When giving orders, it is best to not provide details. Rather, inform your subordinates of the mission objective(s).

While pride can be seen as negative, it can be a powerful force for good. “Pride can tear apart individuals and teams, yet...

“Discipline is the best way of taking care of your people.” Taking care of your people does not necessarily mean making...

When speaking with any member of the team, “you are the most important member of the platoon”, was always the message.

A black belt in jiu-jitsu and a battlefield commander can both see past insignificant movements and focus on the significant things.

People are born with certain traits and their life experiences have provided them with other traits. It is nature and nurture that...

The understanding of the dichotomy of everyone is the same, and everyone is different is an essential skill for leadership.

There will be times when things do not go as planned and people do and say things that are not reasonable. The good leader keeps their...

Picking up brass is the job required after training with a firearm is completed. When shooting, a brass shell casing is ejected for each...

Along with the leader developing trust and building relationships, the leader must also earn influence and respect.

The leader must be knowledgeable about the jobs of those employees that report to him/her. While they do not need to be experts,...

Leaders must consistently tell the truth, especially to themselves. However, when telling the truth, it should be done thoughtfully.

Are leaders born or made? It’s a question that has been pondered for as long as leadership has been discussed.

In a training exercise, the platoon was “attacked by the enemy”. The platoon commander...

First Platoon: Detach The author describes the ability to step back from a situation in order to get a better perspective. He describes a tr

Last summer I had the pleasure of reading Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. I also created a blog in which I recapped each

“[D]iscipline actually made us more flexible, more adaptable, and more efficient. It allowed us to be creative.”

There are no guarantees of success. But in order to succeed, leaders must be comfortable under pressure, and act on logic, not emotion.

a leader must push situational awareness up the chain of command

You could never assume such hazards weren’t waiting for you on a target. You had to assume they were...