A Fighting Heart for the Army’s New Look
Colonel Richard W. Whitney, General Staff Executive, Office of the Comptroller of the Army, Department of the Army
Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the April 1955 edition of Military Review. The article is presented in its original style, unedited by our staff.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s and are not necessarily those of the Department of the Army or the Command and General Staff College.—The Editor.
As we stride breathlessly and enthusiastically from the age of atomic weapons into the thermonuclear era, let us pause just long enough to devote some overdue consideration to our greatest potential weapon—the morale of our fighting soldier. Without this weapon all others are impotent. If we devote the same measure of effort to developing this weapon that we expend in developing others, we shall be invincible. Is that worth pausing for? If you agree that it is, then join me in some soul-searching and watch out for the chips, because we shall let them fall where they may.
Each officer and noncommissioned officer in today’s Army who deserves the title of leader or commander carries in the upper strata of his mind a constant awareness that the morale of his subordinates is the key to success in any military endeavor. Recognizing this, he strives, within the limits of his capabilities, to improve morale. All too frequently his efforts are remedial rather than preventative. In many cases his capabilities are restricted by inadequate training and experience or by his lack of one or more of the principal attributes of a successful leader. Often the morale of his troops is influenced by conditions which are beyond the leader’s control.
Morale and Esprit
My purpose is to examine those agencies, activities, and conditions which influence the morale of the soldier, and which are within our Nation’s ability to control, in order to evolve recommended measures for improving the standard of morale in our Army. Combat is the real test of a soldier’s morale, and so it is toward the attitudes and reactions of the fighting soldier that my treatment of this subject is oriented. Nevertheless, my approach is influenced by the fact that a soldier’s behavior during the ordeal of combat can be greatly influenced by the attitudes he acquires before he arrives in the combat zone. Because the two are so highly interrelated and interdependent, it is impractical to talk about morale without also discussing esprit de corps. How does morale compare to the other elements which go to make up the might of a nation’s army? Napoleon paid tribute to the importance of morale by proclaiming, “In war, morale conditions make up threequarters of the game; the relative balance of manpower accounts only for the remaining quarter.” The great military leaders of more recent warfare appear to support Napoleon’s theory. Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery has stated, “High morale is a pearl of great price. The more I see of fighting, the more I am convinced that the big thing in war is morale.” His colorful contemporary, General George S. Patton, Jr., said, “My theory is that a commander does what is necessary to accomplish his mission and that nearly 80 percent of his mission is to arouse morale in his men.”
Left Quote
The Army must eliminate from its precombat training and orientation programs all of the nonessentials which detract from our principal objective of ensuring the battle-readiness of the individual and the team
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