The importance of leadership in a campaign

It is more fun criticizing






In the movie of War Fog, about Robert McNamara, fmr Sec US of Defense, he describes his role under the command of Gen Curtis LeMay who was in charge of bombing campaign over Germany.  He noticed that there were lot of mechanical problems in the the report of mission.  He surmised, and the statistician found out that these problems were not real.  The flight crew were terrified. With a mortality rate of 5% and 20 sorties in the service period of most crew, the crew would surely die.  So they created all excuses not to go.

Gen LeMay had a solution to this.  He would personally lead the mission;  and the mechanical problems were dramatically reduced

That is what leadership can do..


From Wiki on Gen Curtis LeMay

Robert McNamara described LeMay's character, in a discussion of a report into high abort rates in bomber missions during World War II:

One of the commanders was Curtis LeMay—Colonel in command of a B-24 [sic] group. He was the finest combat commander of any service I came across in war. But he was extraordinarily belligerent, many thought brutal. He got the report. He issued an order. He said, 'I will be in the lead plane on every mission. Any plane that takes off will go over the target, or the crew will be court-martialed.' The abort rate dropped overnight. Now that's the kind of commander he was.^[12]

He headed the SAC Strategic Air Command in 1948