LEADERSHIP LIBRARY

IN BRIEF

This book is David Hackworth’s extremely colorful war memoirs from his experiences from an enlisted junior soldier during the Korean War to a Colonel during the Vietnam War. It’s an insightful leadership book as Hackworth shares his own tactics to create esprit de corps, profiles of effective and ineffective leaders, and thoughts on human behavior in combat.

Quotables

“He was known for morale-boosting slogans like “You’re lean, you’re mean; you’re rough, you’re tough; you’re professional killers,” and prebattle pep talks like “You’re not here to die for your country; you’re here to make those so-and-sos dies for theirs.” (p. 60)

“In the infantry, I found it, you live for right now. You don’t give a damn about tomorrow, because you don’t even know if there’ll be one.” (p. 63)

“...‘I learned in WW II,’ he said, ‘that the slightest bit of excitement in a leader is transmitted to the men. You might be afraid, but the fear gets magnified in the troops. Somebody has to keep his cool.’” (p. 81)

“...I didn’t blow the whistle. No one blew the whistle. All of us had seen too many atrocities, and what is war anyway but one big, raging atrocity? It was something that every doughfoot—regardless of which side he was on—knew to the bottom of his soul.” (p.137)

“Cleveland smiled. He knew the Wolfhounds and he knew what I was talking about. ‘But you have to remember,’ he told me, ‘there are no bad outfits. Only bad officers.’” (p. 226)

“Sometimes all the motivation a guy needs is a little respect, and a damn good leader who shares common ground.” (p. 251)

“In the 1/18th, the Fugawi Award went to the company or individual staff officer responsible for the biggest snafu or screwup of the week. Johns would give a kind of humbling but often hilarious recapitulation of how it had gone; in this neat way, lessons were learned and admonishments given, but not one was hurt because it was all good fun.” (pp. 364-5)

“Two years into the jungle-oriented war in Vietnam, all of our schools were still geared up for ‘two up, one back, hi diddle diddle, right down the middle’ confrontations on European battlefields.” (p. 589-90)

“And it was yet another good idea trampled in the dust by just another big, far-removed headquarters that needed something to do, another solid layer of World War II-thinking, close-minded, unimaginative bureaucracy throwing around its weight.” (pp. 605-6)

“This force is organized conventionally and things conventionally. Its objective has been to fight big multi-batallion battles where generals can display their ‘generalship.’ The net result of this is we have had our ‘clocks cleaned’ in almost every major fight.” (p. 614)

“...the more sweat on the training field, the less blood on the battlefield....” (p. 633)

“Make men believe they are leaders and they will become leaders.” (p. 640)

Clients, please email to request the full notes from this book.

Leadership Library