archer wrote: Oh gheesh....I didn't say they weren't a team....I said (and please read) this was no game....and comparing this mission to a football game is ludicris. But I guess you will keep spinning it that way so your post doesn't look disrespectful to the SEALS ( I know you don't care if you disrespect the president)
Principles of leadership are the same regardless of whether you are talking about a team that plays a game or a team that executes military operations. The team leader never takes or seeks the credit when his team performs well, he gives credit to everyone else that is a member of the team that he leads. By doing so he cultivates the respect and loyalty of the team. A leader who seeks the glory for the results of the team breeds suspicion and caution instead of respect and loyalty. This is true regardless of whether you are talking about the military, sports or business.
Military operations are deadly serious - which is why the violation of tenants that even Little League coaches inherently understand by the president is all the more severe. As the commander of the armed might of this nation it is absolutely critical that you have the respect and the loyalty of the men and women who have volunteered to serve this nation. They can't be wondering when they are on that chopper if they are being used as pawns in some political game. They must believe without hesitation that what you are asking of them is necessary and worth laying down their life. When they succeed in the mission you have assigned them, you don't seek any credit for what they did, you credit the team.
Here's a link to the press release of President Truman in the wake of dropping the first atomic bomb.
http://www.cddc.vt.edu/host/atomic/hiro ... uman1.html
We know who made that decision, why he made the decision and the agony he went through as he pondered the decision. Not because he told us in his announcement mind you. Truman understood instinctively what escapes our current president, and what seems to escape many others here as well in their blind defense of what he did.
