PAPERBACK EDITION
Selected Thoughts on Small-Unit Leadership
It has long been recognized that most doctrine, techniques, tactics, and procedures are written in sterile offices by men in starched uniforms who go home at the end of the day. Seldom do we consider that these documents and lessons learned are determined from past battles, commanders who have led those battles, and soldiers or Marines who have fought those battles. Seldom do students of the art of war have an opportunity to listen to the veterans of those battles. When that time arrives and those veterans speak, we should take the time to listen.
Imagine the perfect classroom, roaring fire, flowing beverages. A group of warriors are sitting on the edges of their very comfortable chairs, "leaning into" the knowledge and wisdom of their battle-hardened instructor. Perhaps we would find this classroom in a university of warriors using combat veterans as instructors, veterans of any and all conflicts, and veterans with experience leading men into the face of battle against some unknown enemy. Perhaps we would call these instructors "Greybeards," and our classroom the "University of Greybeards," and we would call the time spent around the fire "A Preparation for Leading Warriors." From the Horse's Mouth, by Capt Ted McKeldin, would be the primer for just such a class - a beginner's book on the expectations of the warriors who have been to battle, returned home, and taken the time to remember and pass on what they have learned. These warriors reflect in order to prepare us - the present-day warriors - for what battles may come.
Capt McKeldin's book is divided into three sections: "Wisdom from Every Clime and Place"; "Wisdom from World War II, Korea, and Vietnam"; and "Wisdom-Eight Unique Perspectives." Each chapter in these sections is either the subject of personal interviews with former small unit leaders, or is the reprinted version of past interviews or articles. The men represented within these pages are all veterans of conflict from the rank of corporal through general.
None of these "most important lessons I've learned" are earth-shattering or keys-to-always-winning, but all of these lessons are reinforced by the terror and tension of an opposed landing in the Pacific, by rounds in Korea or Vietnam, or by modern-day battles in Beirut, Iraq, and Somalia. It is the battle, the cost, the struggle to win, the mistakes made that allows us to transform what has sometimes become a cliche into the battlefield common sense that today's small unit leaders must possess.
From the Horse's Mouth serves as an incredible desktop reference of battlefield leadership, written in the style of men speaking around a bonfire, old leaders to young leaders who say, "listen and learn and don't make these mistakes." Men like Col John Ripley, who summarized 20 pages of pounding common sense and stories of battles hard fought: "Resolve that you and your Marines will be standing when no one else is." The middle section of the book, "Wisdom from World War II, Korea, and Vietnam," includes the U.S. War Department pamphlet dated 1943 about fighting on Guadalcanal. This pamphlet contains "lessons learned" from noncommissioned, junior, and high-ranking officers of the 1st Marine Division. The 5th Marines commander, Col Merritt A. Edson; 1st Battalion, 7th Marines commanding officer, LtCol Lewis B. Puller; and others that served in their units teach us lessons from over 50 years ago that readily apply to right now and the future. These legends of our Corps reach out from well-earned rests to show the modern-day fighter how to look at an enemy, see how he fights, find what the unit is doing right and wrong, and identify a way to win.
Capt McKeldin is not biased in the selection of his contributors. The importance of a corporal's view is as significant as that of a general. Col David Hackworth's "Notes from Vietnam" is just as relevant as the submission from Joseph Thompson, Jr., a combat engineer with the 101st Airborne in World War II, whose concern centers on the traits of "the best leaders in combat."
The historical lessons gleaned from this book are relevant to the battles we will fight today and are summarized by SgtMaj Ray Gregg who served from 1962-82. He writes, "We have a great tendency to either fight and win or to be a 'nice guy' to everyone. The American tendency to be a 'nice guy' still haunts us." Repeatedly, the contributors find from 10 to 100 different ways to say train hard and then harder, train realistically, and always accomplish the mission-that is what Marines do.
In the introduction, former Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen Charles C. Krulak states:
There is an abundance of learning here for a student of the art of war. But some readers, particularly the veterans, will read this book and simply remember. They will hear again the echoes of battle and the shouts and screams of men locked in a death struggle.
From the Horse's Mouth captures the smoke and the noise of the battlefield and the kind of leadership required to accomplish any mission on that battlefield and protect the lives of American fighting men who must succeed.
