Hello Paul. I know that's the sort of "thinking" that they use to justify it. < Marching is not done for marching - it is done to so the troops will obey orders INSTANTLY AT THE SAME TIME ! ! Anything less and you endanger your whole troop in war. thank you..........paul > But it has nothing to do with instant obedience. It takes a long time to get square bashing done right. There's nothing instant about it.
Perhaps it gets troops accustomed to doing really stupid things but that's no way to win a war either. Neither instant obedience nor doing really stupid things are useful in defeating intelligent opposition. You are saying it's important to get Stockholm Syndrome into troops.
Having troops obeying stupid orders instantly would have them gaoled for crimes against humanity, or being shot for doing something stupid. Al Qaeda would love it if USA troops would march around in rank and file, presenting a great big target in one place.
As my father, who actually won a war explained, teaching how to shoot would have been a lot more useful than learning how to polish brass [paraphrasing]. Legend has it that some British high ranking officer was visiting the Anzacs and commented that there wasn't a lot of saluting. "No." agreed the attendant, "But if you wave to them, they'll wave back."
Notice how Apple, the most successful company on the planet by market cap earlier this year, had a motto "Think Different". I doubt that "Obey instantly" would have been quite as aspirational or motivational.
When you come across somebody who insists that your mind be detached from your actions, "Just be my robot", you can be sure that you have come across a criminal totalitarian who should be shot and you had best do it as soon as you can. Which is not to say that there is always a lot of time for discussion, or thinking, or teaching about why something is a good idea. Sometimes it's best to just do as the person says, but it should still be voluntarily.
You endanger your whole troop in war by training them to mindless instant obedience. In time of war, applied intelligence and situational awareness are under extreme test. Lacking of thinking leads to defeat. The last thing you want when an individual is in desperate circumstances is for them to wondering whether they should be saluting or wheeling left and how polished their brass is, or being paralyzed because their boss is whimpering in a shell hole.
Thank you.
Mqurice |
