Kyran Pina
Professor Powell
War, Hollywood & Leadership
October 18, 2019
When it comes to being a military leader, every decision is of major importance. The lives of others are in your hands and one mistake can cost a man his life. A leader must take care of his men, motivate them, and make sure they carry out their mission through extreme adversity. It is vital that the men trust and respect their leader and his decisions. However, sometimes leaders do make bad decisions that lead to negative consequences for themselves or their men. In the movie “Saving Private Ryan” I agree that Captain Miller’s decision to let the German prisoner of war go was a bad leadership decision because it weakened the morale of his men, caused tension in the unit, and ultimately cost the captain his life.
When it comes to war, the morale of the soldiers is everything. If the soldiers are feeling angry, sad, or scared no good can be done. Captain Miller had a hard time selling the mission of saving the private to his men, but he motivated them enough to try. However, when one of their companions died in a small battle, the morale of Captain Miller’s men is soiled. Everyone was on edge for someone they have known and grew fond of died trying to save the life of some “nobody.” The men ask the question of why Ryan’s life was worth more than that of their man or any other soldiers? To make matters worse, when the German soldier surrenders to them he is the one they suspect of pulling the trigger. With everyone so eager to kill the German, besides Upham (very new to the group), the best decision would have been to execute him because it would have helped with morale. This would have made the men feel a little bit better knowing they won the battle and killed every single last German who was responsible for the death of their man. When Captain Miller blindfolds the POW and sends him on his way he is just rubbing salt in the wound. This makes morale even worse for the men are now sad, angry, and drained when they still have a mission to carry out. After the POW is let go it becomes chaotic.
After Captain Miller’s decision the men wanted to be done with the mission especially Private Reiben, for he says, “I’m done with this mission” and then proceeds to walk away from the unit. This then leads to Sergeant Horvath pointing a gun at Reiben and threatening to shoot him. This is by far the most tension we see between the men for everyone is yelling and fighting while Captain Miller just stands there and puts on his gear. For a military unit, this confrontation is very unprofessional and dangerous. Miller is supposed to be influencing his men to carry out their duties, but instead, he is doing the complete opposite. This turmoil is a direct effect of Miller’s decision. If they just shot the POW it would be business as usual, but instead of fighting the enemy, the men are fighting each other. Miller makes up for his lack of motivation when brings up the pool about him. If not for revealing this massive secret then who knows what would have happened between the men. After the men continue their mission to save Private Ryan, which leads to Captain Miller’s ultimate fate.
During the final scenes of the movie Captain Miller walking in the middle of the battle and tries to grab the detonator to blow the bridge. However, he is shot in the chest by the POW he let go. Therefore, proving to us and all his men that letting the German go was a bad leadership and personal decision. The irony of this situation is that Reiben said what was going to happen if the German was let go. When Miller lets him go Reiben says, “If only he doesn’t get picked up by his own Wehrmacht first, then thrown back into circulation.” This tells us that Captain Miller knew that the German getting back into the war was a possibility and still made the decision to let him go. Reiben told him what could happen and the Captain didn’t listen. If he had, there’s a chance he would have survived on the bridge. Those are the reasons why I think Captain Miller made a bad decision when he let the German POW go. Furthermore, having watched the movie “Platoon” my thinking that leadership decisions which lead to major tension between unified men are always bad is supported. “Platoon” supported my thinking because the same situation that occurred in “Saving Private Ryan” between Harvoth and Reiben, happened with Sergeant Barnes and Sergeant Elias, however Barnes and Elias’ situation was more serious. The cause of this turmoil was once again a bad leadership decision, this time made my Barnes himself. Barnes knew it was illegal to kill an unarmed civilian, however, he chose to do it anyway to put the village people in their place and shut the lady up. This decision lead to Elias punching Barnes in the face and ultimately trying to get Barnes court-martialed. If he didn’t shoot the lady then the mission would still be a success for they burnt the village and destroyed the weapons and there would be no tension. That is why after watching “Platoon” I firmly believe those leadership decisions which lead to major tension between unified men have negative outcomes and are destructive.
In war, there will always be tough decisions and sometimes those decisions have to be made by a single man in a single moment. However, there are some decisions that are truly bad for no good can come from them. In the case of Captain Miller, his decision to let a POW go was a bad leadership decision because it hurt the morale of his men, caused a fight between his men, and lead to his death. Miller could have eliminated the possibility of that German from ever killing again, but instead, he chose to take the risk. His poor leadership decision had only negative outcomes. Furthermore, my thinking that sorry leadership decisions which created turmoil in units is always negative was confirmed by the movie “Platoon” because we see the same effects once more between when Barnes makes a bad decision. That is why I agree that Captain Miller’s decision was bad leadership.