Image courtesy of Movie Poster Universe. By First Lieutenant Matthew McGoffin Much has been written about how organizations may unintentionally nurture bad, or “toxic,” leaders. However, this writing neglects an important point....
Read MoreIt strikes me that a lot of people are going to head out this weekend to see Lone Survivor this weekend. It was directed by Peter Berg (he did The Kingdom and Friday Night Lights) and stars Mark Walberg as Marcus Luttrell – the “lone survivor” of a SEAL team mission in Afghanistan that went incredibly wrong. I feel it’s important to try to gain some educational value, or consideration, before the tickets and popcorn are purchased – particularly as I just wrote that we ought to think seriously about war more than we watch war.
So here goes. Marcus Luttrell sat down with 60 Minutes a few weeks back, and gave a very revealing interview. Watch it. But if you don’t have time, here’s a shortened version of events: the SEAL team of four members, while on a remote reconnaissance mission of a significantly larger enemy force, encounters an Afghan goat herder and is forced to make a tough decision. They are unable to detain him for obvious reasons; they can’t let him go because he might alert enemy forces; they can’t kill him because that’s against our military code of ethics. So the team leader called an abbreviated Council of War. What follows is the interview transcript from 60 Minutes:
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