General Petraeus Calls For Unity In Afghanistan
The new troop commander in Afghanistan has made a general call for unity during this conflict
. He made the call to Afghan government officials, NATO and United States troops serving in that country. This was the best move that he could have made under the circumstances because we need to present a unified front to the enemy and to the world before we can go forward and execute our plan.The Afghan people, our troops, and the enemy need to see a solid, united front among our leadership in order to help this effort to succeed. This statement was made to repair damage that has already been done due to negative perceptions that may have been caused by the remarks made by General McChrystal which caused him to have to retire. We must display solidarity within our own ranks and with our allies in order to win this war.
When soldiers sense dissention within the ranks it leads to more dissention. Once a subordinate witnesses his superiors openly questioning leadership it will cause that subordinate to openly question the leadership of his own superiors. This is not good for order and discipline within the ranks of the military. There has obviously been some damage done by the press statements. The question is how much, and can General Petraeus effectively repair it?
Disagreement between leaders is something that is handled behind closed doors. Once the doors open and you come out subordinates should not know whether you agree with the policies of your commander or not. Even if you dont agree with those policies you should either support them or resign. The commander who makes the policies is the one ultimately responsible for them and if they fail he is the one who takes the blame. There is too much at stake for President Obama to allow dissention in the ranks. Especially when it is blatant, and more so when it is the leader that he has entrusted to accomplish the mission. Followers wont wholeheartedly support an operation when they know that their own leadership doesnt support it.
If we are to effectively lead the brand new Afghan government we have to be the example for them. We have to go above and beyond to show them what we want them to be. They will not be on our side if we cant even show that we are unified. We must give clear unmixed signals for them to see so that they will know how to function.
Division within the ranks is not good for troops for the same reason. When they detect mixed signals it blurs their job performance standards. If two different superiors are enforcing two different sets of standards then the question becomes which one do I follow?
Lastly we must show our enemies a unified face. When it becomes apparent to them that there are problems within the hierarchy of our leadership it indicates a weakness that they may be able to exploit. I dont know how many of you know this but during the Vietnam War the North Vietnamese government knew that the war was unpopular at home and among the soldiers on the battlefield. They keyed on this weakness to produce propaganda fliers which were distributed to our troops on the front lines. These pamphlets had the effect of creating disharmony within individual units who were fighting the war. Morale during that war was at an all time low. This led to severe disciplinary problems and rampant drug use. Many of our soldiers would go AWOL, and many times unit commanders and supervisors were shot and killed by their own troops. The damage done in Afghanistan was nothing close to this but you can rest assured that there was some damage done. Military Ring Express
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