I learned from Jocko, the former SEAL officer, that when ORDERS are sent down from on high it is not your option to question them or argue them but FOLLOW them!

Jocko was given the order that from now on when his SEAL team went out in Ramadi Iraq he had to take the ragtag untrained Iraqi soldiers with him!

His first reaction was – “Like hell I will! This is total BS! These idiots will f-ckup the mission and even get my fellow SEALs killed!”

As he began to think the orders through he realized that those in command were not going to change their minds because they knew that if we – the US – did not start training these Iraqi soldiers then the US would be there for generations fighting!

Jocko also realized that his SEAL team were the ONLY answer to wiping out the well armed and trained insurgents. He also realized that he could only carry out this mission with Iraqi soldiers tagging along!

When he shared this with his fellow SEALs they had the same reaction he had initially; when Jocko also shared the reason it had to be done this way his men reluctantly agreed.

Actually Jocko found that during the urban fighting the Iraqi soldiers served several GOOD purposes: they knew how to QUIETLY take out doors to buildings without explosives and they recognized hidden insurgents by their dialects and mannerisms!

Here is what Jocko: “In order to convince and inspire others to follow and accomplish a mission, a leader must be a true believer in the mission. Even when others doubt and question the amount of risk, asking, ‘Is it worth it?’ the leader must believe in the greater cause.”

More in next post!

Hugh Simpson