Jocko Podcast - 526: The 18 Things That Make You A Bad Soldier and a Bad Leader, In Battle and in Life.

Episode Date: February 4, 2026

>Join Jocko Underground< Breaking down a 1951 U.S. Army research report based on interviews with 57 infantrymen fighting in Korean War. The episode pulls blunt, field-tested answers on what makes a good vs. poor combat man and leader—things like combat know-how, staying on task under pressure, remaining calm, taking care of gear, putting the team first, and giving clear, fair leadership. They connect those traits to everyday life and work: master your job, take quick appropriate action, control emotions, avoid selfishness and excuses, and build trust by sharing risk and being consistent.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/jocko-podcast/exclusive-content

This is Jocko podcast number 526 with Echo Charles and me. Jocka Willink. Good evening, Echow. Good evening. What makes a good soldier? What makes a good leader? What makes a poor soldier?

What makes a poor leader? There are many opinions about this. And a lot of them are different, but also there are patterns. And we have certainly discussed some of the patterns of good and bad leaders. But. leadership and human nature is not a science certainly there are a lot of variables there's a lot of idiosyncrasies there are a lot of nuances that make human interaction difficult i found a i guess it's somewhat of a scientific approach to this from the department of the army

personnel branch department of the army personal research branch So from 16 May to 19 July, 1951, the personnel research branch of the Army collected data by interviewing officers and enlisted men from a bunch of different jobs in the Army combat arms, infantrymen, who had served in direct combat in Korea. And it's not a comprehensive study by any stretch. And the sample group was relatively small, but I was thinking to, about this, you're gonna hear some very raw answers. And it's because guys have been in combat. They're not, they don't care. They're not trying to, they're not trying to make anyone feel good.

There's no sugarcoat going on. They're coming off the battlefield and they're like, this is what's happening. I had a decent, uh, sprinkling of that in my own attitude, especially while I was still overseas, you know, someone was asking me something. I was gonna tell them straight up like, this is what's happening. And so that's what these guys are. These guys are in that mode of, hey,

You all you want to know what what a good leader is not this. Oh, it's that. So it's not a it's a pretty small study group. I think it's like 50 or 60 guys, but I think there's some really good insight in this document. And it's called once again personnel research section report 995 and it's entitled characteristics of good and poor combat performance as reported by infantry men in Korea. What a great title. That's what we're that's what we're going to learn. the characteristics of good and poor combat performance. Let's get to this book right here. So it starts off by saying a group of 57 infantrymen, most of them with combat experience dating from the fall of 1950. We're informally interviewed on the main line of resistance in Korea in June 1951. So these guys are getting interviewed in the field. You're not going to get any more truthful answers than that.

You know how kids always tell you the truth? Yes. Kids will be like, you look fat or you look stupid. or your hair's ugly. Like your kids are going to, a combat infantryman that's currently on the line in combat, he's not going to pull any punches either. So that's what we've got here.

These infantrymen represented most of the common combat jobs. They were each asked to describe the two best and the two poorest combat men they knew, citing instances to support their choices. So that's what we get into. A list of characteristics of good combat men. Good combat men. Has combat know-how. And this is just straight up.

This is such a good Army document. Straight up. This is what's happening. Good combat man. Man. Has combat know-how sticks to job when going gets tough. Is quick to take appropriate action. Remains calm under fire.

Shows concern for others in group. Is orderly and clean. takes orders well, learns duties quickly, has high motivation for duties, is in good physical condition. Boom. Should we just end this podcast now? So that is combat know-how.

That's what they mean by it, or combat know-how is one of those. Yes, it's one of the things. Has combat know-how, meaning this is how you work this weapon, this is how you reload this weapon, this is how you set up fields of fire, this is how you dig a defensible position.

This is where you should position your machine guns, all that stuff. That's combat know-how. And that's kind of, of the most important thing that they talk about, which again is good in my mind because performance, performance of your duties,

you know, when we talk about building good relationships and I always tell people win, you know, do an awesome job and people like you more. Right? If you're losing, people don't like you as much.

You're not as good at your job. And then it breaks down here, and we're going to get in, by the way, we're going to get in each of these a little bit deeper, but I'm just going to go through them the way they haven't listed here. Good combat.

leader has combat know-how and directs men well under fire. So same exact lead-off, except for its direct men well under fire, which, by the way, that is the combat know-how of a combat leader, is knowing where to put the troops. Provide supervision and training and checks on men's needs. Take care of your people. Is friendly, respectful, and loyal to his men, let's men know he's boss. And again, we're going to get into these a little bit more detail. Is willing to undergo the same risks as his men. Is impartial in treatment of men. Is explicit and his orders.

Simple clearance concise. Keeps men informed as much as possible. Knows what his men can and cannot do. Has assurance and self-confidence. So there you go. Those are the characteristics of good combat men and good combat leaders. And then we roll right into it. And again, these are kind of like the overarching things.

We need some detail on these. Characteristics of poor combat men. Lags behind needs constant supervision. In parentheses, irresponsible or stupid. Is too personally incompatible, which is an interesting one. And by the ways, these are kind of ranked. These are, never mind, kind of, these are ranked. These are what the most important was down to the least important one.

Not a huge disparity in how different they. were but the most important thing is like this person can't do their job by themselves they need constant supervision or they lag behind is per number two is is it is is personally incompatible meaning we don't like you is too afraid doesn't perform adequately is to afraid bugs out documented coward is all for himself takes unnecessary risks is unwilling to follow orders Lacks interest is physically inadequate, is preoccupied with personal affairs. These are the poor combat man.

And the poor combat leader, number one, is temperamental. Number one, takes special privileges. Number two is too easy with his men. By the way, these are the men judging. You're too easy with the boys. lacks combat know-how, won't admit mistakes. Lack of ownership.

Is unwilling to undergo same risks as men, fails to give his men proper information and assistance, and the last one fails to take proper precautions for his men's safety. So those are kind of the broad categories that we're talking about. And it goes on here, makes this note, The single response category used most frequently in describing poor combat men was lags behind needs constant supervision, irresponsible or stupid, accounting for 21% of the responses. So that's kind of when you just have a non-starter.

You know what I'm saying? Like, you're just dumb. Or you just can't do the job. You just can't do it. You just can't do it. And next in order of frequency was is personally incompatible. most referring most response referring to a tendency to to complain too much or to lie and then is all for himself was also frequently mentioned 11% of the responses falling into this category so

comparison of good and poor combat men this is the next little section here if good combat men were often described as having given characteristics and poor combat men were often described as having the reverse of that characteristic so Clearly, this isn't like a mystery. The control of fear appeared to be of paramount importance to the respondents in evaluating combat success. We haven't heard that yet, but we'll get into it. Combat know-how is clearly considered a prerequisite of good combat performance.

23% of the responses included it as a characteristic of a good combat man and a good combat leader. The most frequently mentioned category describing poor combat men was lagged behind needs constant supervision. This is why if you can step up and take ownership, like if you're working, wherever you're working right now, and you can step up and you can just, oh, I got that, I'm going to run with it. You're going to go places.

And if you don't, and you go, oh, well, what I need to do again? How do you want me to do that? Can you check my work? You're not going to go anywhere. It is interesting to note that while the possession of combat know-how was the outstanding characteristic of good combat men, the absence of combat know-how was not frequently mentioned in describing,

is poor combat men. So if you didn't, if you didn't know everything perfectly, but you weren't in a leadership position, okay, we'll escort you along. Certain personal traits appear to have been regarded as important. The predominance of personal incompatibility in the description of poor combat men had its counterpart in such traits as consideration and cooperation describing good combat man and the traits of consideration and fairness describing good combat men. Good combat leaders.

So isn't it strange that, you know, everyone thinks about the military and you're just another number and you better just follow orders? No, it's actually really important that you are just liked by the team. If the team doesn't like you, things aren't going to go well. Experienced infantry men described good and poor combat men most frequently in terms of competence and dependability. Poor combat men were most frequently described in terms which, indicate an inability to control fear. Frequency of reference to leadership characteristics in describing good men suggest that the best combat men tend to be chosen for positions of leadership. So that's a good sign. We at least get the good people to step up and do the jobs.

And this is where we get into, and that's the report right there, which would be a relatively straightforward. But when I started reading the actual responses and you start seeing some clarity behind these things. So characteristics of good combat men has combat know-how. And here's the examples. Could set men in a good position. He was wonderful at estimating range. And back in the day, dude, you're trying to estimate range. Now we have laser range finders. We got all, you know, even our scopes that are milled out. You can do it. There's a bunch of tricks to the trade now. But back in the day, like, oh, that looks like about, 480 meters dial it in boom accurate gunner he can put a mortar where they want them

smart use his head not foolish or hard-headed again you know we get the hollywood gunny that rolls in we're doing it my way well actually not hard-headed knew his work knew his weapon knew his gun from one end to the other if anything went wrong with it he could fix it right away even in a fight within two rounds he could hit a target see this is where if you're whatever your job is we answered some questions like this on the underground you know we have we have a couple people that have written in recently that are in their life is not in a good spot for a variety of reasons and they're in a position where they kind of got to start again they they have nothing right and you know one of the responses that i've been given those people's like listen to you okay you

need to go find a job i don't care what that job is and you bust your ass at that job and if you're the fry guy working at a fast food joint you master it and you do it to a point where no one can no one has to tell you what to do you master that thing and when you master the fry guy doing the fries you're going to get promoted to grill and then you master the grill you keep doing that over and over and over again and eventually you're going to look up in eight years and you're going to have a legit job as a manager of two freaking restaurants and making real money by the way. So that's what we need to do.

When you go and you embark in labor, in jobs, you need to do the best to do to the best of your ability. And you need to work a little extra hard. That's one place where people's ego can get in the way. Instead of saying like, well, hey, how do you, can you show me how to do that again? They just don't, they don't ask that little question. Can you show me how, can you show me how to set that timer again?

on the fries and they don't want to look stupid so they don't ask now they don't know how to do it and now they burn some fries you see what I'm saying yeah you got to engage in the in the vocation that you're getting engaged in you got to get into it um next one sticks to job when going gets tough and they again these guys are in combat they're giving answers had it pretty rough at chip yong uh the enemy could see our flashes and had high ground He just kept on firing This is a dude that's like, okay Oh, we get slammed at lunch

And the fries are behind and people are yelling and screaming This guy's like, cool, hey, put more in, got this. Hey, let me fire the back burner. You know what I'm saying? He's going to make things happen. When we'd get rounds on us, he'd keep firing. He wouldn't let it worry him. Sniper shot went through his leg.

He went to medics, bandaged, and came back to the hill. Continue to run squad, though he couldn't get around much. Bro, this is your boy. This is in the good lane. Enemy started coming up. He started firing long bursts. Enemy knocked his gun out. He killed enemy with 45.

They brought another machine gun. Enemy knocked that out too. He got carbine on until they bayoneted him. By the way, American fighting man. Coming at you. Oh, cool. You took up by machine gun? Roger.

I'm going at you with my 45. You bring me new machine gun. I'll get that thing. You take that thing out. Cool, carbine until I'm out of ammo and get bayoneted. That's what we're doing. That's what you gotta do to get in the good category over here. Is quick to take appropriate action.

It doesn't say perfect action. Doesn't say exceptional action. It just says appropriate. Couldn't get a good field of fire to get squad out of a trap. Shorty found a piece of old uniform, wrapped it around air jacket of the machine. gun and walked up over a hill firing over the top of the squads ahead. Dude. Freaking legit.

American machine gunners. That should be a thing. It is a thing, actually. Props to our American machine gunners figuring out how to make things happen. So, you know, the barrel of the weapon gets really hot. Yeah. So that's why you have it on a tripod or a bipod so you can fire it and you don't have to hold it. So this guy sees that their, his,

guys are pinned down so he just grabs a piece of old uniform throws it over the barrel so he can hold it without burning his hand and just man carries that thing up while laying down fired over his squad's head get that guy a freaking uh an army combat an army achievement medal with v that's what he's going to get for that because korea freaking legit uh next one and again this is quick to take appropriate action no one's going to tell you like hey we've never done this before you've never fired this machine gun from the hip before it's too hot to carry figure all this out but he's going to figure it out take appropriate action uh in ambush truck driver got hit couldn't move he ran out under machine gun fire when no one else would and bandaged him and dragged him back got hit doing it

another one save saved boy's life medic patched up boy didn't do a good job he fixed bandage which saved the boy's life again just appropriate action think about how good good your life would be if you quickly took appropriate action at all times. That's literally what I was thinking right there. And it really goes deep because, you know, this whole, the whole list, you know, is like, that's not, that's not anything groundbreaking. Oh, no. Each individual one's like, oh, you know, it takes responsibility or, you know, this.

I'm like, okay, that all makes sense. But it's like, it's, I think it's very useful sometimes to shine a light on certain things for that. That's why we're here, bro. That's why we're here. So it's like this idea of making things happen, taking a purpose. taking appropriate action right like making I'm like going through the inventory of things that I've failed to do that you know you know because right let's face it there's a hierarchy of things that are important but a lot of those things that you kind of put off or whatever if you just if you just take action and make it happen

or if you have that attitude in general towards everything like I can just like right now I'm just starting to imagine all the benefits of that would be revealed You know, yeah, it sort of goes right in the in the lane with default aggressive and or a bias for action Yeah, yeah, think if you're like, hey, in all situations, I'm going to be quick to take the appropriate action Mm-hmm if you're thinking about that you're going to do stuff if you're not thinking about it Things happen and you're kind of discombobulated and they continue to happen the world happens to you Right, so we're trying to prevent that we're trying to take appropriate action quickly the world happening to you like when you because a big the fundamental part of it is your attitude towards it right so when the world happens to you it has this knack we'll say for putting up these little roadblocks the world does the world does yeah well it seems it can seem like that but no no no no it is like if you if you don't if you don't fight against the world the world just is going to crush you you don't you don't You know, I, uh, you're, you've been Hawaii.

Yeah, man. So I was looking at a, uh, house in Hawaii. Yeah. And the thing is in Hawaii, you can see that the nature is going to, is going to take the house. Oh, yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like, you, you get here in Southern California, uh, you go into 10 miles inland in Southern California, and you build a house.

That house is going to pretty much be there for. a thousand years. Like it'll be a little bit faded. The paint will fade a little bit or something, but it's going to be there. You leave a house in Hawaii alone for like three years. That thing's gone, dude. It's part of the jungle. It gets absorbed.

Yeah, yeah. That's true. And that's the way the world is. The world, like, it will just overtake you and conquer you. If you're not actively pruning back vines, you know, digging stuff out, redirecting water. Like you got checking, cleaning the roof off, making sure the mold's not getting like vine.

just the way it is. Yeah. That's the way the world is. The world's constantly trying to just put you in your place. Yeah. And so you have to do things to prevent it from happening. Yeah. And these,

yeah, that's actually a good way to look at it. I think a lot of these roadblocks though or barriers are way weaker than they might seem sometimes when you have like that attitude of like, no, no, no, no, I'm just going to like that, that extreme example,

but a real good example of the barrel getting hot and I'm saying no no no that's not a barrier for me you know there's a way over this you know through this if you have that attitude yeah I feel like you'd be surprised how the world will accommodate you it you're right it doesn't take much to cut the weeds back a little bit it doesn't take much to check the gutters are clear

so you don't get leave you know it doesn't take much it's like little tiny action but if you don't do anything Bro, your house is gone in three years in Hawaii. Yeah. It's just going to get taken. That is true. Another one. And again, I had to select which one because you could just read these.

They're all awesome. One night, we were attacked in a small perimeter. Gunner and assistant machine gunner killed. He jumped out of the hole with a pistol and recovered the machine gun. Do you know what that takes, bro? Like, you're getting attacked and the machine gun gets, the machine gun team gets taken out. So now you don't have your machine gun anymore. And Homeboy just gets out of the hole with his pistol and goes and recovers this machine gun, drags it back under fire.

That's what we're doing. Remains calm under fire. So this is so important. It's so important to keep your emotions in check. Heavy 30-Cal machine gunner, he was brave and didn't get nervous if mortar or other enemy fired on our position. he just went on with his job. My first scout, coolness and calmness are what makes him good.

Wasn't scared of anything. Had three machine guns knocked out from under him. Always cool under fire, not excited, worried like all of us, but didn't show it. That's important. It is really important

to remain externally calm. and you might not feel externally calm, but you got to learn to suppress those emotions and not let them out and let them be visible. And in my opinion, if you do that, you will actually be getting control of your emotions in real time. If you allow yourself to yell, scream, whatever breakdown, whatever it is, if you allow that to happen,

it will happen and the emotions will now be in control of you. If you go, you know what, I'm really mad right now, but I'm not going to say anything. I'm going to continue to do my job. I'm going to continue to have normal face. If you do that, you will become calm. Remain calm under fire. Next, shows concern for others in group. This is what people notice.

Protecting rest of platoon helps guys without getting too rough. Never interfered with anyone else unless. he could help them that's a really nice one like dude if you don't have any if you can't help out the situation why are you running your sock would share anything he had with you kind of awesome would pull guard all night lots of times so that that's it you've got to show concern for the group you got to take care of the team orderly and clean one of the cleanest men in the outfit every night he cleaned his gun

took extra care of his gun he was clean also his equipment extra good care of his weapon and equipment tent webbing always an inspection order isn't it interesting you get these guys they're in some of the most treacherous combat and they're asked what makes a guy a good combat trooper

and they're like clean I agree yeah that's that's a weird one not weird, but even in everyday life, so you were saying something about the underground, you know, the guy's he's not in a good place, right? Where do we start?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That being orderly and clean compared to, let's say not, seems like a big deal. And it's not, and it's not even like a overtly big deal. It's almost like a covert big deal. So like, you know, some people, they just don't care about that kind of thing.

And then you compare it to someone who does, And not like, I'm not saying like full style, you know, not that. Just like squared away, we'll say. That's a very good way of putting it. So if you do this very easy thought experiment where you're hiring two people to be, make fries or something, right? And one guy shows up, he's squared away. Clothes fit, squared away, shaved or whatever, whatever it looks like.

And the other guy is simply not. But it's like a no-brainer. No-brainer. You know, like there's no reason. to choose the guy who's on you know everything else being equal and it's kind of by far too no um it's there's no doubt about it and this is you know this is one of the reasons why like in tasking a brusier i was very much a stickler on uniforms when we went look i wasn't and and by the way me being this isn't like uh we were doing uniform inspections every day i never didn't i don't think we even

maybe we did one uniform inspection to make sure guys had their dress uniform ready in case we We needed it for whatever reason. The reason would be some kind of a memorial service in America. But I don't know if we ever like it literally. We probably inspect a few times. But my point being the Army and the Marine Corps, you walk into a briefing and you look like a slip knot, you are not going to get hired to do the job. They're just not going to, it's the same thing that you just said.

Like I wouldn't want this slob over here to make my French fries. And I wouldn't want this slob over here to be. be out in the field in an Overwatch position protecting my guys. Yeah. It's not happening. It's weird how your mind just kind of almost like connects the dots almost. Like, okay, you ever been around or you've ever known somebody who pretty much every time you see them, they're like either wearing a suit or like they're squared away, right?

Usually. And then let's say, I don't know, you catch them on an off day, maybe see them at the store or something like that or at the park. And they're like not shaved and they're like in like more casual clothes. a part of your mind is kind of like, Brad, are you okay? You know, like, they don't seem like all there, you know, kind of like, oh, is something bad going on?

Or, you know, you just have that. I'm not saying that's what's going on, but you kind of get that feeling, you know, when you ever had that experience? Like, a lot of times when it's like people you work with, right? Yeah. Yeah, I'm trying to think if I've ever had that feeling. I guess, I just seems,

what might seem out of character, you know, where I go, oh, kind of makes me just think, Yeah, I guess is, are you okay? Yeah. So I, I worked with this guy. He was an older guy. And this is not a big deal, but I'm just saying it's a small example of it. And he'd always have his hair like jailed up, right?

He's a bartender. And then I saw him and it was at the store, outside the store. And his hair was just like just not done, you know, like just not done up. He does his hair up for work, you know? Like he really puts it together. Okay. Now we're going like there's a certain. Yeah, yeah.

You can go overboard, obviously. Yeah, fully. And I'm not saying he had this up due. And I'm just saying it was like done for work, you know, just like how you shave for work or something like this. But I saw him outside of work. Obviously, he wasn't working. And his hair just wasn't done. It was just normal.

It wasn't messy or nothing. It was just normal. He just didn't look as put together. But of course not when you logically look at it in, you know, the grocery store from his house. Yeah, exactly right. Milk or whatever. Yeah. You know.

But I was so used to seeing him all done up that when I saw him casually, it was kind of like I got that feeling kind of like, are you okay? You know, like there had been a series of bad decisions made. And now he's kind of, you know, at rock bottom kind of feeling, you know? But I was like, no, no, no. But it's just that comparison. Yeah. You know, when someone's squared away, they seem squared away in everything. And when they kind of aren't, they kind of seem like they aren't squared away in kind of everything.

Yeah. The, um, in the warrior kid books. I mean, it's like this is in there. Uh, warrior kid code number six. The warrior kid keeps things neat and is always. I mean, I wrote this book 10 years ago, or I guess nine years ago. You know what I'm saying? It's a thing.

Yeah, fully. It's a thing. And listen, we've talked about this to before. I believe in functional cleanliness, right? Like I don't, you know, I'm not going to fully detail my car every Monday. You know what I mean? Because I live in Southern California. Like the car is going to get dust on it.

That's just the way it is. I don't know. I'm not going to fully detail my car every Monday. But you're going to be able to get in my car. If you need something from in my car, it will be where it's supposed to be. If you're going to get into my car, you won't have to move a bunch of trash to get your seat. You see what I'm saying? Yeah, fully.

If we get in a car accident, we'll be able to ex-fill the vehicle very quickly. It's just if we got to give a bunch of people a ride. I don't have to be like, hold on a second. Let me go to the garbage can. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, fully. So I'm not talking about that overdone situation. But things neat orderly clean ready for action. I think ready for action is sort of what's what I put in the warrior kid book like my own my own gym at my house

There like I've had people go you know you should clean up that chalk on the floor. Hey, there's not excessive chalk on the floor but there certainly is chalk on the floor and there's going to be chalk on the floor every day because I'm not going to every day go in there and get out a mop and a bucket and get the chalk off the floor, it doesn't matter. It's completely functional. In fact, in a lot of ways, it's a little bit more functional because you're a little bit more traction or whatever. So there's things have to be functionally clean. And if they're not, we got a problem. And here's the thing. I think the whole point of this is we all notice this subconsciously. We all see when someone is not, would you use put together? When someone is not put together or their gear is not put together, you know, their gear being, you know, the briefcase that they carry or their tool bag that they have, like whatever, the, the, the clothes that they're wearing. Those things matter.

So pay attention to him. He keeps himself and his equipment up. He's just a damn good example of a good soldier. He never loses or forgets his equipment. That's how you lose and forget stuff, by the way. You're not squared away. He gets us clean or good clothes somehow or another. and he keeps us supplied with oil, bore, cleaner, and ammo.

He always selects our position. Another one, neat soldier, shaves whenever he gets a chance, takes care of halosone in the H2O, which is the old water purifier they used to use, uses foot powder, changes socks, disciplined self. This is what troopers noticed about good combat men. Takes orders well.

Does any job like they want it done. any duty or detail that came up he would do without griping never bitches always ready and willing reason we call good men good soldiers is that they're willing and don't argue and they always suggest things that slip your mind we'll go right ahead and do anything you can ask him isn't interesting always suggest things that slip your mind so when you're in charge you tell someone do something they do but they're like hey by the way boss we should do this as well so this isn't just like a robot This is a thinking combat leader. Next one.

Learns duties quickly. Here three months. Gunner already. Reach Gunner in three months. It's just again, when they show you how to work that fri, the friar, learn how to work to friar. Ask the questions. Understand the methodology.

Has high motivation for duties. The type of guy always does his best, interested in job, likes weapon, career man. Is in good physical condition. never fell out on March and now we so those are the characteristics of a good man those are the responses here's some of the responses uh for good combat leaders has combat know-how and directs men well under fire for examples here when we were ambushed and he was hit by a burp gun twice in the arm he remained calm got the squad into position and safe then a few hours later when when all was okay he went back

to the aid station. Check. Not scared. When we bonzied, he kept the men in line arranged for proper base of fire. Old platoon leader bugged out on us. He took over. He organized the platoon and organized the position. If he hadn't taken over, a lot of men would have made him bad shape.

God, can imagine getting back to like the rear and you see the guy that bugged out? What does that mean? Ran, ran. But, oh, like left. Yes, left. Damn. Yeah. Knew how to move men around when needed.

He knew all the weapons and how to deploy them and the men using them. Good leader who knew his job, good professional knowledge. So you got to know your job. Understand that frying machine. Provide supervision and training and checks on men's needs. Kept men out of trouble, knew how to maneuver men to get the job done. Just took care of the men like they were his. again this is a good combat leader

sees what men use need and turns it in reports so they'll get it that's administrative actions oh you guys need new boots cool I gotta do a report I got explain where your boots are explaining we need new ones how many pairs what sizes he's gonna do that supervises his men make sure they get clothes equipment

etc he always saw that we got chow no matter how hard it got no matter how hard to get it checks to see if we have enough ammo and equipment He was always good about attending every little detail, attending to every little detail. Always looked out for the men, made sure the holes were deep enough. Is that easy to go to a guy that's been digging in a freaking frozen ground for three hours and be like, dude, that's not deep enough, dig more?

That's not easy. But that's what you got to do. That's what your men want you to do. Checked guard to make sure the men were awake. Checks holes regularly day and night to see if men were okay and alert. He'd go up and down the line behind the hill to keep them going. If he saw men who should have moved, he tapped them on the shoulder and told them to move up. Around camp, he always tried to train his squad to make them better.

Yes, that's not a complaint. That's not in the bad combat leader area. The good combat leader around camp, when we could have time to rest, yeah, we're going to get some rest, but we're also going to train. Here's the one that you might find shocking. Here's the section you might find shocking. Military combat leaders out there are hard nose, right? here it is is friendly respectful and loyal to his men and what are these actual responses sound like cheerful always has you laughing friendly friendly never mad always willing to help you do anything

combined friendliness with force so you never resented an order never argued little dichotomy activity going on there treated his men right and they stuck with him gave orders in a nice way never rushed his men he took care of his men he was good to his men on a seven-day march over the hills he kept platoon morale up fought for rights of his platoon gave a hand to the men carrying ammo so that's what that's what we're doing friendly respectful and loyal to your to your team help your team good relationships with the team this is one that's a sounds a little almost almost like opposite of that. Let's men know he's boss.

So what does that look like? Gets men to respect him and know he is boss. Tough when necessary, but gets along with the men, makes them understand he's the boss, discipline to maintain good organization. Stern spoken jokes and can still tell you to do something when it's time.

There's a perfect dichotomy. Like, hey, we're having a good time. But when it's time to get something done, that's what we got to do. I always felt that consistent. see just being consistent. Like you can be like a, and I'm thinking of my football coaches for some reason,

but there was this guy who was like real strict for, it was like half the year. I felt like he was real strict, but he was real consistent with how he was strict. And he was actually kind of like, he'd say some mean stuff, too, thinking back. In the moment, it's kind of like whatever, because this football culture is kind of like,

yell a lot of stuff like that. But he was really consistent. You know, like it was really, we could rely upon, what he would be mad at and what he wouldn't be bad at, you know? And then slowly we started, it's funny, started losing like a lot, right?

And there was like kind of rumors of like, oh yeah, they might replace the coaching staff, which they did by the way, but whatever. And I could slowly see him and other coaches too, but really it was with him where, because he was my direct coach.

I seen him be inconsistent. Like sometimes he'd be way more mad. And I was like, bro, that, like, I start to lose respect for his like coaching. You know? You are even more right than you know. And where this is really important is as a parent.

You have to be consistent as a parent. If you fly off the handle one time with a kid or fly off and then don't let something slide another time, that's not good. If you fly off the handle with one kid but you let it slide with another kid, that's not good. Consistency. And it is definitely true. Like you ever work for someone where everyone's kind of on eggshells because they don't know which guy is showing up today?

That's terrible. Oh, yeah. That's absolutely terrible. Yeah, and it feels like you kind of, not only will you tolerate, you kind of respect the guy, even if he's super strict and, you know, but if he's consistent, you kind of know what you're going to get. You're kind of like, I'm kind of down to work for this person, you know? Yeah.

Yeah, man. So this is letting people know he's boss. He says he can be rough on eight balls, put them on details. And eight balls is like slang for, you know, basically a guy. that's a problem. Strict got along okay if he did what you were told. He was strict, knew the army. When a platoon leader gives the platoon in order,

he sees that his squad does it. So making things happen. The next one is willing to undergo the same risks as his men. And this one's real consistent. Never asked men to do anything. He wouldn't do himself. He was right up there with the men under fire. Men trust him because of this.

If he stayed in the rear, men would think was risking their lives without risking his. Shows self in combat doesn't drive the men leads leads them. Never asked men to do anything he wouldn't do himself. Men have trusted him. They'll know he'll be there. Doesn't let a man do something he wouldn't. So there you go.

This is why you have to you have to take on the risks of the troops. And can you do it every single time? No, but you can definitely do it. Is impartial in treatment of men? Treats men all the same doesn't have biased opinion against them doesn't pick on one man for Details all the time and details is just like a job Rotates duties when they're dangerous fair gives everyone a chance to make rank so yeah being fair that's it that's a huge deal Next one is explicit in its orders

Tells the men what he wants before they do it and then they put out Check he always explained everything so we could understand check simple, clear, concise. Keeps men informed as much as possible before going in tells them all the scoop he's got and let them know what to expect. Keeps the men informed. Knows what his men can and cannot do. And then the last one has assurance and self-confidence.

He knows what he's doing. There you go. Those are pretty powerful. And now we get into the characteristics of poor combat men. And again, there's, we could leave it at just what's good, but when you hear what's bad, you go, oh yeah, oh yeah. Lags behind, needs constant supervision, irresponsible or stupid. Had to keep in the CP area no good on the line. You could never depend on where he would be in combat. Bogged down every attack, wouldn't get up the hills, falling out all the time, getting lost. Gold-bricked and lagged behind, said he couldn't make it, even though he's physically able. Last one in form. and garrisons and garrison got to stay on him to make him do anything this is just people that are lazy stupid irresponsible don't care he was f you on one of those guys that if in the if he had ammo he didn't have a rifle and if he had a rifle he didn't have ammo he wasn't sharp

didn't use his head in combat didn't carry his equipment with him So these are like basic things, right? Basic things. That's why, you know, you don't want to be that guy. You know, you don't want to be that guy. You want to have your gear with you. You don't want to fall out in physical situations. If they need volunteers, put your freaking hand up.

Personal, this is the interesting one about incompatibility. It's personally incompatible. Don't like to have them around argues all the time and thinks he knows it all. Damn, dude. Don't wait that we have a like when you're a little kid you get you call people a know it all Yeah That's a thing don't be like that Here's an another example

If he would just shut up and quit shooting off his big mouth about everything he could at least be bearable He's a good radio operator when he works forward observer in combat But he's hard to deal with and poor example so it tears down the outfit wish to hell we didn't have him that's a person that's doing a good job hard to get along with when there is no trouble he is very brave this is such a good little note to self listen to this always topped the stories he would always have twice as much and twice as good of everything that little one-upmanship that happens he was always bragging like what a good good cadre man he was back in the states thought he was a big shot fairly friendly but we all knew him

for a big bag of wind bitched too much he was kicked out of another platoon for bitching too much always bitching about something natural for men to bitch but he carried it too far always bitching these are just repetitive as soon as he got hit he dropped found him three days later lied about what he did, wrote himself up for a silver star. Damn. When in the hospital, he lied sufficiently to get Bronze Star

with V and Purple Heart. No good. No good. Is too afraid, and is too afraid is broken into two categories. One is doesn't perform adequately.

The other one is bugs out. So it doesn't perform adequately. Scared in a fight, lags back, fires only if he thinks it's necessary to defend himself. He acts like a girl. Humsy awkward tripping over things wouldn't trust him kind of scared like a girl would act

stays low and whole again I apologize this is 1951 this is the way these guys were thinking on patrol only fired his rifle once every two hours more scared of his rifle than it was of the chinks again this is inappropriate language but this is what the document says one night attacked in foxhole with blanket over his head too scared to move nervous no guts got to be pushed platoon sergeant rifle platoon scared doesn't fire stays laying in goddamn hole puts himself up for medals and ratings wouldn't allow machine gun to fire enemy because he was afraid it would bring mortar fire in there no good rifleman to be on the line with afraid to fire his rifle so there you go those are those are um not performing

adequately and then you get into just too afraid bugs out says his back was hurt medics can't find nothing wrong with him at all. Didn't want to go up the hills, said his back hurt went on sick call. Came back the next day after the fighting was over. Never did complain about the back when no fighting was in prospect. When attacked was supposed to come off, he accidentally shot himself through the hand. Shot himself in the fleshy part of his hand once and got a week and a half hospital rest, but was never tired, never tried, said his pistol went off by accident.

Never found him until the scrap died down. Bugged out twice once carrying some rounds up for mortars a burp gun opened up on him and he dropped the ammo and went back to the bottom of the hill Strictly scared nervous enemy opened up had gone in the hole and hid through ammo away to move fast So there you go there's a people that just running away The next one is is all for himself He's all for himself never helps or is friendly with anyone even doesn't like it if you ask him for a drink of water or a cigarette He's got a good attitude for a free world. I can do what I want.

Independent in Garrison only does his job and no more, only thinks of himself. Same way in a fight. Digging Foxhole doesn't pitch in. We'll do his share, but not a bit more. This is, again, you were talking earlier, Echo, like, put, just keep this front of mind. Because you don't think it's a big deal. You don't think it's a big deal to help the people move the box. to help cleaning up the floor to somebody spill something you go give him a hand you just you just

don't think it's a big deal you think no one notices everybody notices that you're all for yourself on the line he wouldn't want to help others he said why should I help clean the gun I'm not a gunner he always has an excuse for not helping men don't like him he's selfish doesn't share so there you go do not be all for yourself next one takes unnecessary risks doesn't care about giving away positioned by firing when he shouldn't on patrol we drew fire squad leader said to get in position behind a rock or a tree or something he sat down on the path right in the ridge line with a rifle across his lap we started out he'd stand straight up on the skyline went to sleep on guard one night they attacked he woke up just in time had his shoes off and everything takes more

chances than are necessary next one is unwilling to follow orders doesn't give a damn about what he's being told. Bad temper. Doesn't like people to tell him things, likes to do it his own way. Don't want anyone to tell him what to do. Do something wrong and he'll and tell him about it and he couldn't take it. So this is just people that just can't get on board. Gives a lot of lip to the squad leader. He's a hot head. When told to clean the gun, he'd just lay around and when told again, he'd come back with more lip. Lacks interest, drafted and just didn't care for the country or the army took no interest in anything lag behind didn't care about learning getting ahead or a damn thing didn't care much or try much man it is so important to get in the game in whatever you're

doing is physically inadequate not physically fit can't keep up on marches cracked up a couple times threw down equipment and started started back saying he was going home rejected twice before on draft don't look as if it is this he's fitted for combat all run down lagged behind, couldn't keep up. He spent most of his time with us in the hospital with frozen feet. He's preoccupied with personal affairs. He had a wife and kid in Germany, worries about them, does not want to get killed. Had a wife and two kids, thought a lot about them and worried about them.

His folks aren't well. His dad ex-cancerity worried he's broods around. Got to have that little ability to separate work and home. Very important. And now we get into the character. of a bad or poor combat leader. Number one is temperamental, had a bad temper. Does say things at times a person can resent,

would hear something and jump on a guy, but occasionally backtrap it if he was wrong. So you want to remain calm. Take special privilege, drawing cards for taking turns at guard. He'd fixed it so he'd go first Because everybody wants that first Because you're already awake

So you're like, oh, I'll take a watch right now And then echo you can get it at 3 o'clock in the morning You know Tell a man not to do something Then he would do it himself like drinking whiskey Is too easy with his men His only fault would be that he's sometimes A little too easy with goof offs

Played around with the men too much They would laugh at him And he wouldn't do what he wanted to get done figured he was their buddy and they could say screw you it happened under fire on hill 202 so you got it that's the dichotomy of leadership close enough with your men but not so close that they don't understand what the mission is and what we're doing squad leader didn't know how to place men in position or tell them how the enemy would come that's lacking combat know-how won't admit mistakes he was bad because he was

When he was wrong, he would not admit it. Just a little thing. It doesn't take that much. Everybody knows you're wrong. Everybody knows you're wrong. Everybody knows you're wrong. It's glaringly obvious when you're in a leadership position. Everybody knows you're wrong.

Admit it. Take ownership of it and then you can move on. Is unwilling to undergo the same risks as his men. Big wheel in garrison, but in combat he would order others to do something and would wait out of danger. We counterattacked Hill on second. and he turned platoon over to assistant he came up afterwards to see how we made out fails to give his men proper information and assistance never gave out information never helped a man fails to take proper precautions for his men's safety as a squad leader he was a bit

careless at times for example he sometimes let men throw ration cans around the area where the sun would flash on them and once or twice he marched us on the skyline and there you go those are the characteristics of a poor combat leader. And then this next appendix here, it talks about the duties of combat. And it goes through the duties. And these are very tactical and very specific. It goes through like the duties of a machine gunner, a light machine gunner, a heavy machine gunner.

It goes through the duties of a mortar men and a rifle men and a 75 gunner and a 57 gunner and a bazooker gunner and a scout and a bar gunner. And so it goes through, I mean like, things as tactical as as heavy weapon squad leader disperse men on each side of the machine gun to give it flanked position as machine gun squad leaders

see that the gun is dug in properly and keep your men together. So it's very tactical level stuff but so I'm not going to go through those but it also talks about what is required and the duties of a squad leader. So squad leader, job duties on defense i place men foxholes and ammo where i think best men come first got to supervise

see rifles in shape change socks every move they make you got to see they make it this is like hardcore responsibility and accountability going on you're in combat you you you got to make sure they're changing their socks they're gonna human nature's going to take over you know what actually if i probably can go in a few more hours with the same socks even though they're sweaty inside these rubber, stupid boots that we were to shoot, and they're going to sit here, and I'm now going to freeze my toes, and I'm not going to be able to walk tomorrow. You actually have to use intrusive leadership in situations like that. Got to boot them along up the hill, make them dig in, make sure they're on the ball at night, stay dispersed under fire, keep them moving

when fired on, hardest job in the army. And actually, as I read through the other leadership and job duties, everybody's talking about dispersion, which is. a huge thing. It's don't bunch up. And it's a really weird instinct that people have in combat situations is when you are in danger, you huddle up.

And sometimes you huddle up because there's like a little bit of cover so you get three, four guys behind a little piece of cover, which is terrible. Sometimes you huddle up just because you're just scared and you just feels comforting

to be by your other guys. And clearly, obviously, if you know anything about tactics, you just made a target of one, Now becomes just five people that are going to get wounded by a grenade or a machine gun fire like all of a sudden four guys are wounded five guys are wounded instead of just one So dispersion and don't bunch up is a huge piece of what these guys talked about and he says the same thing Stay dispersed under fire keep moving when fired on hardest job in the army On attack I generally lead men try to keep control of them holler and motion to show them where to go

See that they keep clean wash their mess gear good and repair rips in their clothes like this is you are a charge of every responsible for everything going into action call your men together tell them what you want them to do and how many enemy there are I when you get on the hill have them dig a good hole and clean their rifle if there's no firing going on and again you got to remember how much laziness creeps in and you wouldn't think it was right so echo if I took your you right now and said okay you're gonna to go to this hilltop in Korea and you'd think well yeah once I got my foxhole done I'd make sure my weapon was good to go and you probably would tonight and maybe the next night but now it's been a month now it's been two months now it's freezing cold and if someone is not enforcing these things human nature will take over so we as leaders have to help people avoid human nature we get that a lot you know you hey if if if Echo Charles isn't meeting his sales quota.

Well, do I just let him slide? No, no, no. I actually, you want to meet your sales quota. You're the one that wants a down payment for your new house. You're the one that wants to get a new car, whatever the case may be. I got to help you get there by helping you overcome your human nature to be lazy and not want to work, which is excessively strong with you. Thanks. Thanks.

But you see what I'm saying? We have to help people overcome their human. human instincts. That's what we're doing as leaders. And then what goes into doing your job well? He says some tactical stuff like knowing how to read a map and compass, know how to direct artillery, carry an extra oil and patches and rod for cleaning rifle and rolls a tape to bandage men's feet.

Like these guys are in the game. When he talks about what you need to do as a leader, he says, the first thing he says is make sure men like you. Again, does that seem to be a. counter to the idea that I have to make you wash your feet, make sure you clean your weapon, make sure you change your socks, I'm doing all those things. But I have to make sure that the men like me. So you can't confuse helping with discipline and requiring discipline with being liked. Because if I say, oh, you know, if you're too tired to clean your weapon, go ahead and just get some

sleep. And now we get attacked and overrun because your weapon doesn't work because it's too dirty. So make sure men like you We had this thing Sometimes there were some sometimes people had the attitude You're not here to be their friend right? We actually Laif and I were layf and I Laif was one of the the junior officer training course and he had a officer Senior officer that would come in like hey it's not your job you if if they like you're doing something wrong He would say this and Laif would have to be like hey thanks sir appreciate it and then layford had to like de-program

the troops and be like no actually you should your men should like you and if they don't like you you you got a freaking problem uh be sure men take care of their weapons dig in good on the hill make sure the men are digging good don't try and scare the new men tell them the truth help the men any way you can boy that's a good that's a good mantra for a leader help the men anyway you can anything you can about his weapon tell us them and that's and that's what we got there and then the last thing we're going to finish up for this for this document is a platoon sergeant same thing what are the duties of the of a platoon sergeant and how do you get it done well so job duties for a platoon sergeant find out the best route of

approach in case we run into enemy fire under fire tell them to spread out here it again here it is again get that dispersion but you know what what's going on in your business in your team what natural instinct do you have to constantly pay attention to and make sure that it doesn't creep back in tell them not to fire too much in waste ammo tell them to cross their fire not everybody fire at the same place so these are all just kind of tactical things he also says i always reconnoiter as best i can and then tell squad leaders what we're going to do and how if possible that's the that's the job and then he goes into what goes into doing the job well so a couple tactical things Be sure they have enough ammo and equipment at all times.

Check. Pick good positions to see that they're well dug in. Check. Always try and commit the whole platoon. You know what that means? Echo Charles? Prioritize and execute. Prioritize and execute.

So you're going to have, oh, we got to assault this. We got to maneuver over here. We got to flank this. Use the whole platoon. Commit the whole platoon. Always try to commit the whole platoon. You don't want to use a squad. You don't want to use a squad plus.

You don't want to use a fire team. if you're going to do a job, try and use the whole platoon. That's prioritize and execute. Don't piecemeal things out. Don't try and do nine things at the same time. Usually deal through squad leaders, builds confidence and gets better results, but I try to brief the entire platoon.

Perfect, right? So as often as we can, we let the squad leaders, hey, tell the squad leaders what's going on, use your supportive leadership, let your supportive leadership, go out there and make things happen. But at the same time,

there are you do need to brief the whole platoon hey guys everyone this is what's going on now echo you get your team to go do this and you know bill you're going to get and fred you're going to get but we're going to brief everyone together so it everyone has the overall concept of operations and then the last things and this is the last thing from this document i'm going to finish up with here the last thing he says is know how to handle men that's what we're doing that is what leadership is right you have to know how to handle people you have to know how to interact with people you have to know how to interact with people you have to know how to communicate with people. And look, so many of these characteristics that we just talked about, we've talked about

them over and over and over again. What makes them so challenging is that they are counterintuitive. They are counterintuitive. Otherwise, we wouldn't have to teach these things. We wouldn't have to talk about them. They wouldn't have to put this report together in 1951 to try and explain people how to be good leaders and how to be good combat men. If it was natural, we wouldn't have to put this together.

But it's not natural. It's counterintuitive. It's against your instincts. We want to look out for ourselves. We got to overcome that. We want to take the easy path. We got to overcome that. We want to avoid things that we're afraid of.

We got to overcome that. We want to pass the blame. We got to overcome that. We don't want to accept responsibility when we make a mistake. We don't want to take ownership. We got to overcome that. We want to be lazy and we got to overcome that. That's why that goes back to what we were talking about earlier.

This is why if you just let the world happen, this is what you end up. Lazy, looking out for yourself. It's not going to go well, taking an easy path all the time, not being disciplined. That's what happens if you don't push back against the instincts that you have in your genetics. Because genetically, 5,000 years ago, if you Echo Charles, Caveman Echo Charles, had an opportunity to lay down and get some rest, you should. If you had an opportunity to eat a ton of food, you should. It's going to keep you alive. Your instinct was correct.

Whatever. The instinct you had to get warm and get comfortable, you should take advantage of that. That's how you survived. But it ain't like that anymore. You could just sit there on the dang Instacart ordering up the donuts. And that's the instinct. Make this as easy as possible. So that's what we're fighting against.

That's what we're fighting against. We cannot allow ourselves to follow our weakest instincts because they're wrong. They're wrong as humans and they're wrong as people and the wrong as leaders as well. That's what we're fighting against. We need to do better. We need to be better. That's where we're at. Part of that in this modern era.

Of course. You got to kind of get after it yourself mentally, physically. We're training. We're lifting. We're studying. We're running. we're training jujitsu we're sprinting for those things we're going to need fuel i recommend joccofuel joccofuel dot com this is where you can get protein to where you can get hydrate i just got

done training some jihitsu i needed hydrate real bad yeah it was just there was steam the entire victory was steam 21 000 square feet of mats it was just uh well 21 000 square foot gym i don't know how many square feet of mats but it's a lot of mats yeah it's a lot of mats probably 10,000 square feet or something like that of mats anyways there was like that that fog yeah you know what I'm it was on so hydrate get right into that hydrate replace what you just sweat it out protein I I rolled right down grab the protein grab it a vanilla milk protein shake which is tasty very tasty very tasty and then we got the pro series now which is also just next level taste is that Yep, it's out.

Okay, you can check that out. And, of course, energy. We got everything that you need. So check out joccofuel.com. Get yourself some creatine. If you're not doing 10 to 20 grams a day, you're lagging. You got to bump that up. Those are rookie numbers, as we say.

Let's bump it up. Are you cycling it where like you take more and then less and then more? I'm not. I'm just straight up. I'm just going straight up. 10 in the morning, 10 at night. We're going hard at the paint. Creatine, Joint Warfare, Whole Nine Yards.

We got you covered. Joccofield.com, check it out. And then also training jihitsu. I was wearing origin shorts. Yeah. And I was wearing an origin rash guard. And that's what I wear every day when I'm training the jih Tzu, and what I'm working out. So the thing that's different is the quality and the location of manufacturing.

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I know the the soul of the slippers, flip flops. They're not, they're actually slides. They're not flip flops. Is the pattern of a tatami, like the pattern of jiu-tit-to mats. Man. So every time you put your flip-flops on, every time you put your slides on, every time you put your slippers on,

you can be on the mats of justice. American made 100%. That's what we're doing. OriginUSA.com. Check it out. Also, jocco store. What do we got new? Jocko store is get after it got that new new it's out yeah yeah yeah but there's a lot

of cool stuff stuff on there um sure locker mm-hmm underway by the way if he's happening yeah that's a subscription scenario new design every every uh every month um warrior kid yeah up and running up and running so worry to worry kid dot com or you can go to jocco store in the worry your kid section you know it's all the it's all the same but yeah man if If you are a warrior kid, whether it be in real life or at heart, boom, we got something for you there. Or if you know a warrior kid or if you have a warrior kid, check.

Boom, we got some stuff. So they can represent. Boom, we got some shirts on there, some hoodies on there. Rashguards were re-stocking. That's a hot item, you know. And they pick those up pretty quick. But we're restocking. We're doing our best to restock.

You can sign up for the little email thing. We'll let you know. But yeah, well, it is jockelstore.com and warriorkid.com. Check those out. Also, check out some books. Put your legs on by Rob Jones. Check out Need to Lead by Dave Burke. Check out things my brother used to say by Ryan Mannion.

We also have a leadership consultancy. We talk about all these principles, all these instincts that we have that are bad and how to overcome them and what we should do instead. If you need help inside your organization with leadership, go to ashdownfront.com. If you want to learn these skills, Go to Extreme Ownership.com. We have an entire library of courses in order to improve your leadership skills.

And then, of course, if you want to help service members active and retired, you want to help their families. You want to help Gold Star families. Check out Mark Lee's mom. Mama Lee. She's got an amazing charity organization. If you want to donate or you want to get involved, go to America's Mighty Warriors.org.

Also check out Heroes and Horses.org. And finally, Jimmy May's organization, Beyond the Brotherhood.org. And for us, if you want to connect with us, you can check out jocco.com. And then on social media, I'm at Jocko Willink. Echoes that, echo Charles.

Just be careful on there. It's freaking chaos. And it's a monster that's trying to eat your time and ruin your life. So just use caution. Thanks to our uniformed personnel around the world,

those who are serving currently and those who have served with a solemn salute to the Korean war veterans. You heard some of those examples today of our American war fighters in a brutal war

who stepped up and held the line. Also, thanks to our police law enforcement, firefighters, paramedics, EMTs, dispatchers, correctional officers, board patrol, Secret Service, as well as all other first responders. Thank you for holding the line here at home. And for everyone else out there. It's pretty straightforward.

Know your job. Keep going when things get tough. Remain calm, even when things get crazy. Especially when things get crazy. Keep yourself and your gear clean and ready. Treat people with respect. Put the team ahead of yourself. Always.

And you know what? These are not characteristics that you're born with. These are the choices that you make. Do not be a poor combat man or a poor combat leader. Be a good combat man and be a good combat leader by making the right choices. And that's all we've got for tonight. And until next time, this Zekko and Jocko.