Patrick Neiswender<\/p>\n
Leadership War and Hollywood<\/p>\n
Chuck Powell<\/p>\n
10\/18\/19<\/p>\n
FYSM Prompt 6<\/p>\n
Leadership, along with many aspects of life come down to choices. There is an ignorant beauty when it comes to choices, because no one will ever know the outcome of a choice, until that choice gets made. In the military, following orders from your superior is a must, leaving little room to make your own choices. This both makes life simpler, however can compromise a person\u2019s belief in the \u201cright\u201d choice. In Saving Private Ryan, Captain Miller is sent to go find Private Ryan and bring him home. Along the way he ends up releasing a German prisoner who ultimately ends up being the German to kill Captain Miller on the bridge. While controversial amongst his crew about whether to simply kill the German or let him go I disagree with the statement that letting the German soldier go was a bad leadership decision by Captain Miller.<\/p>\n
While recognizing the unfortunate and most likely over-dramatization of that single German soldier being the cause of Captain Miller\u2019s death, he made the proper leadership decision in that moment. I believe the bad leadership decision was attacking the German\u2019s in the first place since it was irrelevant for their specific mission. Hitting the German\u2019s on Captain Miller\u2019s whim ended with the American\u2019s losing their medic, as well as forcing Captain Miller to make the tough choice of execute the German or to let him free. All of which could have been avoided if Captain Miller continued to follow orders. Because they end up killing and beating the German\u2019s in this little scuffle, Captain Miller and the remaining group of soldiers needed to get back to their actual mission and having a German POW would slow them down. Neither Captain Miller nor any other soldier would know what would have happened if they simply executed the German soldier, however Captain Miller ultimately appealed to the moral decision of letting the soldier go so they could get back to the mission. This ended up being a good leadership decision, because while although making a few soldiers quite upset, those disgruntled soldiers continued to fight for him as well as that decision causes the translator to want to fight for him now, when he was uneasy about fighting in the first place. By making the moral decision to not execute a German soldier in cold blood, Captain Miller made a good leadership decision through getting back to the mission at hand as well as implicitly motivating another soldier to fight for him more.<\/p>\n
The movie Platoon has a similar scene when the Americans get attacked by the Vietnamese and then they raid a village shortly after and Sargent Barnes ends up executing a woman, and holds a girl, who is claimed to be her daughter, by gunpoint while interrogating the father. Sargent Elias comes over and he and Sargent Barnes begin to fight after Sargent Elias claims that Sargent Barnes is not an executioner. After watching this film, my opinion on Captain Miller\u2019s decision remains the same. I remain fixed on my decision for the similar reason to what Sargent Elias says to Sargent Barnes, Captain Miller in that moment is no longer fighting that German Soldier there for he has no moral justification for executing that man post-surrender. Any unwarranted killing is inhumane and animalistic. I recognize the significance of violence in war, however once the fighting has stopped, I believe all un-justified executions are immoral and a bad decision.<\/p>\n
After watching the movie Platoon my decision on if Captain Miller made the right decision remained the same. Sargent Elias point of not being a firing squad once the fighting has stopped relay\u2019s directly to Captain Miller. Every choice that a human will make will alter the course of their life, so once the fighting is over, everyone is human and deserves the ability to act as one and not be executed in cold blood. Because of this, the choice to let the German soldier free remains the right decision by Captain Miller, while the bad decision was the fact they decided to attack the German troops in the first place.<\/p>\n
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Patrick Neiswender Leadership War and Hollywood Chuck Powell 10\/18\/19 FYSM Prompt 6 Leadership, along with many aspects of life come down to choices. There is an ignorant beauty when it comes to choices, because no one will ever know the outcome of a choice, until that choice gets made. In the military, following orders from … <\/p>\n