Veteran Lesson IV: The Best Officers Go to the Sound of the Guns (Ten Veteran Lessons for Every Day)

Topic: Leadership

Lesson 4

The Best Officers Go to the Sound of the Guns

            Recruitment ads in 1917 America were often emblazoned with the slogan, “What did you do in the Great War, Grandpa?”  This was done to appeal to the American spirit of the day, which was reluctant to back down to any challenge or any enemy, particularly those perceived as aggressors hellbent on world domination.  As recruiters accurately predicted, red-blooded machismo sent young men scurrying for adventure across the nation, and eventually over the Atlantic Ocean to France.

            General George Patton said, “Americans love to fight.  All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle.  When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble shooter, the fastest runner, the big-league ball players and the toughest boxers.  Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser.”

            Simply put, George Patton wanted to be the one to drive the Germans to Berlin, twice.  He wanted to be the general with whom the fate of the war effort rested.  He, along with other American war heroes like Washington, Jackson, Chamberlain, Roosevelt, and MacArthur, understood the same exact truth my own father told me – “the best officers go to the sound of the guns.”