I've recently watched The Thin Red Line and The Sand Pebbles and I feel that both offer important lessons to military leaders.

What movies do you like and what lessons have you drawn from them?

You can't beat Band of Brothers.



Hell, they used the story of these Soldiers to instruct Marine officer candidates.

Band of Brothers taught me a lot. Major Dick Winters is one of the best leaders our country has had. I read 4 books on him so far, one of witch was written by him.

A Bright Shining Lie
BHD
The Pentagon Wars

Glory


Parts of Platoon


Parts of Saving Private Ryan

Gladiator

Pretty much if it exists, someone has done OPD on it.





If it's 1/10th of the book...



 

Band of Brothers. Not only for the spectacular leadership by MAJ Winters, CPT Nixon, and a number of the numerous LT's that served in E Co. But evn more so for the NCO corp. Those men were the embodiment of what an NCO ought to be.

What do I need to do to get a tank symbol?  I don't have a scanner.  Can I see about emailing an ORB to you?

Zulu.

Pork Chop Hill. Gregory Peck plays an LT who's got to deal with a lot of crap.

I just remembered From Here to Eternity.  I thought that one had some good stuff despite its overall negative view of the military.

I can vouch for you! (That counts, right?) CJ and I were at Benning together for a while.

Fort Apache

Good men, poorly led

Never charge up a box canyon mounted by fours.

"Boys, We've a man's work ahead of us this day"  

Mister Roberts

A Bridge Too Far and Band of Brothers.

Thanks, Steve.  Days like today I wish I'd picked the rifles instead of the cannons.

You had a choice between the 2?



 

Breaker Morant
Paths of Glory

I see them as good movies about leadership in general.

I did.

Not a movie, but the New Battlestar Galactica has tons of military leadership in it. the good the bad and the ugly.

Coincidence? I think not?


The fresh 12 O'Clock High topic has several good references.

Breaker Morant is awesome.  Gallipoli too.

Good Leadership: The Last Castle

Bad Leadership: Bridge Over the River Kwai (Le Pont de la Rivière Kwai)

I use quite a few clips from that in my classes, and its easy to find good/bad and right/wring examples and have great discussions on it.

Another fan of Winters here, also read the book "once an eagle' by Anton Myrer...anyone who really wants to learn about leadership should read that.

I thought that there were some places where Once an Eagle was a little too simplistic, but overall there is no better novel on leadership.

What parts and when did you read it?  There are some parts that were pretty obviously "right vs. wrong" but I thought they were pretty rare.



I read it first in highschool and I'm almost done reading it again with 5 months of PL time under my belt (lulz).  To me it's so much better the 2nd time through.



 

You're neither! You're an errand boy sent by grocery clerks....to collect a bill

I thought Massengale was too clearly self-serving.  And the kinky sex part that made up too much of the mini-series.

Damon was entirely believable, however.

Did you get my IM?

I agree that Messengale's character was pretty one dimensional but I also thought that was done deliberately too...the focus was on Damon's character who we are supposed to identify with the most. Great book.

It was pointed out, and I can't help but agree, that the worst leaders are those who act like Massengale but think they are Damon.

I've had a Commander like that.

300

12 O'Clock High is a classic example of good military leadership in action.  Probably the best.

a staple at the academies, I'm told....



 

Leadership?

We Were Soldiers
Command Discussion

Master and Commander

Never heard it mentioned.  These are the ones I remember.



Saving Private Ryan (Summer seminar for HS Juniors, 2004)

Gladiator (Beast, 2005)

Blackhawk Down (Beast, 2005)

Glory (PL300 Small Unit Leadership or some such, 2007)

Platoon (PL300 Small Unit Leadership or some such, 2007)

Band of Brothers (PL300 Small Unit Leadership or some such, 2007)

Pentagon Wars (ME404 Mech Engineering Design Class, 2008)

Why we Fight (International Relations, 2008)

We Were Soldiers (Well, the real General Moore came and talked to us so...2008)



If I had a different major I probably would have watched more movies, but I was too busy being a badass and learning.





 

Then.  Use this post as a learning tool.

Everything I know I learned from Apocalypse Now.

UFO, the TV series, pieces here and there, such as when Mark Bradley as the new moonbase commander, turns to Straker when the latter asks him about a moonmobile he is sending out. "I didn't know I needed your permission."
"You don't. Carry on, Commander."––Straker

In part, that's the easier to ask forgiveness than permission situation, but it is also inspiration to take charge and move out. It is also that when you put a leader in the field, you don't second guess their decisions. You put them in the field because you trust them to make the right decisions; if you didn't think that they could, then they wouldn't be there in the first place.

"City Beneath the Sea" is another one in certain aspects because it's like a sub Captain, I believe Beach but it may have been another, who made calculations of about what was possible for surfacing through the ice cap. The movie is similar to that both when he uses the aquafoil (ie, flying sub with a different name) to wedge the trapped sub free and then fires 14 ICBM's to divert the asteroid.....without presidential clearance. See what needs to be done and do it as a calculated risk.

I'm not too crazy about Star Trek for examples because it tends to be all about Shatner, but there are one or two (and they don't involve Shatner). In "Patterns of Force", the double agent who is hidden as the Secretary of the Nazi party, tells the guards to deliver Spock as a prisoner with "clear them on my responsibility". When I was doing provost marshal duties, I came out one night to find an old XO of mine trying to get on the base to play handball. I told my dispatcher to "clear them on my responsibility" and it was a very proud moment for me to make a move like that.
______________________________________________________
("We blamed you for crippling the ship as you are. Well, we were wrong! So were you! You made a command decision."––McCoy to Spock, in command while Kirk is missing, (w,stte), ST:TOS "The Paradise Syndrome")

Band of Brothers
Black Hawk Down
Sargent York
They Were Expendable
So Proudly We Hail

Yep,what I was going to post. It's popular for Air Force officer candidates too. It does an excellent job of showing good examples, bad examples, how to utilize your NCO's, priorities, taking charge, temperament, and a whole range of other behaviors.

Generation Kill had plenty of good lessons too. It did a great job of showing how a young lieutenant should act even when it wasn't the easy thing to do.

Killer Angels
Gods and Generals

As well.

One of my favorite films of all time. Lots of great lessons on leadership and warfare.  And no female characters to screw everything up.

"12 O'clock High" for sure.  How about the movie "Zulu"?

Command Decision is another movie in that genre that is pretty good. Great cast too. Clark Gable, Walter Pidgeon, Van Johnson, Brian Donlevy, Charles Bickford.