[May 17, 2016] It was midsummer of 2006 and a group of four U.S. Army colonels deployed to combat in Iraq. I was one of them. What we had in common was that 25 years earlier we had together been a part of the Army’s Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia. What we were to experience a few months later after arriving in country, was that we would struggle to see the vision of the senior-most commander on how to destroy an enemy insurgency.
We knew all the statistics of enemy attacks, their composition, the plans to strike back, the methods to win the hearts and minds of the population, allied force capabilities, and so on. We were well-versed in all technical aspects of our job and the problems with the battlefield. However, what we did not do well was to clearly understand the intricacies of the senior commander’s vision (we call it commander’s intent in the military) on how to prosecute the war successfully.
“To see what is in front of one’s nose is a constant struggle.” – George Orwell
It is common for a leader to struggle to adjust to their new roles in any assignment, pressures of the job, the isolation of command, a need for adaptability, and doing what’s needed at the right time and place. But to struggle to see the leader’s vision is a serious problem and one that can bring about stagnation at best and failure, or defeat, at worse.
Among us four we talked about how to make the right impact in our jobs. Each of us was a senior staff officer responsible for some part of the fight against terrorism in Iraq. Yet, despite our talks with each other to try to build a picture of how we thought the senior commander wanted to fight the battle, we consistently came up short.
I had the opportunity to ask him, the senior commander and four-star general, what he thought about how the war was going and what we could do as staff officers to help him do that. It was crucial that we gained an understanding of his vision and those specific tasks he needed executed. His answer floored me. He said we were doing a great job. But I had failed to get what my friends and I needed.
Leaders often fail to “see” the vision of a senior leader or develop a vision themselves as the senior leader. It requires dogged work and deep thought. It requires a strong commitment to the mission and a full appreciation of what is needed to be successful. In war this means understanding the commander’s intent and the will of the American people. We failed to know either.
We could have made a bigger impact, I believe, but we were initially too timid to ask and too embarrassed later to get a full grasp on the battlefield needs of the senior commander. Lesson learned for a leader is to never give up on the struggle to see. None of us would ever let that happen again.
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