Saving Private Ryan Essay

Mission command belongs to the Army’s list of seven war fighting functions. While the other six of the Army’s war fighting functions specifically align to the application of combat power, mission command applies to leadership and its application. Mission command redefines the old construct of C2, command and control, by morphing the ideology into two distinct thoughts, the art of command and the science of control. Although mission command is a relatively new concept, it’s principles and application transcend time. This paper examines General Robert E. Lee’s application of the mission command principles at the Battle of Gettysburg.

The movie Saving Private Ryan directed by Steven Spielberg is probably one of the most exquisite movies to show World War II. Unlike most war movies Saving Private Ryan does not show what we want to see but what we need to see. The graphics used to show the horrific effects on war can drastically put an deep impression in your heart. The movie includes actors such as Tim Hanks, Matt Damon, and Vin Diesel. When Steven came up with the idea for the movie he showed interest in the Niland brothers four siblings who all served in the army during World War II. Brothers Robert, Preston, and Edward were all supposedly killed in action, leading the army to take actions and bring back the last brother Fitz(Private Ryan) home. I'm sure this story created many wonders inside

-Justice:   A leader should be fair, and not play favorites with Marines.   It is also important a leader hands out a fair punishment to a disobedient Marine.

Saving Private Ryan is a movie that generates strong responses from most people that see it. While interviewing four individuals and reading three movie reviews, I found that each of my subjects would recommend it, not one of the individuals interviewed felt the violence was senseless, and all of them left the movie with a strong emotional response of some kind. It appears that Saving Private Ryan is the kind of movie to which many can relate.

The film Saving Private Ryan, is about a United States Army Captain (CPT) and his chosen squad that are tasked with locating and recovering Private (PVT) Ryan, after the news of his three brothers’ deaths reaches the Army. The CPT chooses a few specific men to aid him with this mission.

Robert E. Lee once said of leadership, “I cannot trust a man to control others who cannot control himself” (Jones, 1875). This is an instance where I believe that even though this idea or thought was mentioned many years ago, it still has relevance today. I do not have an exact date of that quote, but with General Lee fighting in the Civil War, I would imagine it came somewhere in the mid-1800’s (The book it is found in was published after his death). Our current military leaders need to listen to advice like this quote, get out and know the people they put in charge so they are better able to make decisions on who should and should not actually be leading.

Leadership involves providing purpose, direction and motivation to subordinates to accomplish the mission. It is evident with the years of battle that General Robert E. Lee’s engaged in that he possessed the ability to motivate and inspire troops. In the black powder era of warfare, command remained very much personalized. The generalship of Robert E. Lee, an excellent Confederate general during the American Civil War, is arguably the greatest single factor in keeping the Confederacy alive during the years of the Civil War (Lee, Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia). On the contrary, General George Brinton McClellan participated in only one battle for its entirety, The Battle of Antietam. Therefore, this battle must serve as measurement of his leadership capabilities. Throughout this paper, I will compare and contrast the leadership of both of these Generals as it pertains to the

Novels, whether they are works of fiction or not, have some of the greatest leaders who either are represented as the main character or are alongside said protagonist. These people perform great deeds throughout the hero’s quest until they reach the end of their adventure. Some of these leaders perform great sacrifices that leaves there lasting legacy ingrained in the minds of the reader and the characters. Charles Cheswick from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, written by Ken Kesey, even though his journey is not as clear cut as these other leaders, eventually makes his own impact on the ward. Charles Cheswick tries to discover his self-knowledge by learning how to stand up for what he believes in.

The author divides the book into four sections. In the first section, Captain Marquet describes how he first experienced being empowered by his commander Captain Pelaez of the USS Sunfish. Captain Pelaez overheard the author observe that it would be helpful if they could “ping” a merchant ship using active sonar for training. Knowing that his permission was needed to go active, Captain Pelaez suggested that Marquet merely make his intention known to him. The result of having the authority and ability to develop his team’s training resulted in a paradigm shift about effective leadership for the author.

Saving Private Ryan is a film staged within World War II, during which an incredible mission to locate and bring home Private Ryan is launched in behind enemy lines within Europe. The return of Private Ryan is hoped to increase moral in the homeland and benefit combat efforts. Captain Miller is in charge of the reluctant team tasked with the rescue mission of Private Ryan, not knowing where he is at or if he is even alive. The company finally finds Private Ryan even after several enemy encounters and finding another soldier named “Private Ryan”. Once Private Ryan is located they give him the news that his three brothers were killed while fighting in the war. Private Ryan chooses not to go home and continues to fight in the war.

“Coercive power relies on the fact that people fear you, and reward power is only effective so long as people value the rewards you have to offer. Legitimate power relies on your rank in the company hierarchy, and recent events

If a leader singles out an individual for either unfair rewards or punishments, it signals to the unit that there are other necessary factors needed other than hard work to get ahead, such as cozying up to the platoon leader to get the good assignments. Soldiers need to know that assignments or tasks they are assigned are either given through merit, or are given equally to all soldiers in the unit. Unfair treatment is a quick way for soldiers to drift away from the task at hand and instead focus on getting into the good graces of the leader, leaving the unit less cohesive and the mission unaccomplished.

The concept of power is an applicable leadership concept. Leaders use power to decipher whether they have the ability to acquire the commitment or obedience from their workers/officers. Leaders that are educated or trained under the old-paradigm, have low levels of expectations of others around them, and tend to use

The management can use this power to demote, transfer, fire or deny raises to their employees. The third power base of Position is legitimate power. This power stems from the level of hierarchy in which the subordinates report directly to the authority over them for decisions. Process Power controls the input and output of organizations to make sure that the processes are carried out efficiently and effectively within. Information power is the control of information or access to it within an organization. Information can be controlled to a ?need to know? basis and/or just limited to the upper management. This type of power compliments the legitimate power. Finally, there is Representative power in which an organization uses an individual to be there spokesperson both within the organization and when dealing with people outside of the organization.

Legitimate power: Holding an office or formal title in some organization and using the powers that are associated with that office.