How to Train Soldiers for Leadership Roles in the Military

This article provides examples of how to train soldiers for leadership roles in the military.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. True knowledge of warfare is extremely necessary to raise or sustain a nation in regards to international prominence and dominance. By the study of the most competent of generals, nations can be built as well as neutralized when deemed necessary to ensure world stability. In the millennium age, leaders of nations will need to be able to command the unwavering support of the lowest of its citizens along with the most prosperous of its citizens to ensure the security and stability of its nation. Military skill can be ascertained from the most abstract societal environments. It will take a very flexible and visionary mind to glean troops from these environments. The threat of terrorism to world stability can be analyzed and neutralized using the simplest of military stratagems. The rise and fall of any nation can be tied to a severe lack of discipline and focus regardless of military weaponry, funds and troop numerical strength. In the millennium age military leaders will have to take on the experts and improve the methods of military experts in order to remain a viable military power. By sharing his (commanding officer) military skill and stratagems, an inexperienced, untested unit can become crack troops capable of exceeding the exploits of accomplished military soldiers. A commanding officer operating on the highest of planes mentally and physically is capable of transforming and revitalizing an army by sharing his methodologies. Soldiers respect a leader who walks it like he talks it. This is especially true in an infantry unit where your reputation in the field can mean the difference between life and death of entire units. By being strict but flexible a commanding officer can bring forth a maximum output from his soldiers. This strategy can be passed on to the lowest ranking troops only after bring your core leaders, officers and enlisted to elite status mentally and physically while instilling in them the discipline to harness their skills and use them to prepare viable military options to enhance the options already developed by their superiors. Lower ranking soldiers look to the core leaders in the field for leadership and direction. How much sharper will those soldiers be if they are given direction from core leaders who have pushed the envelope to attain elite status from humble beginnings? By implementing this stratagem of sharing, a competency bridge is constructed.
2. By staying productive and in continual motion strategically, physically and mentally, soldiers will be able to maintain clarity in the most dire circumstances. A gun operates simply but deliberately. When constantly used and maintained it increases its worth daily as it has become dependable and necessary for survival. Soldiers can be trained to operate in this same manner when trained by one skilled in the art of warfare. It has been said that the idle mind is the workplace of the devil. Time not properly used leaves the door open for soldiers to adopt dangerous traits like cowardice and arrogance as well as ignorance and laziness. By constantly engaging the minds and bodies of soldiers, a wise general will have troops that could easily operate as the most competent of generals. This would limit the number of soldiers needed for missions while increasing the possibility of success because of the wise general’s foreknowledge of his troop’s capabilities. In modern times one could look at the special operations community and see the historical validation of these tactics. While these tactics have been extremely successful for the special operations community, imagine if these tactics could be implemented by conventional troops on large scale operations. Success would be attained quickly and casualties would be greatly reduced. There would also be a huge psychological advantage given to troops able to properly implement these tactics in real world time in the theatre of military operations. Wise nations would quickly align themselves with such troops as everyone wants to roll with a proven winner to ensure their safety in the future. This type of training will cause soldiers to constantly assess, formulate and implement tactics previously thought unattainable. Imagine the stress level these soldiers will be able to operate in effortlessly. This will also be of importance to all facets of the military as well as government as these soldiers will be able to step into any arena and formulate strategic upgrades in theory and application of dominant operational capabilities in a given discipline. This will invigorate and illuminate any system this tactic is applied to. These soldiers also could be strategically dispatched across the globe to shore up the interest of their nation and its allies. Given the current threat of terrorism, this idea is a stratagem whose time has come.
3. There is a wealth of untapped military talent in the poorest areas across the globe. This can historically be proven by the spread of guerilla tactics. Guerilla tactics are usually used by groups of militants or soldiers who are outnumbered and outgunned by huge numbers. In the case of militants, they usually come from the poorer neighborhoods. These militants learn to survive on guts and ingenuity. They can make battle efficient weapons from seemingly useless material. They also are very adept at fighting in small groups tactically in a way that can cause a large amount of casualties on the side of their enemies. They operate under extremely stressful conditions that would overwhelm even the most highly trained soldiers. This is a sign that people from these environments can be very useful militarily. Military functions are very basic and simple task that in a worst case scenario have to be performed competently in harsh situations and environments. This plays to the strengths of many of the people from impoverished environments. In the bible we have the example of the prophet King David who put fear into the heart of the Philistine army by slaying the best soldier with a sling shot in plain view of the Philistine army. Fidel Castro launched an effective revolution with cast- offs and people with seemingly no propensity for military excellence. This is a huge lesson to be learned for those with clear vision. Numerical strength is not a guarantee of military success and military excellence can be achieved by anyone willing to put forth superior effort coupled with superior faith. Many armies of the world have suffered huge casualties because they put the wrong people in the wrong positions at the right time to ensure tragedy. In the future the successful militaries of the world will be those lead by military minds open to the possibilities offered by the have-nots of their society. This will give them increased troop strength as well as an increased military operational capacity once these soldiers are properly trained.
4. Military leaders must be of the highest moral caliber. Some military experts believe morality plays no major role in warfare. I beg to differ with them on this point. Unchecked aggression could quickly lead to escalations of countless of wars and the killing of thousands of lives on a minimal level. So the commanding officer I have in mind when I speak on the issue of making elite soldiers must have morality to balance the aggression he or she will have to implement in warfare. This same commanding officer must be able to subdue his ego daily. Power can be stronger and more addictive than any narcotic known to man. Commanding officers are able to push forward or derail the careers of their soldiers with words passed on to other powerful leaders in a position to react to these words. This happens often in the political spectrum of the military. A commanding officer can lose valuable soldiers if he or she is not careful with their words. Military assessments given by commanding can not be personal as war is a discipline concerning life and death. Also when putting military assessments in writing a command officer will have to be especially careful, as his or her decisions put on paper can weaken armies and their nation. Leaders such as these should have no place in the military community as their ineptitude can quickly spread amongst the soldiers. To ensure that there are an adequate amount of officers capable of implementing my reciprocation of commitment and drive tactics. it is essential that the basics of these tactics be incorporated into officer candidate training programs. It would help would be officers know what must be sacrificed and what type of commitment must endure to ensure their competency as future leaders of the army. A future leader can not lead men and women solely on their academic acumen, but by the synthesis of mental and physical superiority when implementing tactics which puts the lives of their soldiers in harms way. These tactics will root out the weak simply on the explanation of what is required to successfully implement these tactics. That will allow the officer candidate instructors more time to drill the worthy officer candidates in these and other relevant warfare tactics. This also allows for an assessment period to determine what type of officer candidate is required to push these tactics to a higher level.
5. To keep the integrity of the officer candidate training curriculum it is essential that the Commanding officer of the officer candidate training school have a clear profile of what type of officers are worthy to train future officer candidates. The following list will make his job of selecting these officers supremely easier. The list is comprised of :
   
   1. Ego – Any officer tasked with the training of future officers must be able to subdue and harness his ego. This is a key point that I can not stress enough. The potential of an officer candidate to supercede the skill of his or her officer candidate instructoris very high when using these tactics I have introduced throughout these writings.
   
   A training officer who does not have control of his ego will try to curtail the inevitable rise of such officer candidates just to keep the tactics of the status quo in tact. This is insane and extremely dangerous when put in the proper warfare context of maintaining military dominance in the army. In the military, officers are the core group of men and women who can lose the military initiative of a nation before a single shot is fired. Hence, the need for these type of tactics. The leaders in the army often take the position that they are officers because they are the best and brightest that the army has to offer. Tactics such as these will put that logic to the ultimate test.
   
   2. Work ethic – The work ethic of an officer tasked with the training of officer candidates must be borderline fanatical on some levels. There are experts who will disagree with this, but I can assure you it will not be an expert who truly has foreknowledge of the enemy and their inclinations. Warfare is dangerous, bloody and holds huge consequences for the victor as well as the loser. When facing a formidable enemy, it will be the enemies foreknowledge of my last statement that will make them a foe to be respected. One who truly understands warfare, constantly develops his military capabilities.
   
   3. Intelligence- This is a deceptive discipline when making assessments. There have been many military men and women chosen based on their seemingly superior intellectual acumen. When this criterion fails in the field, it is usually because their intellect has not become one with their control of their ego and implementation of a superior work ethic.
6. Soldiers can be found and trained from all levels of a society. The assessment and development of these soldiers mental approach to military warfare is crucial to elevating these types of troops to elite status. Proper placement of highly trained troops can stabilize or elevate the global dominance of a nation.