The Role and Values of Combat Leadership in Modern Warfare: Can Combat Leadership and Personal Leadership Skills be Replaced by Modern Technology?

Abstract

The technological innovation of command, control and information systems has provided military units with tools to increase the speed and accuracy in the decision making process, and conduct complex operations in a controlled and safer way than before, the role of commanders and the role of leadership are even more important than ever. The complexity of the modem battlefield makes the presence of commanders in the situations vital. The ability to gain situational understanding, accept uncertainty, and take intuitive decisions requires strong and dynamic leadership skills. More distributed operations will make it impossible for the commander to be everywhere at the same time. A command and control system is required based upon mission command, which again requires mutual1rust and understanding build on personal relationship, the ability to accept personal initiative on a lower level,' and the ability to accept chaos and solutions outside the plan as long as it support the purpose. Thus, the leadership element of the command and control system is more important than ever before, commanders must be selected and trained with this in mind, and units must be given time to establish proper personal relationships before they are deployed on missions.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 29, 2011
Accession Number
ADA600594

Entities

People

  • Jan H. Dale

Organizations

  • Marine Corps University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Combat Areas
  • Combat Operations
  • Combat Readiness
  • Command And Control
  • Command And Control Systems
  • Control Systems
  • Doctrine
  • Education
  • Information Systems
  • Iraqi-War
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Science
  • New York
  • Organizational Structure
  • Supply Chain Management
  • United States
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Military Science
  • Organizational Process Management (OPM).
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Fully Networked C3
  • Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control