Decisions not made

I’ve been meaning to look into a book called The Lieutenant Don’t Know about a Marine motor transport lieutenant in Afghanistan.  Being cross trained in infantry (0311) and motor transport (3531) I understand a little bit about both.  I spent most of my time as motor-t.   If asked today, I’d say I have two MOS, and there’s a funny story behind all of that.  It might be a little funny (for a Marine) and it might be a little strange (to a person other than a Marine). 

Anyways, I was thinking about that statement.  The Lieutenant don’t know.  But I was thinking about it in terms of transition from military to civilian.  Because the two worlds are different and require different skillsets, the transition can be hard on many people.  One of the questions I’ve taken to asking former Marines why they are doing something, the statement is always the same.

Marine, why are we attacking this hill?

It’s a simple question, but shows the disparity of the officer/non-com look at the world.  The officer thinks of why.  The NCO comes up with the how.  The enlisted man performs the how.  As enlisted and NCO, we are always concerned with performing actions.  As a matter of fact, we get very good at performing actions.  Some are useful.  Some are pointless.  But we are very good at executing other peoples’ plans. 

I’ve seen many situations in which a Marine would be asked, “why are you doing that?” And the answer would be “because someone in charge of me told me to”.  I suppose that’s a perfectly good answer for a while. 

The only problem with this mindset is that eventually the person making the decisions gets killed.  So “because I was told” becomes the guy in charge.  Or the converse situation is the person leaves the military.  Then, the leadership position has swapped again.  The commanding officer might as well have gotten killed.  Now, the guy who answered “because I was told” now has to make decisions in their own life.  And they’ve never thought of the question “why should I attack this hill?”

And then, the blind begins to lead the blind.  The success in the military becomes a collection of potential failures and half measures.  All because the person never figured out where they wanted to be.

The problem really narrows down to what each individual needs to know.  The lieutenant needs to know the job of the private and the private needs to know the job of the lieutenant.  Everyone must be versed in every single other job.  Because eventually, you end up in charge.