[September 6, 2016] I’ve learned more from the failures and mistakes of leaders than from their successful traits. With few exceptions this haunting truth makes clear that being a leader can be difficult and dirty at times. My first week at the U.S. Army’s Infantry Officer Basic Course in May 1983, over 200 U.S. Army lieutenants and 30 foreign officers were introduced to the My Lai massacre which had occurred 15 years earlier in 1968.
The Vietnam War was different from past wars because it demanded military tactics and strategies that the U.S. military did not have. Political and diplomatic strategies were also different. Many say the United States failed to adapt and it’s political, diplomatic, and military war fighting needs and ultimately those needs were never met. Instead, the U.S. used brute force and did not adjust its techniques to fight in the jungles of Vietnam.
On this date, September 6, 1969 – nearly a year after the massacre at My Lai – Second Lieutenant William Calley was charged with premeditated murder in the death of 109 Vietnamese civilians.1 We were taught was that the massacre did, in fact, happen and that Calley was personally responsible as the officer on the scene. His failures on that day are legendary in the annals of U.S. Army history.
We discussed the particulars of the legal case against him, the events leading up to the massacre, the confusion on the ground, the U.S. Army cover-up, and the aftermath that went on for years. At the time we were in the Infantry course, Calley was a civilian and had already been given limited clemency by U.S. President Nixon. Some of the more plucky officers traveled to nearby Columbus, Georgia to speak with him in person to get his perspective.
Failed leaders are a necessary study so we can improve ourselves. Anyone who doesn’t spend the time to look at how leaders fail is doing themselves and their organization a disservice. Lessons from how the massacre took place and from the trial are forever embossed upon my mind and I never forget them.
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