Scott McGraw
Professor Powell
FYSM 120 – Leadership, War, and Hollywood
October 17th, 2019
Writing Prompt #6
Leaders can be defined by one moment in their lives or careers. This decision can make or break them, or in some cases be the difference between life and death. There was a very important decision that occurred in the movie “Saving Private Ryan” that perfectly exemplifies this situation. Captain Miller had to make a decision that later defined his life. During this situation Captain Miller and the group, he was with caught a German soldier and were debating whether they should kill him or keep him alive. One of Miller’s group members was completely against killing the German, claiming he was innocent and that killing him would be inhumane. The rest of his men thought that killing him was the obvious decision, especially during this period of war. Miller ultimately decided to let the man go and keep him alive. Captain Miller’s decision to let the man go was a bad decision and resulted in his death. These decisions make or break a leader, and in this situation, Miller’s decision broke him as a leader and ended up with his death.
Miller was not confident in his decision to let the soldier free. To be a good leader one should be confident in their decisions in important situations. Although it is helpful and insightful to take advice from followers and listen to their opinions, a decision like this always comes down to the leader whether they like it or not. Miller was too easily swayed towards letting the man go through one of his men. He should not have let him convince him so easily. Miller did hear the other side of the story but was already set on letting the man go. Trusting one of the opposing soldiers during this period is certainly a foolish decision. The German soldier said and did whatever he could to convince Miller that he was on their side and that he was innocent. He even said “Fuck Hitler” while being forced to dig to try and show that he was on the American side. Miller let his emotions and faith get in the way of his decision. Letting these things get in the way makes one’s decision making much less confident, and in most cases does not end well. For Miller, this decision proved to be altered by too many external factors, making it a poor decision.
Miller’s poor decision led to his death. At the end of the movie while in battle, Miller ends up getting shot by the soldier he let go. This, of course, would only happen in true Hollywood fashion but is clearly a sign that Miller’s choice earlier was a mistake. Sometimes leaders get lucky with bad decisions like this. Miller, however, got the worst of it and paid his price for his decision. It can be argued that Miller made the right decision for sticking to his morals and letting who he thought was an innocent man live, but this decision was altered by the situation. In a war-like scenario, where the American’s ultimate goal was to kill the Germans, letting a German man live is not only against the goal of the leader but is against the goal of the group altogether. The decision made some of Miller’s men lose faith in him. So not only was Miller not confident with his decision, he also went against the goal of the group and against the situation he was in.
After watching the scene in “Platoon” where Sergeant Barnes was told to destroy villagers in Vietnam, my perspective has somewhat changed. Although Barnes followed orders in what would be the correct decision in a war-like situation, he went a bit too far with his destruction. Later, Sergeant Elias had to confront Barnes about his doing’s. Although it may have been the right decisions, being unhuman in something that no leader should promote to their followers. I still agree that Miller’s decision was the wrong decision, but after seeing this specific scene in “Platoon” my confidence in this opinion has changed somewhat due to the cruelty regarding Sergeant Barnes.