Category: Leadership of the highest kind
Henry Mucci and the Rangers – from The American Exprience
Mucci was so charismatic you couldn’t believe it… If you ever had to go to war, that’s the kind of man you wanted to go with.” — Alvie Robbins, PFC.
We all would have died for him, he was the very best.” — Vance Shera, Sergeant.
We knew he was selling us the blue sky, but we would have followed him anywhere.” — Robert Prince,<;C Company Captain
Extraordinary Fighters
General Walter Krueger and his top G-2 man, Horton White, were the ones to choose Mucci. As Krueger and White considered the raid, they knew they would need an elite fighting force. Hampton Sides, author of Ghost Soldiers, writes: “[They] would need a group of men trained in stealth techniques and the tactics of lightning assault.
The expeditioners must be in exceptional physical condition, as they would have to walk some 30 miles on foot in each direction, marching around the clock. They would have to be versatile, self-reliant, and extremely proficient with light arms, as the odds were better than good that they would encounter major enemy resistance along the trek.”
Intensive Training
Mucci had just such an outfit. In fact he had trained them: the 6th Ranger Battalion. Mucci was a man of vision. It was he who took the unit of Army mule skinners and turned them into the elite jungle fighting force known as the Army Rangers. For one year, in the mountains of New Guinea, Mucci trained his team, one of the first American special operations fighting forces.
Mule Skinners Become Rangers
The men Mucci had started with were for the most part boys from the farms and ranches of middle America — big, strong men. Known as “mule skinners,” they had been recruited to train in the mountains of New Guinea with heavy artillery carried on the backs of pack animals. By 1944, the Army considered the mule skinners obsolete, and General Krueger was looking to train a new special unit. Mucci was his man.
Testing Physical Limits
Ranger training under Mucci bordered on inhuman. A boxer, judo-expert, athlete, and former West Pointer, Mucci believed in training his men to the absolute limits of their physical capacities. He personally taught them all aspects of fighting: hand to hand combat, knifing, bayoneting and marksmanship. He led them on torturous exercises across the tropical New Guinea jungles, through treacherous rivers, and up mountainsides in the ferocious heat. Jungle combat, night combat, amphibious combat; Mucci taught and reveled in it all.
John Richardson, 6th Army Ranger, recalled: “I thought he was going to kill us. He called us rats, he called us everything but a child of God. And he told us, “I’m going to make you so d—– mean, you will kill your own grandmother…. I wondered why he was putting us through so much, but before it was over, there was no question about it, I knew why. And once he got us trained and picked out, he loved us to death. And there wasn’t anything too good for us…. He knew what he was doing when he was training us.”
Slave Driver — With a Purpose
Bob Anderson, 6th Army Ranger remembered, “He worked us so hard that sometimes I’d think I hate that man and I’d double-time back to my camp and say, ‘You can’t kill me, I can do more. You can’t give me enough, I can do more than you can give me.’ So he had us in shape and once he got us trained he was the nicest man you ever saw. But he knew how to train men.” No doubt, Mucci got his men in peak physical condition. They were ready for the raid. They were ready for anything.
Superb Leader
Sometimes the fit is perfect. Mucci was the right man to train and lead the Rangers. He had all the qualities of a superb military leader: he knew men, he had vision, and he was decisive. Robert Prince said, “He made a Ranger battalion out of a bunch of mule skinners, and he inspired us and trained us — and any success we had belongs to Colonel Mucci.”
Honors
The rest is history. Mucci’s actions and decisions on the raid were flawless. General Douglas MacArthur awarded Mucci the Distinguished Service Cross and said that the raid was ” magnificent and reflected extraordinary credit to all concerned.” The military promoted Mucci to full colonel.
National Hero
Upon his return home, Mucci was treated as a national hero in his home town of Bridgeport, Connecticut. He unsuccessfully ran for Congress and later became an oil representative for a Canadian firm in Bangkok. An athlete till the end, he died at 86 in Florida from injuries related to swimming in rough surf.
Napoleon & His Marshals
Napoleon the Greatest?
My opinion, yes he is. I know others might say Julius Caesar or Alexander, but Napoleon fought across 3 continents in many climates against a variety of foes. He was engaged in at least 70 battles over his career, winning 59 of them, with only 11 battles resulting in a loss or draw. This means he was victorious 84% of the time. He also won many of his battles with inferior numbers to his enemy. This demonstrates he possessed superior tactical ability versus the generals of the opposing army. Napoleon was so successful, there was 10-year period from 1799 to 1809 where he didn’t losE a single battle. Indeed, most of his losses occurred during the end of his empire from 1812-1814 when he was low on troops and supplies.
Although he was a voracious reader of books and military history, he never really cared about what previous generals had done in similar battles. He went to a battlefield, did a few equations of probability in his head and knew where to position his troops and to attack the enemy troops.
But overall, I believe he remade warfare to achieve his goals. His maxims and strategies are still studied at military schools around the world to this very day. If you are still unsure if he was the greatest, here’s a list of opposing generals Napoleon defeated.
Mind you – all these men had a plan for victory, gave Napoleon their best shot……and lost. Argenteau, Provera, Beaulieu (defeated twice), Knorr, Wurmser (3 different times), Davidovich (twice), Alvintzy (twice), Wintzingerode, Murad Bey, Abdallah Bey, Mustafa Pasha, Melas, Mack, Kutuzov (twice), Hohenlohe, Kamensky, Benningsen, San Juan, Hiller, Konovnitsyn, de Tolly, Schwarzenberg, Wrede, Wittgenstein, Olsufiev, Sacken, Yorck, and lastly Blucher (5x) and Archduke Charles (6x).
Was he short?
This is a common myth, Napoleon was actually 5’7” or 5’6” which was about average for a Frenchman of the time. The British listed him as 5’2” and often depicted him as tiny in the press and cartoon caricatures. In addition, the British referred to him as “Little Boney” and even some French troops called him “le petit corporal”. But the latter statement was more of a term of endearment.
Early in the Italian campaign, General Bonaparte would usually site his cannon batteries – a job usually reserved for corporals. He also surrounded himself with his Imperial Guard at all times on the battlefield. The height requirement to be in this elite personal guard was 6’0”. The imperial guard uniform included a bearskin cap which was a little over a foot tall. So anyone would look smaller when standing next to a group of these hulking men.
Was Napoleon a Genius?
This is a tough question. My answer is I don’t know, although he was highly intelligent. In today’s society, only 1% of the population tests at the genius level on IQ tests. Quick sidebar – please ignore any IQ estimates of Napoleon that you might find on the internet. The first modern IQ test wasn’t developed until 1904, almost 90 years after Napoleon’s death. My opinion is that he was always the hardest-working person in any room. Growing up as he did, competing against his siblings first, and then his well-to-do military school classmates instilled an incredible work ethic within him.
He came to a France as a nobody from the small newly acquired territory of Corsica. He always wanted to be the man in charge and he was a risk taker. He could work without sleep for several days straight, sometimes sitting on horseback for 20 hours a day and even eating his meals there. He understood the military maxim, “get there the first-est with the most-est” as he hurriedly pressed his troops to march hundreds of miles to run circles around their opponents. But he also incurred many failures in life, he had a tumultuous first marriage with Josephine. His siblings were of constant displeasure to him.
His Imperial Navy efforts were disasters as was his Continental System economic plan. And despite all warnings from his subordinates, he initiated 2 invasions that would bring down his empire. Spain and Portugal in 1807 and Russia in 1812. After tremendous losses in both endeavors, he had many opportunities to make peace with the rest of Europe. He spurned those olive branches and this led to his eventual downfall. I believe that a battlefield was simple to him, much like music was to Beethoven or Mozart when they sat down at a piano.
What were the backgrounds of Napoleon’s marshals?
Napoleon’s “sacred few” marshals were from diverse backgrounds. Some were former nobles from King Louis XVI’s reign, while others were sons of commoners who worked their way up through the ranks. An attractive feature of the French army after the French Revolution was the opportunity to advance in rank based on merit. This was a radical idea at the time. In most pre-Revolution royal armies in Europe, officers were only allowed to come from nobility. The highest rank a commoner could achieve was a non-commissioned officer such as a sergeant or warrant officer.
Marshal Ney, Bravest of the Brave
Ney was the son of barrel-maker, Oudinot was the son of brewer. Lannes and Mortier were the sons of farmers. Bernadotte, Soult, Moncey, and Brune were sons of lawyers. Murat, possibly the most famous of all the marshals, was the son of an innkeeper. Only 5 of the 26 marshals originated from military families – Serurier, Davout, MacDonald, Marmont, and Victor.
There was an adage at the time that stated every soldier in Napoleon’s army carried a baton in his backpack, meaning that the highest rank was available to anyone who worked hard enough. I believe the marshals and the Grand Armee was successful because, for the first time, the soldiers were promoted on merit instead of privilege. When a rising officer was lobbied by Napoleon’s staff to become a general, Napoleon usually asked a simple question – is he lucky?
Sounds ridiculous but Napoleon really did believe in luck and he also believed that the harder you work, the luckier you are. He was fortunate to have a large assortment of lucky, hard-working generals.
What were the rewards and dangers of being a marshal?
The rank of marshal in France is highest honor a person can receive during war-time. Its tradition goes back to the 1200’s. During Napoleon’s reign, each marshal or the “Big Hats” as they were called by the rank and file, received a baton decorated in blue velvet and adorned with a Latin inscription that translates to “Terror in war, ornament in peace”. Each marshal also received financial endowments, estates, dukedoms and kingdoms from Napoleon. Berthier received the most cash, $1.2 million francs per year. Ney received an average of $1 million francs per year and Davout received the 3rd most with $910,000 francs per year.
The marshals were essentially viceroys for the Emperor. As much as he tried, Napoleon could not be everywhere at once. All marshals were expected to lead from the front and it was a dangerous position. Most of the marshals were wounded in battle, with Oudinot being the most frequent recipient with over 35 battle scars. All were amazingly fearless even for that era of honor and bravery. Only 4 of the 26 – Massena, Brune, Moncey, and Kellerman not wounded in battle at all. On the other hand, 3 of the marshals were killed as a result of wounds suffered in battle.
Were Napoleon’s Marshals effective without him?
This is another common myth that Napoleon’s troops were only effective when he was on the battlefield. After diving into and analyzing the battle numbers, this is a falsehood. For the purpose of this podcast, I analyzed the won-lost record of every battle fought by Napoleon’s army from 1793-1815. Winning a battle is hard thing to define, as even winning armies can take huge casualties. For our purposes, we will count winning as controlling the battlefield after the battle was over or the taking of a castle or fixed position after a siege is over. We will qualify losing a battle as retreating or losing control of a castle or fixed position.
When it comes to this metric, most of Napoleon’s marshals had a winning battle record on their own – meaning without Napoleon in the immediate area. Some had very impressive won-loss records like Lannes, Bernadotte, Murat, and Davout (of whom it was said never lost a battle). Others like Soult and MacDonald had more losses than victories, but were still trusted by Napoleon with important tasks and objectives.
A final point is the question of whether Napoleon would have been as successful without these brilliant men – arguably, the greatest collection of military talent in history. I can’t think of any other group of generals that have so much research about them. You don’t often find books about the generals of Alexander the Great, Charlemagne, Genghis Khan, or Frederick the Great. These generals were the celebrities of the age and they won battles with Napoleon and without Napoleon.
| Thanks to Skip –
From his text – “Senior officers and NCOs, I am telling you right now if things if don’t change you will have the blood of your soldiers on your hands.” “There is an enemy out there who is determined, and he is not concerned about individual feelings, or time out. If you don’t train them hard now, and demand from them now what in the hell do you think the enemy is going to do to them. If they can’t take the heat in training how are they going to take it on the battlefield? Technology my ass, soldiers win wars.” Before you read this…Command Sergeant Major (CSM) Purdy is quite possible one of the most legendary warriors in recent Army history. This guy redefines hard-ass, and I am sure that some of you have heard of him. He survived 3 tours in Vietnam in LRP / Ranger Units (on the wrong side of a few near ambushes and Purple Hearts), served as a Son Tay Raider, was at Desert One, …… He retired after serving as the CSM of the 75th (after, most notably, serving as the CSM of the 187th (Rakkasans!) He is a fixture at Fort Benning, and as a recently retired CSM, was hazing students in my Ranger class when he decided to stop by the camp in Jan 1996 to make sure that standards hadn’t slipped. |
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| TO: Whom it May Concern FROM: CSM Don Purdy, Retired, USA SUBJECT: WARRIORS I would like to give an (Army) NCO perspective on this issue. I am a retired CSM with 27 years of service. Most of it in Ranger companies, and the Ranger Regiment. I am a Vietnam Veteran, and a veteran of special operations. I retired in 1995 but have done mostly contract work out of Fort Benning involving experimentation on MOUT Operations. I got to work around a lot of soldiers, and had to keep up with current trends and tactics. I am currently working in Saudi Arabia training Saudi paratroopers and Rangers. 1. Some senior NCOs are nothing more than boot lickers who sing the Army of One song to their superior officers every day. Commanders need to hear the good, bad and the ugly, and then be given good solid recommendations. They need their senior NCOs to be TRAINERS. LEAD BY EXAMPLE. DO as the troops do. LEAD FROM THE FRONT. GET IN THE DIRT. This bullshit of “I have done that” is garbage. What you are doing now is what counts. Quit worrying about your next assignment. Focus on your mission now. Your mission is to train soldiers for war, and it’s damned hard work. If you do it right, you will leave the Army in worse shape physically than when you came in. BE HARD BUT BE FAIR. You must have MORAL COURAGE. 2. Training is a word they can’t spell. Chief trainer means chief boot licker. TICKET PUNCHERS. 3. “Moral courage” means telling your commander what he wants to hear these days. I was condemned by my peers and superiors for speaking up and telling it like it was. I was called a relic from the past that should be put in a glass case. I was focused on training for war, not peace. Discipline was my watchword, and the soldiers did not decide what punishment was right or wrong where I served as CSM. I was the Chief Trainer. The buck stopped with me. I participated in all training and lead by example. I was told by a Division CSM that I would never serve above BN level because I was too intrusive. That means I scared commanders with the truth. The next thing he asked was why do you train with your soldiers? The question was shocking, but the answer was simple. When I speak everyone listens. That went over his head like a tent. I carried a rifle, not a pistol, and I damned well knew how to use that weapon and my soldiers knew how to use their weapons as well. 4. Combatives are important. Boxing, wrestling and bayonet fighting are not antiquated. CQB is just what that means. Close Quarters Battle. MOUT, trench systems and bunkers must be cleared, and you had better be aggressive and prepared to do bayonet or hand to hand fighting. When others were laughing at my unit for doing this, my soldiers were prepared and understood what fix bayonets meant. They were aggressive and well disciplined. Sub standard performers were put out immediately. My First Sergeants were not mail men or chow deliverers, they were the Chief Trainers of their companies. 5. We trained for war, not peace. Live fires were a priority, and were not canned. Leaders, and soldiers had to react. Maneuver elements maneuvered, and had to rely on the SBF not to shoot them but only the enemy. Bayonets were fixed and there were dummy targets for the soldiers to engage with those bayonets. Resupply mission were planned and executed. The battlefield had to be policed of casualties, and equipment by any means available, even if it meant driving vehicle cross country or physically carrying the wounded. Reload drills, dead gunner drills, and crew drills were executed over and over and over again. These were executed night and day. NODS went on your face when the sun went down. They weren’t hanging around your neck. We executed live fires at night with NODS in the woods, and the live fires were not canned. Raids, ambushes, search and attack were all executed at night up to company size. This took us over one year to get to that level. Mortars could hit their targets. Units could move silently day or night and didn’t get lost. We did not rely on GPS. WE USED MAP AND COMPASSES. We lived out of our rucksacks, slept on the ground in all types of weather from the BN CDR on down. We did not look like bums. We shaved everyday, wore our equipment properly, camouflaged our face, and hands when necessary, soldiers knew how to maintain themselves and their equipment in the field and uniformity was important. Soldiers knew what a cat hole was, and that trash was carried in the rucks not thrown on the ground or buried for the hogs to dig up. Uniforms were worn properly. The companies received one hot meal a day and understood how to conduct tactical feeding. Our cooks knew how to function in the environment. The combat trains did not live in tents. Their perimeter was secure, weapons were clean, and noise and light discipline was maintained. Cooks, clerks and all other support personnel knew how to use their weapons and were trained in the basic infantry skills. Misfires were damned well rare, and punishment was swift when it did happen. We suffered no live fire deaths because we trained properly, and used good old-fashioned common sense. We never had the soldiers execute missions they were not properly trained for. The NCOs trained the soldiers, the officers commanded. Our motto was what ever you do, do it right. Rate of sick call in the field was almost zero. Moral was high because of good hard leadership from the front, and realistic tough training. We even executed a day of live fire training during support cycles. You need a strong CSM who understands discipline and training. He can talk it and walk it. 6. There is no such thing as a good field soldier. You are either a soldier or not a soldier. Everything from appearance to police call is important. This bull shit about my space and my rights is just that BULL SHIT. Barracks are not his or her home it’s a place for them to live. For saying this I was told I had a mess kit mentality. This individuality BS of “I need my own room” is garbage. We waste more money building these condos so soldiers can feel good, and not be part of a team is sickening. They should live in fire team bays. It builds cohesion. Key control alone is a nightmare. Of course don’t bother the poor soldier just let him live like a pig, and when he gets sick or you find out he or she is a drug dealer then blame it on the NCO Corps even though you the illustrious BN CDR, BDE CDR said leave the soldiers alone in their precious rooms. Soldiers are owed a place to sleep, their pay and the best leadership and training that can be provided. 7. DISCIPLINE is the key. DRILL AND CEREMONY is the foundation of discipline. When I say fall in I want to hear your heels coming together. When I speak you jump. All ceremonies should be executed with weapons so each unit can execute the 15-count manual of arms. Carrying a card around in your pocket does not develop good morals. Morals are developed through solid leadership not gimmicks and headgear. 8. You want to be politically correct stay on the block. You want to be different or an individual looking to be a victim stay on the block. If you’re a pervert and proud of it stay on the block. You want to be a soldier then become part of a disciplined team. This is not a job it’s a profession. You’re here to fight our countries war not be a gut eating self-serving individual. Senior officers and NCOs I am telling you right now if things don’t change you will have the blood of your soldiers on your hands. There is an enemy out there who is determined, and he is not concerned about individual feelings, or time out. If you don’t train them hard now, and demand from them now what in the hell do you think the enemy is going to do to them. If they can’t take the heat in training how are they going to take it on the battlefield? Technology my ass, soldiers win wars. Be hard on them now or watch them die, or worse break and run. BE HARD BUT BE FAIR! Being fair does not mean they dictate punishment or babying them. A Russian General said “Hard on the training field, easy on the battlefield.” General Patton said “Leading from the rear is like trying to push spaghetti uphill.” You want you soldiers to respect you not love you. When they look at you they should see a competent leader. The best compliment I ever received was from a soldier who was PCSing. I was a PLT Sergeant in the First Ranger BN. He said “Sergeant Purdy I hated to hear you come in, in the morning, and sometimes I just hated you, but I would follow you to hell with gasoline drawers on.” Signed, CSM Don Purdy, Retired, USA |