MISSION COMMAND
In the military, internal communications defines leadership, often in critical situations, says Colonel Thomas A. Kolditz
In the brutal heat of the Iraqi afternoon, the soldier struggled with a pry bar that would help break free the track of the M1A1 main battle tank. Smoke drifted under the tank fender. Part of the track had separated on the detonation of an improvised explosive device. Though the tank had already been pulled from the initial site of the blast by an 80-ton recovery vehicle, the threat of snipers brought an intensity to his efforts. Once he and his team dropped the track from the tank, they would need to replace two 60-pound links of the 4,850-pound stretch of steel and rubber, and then reassemble the track under tension. This kind of work is the unsung part of combat. It is part of the battle, its own kind of fight.
Colonel Thomas A. Kolditz PH.D.
