Jackel
Verified Military
Who's read this book? any good?
The Mission, The Men and Me.
- Thread starter Jackel
- Start date
Read it. Decent, good lessons. He doesn't get sidetracked with the operational missions. Tells enough to let the reader know how they apply. Another good thing is that the lesson vignettes are not all combat. There are a couple vignettes that come from training scenarios. Worth the money but that's just :2c:
DISCLAIMER: Never served with the author, never knew anything about him until I read the book.
DISCLAIMER: Never served with the author, never knew anything about him until I read the book.
Jackel
Verified Military
thanks man, looks like I might cash in those :2c:
I thought it was a great book. I see a lot of parallels in my own life; Col Blaber ran into a lot of the same roadblocks dealing with the conventional Army that I have (substitute USMC for Army in my case). His philosophy of accomplish the mission first, then take care of your men and finally look after your own interests resounded pretty deeply with me. If more people made decisions based on this simple three step thought process much more would accomplished.
I have seen several officers knowingly make bad decisions because they received a lot of pressure from higher and were afraid to give them any push back. The directives from higher will accomplish the mission but at a greater cost to the men. According to Blaber's metric this doesn't fly and that decision needs to be scrapped. Unfortunately a lot of people will skip ahead to the "me" and make a decision based on potential repercussions to themselves or their careers. Often times it is possible to convince higher to take a different direction if you make a good case for it.
Blaber does this numerous times during Operation Anaconda. He wasn't always able to change the minds of the conventional force commanders but he did put himself and his men in a position to affect the outcome of the battle. Go buy the book, and I would also recommend Paul Howe's Leadership and Training for the fight.
I have seen several officers knowingly make bad decisions because they received a lot of pressure from higher and were afraid to give them any push back. The directives from higher will accomplish the mission but at a greater cost to the men. According to Blaber's metric this doesn't fly and that decision needs to be scrapped. Unfortunately a lot of people will skip ahead to the "me" and make a decision based on potential repercussions to themselves or their careers. Often times it is possible to convince higher to take a different direction if you make a good case for it.
Blaber does this numerous times during Operation Anaconda. He wasn't always able to change the minds of the conventional force commanders but he did put himself and his men in a position to affect the outcome of the battle. Go buy the book, and I would also recommend Paul Howe's Leadership and Training for the fight.
I'm reading it right now - lots of good things to learn from it I have...hmmm...
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- Aug 24, 2006
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I thought it was excellent. Nothing mind blowingly new or earth shattering, but excellent - it's always good to hear somethings over and over.
I liked the "Lewis and Clarke discover bin Laden" part.
JJOIFVET
Verified SOF
Good book. I could actually read it because it was well thought out and well written unlike killing Bin Laden.
Great read! I really like how he translated mission lessons learned into life lessons.
About to tackle Boykins book. I suspect it will be way different from reading Blaber's book.
About to tackle Boykins book. I suspect it will be way different from reading Blaber's book.
7
7point62
Guest
Blaber's a very good writer. I want Mrs 7point62 to read it because the hang-ups of Big Army are also the hang-ups of government bureaucracies and big corporations. People with authority feel obligated to give orders even if they don't know WTF is going on.
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