[MD] Flying Spagetti Monsters

[Heather Perella]

Ben,

  Welcome!

     [Ben]
> SA's point about military leaders' need to see
dynamic
> quality on the 
> battlefield, while valid, is not necessarily
> applicable.  A good soldier, as 
> defined by an army, is not one who sees dynamic
> quality, but one who 
> executes orders as commanded. 

     You are correct about a soldier being good when a
soldier "...executes orders as commanded."  Yet, I
assume, that as one goes up in rank, the orders become
more generalized.  I'm not saying always, but this
generalization can occur.  This is micro-management
versus macro-management.  Some generals may want to be
on the battlefield, up front even killing away.  Yet,
other generals, especially in today's generalized
warfare, sit somewhere isolated from the
micro-happenings on the battlefield.  The generals
come up with a generalized plan, right down to what
unit's will come in from the south and which ones from
the north, so to speak.  Yet, I assume, on the
battlefield the sergeants and even the privates at
times, are faced with definite situations that the
generals could not possible plan ahead for.  For
instance, a heavy machine gunner has taken root in a
building overlooking the square in the town.  The
platoon infiltrating the town, must pass through the
square to reach their objective.  The platoon is
taking heavy fire from the heavy machine gunner.  What
is to be done?  The general says reach the objective. 
The platoon is faced with heavy fire, and will follow
orders from the general, but in the face of this heavy
fire how will the objective be reached.  The platoon,
I assume, is creative enough to face this impediment
in such a way as to not to continually ask the general
what to do?  The platoon has hopefully been provided
the ability to not only think past this situation, but
even on a gut feeling in a strange area take steps
that may have the platoon figure out a way to kill the
heavy gunner.  This would be also a difference of
being on the ground, out in the field, under dynamic
situations, as opposed to calling up the general every
time something needs to done.  This is following the
generals orders, as well as, taking into ones own
hands, faced with dynamic, ever-changing situations
the micro-calculated risks, hopefully based on
training that good, but also that on the ground gut
feeling will be faced as the bullets fly and the
platoon needs an answer.  What will one do?  Must
think now, come up with a plan, be creative, and with
the ever-changing events (dq) the leaders in the
platoon will arise and get these people through this. 
If, they try to reach the objective, and can't due to
heavy casualties, hopefully the general remembers how
it was out in the field under such circumstances, and
even though if the platoon retreats, thus orders were
disobeyed, the general will understand, and new
strategies will have to be developed due to the
dynamic quality inherent in the event.
 
Thanks,
SA

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