526: The 18 Things That Make You A Bad Soldier and a Bad Leader, In Battle and in Life.

Summary

Podcast Summary: Jocko Podcast 526

Title: The 18 Things That Make You A Bad Soldier and a Bad Leader, In Battle and in Life
Date: February 4, 2026
Host(s): Jocko Willink & Echo Charles

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Jocko Willink and Echo Charles dissect what makes both a good and a bad soldier—and by extension, a good or bad leader—drawing from a raw, post-battle Army research document interviewing infantrymen from the Korean War. The hosts use these frontline insights to emphasize core attributes of effective leadership and reliability, showing how these lessons transcend combat and apply to business, relationships, and everyday life.

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Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origin of the List: Raw Feedback from Combat Veterans

• Jocko introduces the discussion by referencing Personnel Research Section Report 995: Characteristics of Good and Poor Combat Performance as Reported by Infantry Men in Korea (00:06).

  • "You're gonna hear some very raw answers. ... They're coming off the battlefield and they're like: this is what's happening." – Jocko (01:04)

• 57 front-line infantrymen were interviewed in Korea, asked to describe the best and worst combat men and leaders they served with.

2. Core Characteristics of Good Combat Men and Leaders

The Army report distilled these, and Jocko unpacks each one in modern context:

Good Combat Man (04:08):

• Combat Know-How
• Sticks to Job When Things Get Tough
• Quick to Take Appropriate Action
• Remains Calm Under Fire
• Concern for Others in Group
• Orderly and Clean
• Takes Orders Well
• Learns Duties Quickly
• Motivated
• Physically Fit

Good Combat Leader:

• All above, plus:
• Directs Men Well Under Fire
• Provides Supervision & Training
• Friendly, Respectful, Loyal
• Lets Men Know He's Boss
• Shares Risk With Team
• Impartial
• Clear, Concise Orders
• Keeps Men Informed
• Understands Team’s Limitations
• Self-Confidence

Notable quote:

• “Performance of your duties. ... Win, do an awesome job and people like you more.” – Jocko (04:13)

3. What Makes a Bad Soldier or Leader?

Bad combat men and leaders demonstrate the opposite traits, with these most frequently cited:

Bad Combat Man:

• Lags behind/Needs Constant Supervision (Irresponsible or Stupid)
• Personally Incompatible (complainer, liar, disliked)
• Too Afraid (doesn't perform or outright flees)
• Selfishness
• Unnecessary Risk Taker
• Defiant to Orders
• Lacks Interest or Motivation
• Physically Inadequate
• Preoccupied with Personal Problems

Bad Combat Leader:

• Temperamental
• Takes Special Privileges
• Too Lenient
• Lacks Know-How
• Won't Admit Mistakes
• Avoids Team’s Risks
• Fails to Inform/Assist
• Neglects Team Safety

Notable quote:

• “If you just let the world happen...you end up lazy, looking out for yourself, it’s not going to go well.” – Jocko (63:06)

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Key Sections & Timestamps

Army Interview Findings and Overviews

• [00:06] – Jocko introduces the Army's field study
• [04:08] – Lists characteristics of good combat men and leaders

Deep Dive into Traits of Good Soldiers

• [08:19] – Good vs. Poor combat men comparison
• [13:24] – Practical examples (mastering your job, pushing through adversity)
• [17:44] – The importance of bias for action (“default aggressive”)

Attitude, Cleanliness, and Professionalism

• [25:04] – Why “orderly and clean” matters, both practically and symbolically
  • “If you’re hiring two people...one guy’s squared away...it’s a no brainer.” – Jocko (25:45)
• [29:20] – Warrior Kid code and the value of being always prepared

Traits of Good Combat Leaders

• [34:34] – Directing well under fire, friendly with men, but clear authority
• [40:47] – Willingness to share risk, fairness, concise orders, and listening

The Reverse: What Bad Looks Like

• [42:19] – Stories of soldiers who lag, argue, or duck responsibility
• [45:19] – Being “personally incompatible”: complainers, know-it-alls, braggarts

Selfishness, Excuses, and Blaming Others

• [53:05] – On helping the team and why even “small things” matter

Leadership—The Dichotomy

• [58:05] – Being too easy vs. too harsh; the need for balance and consistency
  • “I always felt that consistency...if he’s consistent, you’re kind of down to work for this person.” – Echo (38:41)

Combat Leadership Duties

• [75:40] – Platoon and squad leader tasks: supervision, dispersion, intrusive leadership, prioritization

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “If you just take action and make it happen...you’d be surprised how the world will accommodate you.” — Echo (21:23)
• “If you allow yourself to yell, scream, break down...if you allow that to happen, it will happen, and the emotions will be in control of you. If you go, you know what, I’m really mad right now, but I’m not going to say anything, I’m going to continue to do my job...you will become calm.” — Jocko (23:40)
• “Help the men any way you can. Boy, that’s a good mantra for a leader.” — Jocko (61:46)
• “[Leadership] is counterintuitive. Otherwise we wouldn't have to teach these things.” — Jocko (62:56)

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Practical Lessons and Takeaways

• Competence and Initiative are Crucial: Know your job inside out, and take action quickly—don’t wait to be told.
• Team-First Attitude: Helping others, not being all for yourself, is noticed and valued.
• Calm Under Pressure: Keeping your cool—externally and internally—is contagious and builds trust in a leader.
• Cleanliness and Order: Physical presentation reflects mental discipline and reliability.
• Consistency in Leadership: Whether strict or lenient, be reliable in your standards and responses.
• Self-Awareness: Recognize natural human tendencies to take the easy way out and actively fight them.
• Balance in Command: Be friendly and accessible, but don’t compromise on standards or mission clarity.
• Admit Mistakes and Take Ownership: Every subordinate knows when a leader is wrong—admitting it builds credibility.
• Fight Instinctual Weaknesses: Laziness, selfishness, and avoidance lead to mediocrity or failure—combat them deliberately.

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Final Thoughts

Jocko and Echo underscore that these are not innate traits, but choices anyone can make—daily decisions to show discipline, help your team, and grow as a leader. Whether in combat, business, or any arena of life, success boils down to the same foundational behaviors: competence, consistency, team orientation, calm, and the will to improve.

“Do not be a poor combat man or a poor combat leader. Be a good combat man and a good combat leader by making the right choices.” – Jocko (End)

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Transcript

[A]

This is Jocko, podcast number 526 with Echo, Charles and me, Jocko Willink. Good evening, Echo.

[B]

Good evening.

[A]

What makes a good soldier? What makes a good leader? What makes a poor soldier? What makes a poor leader? There are many opinions about this, and a lot of them are different. But also there are patterns, and we have certainly discussed some of the patterns of good and bad leaders. But leadership and human nature is not a science. Certainly there are a lot of variables. There's a lot of idiosyncrasies. There are a lot of nuances that make human interaction difficult. I found a. I guess it's somewhat of a scientific approach to this from the Department of the Army Personnel Branch, Department of the Army Personnel Research branch. So from 16 May to 19 July 1951, the Personnel Research Branch of the army collected data by interviewing officers and enlisted men from a bunch of different jobs in the Army. Combat arms, infantrymen who had served in direct combat in Korea. And it's not a comprehensive study by any stretch, and the sample group was relatively small. But I was thinking about this. You're gonna, you're gonna hear some very raw answers. And it's because these guys have been in combat. They're not, they don't care. They're not trying to, they're not trying to make anyone feel good. There's no sugar coating going on. They're coming off the battlefield and they're like, this is what's happening. I had a decent sprinkling of that in my own attitude, especially while I was still overseas. You know, someone's asking me something, I was going to tell them straight up, like, this is what's happening. And so that's what these guys are. These guys are in that mode of, hey, you. Oh, you want to know what, what a good leader is? Not this. Oh, it's that. So it's not a. It's a pretty small study group. I think it's like 50 or 60 guys. But I think there's some really good insight in this document. And it's called, once again, Personnel research section report 995. And it's entitled Charact Characteristics of Good and Poor Combat Performance as Reported by Infantry Men in Korea. What a great title. That's what we're, that's what we're going to learn the characteristics of good and Poor Combat Performance. Let's get to this book right here. So it starts off by saying a group of 57 infantry men, most of them with combat experience dating from the fall of 1950 were informally interviewed on the main line of resistance in Korea in June 1951. So these guys are getting interviewed in, in the field. You're not going to get any more truthful answers than that. You know, kids always tell you the truth.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Kids will be like, you look fat or you look stupid or your hair is ugly. Like your kids are going to. A combat infantryman that's currently on the line in combat. He's not going to pull any punches either. So that's what we've got here. These infantrymen represented most of the combat common combat jobs. They were each asked to describe the two best and the two poorest combat men they knew, citing instances to support their choices. So that's what we get into. List of characteristics of good combat men. Good combat men has combat know how. And this is just straight up. I like this is such a good army M Army document. Straight up. This is what's happening. Good combat men, man has combat know how, sticks to job when going, gets tough, is quick to take appropriate action, remains calm under fire, shows concern for others in group, is orderly and clean, takes orders well, learns duties quickly, has high motivation for duties, is in good physical condition. Boom. Should we just end this podcast now?

[B]

So, so that is combat know how. That's what they mean by it. Or a combat know how is one of those listings.

[A]

Yes, it's one of the things has combat know how meaning this is how you work this weapon, this is how you reload this weapon. This is how you set up fields of fire. This is how you dig a defensible position. This is where you should position your machine gunners, all that stuff, that's combat know how. And that's kind of the most important thing that they talk about. Which again is good in my mind because performance, performance of your duties. You know, when we talk about building good relationships and I always tell people, win, you know, do an awesome job and people like you more. Right. If you're, if you're losing, people don't like you as much, you're not as good at your job. And then it breaks down here and we're going to get in by the way, we're going to get into each of these a little bit deeper. But I'm just going to go through them the way they have them listed here. Good combat leader has combat know how and directs men well under fire. So same exact lead off, except for it's, it's direct men well under fire. Which by the way, that is the combat know how of a combat leader is Knowing where to put the troops. Provide supervision and training and checks on men's needs. Taking care of your people. Is friendly, respectful and loyal to his men. Lets men know he's boss. And again we're going to get into these a little bit more detail. Is willing to undergo the same risks as his men. Is impartial in treatment of men. Is explicit and his orders simple. Clearance concise. Keeps men informed as much as possible. Knows what his men can and cannot do. Has assurance and self confidence. So there you go. Those are the characteristics of good combat men and good combat leaders. And then we roll right into and again these are kind of like the overarching things we're doing some detail on these characteristics of poor combat men. Lags behind, needs constant supervision in parentheses irresponsible or stupid is too personally incompatible. Which is an interesting one. And by the way these are kind of ranked. These are never mind kind of, these are ranked. These are what the most important was down to the least important one. Not a huge disparity in how different they were. But the most important thing is like this person can't do their job by themselves. They need constant supervision or they lag behind. Is number two is, is personally incompatible meaning we don't like you. Is too afraid, doesn't perform adequately. Is too afraid, bugs out. Documented coward. Is all for himself. Takes unnecessary risks. Is unwilling to follow orders. Lacks interest. Is physically inadequate. Is preoccupied with personal affairs. These are the poor combat man and the poor combat leader. Number one is temperamental. Number one takes special privileges. Number two is too easy with his men. By the way these are the men judging going you're, you're too easy with the boys. Lacks combat know how, won't admit mistakes. Lack of ownership. Is unwilling to undergo same risks as men. Fails to give his men proper information and assistance. The last one fails to take proper precautions for his men's safety. So those are kind of the, the broad categories that we're talking about and it goes on here, makes this note. The single response category used most frequently in describing poor combat men was lags behind. Needs constant supervision, irresponsible or stupid accounting for 21% of the responses. So that's kind of when you just have a non starter, you know what I'm saying? Like you're just dumb or you're just, you just can't do the job.

[B]

Can't do it.

[A]

You just can't do it. Yeah. And next in order of frequency was is personally incompatible. Most referring, most response referring to a tendency to complain too much or to lie and then is all for himself was also frequently mentioned. 11% of the responses falling into this category. So comparison of good and poor combat men. This is the next little section here. If good combat men were often described as having given characteristics and poor combat men were often described as having the reverse of that characteristic. So clearly this isn't like a mystery. The control of fear appeared to be of paramount importance to the respondents in evaluating combat success. We haven't heard that yet, but we'll get into it. Combat know how was clearly considered a prerequisite prerequisite of good combat performance. 23% of the responses included it as a characteristic of a good combat man and a good combat leader. The most frequently mentioned category describing poor combat men was lags behind, needs constant supervision. This is why if you can step up and take ownership, like if you're working wherever you're working right now and you can step up and you can just oh, I got that, I'm run with it, you're gonna go places. And if you don't and you go, oh, well, what I need to do again, how do you want me to do that? What can you check my work? You're not going to go anywhere. It is interesting to note that while the possession of combat know how was the outstanding characteristic of good combat men, the absence of combat know how was not frequently mentioned in describing poor combat men. So if you didn't, if you didn't know everything perfectly but you weren't in a leadership position, okay, will, will escort you along. Certain personnel personal traits appear to have been regarded as important. The predominance of personal incompatibility in the description of poor combat men had its counterpart in such traits as consideration and cooperation describing good combat man and the traits of consideration and fairness describing good combat men. Good combat leaders. So isn't it strange that you know, everyone thinks about the military and you're just another number and you better just follow orders? No, it's actually really important that you are disliked by the team. If the team doesn't like you, things aren't going to go well. Experienced infantrymen describe good and poor combat men most frequently in terms of competence and dependability. Poor combat men were most frequently described in terms which indicate an inability to control fear. Frequency of reference to leadership characteristics in describing good men suggests that the best combat men tend to be chosen for positions of leadership. So that's a good sign. We at least get the good people to step up and do the jobs and this is where we get into and that's the report right there. Which would be a relatively straightforward. But when I started reading the actual responses and you start seeing some clarity behind these things. So characteristics of good combat men has combat know how and here's the examples could set men in a good position. He was wonderful at estimating range. And back in the day, dude, you're trying to estimate range now we have laser range finders and we got all, you know, even our scopes that they're milled out, you can do. There's a bunch of tricks to the trade now, but back in the day, like, oh, that looks like about 480 meters. Dial it in. Boom. Accurate gunner. He can put a mortar where they want them. Smart, use his head. Not foolish or hard headed again, you know, we get the Hollywood gunny that rolls in, we're doing it my way. Oh, actually not hard headed. Knew his work, knew his weapon, knew his gun from one end to the other. If anything went wrong with it, he could fix it right away. Even in a fight within two rounds, he could hit a target. See, this is where if you're, whatever your job is, we answered some questions like this on the underground. You know, we have, we have a couple people that have written in recently that are in their life is not in a good spot for a variety of reasons, and they're in a position where they kind of got to start again. They, they have nothing. Right. And you know, one of the responses that I've been giving those people is like, listen, okay, you, you need to go find a job. I don't care what that job is. And you bust your ass at that job. And if you're the fry guy working at a fast food joint, you master it and you do it to a point where no one can, no one has to tell you what to do. You master that thing. And when you master the fry guy doing the fries, you're gonna get promoted to grill. And then you master the grill, you keep doing that over and over and over again and eventually you're gonna look up in eight years and you're gonna have a legit job as a manager of two freaking restaurants and making real money, by the way. So that's what we need to do when you, when you go and you embark in labor in jobs you need to do the best, do to the best of your ability, and you need to work a little extra hard. This one, one place where people's ego can get in the way. Instead of saying like, well, hey, how do you. Can you show me how to do that again. They just don't. They don't ask that little question, can you show me how. Can you show me how to set that timer again on the fries? And they don't want to look stupid, so they don't ask. Now they don't know how to do it. And now they burn some fries. You see what I'm saying? You got to engage in the. In the vocation that you're getting engaged in. You got to get into it. Next one sticks to job when going gets tough. And they again, these guys are in combat, they're giving answers. Had it pretty rough at chip young. The enemy could see our flashes and had high ground. He just kept on firing. This is a dude that was like, okay. Oh, we get slammed at lunch and the fries are behind and people are yelling and screaming. This guy's like, cool. Hey, put more in. Got this. Hey, let me fire the back burner. You know what I'm saying? He's going to make things happen. When we'd get rounds on us, he'd keep firing. He wouldn't let it worry him. Sniper shot went through his leg. He went to medics, bandaged, and came back to the hill. Continue to run. Squad, though, he couldn't get around much. Bro, this is your boy. This is in the good lane.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Enemy started coming up. He started firing long bursts. Enemy knocked his gun out. He killed enemy with.45. They brought it. They brought another machine gun. Enemy knocked that out, too. He got carbine on until they bayoneted him. By the way, American fighting man coming at you. Oh, cool. You took out my machine gun. Roger. I'm going at you with my.45. You bring me a new machine gun. I'll get that thing up while you take that thing out.

[B]

Cool.

[A]

Car bean. Until I'm out of ammo, I get bayoneted. That's what we're doing. That's what you got to do to get in the good category. Over here is quick to take appropriate action. It doesn't say perfect action, doesn't say exceptional action. It just says appropriate. Couldn't get a good field of fire to get squad out of a trap. Shorty found a piece of old uniform, wrapped it around air jacket of the machine gun, and walked up over a hill firing over the top of the squad's head. Dude. Freaking legit American machine gunners. That should be a thing. It is a thing, actually. Props to our American machine gunners figuring out how to make things happen. So, you know, the. The barrel of the weapon gets really hot. Yeah, so you. That's why you have it on a tripod or a bipod, so you can fire it. You don't have to hold it. So this guy sees that the. His guys are pinned down, so he just grabs a piece of old uniform, throws it over the barrel so he can hold it without burning his hand, and just. Man, carries that thing up while laying down, fired over his squad's head. Get that guy a freaking. An army combat. An army achievement medal with V. That's what he's gonna get for that, because Korea, freaking legit. Next one. And again, this is quick to take appropriate action. No one's gonna tell you, like, hey, we've never done this before. You've never fired this machine gun from the hip before. It's too hot to carry. Figure all this out. But he's gonna figure it out, take appropriate action in ambush. Truck driver got hit, couldn't move. He ran out under machine gun fire when no one else would and bandaged him and dragged him back. Got hit doing it. Another one save saved boy's life. Medic patched up. Boy didn't do a good job. He fixed bandage, which saved the boy's life. Again, just appropriate action. Think about how good your life would be if you quickly took appropriate action at all times.

[B]

Because that's literally what I was thinking right there. And it. And it really goes deep because, you know, this whole. The whole list, you know, is like, that's not. That's not anything groundbreaking. Oh, you know, each individual one, it's like, oh, you know, takes responsibility or, you know, this. I'm like, okay, that all makes sense. But it's like, it's. I think it's very useful sometimes to shine a light on certain things for that reason.

[A]

Why we're here, bro.

[B]

Bro. Exactly.

[A]

That's why we're here.

[B]

So it's like this idea of making things happen, taking appropriate action, right? Like making. I'm like, going through the inventory of things that I've failed to do that, you know? You know, because let's face it, there's a hierarchy of things that are important, but a lot of those things that you kind of put off or whatever, if you just. If you just take action and make it happen, or if you have that attitude in general towards everything, like, I can just. Like, right now, I'm just starting to imagine all the benefits of that would be revealed, you know?

[A]

Yep. It sort of goes right in the. In the lane with default aggressive and. Or a bias for action. Think if. If you're like, hey, in all situations, I'm going to be quick to take the appropriate action. If you're thinking about that, you're going to do stuff. If you're not thinking about it, things happen and you're kind of discombobulated, and they continue to happen. The world happens to you.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So we're trying to prevent that. We're trying to take appropriate action quickly.

[B]

The, the world happening to you, like, when you. Because a big, the fundamental, A fundamental part of it is your attitude towards it. Right. So when the world happens to you, it has this knack, we'll say, for putting up these little roadblocks.

[A]

The world does.

[B]

The world.

[A]

Oh, the world's against you.

[B]

Yeah, well, it seems, it can seem.

[A]

Like that, but no, no, no, it is like, if you, if you don't, if you don't fight against the world, the world just is going to crush you. You don't, you know, I, I, you, you've been to Hawaii.

[B]

Yeah, bro.

[A]

So I was looking at a, a house in Hawaii. And the thing is, in Hawaii, you can see that nature is going to, is going to take the house.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

You know what I'm saying? Like, you, you get here in Southern California, you go into 10 miles inland in Southern California and you build a house. That house is going to pretty much be there for a thousand years. Like, it'll be a little bit faded. The paint will fade a little bit or something, but it's going to be there. You leave a, A house in Hawaii alone for, like, three years, that thing's gone, dude. It's part of the jungle gets absorbed.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, that's true.

[A]

And that's the way the world is. The world, like, it will just overtake you and conquer you if you're not actively pruning back vines, you know, digging stuff out, redirecting water, like you got, checking, cleaning the roof off, making sure the mold's not getting, like, vine. Like, it's just the way it is. Yeah, that's the way the world is. The world's constantly trying to just put you in your place and overtake you. And so you have to do, do things to prevent it from happening.

[B]

Yeah. And these. Yeah, that's actually a good way to look at it. I think a lot of these roadblocks, though, are. Barriers are way weaker than they might seem. Sometimes when you have, like, that attitude of, like, no, no, no, I'm just going to like that, that extreme example, but a real good example, the barrel getting hot. And I'm saying, no, no, no, that's not a barrier for me. You know, there's a way over this, you know, through this. If you have that attitude. Yeah, I feel like you'd be surprised how the world will accommodate you.

[A]

It. You're right. It doesn't take much to cut the weeds back a little bit. It doesn't take much to check the gutters are clear so you don't get leaked, you know, it doesn't take much. It's like little tiny actions. But if you don't do anything, bro, you're just. Your house is gone in three years in Hawaii, you're just gonna get taken.

[B]

That is true.

[A]

Another one. And again, I had to select which one because you could just read these all. They're all awesome. One night, One night were attacked in a small perimeter. Gunner and assistant machine gunner killed. He jumped out of the hole with a pistol and recovered the machine gun. Do you know what that takes, bro? Like, you're getting attacked and the machine gun gets. The machine gun team gets taken out. So now you don't have your machine gun anymore. And homeboy just gets out of the hole with his pistol and goes and recovers this machine gun, drags it back under fire. That's what we're doing. Remains calm under fire. So this is so important. It's so important to keep your emotions in check. Heavy 30 cal machine gunner. He was brave and didn't get nervous if mortar or other enemy fired on our position. He just went on with his job. My first scout. Coolness and calmness are what makes him good. Wasn't scared of anything. Had three machine guns knocked out from under him. Always cool under fire. Not excited, worried like all of us, but didn't show it. That's important. It is really important to remain externally calm. And you might not feel externally calm, but you gotta learn to suppress those emotions and not let them out and let them be visible. And in my opinion, if you do that, you will actually be getting control of your emotions in real time. If you allow yourself to yell, scream, whatever, breakdown, whatever it is, if you allow that to happen, it will happen. And the emotions will now be in control of you. If you go, you know what? I'm really mad right now, but I'm not going to say anything. I'm going to continue to do my job. I'm going to continue to have normal face. If you do that, you will become calm. Remain calm under fire. Next, shows concern for others in group. This is what people notice. Protecting rest of platoon helps guys without getting too rough. Never Interfered with anyone else unless he could help them. That's a really nice one. Like, dude, if you don't have any, if you can't help out the situation, why are you running? Your sock. Would share anything he had with you. Kind of awesome. Would pull guard all night, lots of times. So that, that's it. You've got to show concern for the group. You got to take care of the team. Orderly and clean. One of the cleanest men in the outfit. Every night he cleaned his gun. Took extra care of his gun. He was clean. Also his equipment. Extra good care of his weapon and equipment. Tent webbing, always an inspection order. Isn't it interesting? You get these guys, they're in the, some of the most treacherous combat and they're asked what makes a guy a good combat trooper. And they're like clean. I agree.

[B]

Yeah, that's, that's a weird one. Not weird, but even in everyday life. So you were, you're saying something about the underground, you know, the guys. He's not in a good place. Right. Where do we start? That being orderly and clean compared to, let's say not seems like a big deal. And it's not. And it's not even like a like overtly big deal. It's almost like a covert big deal. So like, you know, some people, they just don't care about that kind of thing. And then you compare it to someone who does and not like. And I'm not saying like full style, you know, not that just like squared away.

[A]

We'll say, yeah, that's a very good way of putting it.

[B]

So if you, you do this very easy thought experiment where you're hiring two people to be of make fries or something, right. And one guy shows up, he's squared away, clothes fit, squared away, shaved or whatever, whatever it looks like. And the other guy is simply not. But it's like a no brainer, no brainer, you know, like there's no reason to choose the guy who's on, you know, everything else being equal. And it's kind of by far too.

[A]

No, it's, there's no doubt about it. And this is, you know, this is one of the reasons why like in tasking a bruiser, I was very much a stickler on uniforms. When we went look, I wasn't. And, and by the way, me being. This isn't like we were doing uniform inspections every day. I never did any. I don't think we even did. Maybe we did one uniform inspection to make sure guys had their dress uniform ready in case we Needed it for whatever reason. The reason would be some kind of a memorial service in America. But I don't know if we ever, like, literally. We probably inspect a few times, but my point being, the army and the Marine Corps, you walk into a briefing and you look like a slipknot. You are not going to get hired to do the job. They're just not going to. It's the same thing that you just said. Like, I wouldn't want this slob over here to make my french fries, and I wouldn't want this slob over here to be out in the field in an overwatch position protecting my guys. Yeah, it's not happening.

[B]

It's weird how your mind just kind of almost like, connects the dots. Almost like. Okay, you ever. Ever been around or. No. You've ever known somebody who pretty much every. Every time you see them, they're, like, either wearing a suit or, like, they're squared away, right? Usually. And then, let's say, I don't know, you catch them on an off day, maybe see them at the store or something like that, or at the park, and they're, like, not shaved, and they're, like, in, like, more casual clothes. A part of your mind is kind of like, brad did. Are you okay? You know, like, you. They don't seem like all there, you know, kind of like, oh, is something bad going on? Or, you know, you just have. I'm not saying that's what's going on, but you kind of get that feeling, you know, when you ever had that experience? Like, a lot of times when it's like, people you work with, Right?

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. I'm trying to think if I've ever had that feeling. I guess I just seems. What Might seem out of character, you know, where I go, oh. Kind of makes me just think, Yeah, I guess. Are you okay?

[B]

Yeah. So I. I worked with this guy. He was an older guy. And this is not a big deal, but I'm just saying it's a small example of it. And he'd always have his hair, like, gelled up. Right. He's a bartender. And then I saw him, and it was at the store, outside the store, and his hair was just, like. Just not done, you know, like, just not done up. He does his hair up for work, you know, like, he's really puts it together.

[A]

Okay, so now we're going to, like, there's a certain. Yeah, yeah, you can go overboard, obviously.

[B]

Yeah, fully. And I'm not saying he had this updo, and I'm just saying it was like done for work, you know, just like how you shave for work or something like this. But I saw him outside of work. Obviously he wasn't working and his hair just wasn't done. It was just normal. It wasn't messy or nothing. It was just normal. He just didn't look as put together. But of course not when you logically look at it in, you know, the.

[A]

Grocery store from his house. Exactly. Right. Milk or whatever.

[B]

Yeah, but you're. I was so used to seeing them all done up that when I saw him casually, it was kind of like I got that feeling. Kind of like, bro, are you okay? You know, like there, there had been a series of bad decisions made and now he's kind of, you know, at rock bottom kind of feeling, you know? But I was like, no, no, but it's just that comparison.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know, when someone's squared away, they seem squared away in everything and when they kind of aren't, they kind of seem like they aren't squared away in kind of everything.

[A]

Yeah, the. In the Warrior Kid books, I mean, it's like this is in there. Warrior Kid code number six. The Warrior Kid keeps things neat and is always prepared and ready for action. Right. I mean, I wrote this book 10 years ago or I guess nine years ago. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, it's a thing. Yeah, it's a thing. And listen, we've talked about this too before. I believe in functional cleanliness. Right. Like, I don't, you know, I'm not going to fully detail my car every Monday. Yeah. You know what I mean? Because my, it's. I live in Southern California. Like the car is going to get dust on it. That's just the way it is. I don't. I'm not going to fully detail my car every Monday. But you're going to be able to get in my car. If you need something from in my car, it will be where it's supposed to be. If you're going to get into my car, you won't have to move a bunch of trash to get your seat. You see what I'm saying? If we get in a car accident, we'll be able to exfil the vehicle very quickly. It's just if we got to give a bunch of people a ride, I don't have to be like, hold on a second, let me go to the garbage can. You know what I'm saying? So I'm not talking about that over overdone situation, but things neat, orderly, clean, ready for action, I think. Ready for action is sort of what I put in the warrior kid book. Like my own. My own gym at my house. I've had people go, you know, you should clean up that chalk on the floor. Hey, there's not excessive chalk on the floor, but there certainly is chalk on the floor. And there's going to be chalk on the floor every day. Because I'm not going to every day go in there and get out a mop and a bucket and get the chalk off the floor. It doesn't matter. It's completely functional. In fact, in a lot of ways, it's a little bit more functional because you have a little bit more traction, whatever. So there's function. Things have to be functionally clean. And if they're not, we got a problem. And here's the thing. I think the whole point of this is we all notice this subconsciously. We all see when someone is not. Would you use put together when someone is not put together or their gear is not put together? You know, their gear being, you know, the briefcase that they carry or their tool bag that they have, like whatever the clothes that they're wearing. You, those things matter. So pay attention to him. He keeps himself and his equipment up. He's just a damn good example of a good soldier. He never loses or forgets his equipment. That's how you. That's how you lose and forget stuff. By the way, you're not squared away. He gets us clean or good clothes somehow or another. And he keeps us supplied with oil, bore cleaner and ammo. He always selects our position. Another one neat soldier. Shaves whenever he gets a chance. Takes care of halazone in the H2O, which is the old water purifier they used to use. Uses foot powder, changes socks. Discipline self. This is what troopers noticed about good combat men. Takes orders well, does any job like they want it done. Any duty or detail that came up, he would do without griping. Never. Always ready and willing. Reason we call good men good soldiers is that they're willing and don't argue. And they always suggest things that slip your mind. We'll go right ahead and do anything. You can ask, you ask him. Isn't it interesting? Always suggest things that slip your mind. So when you're in charge, you tell someone to do something, they do it. But then they're like, hey, by the way, boss, we should do this as well. So this isn't just like a robot. This is a thinking combat leader. Next one learns duties quickly here. Three months gunner already. Reach gunner in three months. It's just again, when they show you how to work that fry the fryer. Learn how to work the fryer. Ask the questions, understand the methodology. Has high motivation for duties. Type of guy, always does his best, interested in job, likes weapon, career man is in good physical condition, never fell out on march. And now we. So those are the characteristics of a good man. Those are the responses. Here's some of the responses. For good combat leaders has combat know how and directs men well under fire. For examples here, when we were ambushed and he was hit by a burp gun twice in the arm, he. He remained calm, got the squad into position and safe. Then a few hours later, when, when all was okay, he went back to the aid station check. Not scared. When we bonsai. He kept men in line, arranged for proper base of fire. Old platoon, old platoon leader bugged out on us. He took over. He organized the platoon and organized the position. If he hadn't taken over, a lot of men would have been in bad shape. God, can you imagine getting back to like the rear and you see the guy that bugged out.

[B]

What is. What does that mean?

[A]

Ran, but.

[B]

Oh, like, like left?

[A]

Yes, left.

[B]

Damn.

[A]

Yeah. Knew how to move men around when needed. He knew all the weapons and how to deploy them and the men using them. Good leader who knew his job. Good professional knowledge. So you got to know your job. Understand that. Frying machine provide supervision and training and checks on men's needs. Kept men out of trouble. Knew how to maneuver men to get the job done. Just took care of the men like they were his. Again, this is good combat leader. Sees what men use, need and turns it in reports so they'll get it. That's administrative actions. Oh, you guys need new boots. Cool. I gotta do a report. I gotta explain where your boots are. Explain we need new ones. How many pairs, what sizes? He's gonna do that, Supervises his men. Make sure they get clothes, equipment, etc. He always saw that we got chow no matter how hard it got, no matter how hard to get it. Checks to see if we have enough ammo and equipment. He was always good about attending every little detail, Attending to every little detail. Always looked out for the men, made sure the holes were deep enough. Is that easy to go to a guy that's been digging in a freaking frozen ground for three hours and be like, dude, that's not deep enough. Dig more. That's not easy, but that's what you got to do. That's what your men want you to do. Checked guard to make sure the men were awake. Checks holes regularly day and night to see if men were okay and alert. He'd go up and down the line behind the hill to keep them going. If he saw men who should have move, he tapped them on the shoulder and tell them to move up around camp. He always tried to train his squad to make them better. Yes, that's not a complaint. That's not in the bad combat leader area. The good combat leader around camp when we could have time to rest. Yeah, we're gonna get some rest, but we're also gonna train. Here's the one that you might find shocking. Here's the section you might find shocking. Military combat leaders out there. Hard nose right here it is. Is friendly, respectful and loyal to his men. And what are these actual responses sound like? Cheerful. Always has you laughing. Friendly, friendly. Never mad. Always willing to help you do anything. Combine friendliness with force. So you never resented an order, never argued. Little dichotomy activity going on there. Treated his men right and they stuck with him. Gave orders in a nice way. Never rushed his men. He took care of his men. He was good to his men. On a seven day march over the hills, he kept platoon morale up. Fought for rights of his platoon. Gave a hand to the men carrying ammo. So that's what, that's what we're doing. Friendly, respectful and loyal to your, to your team. Help your team. Good relationships with the team. This is one that's a. Sounds a little almost like opposite of that. Lets men know he's boss. So what does that look like? Gets men to respect him and know he is boss. Tough when necessary, but gets along with the men. Makes them understand he's the boss. Disciplined to maintain good organization. Stern spoken jokes and can still tell you to do something when it's time. There's a perfect dichotomy like hey, we're having a good time, but when it's time to get something done, this is what we got to do.

[B]

I always felt that consistency, just being consistent, like you can be like a. And I'm thinking of my football coaches for some reason. But there was this guy who's like real strict for. It was like half the year. I felt like he was real strict, but he was real consistent with how he was strict. And he was actually kind of like. He'd say some mean stuff too. Thinking back in the, in the moment, it's kind of like whatever because the football culture is kind of like you yell a lot and stuff like that. But he was really consistent, you know, like he was really. It was. We could rely upon what he would be mad at and what he wouldn't be bad at, you know?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And then slowly we started funny. Started losing, like, a lot. Right. And there was like, kind of rumors of like, oh, yeah, they might replace the coaching staff, which they did, by the way, but whatever. And I could slowly see him and other coaches too. But really it was with him where. Because he was my direct coach, I seen him be inconsistent. Like, sometimes he'd be way more mad. And I was like, bro, that, like, I start to lose respect for his, like, coaching.

[A]

You know, that you are even more right than you know. And the. The where this is really important is as a parent.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You have to be consistent as a parent. If you fly off the handle one time with a kid or fly off and then don't let something slide another time, that's not good. If you fly off the handle with one kid, but you let it slide with another kid, that's not good consistency it. And it is definitely true. Like, you ever work for someone where everyone's kind of on eggshells? Cause they don't know which guy is showing up today? That's terrible. Oh, yeah, that's absolutely terrible.

[B]

Yeah. And it feels like you kind of. Not only will you tolerate, you kind of respect the guy, even if he's super strict and you know what, but if he's consistent, you kind of know what you're gonna get. You're kind of like, I'm kind of down to work for this person, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah, man.

[A]

So this is letting people know he's boss. He says he can be rough on eight balls. Put them on details. And eight balls is like slang for, you know, basically a guy that's a problem. Strict got along okay. If he did. If you did what you were told he was strict. Knew the army. When a platoon leader gives the platoon an order, he sees that his squad does it. So making things happen. The next one is willing to undergo the same risks as his men. And this one's real consistent. Never asked a man to do anything he wouldn't do himself. He was right up there with the men under fire. Men trust him because of their. Because of this. If he stayed in the rear, men would think he was risking their lives without risking his shows self in combat. Doesn't drives the men leads. Leads them. Never asked men to do anything he wouldn't do himself. Men have trust in him.

[B]

He.

[A]

They'll know he'll be there. Doesn't let a man do something he wouldn't. So there you go. This is, this is why you have to, you, you have to take on the risks of the troops. And can you do it every single time? No, but you can definitely do it. Is impartial in treatment of men. Treats men all the same. Doesn't have biased opinion against them. Doesn't pick on one man for details all the time. And details just like a job. Rotates duties when they're dangerous. Fair. Gives everyone a chance to make rank. So yeah, being fair, that's a, that's a huge deal. Next one is explicit in its orders, tells the men what he wants before they do it and then they put out. Check. He always explained everything so we could understand. Check. Simple, clear, concise. Keeps men informed as much as possible before going in. Tells them all the scoop he's got and let them know what to expect. Keeps the men informed. Knows what his men can and cannot do. And then the last one has assurance and self confidence. He knows what he's doing. There you go. Those are pretty powerful. And now we get into the characteristics of poor combat men and again there's, we could leave it at just what's good, but when you hear what's bad, you go, oh yeah, oh yeah. Lags behind, needs constant supervision. Irresponsible or stupid. Had to keep in the CP area. No good on the line. You could never depend on where he would be in combat. Bogged down in every attack. Wouldn't get up the hills. Falling out all the time. Getting lost. Gold bricked and lagged behind. Said he couldn't make it even though he's physically able. Last one in formations and Garrison's and Garrison got to stay on him to make him do anything. This is just people that are lazy, stupid, irresponsible, don't care. He was fu on one of those guys that if in the, if he had ammo he didn't have a rifle and if he had a rifle he didn't have ammo. He wasn't sharp. Didn't use his head in combat, didn't carry his equipment with him. So these are like basic things, right? Basic, basic things. That's why you know, you don't want to be that guy. You know you don't want to be that guy. You want to have your, your gear with you. You don't want to fall out in physical situations. If they need volunteers, put your freaking hand up. Personal. This is the interesting one about incompatibility is personally incompatible. Don't like to have him around. Argues all the time and thinks he knows it all. Damn, dude. Don't wait. We have a. Like when you're a little kid you get. You call people a know it all. Yeah, that's a thing. Don't be like that. Here's an another example. If he would just shut up and quit shooting off his big mouth about everything, he could at least be bearable. He's a good radio operator when he works forward observer in combat. But. But he's hard to deal with and poor example so it tears down the outfit. Wish to hell we didn't have him. That's a person that's doing a good job. Hard to get along with when there is no trouble. He is very brave. This is such a good little note to self. Listen to this. Always topped the stories. He would always have twice as much and twice as good of everything. That little one upmanship that happens. He was always bragging like what a good cadre man he was back in the States. Thought he was a big shot, fairly friendly. But we all knew him for a big bag of wind. Bitched too much. He was kicked out of another platoon for bitching too much. Always bitching about something natural for men to. But he carried it too far. Always bitching. These are just repetitive. As soon as he got hit, he dropped. Found him three days later. Lied about what he did. Wrote himself up for a Silver Star.

[B]

Damn.

[A]

When in hospital he lied sufficiently to get Bronze star with V and Purple Heart. No good. No good. Is too afraid and is too afraid. Is broken into two categories. One is doesn't perform adequately. The other one is bugs out. So doesn't perform adequately. Scared in a fight. Lags back. Fires only if he thinks it's necessary to defend himself. He acts like a girl. Clumsy, awkward, tripping over things. Wouldn't trust him. Kind of scared like a girl would act. Stays low and whole. Again, I apologize. This is 1951. This is the way these guys were thinking on patrol. Only fired his rifle once every two hours. More scared of his rifle than he was of the chinks. Again, this is inappropriate language, but this is what the document says. One night, attacked in foxhole with blanket over his head. Too scared to move. Nervous, no guts. Gotta be pushed. Platoon sergeant, Rifle Platoon. Scared. Doesn't fire. Stays laying in goddamn hole. Puts himself up for medals and ratings. Wouldn't allow machine gun to fire at enemy because he was afraid it would bring mortar fire in there. No good rifleman to be on the line with. Afraid to fire his rifle. So there you go. Those are those Are not performing adequately. And then you get into just too afraid. Bugs out. Says his back was hurt. Medics can't find nothing wrong with him at all. Didn't want to go up the hill. Said his back hurt. Went on sick call. Came back the next day after the fighting was over. Never did complain about the back when no fighting was in. Prospect when attacked was supposed to come off, he accidentally shot himself through the hand. Shot himself in the fleshy part of his hand once and got a week and a half hospital rest. But was never tired. Never tried. Said his pistol went off by accident. Never found him until the scrap died down. Bugged out twice. Once carrying some rounds up for mortars. A burp gun opened up on him and he dropped the ammo and went back to the bottom of the hill. Strictly scared. Nervous enemy opened up. Had gone in the hole and hid. Threw ammo away to move fast. So there you go. Those are people that just running away. The next one is. Is all for himself. He's all for himself. Never helps or is friendly with anyone. Even doesn't like it if you ask him for a drink of water or a cigarette. He's got a good attitude for a free world. I can do what I want independent. And Garrison only does his job and no more. Only thinks of himself. Same way in a fight. Digging foxhole doesn't p in. We'll do his share, but not a bit more. This is again you. You were talking earlier Echo like put. Just keep this front of mind because you don't think it's a big deal. You don't think it's a big deal to help the people move the boxes to help cleaning up the floor. To somebody spills something, you go give them a hand. You just. You just don't think it's a big deal. You think no one notices. Everybody notices that you're all for yourself on the line. He wouldn't want to help others. He said why should I help clean the gun? I'm not a gunner. He always has an excuse for not helping. Men don't like him. He's selfish. Doesn't share. So there you go. Do not be all for yourself. Next one. Takes unnecessary risks. Doesn't care about giving away position by firing when he shouldn't. On patrol we drew fire. Squad leader said to get in position behind a rock or a tree or something. He sat down on the path right in the ridgeline with a rifle across his lap. We started out. He'd stand straight up on the skyline. Went to sleep on guard. One Night they attacked, he woke up just in time. Had his shoes off and everything. Takes more chances than are necessary. Next one is unwilling to follow orders. Doesn't give a damn about what he's being told. Bad temper. Doesn't like people to tell him things. Likes to do it his own way. Don't want anyone to tell him what to do. Do something wrong and he'll and tell him about it and he couldn't take it. So this is just people that just can't get on board. Gives a lot of lip to the squad leader. He's a hothead. When told to clean the gun, he just lay around. And when told again he'd come back with more lips. Lacks interest. Drafted and just didn't care for the country or the army. Took no interest in anything. Lagged behind. Didn't care about learning, getting ahead or a damn thing. Didn't care much or try much. Man, it is so important to get in the game in whatever you're doing. Is physically inadequate, not physically fit. Can't keep up on marches. Cracked up a couple times. Threw down equipment and started started back saying he was going home. Rejected twice before on draft. Don't look as if it is he's fitted for combat. All run down. Lagged behind, couldn't keep up. He spent most of his time with us in the hospital. Frozen feet. Is preoccupied with personal affairs. He had a wife and kid in Germany. Worries about them, does not want to get killed. Had a wife and two kids. Thought a lot about them and worried about them. His folks aren't well, his dad has cancer. He worried. Worried he's broods around. Got to have that little ability to separate work and home. Very important. And now we get into the characteristics of a bad or poor combat leader. Number one is temperamental. Had a bad temper. Does say things at times a person can resent. Would hear something and jump on a guy but occasionally backdrop if he was wrong. So you want to remain calm. Take special privilege drawing cards for taking turns at guard. He'd fixed it so he'd go first because everybody wants that first because you're already awake so you're like oh, I'll take a watch right now and then echo. You can get it at 3 o' clock in the morning. You know, tell a man not to do something then he would do it himself. Like drinking whiskey. Is too easy with his men. His only fault would be that he's sometimes a little too easy with goof offs. Played around with the men too much. They would laugh at him and he wouldn't and wouldn't do what he wanted to get done. Figured he was their buddy and they could say, screw you. It happened under fire on Hill 202. So you got it. That's the dichotomy of leadership. Close enough with your men, but not so close that they don't understand what the mission is and what we're doing. Squad leader didn't know how to place men in position or tell them how the enemy would come. That's lacking combat. Know how, won't admit mistakes. He was bad because when he was wrong, he would not admit it. Just a little thing. It doesn't take that much. Everybody knows you're wrong. Everybody knows you're wrong. Everybody knows you're wrong. It's glaringly obvious when you're in a leadership position. Everybody knows you're wrong. Admit it, take ownership of it, and then you can move on. Is unwilling to undergo the same risks as his men, Big wheel and garrison. But in combat he would order others to do something and would wait out of danger. We counterattacked Hill on second and he turned platoon over to assistant. He came up afterwards to see how he made out. Fails to give his men proper information and assistance. Never gave out information, never helped. A man fails to take proper precautions for his men's safety. As a squad leader, he was a bit careless at times. For example, he sometimes let men throw ration cans around the area where the sun would flash on them. And once or twice he marched us on the skyline and there you go. Those are the characteristics of a poor combat leader. And then this next appendix here, it. It talks about the duties of combat and it goes through the duties. And these are very tactical and very specific. It goes through, like the duties of a machine gunner, a light machine gunner, a heavy machine gunner. It goes through the duties of a mortarman and a rifleman and a 75 gunner and a 57 gunner and a bazooka gunner and a scout and a BAR gunner. And so it goes through, I mean, like things as tactical as. As heavy weapon. Squad leader disperse men on each side of the machine gun to give it flanking position. As machine gun squad leaders see that the gun is dug in properly and keep your men together. So it's. It's very tactical level stuff, but. So I'm not going to go through those. But it also talks about what is required and the duties of a squad leader. So squad leader job duties. On defense. I place men, foxholes and ammo where I think best men come first. Got to supervise, see rifles in shape. You change socks. Every move they make, you got to see they make it. This is like hardcore responsibility and accountability going on. You're in combat, you. You got to make sure they're changing their socks. They're going to. Human nature is going to take over. You know what, actually I probably can go in a few more hours with the same socks, even though they're sweaty inside these rubber stupid boots that we were issued. And they're going to sit here and I'm now going to freeze my toes and I'm not going to be able to walk tomorrow. You actually have to use intrusive leadership in situations like that. Got to boot them along up the hill, make them dig in, make sure they're on the ball at night. Stay dispersed under fire, keep them moving when fired on. Hardest job in the Army. And actually, as I read through the. The other leadership and job duties, everybody's talking about dispersion, which is a huge thing. It's don't bunch up. And it's a really weird instinct that people have in combat situations is when you are in danger, you huddle up and you. Sometimes you huddle up because there's like a little bit of COVID So you get three, four guys behind a little piece of COVID which is terrible. Sometimes you huddle up just because you're. You're just scared. And it just feels comforting to be by your other guys. And clearly, obviously, if you know anything about tactics, you just made a target of one. Now becomes just five people that are going to get wounded by a grenade or machine gun fire. Like all of a sudden four guys are wounded, five guys are wounded instead of just one. So dispersion and don't bunch up is a huge piece of what these guys talked about. And he says the same thing. Stay dispersed under fire. Keep moving when fired on. Hardest job in the army on attack. I generally lead men, try to keep control of them. Holler and motion to show them where to go. See that they keep clean, wash their mess gear good. And repair rips in their clothes. Like this is. You are in charge of every. Responsible for everything going into action. Call your men together, tell them what you want them to do and how many enemy there are. When you get on the hill, have them dig a good hole and clean the rifle if there's no firing going on. And again, you got to remember how much laziness creeps in. And you wouldn't think it was right. So, Ekko, if I took your you right now and said, okay, you're gonna go to this hilltop in Korea. And you'd think, well, yeah, once I got my foxhole done, I make sure my weapon was good to go. And you probably would tonight and maybe the next night, but now it's been a month now it's been two months now it's freezing cold. And if someone is not enforcing these things, human nature will take over. So we as leaders have to help people avoid human nature. We get that a lot. You know, hey, if. If Echo Charles isn't meeting his sales quota, well, do I just let him slide? No, no, no. I actually. You want to meet your sales quota. You're the one that wants a down payment for your new house. You're the one that wants to get a new car or whatever the case may be. I. I got to help you get there by helping you overcome your human nature to be lazy and not want to work, which is excessively strong with you. But you see what I'm saying? We have to help people overcome their human instincts. That's what we're doing as leaders. And then what goes into doing the job? Well, he says some tactical stuff, like knowing how to read a map and compass, know how to direct artillery, carrying extra oil and patches and rod for cleaning rifle and rolls of tape to bandage men's feet. Like, these guys are in the game. When he talks about what you need to do as a leader, he says the first thing he says is, make sure men like you again, does that seem to be a counter to the idea that I have to make you wash your feet, make sure you clean your weapon, make sure you change your socks? Like, I'm doing all those things, But I have to make sure that the men like me. So you can't confuse helping with discipline and requiring discipline with being liked. Because if I say, oh, you know, Echo, if you're too tired to clean your weapon, go ahead and just get some sleep. And now we get attacked and overrun because your weapon doesn't work because it's too dirty. So make sure men like you. We. We had this thing. Sometimes there were some. Sometimes people had the attitude, you're not here to be their friend, Right? We actually, Leif and I were. Leif and I. Leif was one of the. The junior officer training course, and he had a officer, senior officer that would come in, like, hey, it's not your job. You. If. If they like you, you're doing something wrong. He would say this, and they would have to be like, hey, thanks, sir. Appreciate it. And then Leif would have to, like, deprogram the troops and be like, no, actually you should. Your men should like you. And if they don't like you, you got a freaking problem. Be sure men take care of their weapons. Dig in good on the hill. Make sure the men are digging good. Don't try and scare the new men. Tell them the truth. Help the men any way you can. Boy, that's a good. That's a good mantra for a leader. Help the men any way you can. Anything you can. Show him about his weapon, Tell him. And that's. And that's what we got there. And then the last thing we're going to finish up for this, for this document is a platoon sergeant. Same thing. What are the duties of the platoon sergeant and how do you get it done? Well, so job duties for a platoon sergeant. Find out the best route of approach in case we run into enemy fire under fire. Tell them to spread out. Here it again. Here it is again. Get that dispersion. But you know what's going on in your business, in your team, what natural instinct do you have to constantly pay attention to and make sure that it doesn't creep back in? Tell them not to fire too much and waste ammo. Tell them to cross their fire. Not everybody fire at the same place. So these are all just kind of tactical things. He also says, I always reconnoiter as best I can and then tell squad leaders what we are going to do and how, if possible. That's the, that's the job. And then he goes into what goes into doing the job. Well, a couple tactical things. Be sure they have enough ammo and equipment at all times. Check. Pick good positions and see that they're well dug in. Check. Always try and commit the whole platoon. You know what that means? Echo, Charles. Prioritize and execute. Prioritize. Next. So you're gonna have, oh, we gotta assault this. We gotta maneuver over here. We gotta flank this. Use the whole platoon. Commit the whole platoon. Always try to commit the whole platoon. You don't want to use a squad, you don't want to use a squad, plus you don't want to use a fire team. If you're gonna do a job, try and use the whole platoon. That's, that's prioritize and execute. Don't piecemeal things out. Don't try and do nine things at the same time. Usually deal through squad leaders. Builds confidence and gets better results. But I try to brief the entire platoon. Perfect. Right. So as often as we can, we let the squad leaders. Hey, this. Tell the squad leaders what's going on? Use your subordinate leadership. Let your supported leadership go out there and make things happen. But at the same time, there are. You do need to brief the whole platoon. Hey, guys, everyone, this is what's going on now. Echo, you get your team to go do this, and you know, Bill, you're going to get. And Fred, you're going to get. But we going to brief everyone together so everyone has the overall concept of operations. And then the last things, and this is the last thing from this document I'm going to finish up with here. The last thing he says is know how to handle men. That's what we're doing. That is what leadership is, right? You have to know how to handle people. You have to know how to interact with people. You have to know how to communicate with people. And look, so many of these characteristics that we just talked about, we've talked about them over and over and over and over again. But what makes them so challenging is that they are counterintuitive. They are counterintuitive. Otherwise we wouldn't have to teach these things. We wouldn't have to talk about them. They wouldn't have to put this report together in 1951 to try and explain people how to be good leaders and how to be good combat men. If it was natural, we wouldn't have to put this together. But it's not natural, it's counterintuitive. It's against your instincts. We want to look out for ourselves. We got to overcome that. We want to take the easy path. We got to overcome that. We want to avoid things that we're afraid of. We got to overcome that. We want to pass the blame. We got to overcome that. We don't want to accept responsibility when we make a mistake. We don't want to take ownership. We got to overcome that. We. We want to be lazy, and we got to overcome that. That's why. That goes back to what we were talking about earlier. This is why if you just let the world happen, this is what you end up. Lazy, looking out for yourself, it's not going to go well. Taking an easy path all the time, not being disciplined, that's what happens. If you don't push back against the instincts that you have in your. In your genetics. Because genetically, 5,000 years ago, if you echo Charles Caveman, echo Charles had an opportunity to lay down and get some rest, you should. If you had an opportunity to eat a ton of food, you should. It's going to keep you alive. Your instinct was correct. Whatever the instinct, you had to get warm and get comfortable. You should take advantage of that. That's why. That's how you survived. But it ain't like that anymore. You could just sit there on the dang instacart ordering up the donuts. And that's the instinct make this as easy as possible. So that's what we're fighting against. That's what we're fighting against. We. We cannot allow ourselves to follow our weakest instincts because they're wrong. They're wrong as humans and they're wrong as people, and they're wrong as leaders as well. That's what we're fighting against. We need to do better, need to be better. That's where we're at. Part of that. In this modern era, of course, you got to kind of get after it yourself mentally, physically. We're training, we're lifting, we're, we're studying, we're running, we're training Jiu jitsu, we're sprinting. For those things, we're gonna need fuel. I recommend jockofuel jockeyfuel.com this is where you can get protein to where you can get hydrate. I just got done training some Jiu Jitsu. I need to hydrate real bad. It was just. It was. There was steam.

[B]

Steam.

[A]

The entire victory was steam. 21,000 square feet of mats. It was just. Well, 21,000 square foot gym. I don't know how many square feet of mats, but it's a lot of mats. Yeah, it's a lot of mats. Probably 10,000 square feet or something like that of mats. Anyways, there was like that, that fog.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know what I'm saying? It was on. So hydrate. Get right into that. Hydrate. Replace what you just sweated out. Protein. I. I rolled right down, grab the protein, grabbed a vanilla milk protein shake, which is tasty. Very tasty, Very tasty. And then we got the pro series now, which is also just next level taste.

[B]

Is that out?

[A]

Yep, it's out.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Check that out.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

And of course, energy. We got everything that you need. So check out jockofuel.com. get yourself some creatine. If you're not doing 10 to 20 grams a day, you're lagging.

[B]

You gotta bump that up.

[A]

You gotta. Those are rookie numbers, as we say. Let's bump it up. Are you cycling it where, like you take more and then less and then more. I'm not. I'm straight up. I'm just going straight up. 10 in the morning, 10 at night. We're going, we're Going hard in the paint. Creatine joint warfare. Whole nine yards. We got you covered. Jockerfield.com check it out. And then also training Jiu Jitsu. I was wearing origin shorts.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I was wearing an origin rash guard. And that's what I wear every day when I'm training the Jiu Jitsu and when I'm working out. So the thing that's different is the quality and the location of manufacturing. The quality is unbeatable. And the location of manufacturing is the United states of America. America 100American made from American made materials. Origin USA.com and it's not just Jiu Jitsu training gear. It's boots, jeans, hoodies, T shirts, sweatshirts, hunt gear pants, Moab pants, canvas pants. Like whatever you need, we got you go to originusa.com I saw some slippers. They're in the works online.

[B]

Okay. So the whole, the full spectrum.

[A]

Spectrum. Full spectrum. We got it. I know the, the, the soul of the slippers. Flip flops. They're not, they're actually slides. They're not. Flip flops is the pattern of a tatami, like the pattern of jujitsu mats. So every time you put your flip flops on, every time you put your slides on, every time you put your slippers on, you can be on the mats of justice. American made 100. That's what we're doing. Originusa.com check it out.

[B]

Also Jocko store. What do we got new on Jocko store is get after it got that new. New. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But there's a lot of, a lot of cool stuff. Stuff on there. Sure. Locker underway. By the way, if you didn't already. It's happening. Yeah. That's a subscription scenario you design every, every, every month. Warrior Kid. Yeah.

[A]

Up and running.

[B]

Up and running. So Warrior. Warrior kid dot com. Or you can go to Jocko store in the warrior kid section. You know, it's all the, it's all the same. But yeah, man, if you, if you are a warrior kid, whether it be in real life or at heart, boom, we got something for you there. Or if you know a Warrior kid or if you have a warrior kid.

[A]

Check, boom, we got some Warrior kid dot com.

[B]

Yep. They can represent. Boom, we got some shirts on there, some hoodies on there. Rash guards were re bringing back in the system. That's a hot item, you know, and they, they picked those up pretty quick. But we're restocking. We're doing our best to restock. You can, you can sign up for the little email thing. We'll let you know. But yeah, well, it is jocastore.com and.

[A]

Warriorkid.Com check those out. Also check out some books, put your legs on by Rob Jones. Check out need to lead by Dave Burke. Check out things my brother used to say by Ryan Manion. We also have a leadership consultancy. We talk about all these principles, all these, these instincts that we have that are bad and how to overcome them and what we should do instead. If you need help inside your organization with leadership, go to eslampront.com if you want to learn these skills, go to extreme ownership.com we have an entire, entire library of courses in order to improve your leadership skills. And then of course, if you want to help service members active and retired, you want to help their families, want help? Gold star families. Check out Mark Lee's mom, Momma Lee. She's got an amazing charity organization. If you want to donate or you want to get involved, go to AmericasMightyWarriors.org also check out Heroes and Horses.org and finally, Jimmy May's organization BeyondTheBrotherhood.org and for us, if you want to connect with us, you can check out jocko.com and then on social media, I'm at Jocko Willink echoes that echo. Charles. Just be careful on there. It's freaking chaos and it's a monster that's trying to eat your time and ruin your life. So just use caution. Thanks to our uniformed personnel around the world, those who are serving currently and those who have served with a solemn salute to the Korean War veterans. You heard some of those examples today of our American war fighters in a brutal war who stepped up and held the line. Also thanks to our police, law enforcement, firefighters, paramedics, EMTs, dispatchers, correctional officers, border patrol, secret service, as well as all other first responders. Thank you for holding the line here at home and for everyone else out there, it's pretty straightforward. Know your job. Keep going when things get tough. Remain calm even when things get crazy. Especially when things get crazy. Keep yourself and your gear clean and ready. Treat people with respect. Put the team ahead of yourself always. And, and you know what? These are not characteristics that you're born with. These are the choices that you make. Do not be a poor combat man or a poor combat leader. Be a good combat man and be a good combat leader by making the right choices. And that's all we've got for tonight and until next time. This is Echo and Jocko out.