Reader Riposte from The Best Defense: 68 TTPs too many!
Note: Hat tip to Thomas Ricks at The Best Defense for facilitating this important discussion – what follows is a response to an original essay published here on War Council. Mr. Ricks was kind enough to grant permission to post here as well…so enjoy!
By Captain Jordan Blashek, USMC
Best Defense guest respondent
Captain Jesse Sladek is the type of leader I would want as a commanding officer. ‘Just giving a damn’ goes a long way in leadership, and Captain Sladek clearly does. The learning curve for a new infantry officer is steep, and there is no substitute for a good company commander to mentor him through the first few months.
That said, I don’t find Sladek’s “69 TTPs” particularly useful. They range from insightful (#61: Often commanders … are not tracking the same reality as you), to obvious (#51: Lead from the front), to uselessly vague (#57: Be aggressive). The majority are lessons every infantry officer should have taken away from the schoolhouse.
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