. ”

“ There is something terribly incongruous about a man talking to troops on the ideal purposes of the military service if all they see of him convinces them that he is loyal only to his own rank and his pay check. It can be said without any qualification that when an officer's interest in the unit is limited strictly to those things which have to be done in line of duty, even though he attends to them truly and well, he will never have a strong hold on the sympathy and imagination of his men. ”

“ To lecture troops about the importance of morale and discipline serves no earthly purpose, if the words are at odds with the general conditions which have been imposed on the command. They impose their values only as reflection of the leader's entire thought concerning his men. At the same time, there is this to be remembered, that even when things are going wrong at every other level, men will remain loyal and dutiful if they see in the one junior officer who is nearest them the embodiment of the ideals which they believe should apply throughout the service. ”

“ He acquires strength and wisdom from the group. He becomes able to judge his own situation against an attainable standard within the service. He is critically conscious of the merits of his superiors from what he has himself experienced and what others tell him. He knows what is boondoggling and what is not.
From that point on, discipline has little part in alerting the man or in furthering the building of his moral power. That which moves him mainly is the knowledge that he is a personal success, and that he belongs to an efficient unit which is in capable hands. ”

“ Familiarity is, of course, most subversive of discipline, but you can treat your men with sympathetic consideration without being familiar with them.
In dealing with enlisted men, do not use the same standard of intellect and morals that apply in the case of officers. And remember, too, that a thing that may appear small and trivial to an officer may mean a great deal to an enlisted man—study your men, learn their desires, their habits, their way of thinking, and then in your dealings with them try to look at things from their standpoint also. ”

“ Those who cannot enforce discipline without treating their fellow men as brutes, should distrust their own faculties or fitness, and examine into their own false pride, their petulance, perhaps too often their unacquaintance with the first principle of military discipline, that is a knowlege of mankind, or of the human mind; the springs by which the human character is most easily and effectually led on to acts of voluntary heroism and intrepidity, are never produced by the lash ”

“ Granted that there are a few individuals who are so thin-blooded that they never feel tempted to digress morally, men in the majority are not like that. What they re [Pg 214] nounce in the name of self-discipline, at the cost of a considerable inner stress, they endeavour to compensate by their gains in personal character. Making that grade isn't easy; but no one who is anyone has yet said that it isn't worthwhile. In the armed services there is an old saying that an officer without character is more useless than a ship with no bottom. ”

“ Moreover, that is what every truly civilized man would want in himself during the calmer moments when he compares critically what he is inside with what he would like to be. That is specifically the reason why the promulgation of military ideals is initially a problem in the first person, singular. The Armed Services have in one sense a narrow motive in turning the thoughts of younger leaders toward a belief in ideals. They know that this is a lubricant in the machinery of organization and the best way to sweeten the lives of men working together in a group toward some worthwhile purpose. ”

“ Completely immersed in action, they have no time for smallness in speech, thought or deed. It is for these reasons that those who in times past have excelled in the leadership of American forces have invariably been great Americans first and superior officers second. The rule applies at all levels. The lieutenant who is not moved at the thought that he is serving his country is unlikely to do an intelligent job of directing other men. He will come apart at the seams whenever the going grows tough. ”

“ Only so can the new discipline promote a higher efficiency based on a more steadfast loyalty of man to man. In the words of Du Picq, who saw so deeply into the hearts of fighting men: "If one does not wish bonds broken, one should make them elastic and thereby strengthen them."
The separate nature of military service is the key to the character of the discipline of its several forces. In the United States, we have fallen into the sloppy habit of saying that a soldier, bluejacket, airman, coast guardsman or marine is only an American civilian in uniform. ”

“ In the midst of war, when all else is in flux, at least one thing stands fast. The methods, the self-discipline, and the personality which will best enable the officer to command efficiently during peace are identical with the requirements which fit him to shape new material most perfectly under the conditions of war. ”

“ To turn from the province of strategy to the sphere of tactics, a life-long experience of military study and thought had taught me that the principle of the tactical employment of troops must be instinctive. I knew that in putting the science of war into practice, it was necessary that its main tenets should form, so to speak, part of one's flesh and blood. In war there is little time to think, and the right thing to do must come like a flash—it must present itself to the mind as perfectly obvious. ”

“ The value of any officer's opinion of any military question can never be any greater than the extent and accuracy of his information. His ability to dispose public thought favorably toward the service will depend upon the wisdom of his words rather than upon his military rank and other credentials. A false idea will come upon a bad fate even though it has the backing of the highest authority.
Only men of informed mind and unprejudiced expression can strengthen the claim of the services on the affections of the American people. ”