HOWDY from the Citadel

Well here I am, 10 days into The Citadel. I'm pretty much adjusted to life here, and past the initial shock. Classes start tomorrow.. aaah I'm so excited, i'm sick of meetings and drills. Hell Week was.. well annoying but pretty fun. I really am not the kind of person to easily get stressed out, and taht's def. shown here at school. My Cadre seagents are tough, but they're pretty "Cool" i guess, lol. ok well i gotta go shine some stuff and get to some meetings and finish cleaning my room.. inspection in the morning. BYE now.

---STEPHEN

Goodbye!

So long from Eustis, Florida. You've been a good home.. and always will be. But now it's time to move on.

I'm excited, anxious, and ready for it to start.


..and so it begins. We'll see what I'm made of.

Analysis of Leadership in "Killer Angels"

Throughout the Battle of Gettysburg, as described in “Killer Angels”, the qualities, decisions, and characteristics of three distinct and respected men form a well-rounded model of a true leader. Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and James Longstreet, and Union Colonel Lawrence Chamberlain, are rare and shining examples of decisive, tactical, and compassionate leaders. There is no other more beloved and respected general in American history than that of the Southern-gentleman, Robert E. Lee. His ability to instill passion, respect, stability, love and decisiveness into his subordinates was and is still unprecedented. Unwavering and stubborn as a rock, James Longstreet was a brilliant, yet quiet, leader. Reserved and troubled, Longstreet lacked persuasion skills and the ability to communicate a point clearly, yet his love for the army and reliability made him stand out as Lee’s second-hand man. Previously a well-educated professor, Colonel Chamberlain tackled the art of leading with skill and a desire to improve. Leading his regiment, Chamberlain displayed an exceptional ability to listen, learn, think, and then act when it came to dealing with his men. Leadership, as portrayed in “Killer Angels”, instills within subordinates a strong desire to follow and perform duties without ever second-guessing their orders.
Robert E. Lee leads strongly and decisively, while always keeping his calm and composure, regardless of the circumstances. He does not hesitate to act quickly and decisively when he discovers the Union army to be shadowing his movements in southern Pennsylvania. Without ever second-guessing himself, he turns the army, placing full faith and confidence in his men to accomplish the objective of luring the Union army into the open and destroying them. Viewing this as the last opportunity, he sees no other alternative other than to attack, regardless of unfavorable positions. Despite being faced against a much larger and better-positioned enemy, his subordinates, men and officers alike, follow and trust his decision. General Longstreet, while he strongly disagreed with Lee’s decision to fight at Gettysburg, rightly stated the General’s strong leadership characteristics in “Killer Angels”. “The secret of General Lee is that men love him and follow him with faith in him. That’s one secret. The next secret is that General Lee makes a decision and he moves, with guts.” To be a leader, one must not be timid and afraid when the time comes to make decisions. His firm reliance and trust in God, gave him a peace and composure when making critical decisions that would affect the outcome of the war.
Disliked by many of the Corps commanders, General Longstreet held Lee’s full trust and faith as the most dependable and faithful commander in the army. Quiet and serious, Longstreet was one of the few generals who did not worry about “losing” his dignity when it came to fighting battles. At Gettysburg, he would rather retreat and attempt defensive warfare, the unpopular decision, than to attack and risk losing the army for the sake of “honor” and “popularity.” Probably the most brilliant strategist in the Confederate Army, Longstreet’s defensive tactics were unprecedented and most likely far beyond his time. Persuading skills was a quality he most certainly did not possess - frustrating him as he failed to relay his thoughts out clearly to General Lee and others. He seems at times to have a one-track mind, which in many cases, did not help at all, neither practically nor in the opinions of his fellow generals. After the failure of Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg, Longstreet’s love for the army devastates him as he witnesses the loss of so many. General Lee, in “Killer Angels” states the hard truth of leadership, “To be a good soldier you must love the army. But to be a good officer you must be willing to order the death of the thing you love. This is… a very hard thing to do. No other profession requires it. That is one reason why there are so very few good officers. Although there are many good men.”
An avid learner and a well-educated professor, Colonel Chamberlain, despite his background, always yearned to be a soldier. When placed in command of the 20th Maine Regiment, his leadership style was firm and professional, yet compassionate and understanding. When faced with the challenge of forcing 120 mutineers back into the regiment, Colonel Chamberlain takes a remarkable approach. He assesses the situation, realizing that these men are stubborn and tired of abuse from guards and frustrated officers. Rather than literally forcing these men into the regiment, Chamberlain allows the men to vent their frustrations, honestly hearing their complaints from a representative. Without compromising his position of leadership and authority, he addresses the men with an air of honesty and thus instills within them a desire to willingly join the regiment and continue the “noble” fight in which they are engaged. While lacking experience, Colonel Chamberlain realized who he was dealing with, recognized past mistakes, and adjusted accordingly so as to best manage, understand, and lead his men.
Decisiveness, confidence, strategy, compassion, and professional interaction are all key qualities possessed by three leaders who indefinitely made their mark in history during the epic Battle of Gettysburg as described in “Killer Angels.” Robert E. Lee, James Longstreet, and Lawrence Chamberlain exemplify the characteristics of a leader and further one’s understanding of leadership in general. Quality leaders must remain firm and unwavering when around subordinates, choosing words carefully, instilling confidence and loyalty in others, and thus earning and sharing respect from the men they lead. Developing firm leadership and respect among subordinates can only be acquired through time, practice and honesty. Drawing from the examples of sound leaders in “Killer Angels,” one can resolve that a leader is honest and true to his own strengths. Every quality cannot be embraced, yet the truth of that fact must be realized in order for leadership to be exercised effectively. Leaders do not compromise, but act decisively on that which they perceive to be the right choice according to their own conscience and the sound judgment of others. When these qualities are realized, embraced, and enacted, a leader will emerge, along with the respect and loyalty from subordinates which accompany good leadership.

Quotes!

WHAT TIME IS IT?
Sir, I am deeply embarrassed and greatly humiliated that due to unforeseen circumstances over which I have no control, the inner workings and hidden mechanisms of my chronometer are in such inaccord with the great sidereal movement by which time is commonly reckoned, that I cannot with any degree of accuraracy state the exact time, Sir. But without fear of being very far off, I will state that it is __ minutes, ___ seconds and ___ ticks after the ___ hour, Sir.

"YOU MAY BE WHATEVER YOU RESOLVE TO BE. DETERMINE TO BE SOMETHING IN THE WORLD, AND YOU WILL BE SOMETHING. 'I CANNOT' NEVER HAS ACCOMPLISHED ANYTHING; 'I WILL TRY' HAS WROUGHT WONDERS."

There's no end to a life that is gone
And I see myself in a mirror
And it cracks and shatters
And says, "You're a crazy marine"
--Tim Spalding (my dad)

"This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper."
--T.S. Eliot

Honor is the most cherished principle of the cadets life.

"Duty is the sublimest word in the English language." --Robert E. Lee

"I like liquor - its taste and its effects - and that is just the reason why I never drink it." --Stonewall Jackson

"Never take counsel of your fears." --Stonewall Jackson

"What is life without honor? Degradation is worse than death." --Stonewall Jackson

"Without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, and with it, everything honorable and glorious."

"There is no security in this life. There is only opportunity."

"You are Citadel Men, you have no pension for failure, you wear the Ring, you never let a friend down, you will be good fathers, husbands, and leaders in the armed forces and industry, you are strong in heart, body, and mind. You protect such things as Honor and Fidelity. Your virtues will matter ... you are the last of the knights."

"He felt a quiet manhood, non-assertive but of sturdy and strong blood. He knew that he would no more quail before his guides wherever they should point. He had been to touch the great death, and found that, it was but the great death. He was a man. So it came to pass that as he trudged from the place of blood and wrath his soul changed. He came from hot plowshares to prospects of clover tranquility, and it was as if hot plowshares were not. Scars faded as flowers." --The Red Badge of Courage

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world." --John 16:33.

"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." --Galatians 6:9

"Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth." --Ecclesiastes 12:1

"There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God. For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him?"

"For in this modern world, the instruments of warfare are not solely for waging war. Far more importantly, they are the means for controlling peace. Naval officers must therefore understand not only how to fight a war, but how to use the tremendous power which they operate to sustain a world of liberty and justice, without unleashing the powerful instruments of destruction and chaos that they have at their command." --Adm. Arleigh Burke

"I can imagine no more rewarding a career. And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: 'I served in the United States Navy.'" --JFK

"The Navy has both a tradition and a future--and we look with pride and confidence in both directions."

"It is well that war is so terrible, lest we grow too fond of it." --Robert E. Lee

"There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but boys it is all hell. You can bear this warning to generations to come. I look upon war with horror." --Gen. William T. Sherman

"Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in blood of his followers and sacrifices of his friends." --Gen. Eisenhower

"No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country." --Gen. George Patton

"When you go home,
Tell them for us and say
For your tomorrow
We gave our today."