A Leadership Vignette for the Successful Counter-Insurgent
by Captain Crispin Burke, Small Wars Journal
A Leadership Vignette for the Successful Counter-Insurgent (Full PDF Article)
In the last few years, the Army has established the leadership ideal of the "pentathlete". Pentathletes are leaders who are not only competent in their core warrior skills, but who are also scholars; men and women who are creative, innovative, strategically-minded, culturally competent, and skilled in all aspects of peace, war, politics, and civil administration. In short, the Army needs the type of leader who excels in what we would like to term "Fourth Generation Warfare". Thomas Edward Lawrence, (1888-1935), known the world over as "Lawrence of Arabia" lived up to all of these leadership attributes. Indeed, his life story is of incredible significance now, especially in light of the US Army's mission in culturally alien environments conducting counterinsurgency. Against the backdrop of the Middle Eastern Theatre of the First World War, we will examine the personality of this most eccentric character and discover that he possessed many of the characteristics required of the successful counter-insurgent of the 21st Century. We will also examine the subtle nuances of his persona which irked the British Army of the early 20th Century as much as they would annoy the American Army nearly a century later.
A Leadership Vignette for the Successful Counter-Insurgent (Full PDF Article)