Major Robert Rogers: An Influential Leader

The book Black Hearts opened my eyes to how leadership from a single Officer can have a grappling effect on such a wide range of soldiers from the lowest of ranks. One of the best takeaways from Black Hearts is to never do anything: illegal, unethical, or immoral. Although this is a easy statement to repeat, Black Hearts demonstrates the difficulties that lie behind these words. It has also painted a picture of how leadership can topple extremely quickly from a top down view. The Army is portrayed in a bad light throughout the book relentlessly. This is due to the concentration of poor leadership of the 1-502nd Regiment (Referred to as “First Strike”), a battalion of the 101st Airborne Division.

Throughout military history, there have been many leaders that can be considered either visionary or ethical. This paper will discuss how BG Robin Olds was a visionary leader, but not a very ethical leader. From the beginning of his career, he was a visionary in aerial combat tactics and a true believer of leading from the front. His vision of aerial combat was beyond his years, but often fell upon deaf ears due to his flamboyant nature. He never hesitated to say exactly what was on his mind, which is why his actions could be considered unethical. But, his men loved him, and would follow him to hell and back. First, this paper will discuss BG Olds’ visionary leadership abilities he displayed the Viet Nam

In life, there is nothing more important than knowing oneself. Carl Rogers, a famous psychologist in the 1900s, compiled a theory that went past the Freudian and behaviorist approaches and delved into the secrets of the individual. Relatively, Rogers explored the importance of taking a humanistic approach to understanding personality and with regard parents may seek the most proficient way to guide their children.

The purpose of this paper is to address how I, SSG Schumacher, have identified Major Robert Rogers as a legacy leader and a leader of influence in my military career as a non-commissioned officer and member of the military intelligence community. This paper will cover three main topics in which I will first discuss a brief history of the life of Major Rogers. Then, his impact on the evolution of warfare and leadership attributes on the United States Army. Finally, I will discuss how his leadership attributes led to him making an impact on the military today and Soldiers such as myself.

In this paper, I will be explaining what a legacy leader is and the impact one specific leader had on my career and the Army. In December of 2011 I reported to Joint Base Lewis-McCord and was assigned to 1/17 IN BN part of 2nd Striker BDE Combat Team. I had arrived at a unit that was preparing for a hard deployment to Afghanistan after a vigorous training cycle. I had walked in to my office to meet the team I would be leading into a combat zone that had zero experience, except for SSG Frazier that had a “been there done that” attitude. SSG Frazier was not as focused as a leader should be when prepping for a deployment with new Soldiers. The area that our unit would move to was the area that the Taliban was founded by Mullah Omar in Zhari District Southern Afghanistan (RC South). I had to quickly adjust to a high operation temp of a unit getting ready to deploy with little to no experience. After meeting SSG Frazier, I decided to meet the BN Commander and CSM to get a better understanding of the mission and expectation from the leadership. When I

Black Hearts is a great example of the reality on how severe bad leadership skills can ripple throughout a unit and impact its overall mission. This book serves as a guide for future leaders of America and will set the examples of what not to do in leadership positions. The lessons we can take from these soldiers can help us as potential leaders to become more competent and effective. The fact that this book focused on the hardships, poor decisions and sound judgment of the soldiers it helped emphasize on what was not the best choice of action and leaves a moment for you as the audience to think how you would of done it better. So right or wrong there was a lesson to be learned and the book did a good job including the reader. This book

Richard Rogers Richard Charles Rodgers was a great composer. He learned to play the piano as a toddler. Rodgers inherited his love of the theater from his family. He composed his first melody at summer camp. By the age of 15, he had chosen musical theater as his profession.

Deceased philosopher Bertrand Russell once said, “War does not determine who is right- only who is left”. Those left are the soldiers of the 1-502nd, specifically Bravo Company 1st plt, and the Janabi family and to a greater extent, the ever-changing global world we all live in today. The tragic events that conspired in a small Iraqi village became a microcosm of how leadership failures at every level shaped the actions of a few soldiers who committed atrocious acts. One can also see how a high operational tempo, along with prolonged violence and death, has on a person’s psyche. It is the ugly side of war that the average American citizen may not want to hear or talk about. For a soldier, it is inevitably what they train their

SFC (Ret.) Mark C. Daw is the subject of this Leader’s Legacy paper. SFC Daw served for over twenty years in the United States Army Signal Corps. SFC Daw served during the Cold War in the Berlin Brigade, in Operation Desert Storm, in Bosnia during Implementation Force (I-FOR), and in Operation Iraqi Freedom 04-06. A career paratrooper, SFC Daw’s leadership style involved leading from the front at all times, superior tactical and technical proficiency, a hand of discipline tempered by wisdom, and developing his Soldiers professionally and personally. SFC Daw’s example serves as one worthy of emulation by all Soldiers, regardless of expertise or field. I am the Soldier I am today because of SFC Daw.

Carl Rogers was born in 1902 in Oak Park, IL and died in 1987 in San Diego, Ca. During Carl’s early 20’s he experienced a great deal of havoc in the united states. Certain events that may have taken a toll on Carl would be the dying of president Warren G. Harding, Ku Klux Klan’s 2nd major movement in US, liquor was being bootlegged, Adolf Hitler’s terror on the jews, and last but not least world war 1. During his early childhood, you could say Carl was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

Richard Rogers was born June 28, 1902 in Long Island, New York. His father was a successful physician and his mother was an amateur musician. In Roger’s childhood, he heard music most everyday and was regularly taken to the theatre. When Roger’s was six he could play the piano by ear. He enjoyed listening to small operas, which are also known as operettas. Later, Rogers was inspired by Jerome Kern’s musicals.

In discussion forum 9, leaders are challenged through situations of crisis and are given ways to confront those challenges which allows them to overcome setbacks and face adversity. In the book “Resilient Leaders”, written by Major General Robert Dees, he provides leaders with his personal experiences of the battlefront and home front and what he had to do in order to cope as well as overcome each situation he was placed in. Major General Dees discusses his foundational ideas on leadership in Chapters one and two. The three concepts that our group decided on are Selfless Service, Character and Risk Management.

Carl Rogers’ humanistic beliefs and his accomplishments are what made him prominent in the world of psychology. Carl Rogers was born and raised in Oak Park, Illinois in 1902. He originally wanted to major in agriculture, but later shifted towards religion. Rogers spent two years at a liberal Protestant seminary in New York and then transferred to Columbia University Teacher’s College. He received his Master’s in 1928 and his P.h.D in clinical psychology in 1931. In 1930, he became the director of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

Carl Rogers was known for the term unconditional positive regard for the client. Perhaps this treatment towards the client produces positive results, and this lead the approach to influence the development of counseling. It is not a surprise that this approach was effective, because sometimes we tend to perceive ourselves through other people’s reflection of us, in the way people treat us. If the counselor treats us with a positive regard, we may begin to treat ourselves with that same positive regards, which benefits our lives.

I can only imagine how Mr. Carl Rogers felt when he was asked to speak at the Brandeis University. I had to write a speech in high school for my class and my teacher invited a couple of classes to come to the auditorium to listen to my classmate and my personal speech. I was really nervous but I was proud of myself once I said my speech in front of all those students. Mr. Carl Rogers didn’t seem nervous but he just seems as though he did not know how to present his topics to the senior class. I think it is easy to talk about yourself but the challenging part is explaining it in a way that you don’t make your audience bored. Adults are just like kids and we can’t sit down to listen to someone for a long time before our minds or eyes start to wander around. I like the way Mr. Carl Rogers explained what his book was about “this book is about the suffering and hope, the anxiety, and the satisfaction, with which each therapist’s counseling room is filled”. Reading this part in Mr. Carl Rogers’ book made me feel as if Mr. Carl Rogers really care about his clients. “It is about a client in my office who sits there by the corner of the desk, struggling to be himself, yet deathly afraid of being himself striving to see to see his experience as it is wanting to be that experience, and yet deeply fearful of the prospect”. Mr. Carl Rogers took me as a person who listens to his clients and really tries to help them. “This book is about me, as I sit there with that client, facing him,