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This is Jocko podcast number 538 with Echo, Charles and me, Jocko Willink. Good evening, echo. Good evening, Major Christian Albert Bach, more commonly referred to as Major C A Bach, born in 1870, entered the US army as a private in the 13th Minnesota Infantry A little later. By the time he deployed to the Philippines for combat in the Spanish American War in 1898, he was a sergeant by that time. Fought with the 13th Minnesota on the right flank of the US line during the Battle of Manila, August 13, and the right flank became the most contested terrain during that battle. 13th Minnesota suffered the highest casualty rate of any American unit in that battle. He continued to see combat in the Philippine American War for the next few years after that, where Sergeant Bach was promoted and commissioned to become a second lieutenant. And then after the Philippine American War, he transitioned to the regular army, served in the 7th Cav. By the time America entered World War I, Bach was a major. And based on his experience, his combat experience from fighting in the Philippines, he started off the war, World War I, training cadets that were to become officers and to go into company command. Eventually, he did join the fight overseas. He was awarded the Silver Star, the Army Distinguished Service Medal, and then after the war, he continued to serve in the army until he retired in 1934 after 36 years of service. He, after retiring, became a military historian. He came an author. He put out some books about the history of war. Specifically, I think his most popular book was about the 4th Division and its, and its achievements in World War I. But the most enduring thing that he passed on was not something actually from his books. It was a speech that he gave to graduating students that were about to become officers or go into command as officers. Company command in Fort Sheridan in 1917. So this is right before we got into World War I. He was training officers and he, he gave this speech about the principles that he had learned about leadership when he was in combat. So let's hear how Major C.A. bach told young leaders to lead. He says this. In a short time, each of you men will control the lives of a certain number of other men. You will have in your charge loyal but untrained citizens who look to you for instruction and guidance. Your word will be their law. Your most casual remark will be remembered. Your mannerisms will be aped. I always thought aped was like a modern, you know, slang word for imitating. That's what he means. Your mannerisms will be aped. Your clothing, your carriage, your vocabulary, your manner of command will be imitated. So he goes out of the gate, you're being watched. You're being watched. And the way that you behave is the way your team is going to behave. When you join your organization, you will find there a willing body of men who ask from you nothing more than the qualities that will command their respect, their loyalty, and their obedience. That's a very, very high bar. Hey, look. Nothing more than the qualities that command their respect, their loyalty, and their obedience. They are perfectly. And by the way, I forgot to say this. So this, this speech is something that you can find. You can find little pieces of the speech throughout all, all different areas of military leadership. It's all kind of infused in various organizations, especially in the army, but it's infused a little bit in the Air Force as well. So a lot of the things might sound a little bit familiar, and it's because they're rooted. Because this speech became very, very famous inside the military. They are perfectly ready and eager to follow you. So long as you can convince them that you have these qualities. Hey, they'll follow you as long as you're a badass. When the time comes that they are satisfied you do not possess them, you might as well kiss yourself goodbye. Your usefulness in that organization is at an end. From the standpoint of society, the world may be divided into leaders and followers. The professions have their leaders. The financial world has its leaders. In all this leadership, it is difficult, if not impossible, to separate the element of pure leadership, that selfish element of personal gain or advantage to the individual without which any leadership would lose its value. So what he's saying there is, you know, if you're a banker, there's a certain amount of, what do they call it, personal advantage, personal gain that you get by being a leader in a bank or in a financial industry or in a trade. You get a certain amount of gain from that. Then he says it is in military service only, where men freely sacrifice their lives for a faith, where men are willing to suffer and die for the right or the prevention of a wrong, that we can hope to realize leadership in its most exalted and disinterested sense. Therefore, when I say leadership, I mean a military leadership. Now, there's a couple things, a couple things to navigate there. Number one, if you think military people, military leaders don't do things for personal gain, you're completely wrong. I mean, this is. I've talked about that since day one. And if you know anyone in the military, they can definitely tell you about bosses that were looking to get promoted. That's the main Thing they're looking for, they're looking to get the best possible situation for themselves. Right? So that's not true. And also in the civilian sector, when people do the right things for the right reasons, they will end up more successful. And look, are there people that do bad things, do the wrong things for and try and give themselves personal gain? Of course there are, but I'm just saying that exists in the civilian sector and it exists in the military sector as well. And you see it, you get to see it when it falls apart in the civilian sector. Some guy that's been embezzling, some guy that's been, you know, falsifying contracts or falsifying documents or falsifying what they're doing for, from their financial perspect or they're egotistical, trying to make the, like, all those things come out. And they don't come out when they win. In most cases they come out when they lose. Now look to someone, do people occasionally pull, pull it off? You know, some guy builds up some fake ass company or is abusive and just kind of gets it done and makes money? Yeah, it happens. It happens eventually. Usually they get found out, you know, but, but it does happen. So keep that in mind. It's not quite as pure as, as he mentions here, but what he does say, and I will, so, so I'm, I'm going into that one a little bit hard. But he says what we hope to realize is leadership in its most exalted form. So he's, he's, he's admitting it to like we hope to see the pure leadership.