Soldiers in 2nd Platoon, Charlie 1-26 stage a 'mutiny' that pulls the unit apart

Soldiers in 2nd Platoon, Charlie 1-26 stage a 'mutiny' that pulls the unit apart

www.armytimes.com

“I knew after losing those five guys, my platoon had to get out of there,” he said. “These were the guys they slept with, joked with, worked out with. I don’t think they’d be able to accomplish the mission.”

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“I understood why they did what they did,” he said. “Some of the NCOs, I was disappointed in them because they failed to lead their soldiers through difficult times. They let their soldiers influence their decisions. But on a personal level, I applauded their decision because they stood behind their soldiers.

www.armytimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

We are all follower and leaders at the same time, so to be a good leader you must also be a good follower in the performance of your duty.

The mission in war comes first for the outcome could be much worse if everyone started to decide what they wanted to do or not, and once you stop being a follower you can no longer lead those that are under your responsibility.

To blindly lead or follow is also just as bad as to stop doing either, and there are many avenues to use to ensure you are not blind in your execution of your duty. I would say leadership failed at many levels in this case that finally affected the lowest echelon of the group at the point they just said they would go.

It is not the military’s desire to put people into the position to kill themselves or reach the point not to follow their leaders just to get the mission done. The people at the level that design the missions have no capabilities to know the condition of the troops that will need to execute the mission. It is the responsibility of the leaders of those men to ensure they get the right information on their status physically or mentally up the chain so the higher up decision makers can adjust.

The bottom line is if you have a broken leg you would not be put on a mission, and also if your brain is broken no one wants you on the mission either. In both cases it would most likely lead to mission failure.

“I didn’t want to punish them,” Strickland said. I like this line for the reason he didn’t want to punish them is because he failed them and not the other way around.

What the hell would they have done 63 years ago when every single platoon member was killed or wounded in a matter of days in the Battle of the Bulge? Believe me, it happened.

Yeah its sad that 5 guys died but trust me, it could be much much worse.