Challenge of Command Summaries
Chapter 1:
Chapter 1 of Nye’s book “The Challenge of Command” begins with an explanation that this is an important book for specialists and junior officers to read so that they may thoroughly understand the challenges that are faced by positions of command. Nye emphasizes the importance of continuation of learning, and laments that with many soldiers learning ceases at a certain point in their career. Nye criticizes the mental process of certain aspects of training, and argues that the current emphasis is on what officer does, while it should be what officer should be. Nye goes on to explain some if the motivational theory propositions, some supported by authors, while others, by social scientists. He is also …show more content…
He says that began once the power to promote NOCs through the ranks was stripped from company commanders. At this point it became apparent that the strings were being pulled by the higher ranking officers rather than those that were at the company level and could see and judge the soldiers that surround him every day. Nye brings up the account of CPT. William Anderson and his methods of company command. Nye says a unit is made up of individual soldiers, soldiers make up the whole, a unit is only as good as the sum of its parts. There are 4 areas of focous for company command: designating units goals, demanding high standards in discipline, developing subordinates, and making sure that soldiers are interested in their well-being. He is going on about this because he is trying to make it clear that a commander needs to truly care about their soldiers because without the lower 10% of the army the upper 90% cannot do their job. A lot of company commanders do not utilize the tools that are at their disposal properly they biggest one being their NCOs. The NCO is more experienced than the officer and if they are any good at their job know their soldiers better than any commander because they will have a developed relationship with the individual soldiers. The NCO is the bridge between the commander and the lower echelons. As a commander we must …show more content…
Nye defines strategy as bringing the force to the battlefield, while tactics is a means of applying force to the enemy. Nye then begins to discusses the history of great tacticians, using ancient examples of tactical success. Nye asks us the question of should a commander be a great tactician in every situation or should he specialize in a certain area. Nye discusses the essentials of knowledge in four areas: terrain, hardware, doctrine, and a cultivated capacity for creativity. For knowledge of terrain Nye states that Terrain Analysis is a term that almost everyone in the military should be familiar with but that with each technological innovation how we define terrain analysis changes. One specific example that Nye uses in terrain analysis is the creation and utilization of the helicopter, it gives us an aerial view of the battlefield that we never had before its creation, officers mus have the ability to adapt to the changes in order to remain the most effective. On the subject of hardware Nye believes that the current army policy of fully understanding a soldiers hardware will allow them to have a better knowledge of tactical comepenticies. Doctrine is defined by Nye as refined theory, it is a practice that the army has made
Chapter 1:
Chapter 1 of Nye’s book “The Challenge of Command” begins with an explanation that this is an important book for specialists and junior officers to read so that they may thoroughly understand the challenges that are faced by positions of command. Nye emphasizes the importance of continuation of learning, and laments that with many soldiers learning ceases at a certain point in their career. Nye criticizes the mental process of certain aspects of training, and argues that the current emphasis is on what officer does, while it should be what officer should be. Nye goes on to explain some if the motivational theory propositions, some supported by authors, while others, by social scientists. He is also …show more content…
He says that began once the power to promote NOCs through the ranks was stripped from company commanders. At this point it became apparent that the strings were being pulled by the higher ranking officers rather than those that were at the company level and could see and judge the soldiers that surround him every day. Nye brings up the account of CPT. William Anderson and his methods of company command. Nye says a unit is made up of individual soldiers, soldiers make up the whole, a unit is only as good as the sum of its parts. There are 4 areas of focous for company command: designating units goals, demanding high standards in discipline, developing subordinates, and making sure that soldiers are interested in their well-being. He is going on about this because he is trying to make it clear that a commander needs to truly care about their soldiers because without the lower 10% of the army the upper 90% cannot do their job. A lot of company commanders do not utilize the tools that are at their disposal properly they biggest one being their NCOs. The NCO is more experienced than the officer and if they are any good at their job know their soldiers better than any commander because they will have a developed relationship with the individual soldiers. The NCO is the bridge between the commander and the lower echelons. As a commander we must …show more content…
Nye defines strategy as bringing the force to the battlefield, while tactics is a means of applying force to the enemy. Nye then begins to discusses the history of great tacticians, using ancient examples of tactical success. Nye asks us the question of should a commander be a great tactician in every situation or should he specialize in a certain area. Nye discusses the essentials of knowledge in four areas: terrain, hardware, doctrine, and a cultivated capacity for creativity. For knowledge of terrain Nye states that Terrain Analysis is a term that almost everyone in the military should be familiar with but that with each technological innovation how we define terrain analysis changes. One specific example that Nye uses in terrain analysis is the creation and utilization of the helicopter, it gives us an aerial view of the battlefield that we never had before its creation, officers mus have the ability to adapt to the changes in order to remain the most effective. On the subject of hardware Nye believes that the current army policy of fully understanding a soldiers hardware will allow them to have a better knowledge of tactical comepenticies. Doctrine is defined by Nye as refined theory, it is a practice that the army has made