Sun Tzu : A Legacy Leader

The culture and climate of a well-disciplined unit should be apparent by its strong core values and attributes displayed by its unit members. Recruiting and processing qualified applicants with good moral values and strong character traits is where it starts. In addition, Basic Combat Training (BCT) further strengthens a Soldier’s moral fiber, focuses on building strong leadership skills, and instills the core values of the Army. The Army needs “standard bearers,” not Soldiers and Leaders who choose the easy wrong over the hard right. Providing proper training and honest feedback will create competence in our military ethics. We need Soldiers and Leaders of strong character that will teach, coach, and mentor the next generation of leaders. A positive command climate and demanding culture is the substance of developing unit cohesion and esprit de corps. Army ethics will continue to struggle if it does not have leaders at every level to enforce the importance of its core values and principles. A strong culture and positive climate play a vital role in shaping our force for the future.

It is important for a leader to understand that completing essential tasks to meet mission goals, personal development, and providing future leaders the tools to procure success are all equally important and should be balanced. Times may call for one responsibility to be a higher priority that the other, so it is imperative that leaders are able to differentiate what skills apply to certain situations. “Strategic leaders, for example, must control personnel development, evaluation and certification, and assignment and utilization processes in ways that motivate aspiring professionals as they progress through a career of service,” (TRADOC, 2010). The cycle of learning, training, and accomplishing goals creates a culture of duty-oriented Soldiers with dedicated character and leadership

Military duties, responsibilities and integrity is important to the Army. An NCO duties includes taking care of his or her Soldiers and accomplishing the mission. A Soldier’s duty includes obeying orders. Duty and Responsibility is part of the Army values for a reason. I’m accordance with Army regulation Field Manual 7-22.7 covers the duties,responsibilities and authorities of a Non Commissioned Officer.

This essay will explore the influences of Sun Tzu in the Second World War. Sun Tzu (544 – 496 BC) was a Chinese general and strategist in times of the Zhou dynasty. His techniques, even today are highly respected. The teachings of Sun Tzu were used not only in Asia and Europe but have also been applied today by the western society.

Conscientious effort is required to develop and prepare Soldiers and Army Civilians to make right decisions and to take attendant actions (The White Paper, 2016). Leaders are in control of refining the quality of character instilled in Soldiers and DA civilians. How does the military as a whole directly guarantee proper character development to the force, you might ask? Or what should effective leaders do to indoctrinate Army values and characteristics within their ranks? They do so by teaching the Army values to every new recruits from day one of basic training as soon as they step off the bus. Collectively with the multitude of attributes given from our leaders through years of experience and ADRP 1/ADP 6-22; these values have established the groundwork for Soldiers to use as basis of what it is to be a person good character. After members absorb these values, their leaders certify devotion. Abiding to these ethics of the Army values embodies cohesion; it challenges the belief and self-confidence crucial to cooperation and mission success.

A leader unwilling to sacrifice individual goals for the good of the unit cannot convince other unit members to do so. The mission suffers with potentially devastating effects. While personal goals often coincide with Army goals, there is no room for personal agendas at the expense of the institution or the American people. It is a standard in the hierarchy of military customs and courtesies that the leader must display to his subordinates that he is willing to put in extra effort, sacrifice personal time, and show initiative and motivation in order to achieve the same from his Soldiers.

The Art of War was written in part due to military conquests he had achieved early on in his career. Later observed as the most well-known and celebrated of “China’s Seven Military Classics.” The Shiji record asserts that Sun demonstrated his models on the battlefield; a well-recognized example of his strategy was Battle of Boju. Sun Tzu efficaciously out contrived the much larger Chu militaries ultimately defeating them. The Art of War was one of the most widely read military texts in the Warring States Period (475–221 BC). In his book, he outlined the key components to absolute victory in warfare by defeating the enemy using their weaknesses against them and minimizing one’s causalities; decisively maximizing resources; but can it be used against the war on terror? The Art of War is one of the most powerful literary guidelines detailing how a true leader should wage war. Sun Tzu’s knowledge is still thought of as useful in the modern times. However, his advice shouldn’t be adopted and followed as the only means to the end. But it is good guideline for any leader to follow in order to be effective in the

The traditional Chinese military work, Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War,” written to provide Chinese generals with military tactical training, is a work adaptable beyond military strategy. There are striking similarities and differences between Tzu’s work and Machiavelli. The similarities relate to the using tempered diplomacy, misdirection, and other deceptive practices to be victorious in battle. Machiavelli (1998) considers these things, however his motivation is about maintaining the power of the state, or the sovereignty. Sun Tzu (2006) wrote this work from the position of the military leader under orders from a sovereign. Many modern endeavors translate and utilize the book’s lessons. While Tzu’s classical work discusses war, Western disciplines

Griffith examines battles in which Sun Tzu was thought to service as commander. I did suchlike the verbal description of the battles among the militant states as Griffith reconstructed them; they were very elaborated including initial troop deployment followed by the three phases of the battle. In order to paint a better veiw the divisions of Sun Tzu's time, Griffith provides background detail on the three warring states Ch'u, Wu, and Yueh. Although, I found these particular passages quite interesting I have never enjoyed learning about

As indicated by James Coates and Michael Kilian 's Heavy Losses (1985), in World War II a military assistant of Nationalist General Chiang Kai-shek expressed that “in Chiang’s army, Sun Tzu’s The Art of War was considered a classic but out of date (Shafritz and Borick 2011). A few years later Chiang fell to Sun Tzu’s tactics—employed at the hands of Mao [the leader of the Chinese Communists]” (Shafritz and Borick 2011).

War strategy is a complicated subject. A few decades ago, warfare was generally thought of only in terms of physical fighting; however, today’s technological society has introduced a new arena of defense and attacks. The book “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu and the paper “The Challenge of Information Warfare” by Major General Wang Pufeng are both great readings about how countries must act to be successful in war. Both authors agree on two major aspects of wartime strategy: information and the use of people. Despite the similarities Tzu’s strategy needs to evolve be fully relevant. Tzu and Pufeng both show similarities but Tzu’s theory needs to expand to fit the times.

Originally written in Chinese in 514 B.C., The Art of War by Sun Tzu outlines basic, yet crucial principles and factors in military strategy that Sun Tzu claims would ensure victory in a war. There are several English translations of Sun Tzu’s work, each having a slightly different interpretation due to the meticulous task of finding exact terms from Chinese to English, but some have been reviewed as reliable in conveying the true message of Sun Tzu. This includes the importance of considering economic, political, and geographical factors, objective comparisons of significant aspects between both opposing sides, handling one’s army and officers, and most importantly, the use of deception.

The Sun Zi Art of War is the definitive work on military strategies and tactics of its time, and still one of the basic strategies used in business today. Sun Tzu suggested the importance

Lessons from the Sun Tzu theory of war about potential war between Vietnam and China in 21st Century

Is the Sun Tzu’s theory of war relevant for the nature and character of XXI century wars, despite the finding that, most probably, the author wrote it more than 2500 years ago in his famous treatise, “The Art of War? This complex question becomes more important if we take into consideration the age of his ideas and difference in character of wars fought in the current century and those fought before that. However, the question becomes less complex if we approach it in a way that implies distinction between the character of the wars and their nature. Professionals in the area of strategy are expected to be comfortable with the observation that, “Continuity and change are part of war,”