Military Review English Edition November-December 2013 | Page 38
with mission command. No leader—no matter how
brilliant, experienced, and well-educated—is an
island. In the absence of detailed orders, he must
be willing to listen and accept advice from others.
A commander’s encouragement and acceptance
of criticism is necessary for establishing a climate
conducive to mission command. Also, his spending
time developing his subordinates is key so that they
understand how he thinks and can correctly execute
his intent.46 Over time, this dialogue builds mutual
trust.47 Unfortunately, in survey after survey, Army
officers report that their leaders’ greatest shortcoming is the failure to develop subordinates.48
A commander’s encouragement and acceptance of criticism
is necessary for establishing a
climate conducive to mission
command.
War is a Moral Contest and a
Favorable, Enduring Peace the
Prize
Half-hearted implementation is not the main problem with the Army’s foundational philosophy. The
deeper problem is that it fails to pass the essential
litmus test of any army’s core philosophy: does it
help win wars, not just battles? True, auftragstaktik
transformed the German army into a tactically superior force. However, in 1871, the Treaty of Frankfurt
saved this army from fighting (and perhaps losing)
a protracted insurgency in Paris. They were also
defeated in two world wars. Expediting the loss of
World War II were oft-brutal tactics that enraged
local populations and ensured the army fought on
three fronts—on the western and eastern fronts and
against strong insurgencies. Field Marshall Erwin
Rommel wrote that his only concern regarding
junior officers was that they “bring with them a good
grounding in tactics.”49 Rommel’s view epitomized
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