What Makes the Army Strong, Essay Example

The primary mission of an army is ensuring national security of a country and strengthening defense of the Republic. It does not matter what type of army it is but the role revolves around handling threats, aggression and maintenance of peace and security within and across the borders. The role therefore demands an army to be strong enough to make it happen, prevent any compromise of the duty, and promote the success of the army’s mission. This paper investigates what makes an army to be strong always and hold to the strength element leading to its success.

Competent leaders are a virtue in army leadership. In the history of the army, the success has attributed to the leader’s ability and his role-play in the army. Eric in his book wrote that Hitler was not an army leader only, but he knew what leadership was all about. Strong character in a leader is necessary for the Army to be successful in meeting the challenges in the complex and dangerous security environment. In the Indian army, FM 6-22 is the Army’s manual and the keystone field on strong leadership. It establishes a kind of leadership doctrine and principles to be held by all officers, Army civilians and noncommissioned officers to enhance army strength. It is necessary for army leaders to posses’ agility, multi-skills, broad knowledge, strong moral character, and keen intellect. The leaders of the army ought to display these attributes (Eric, 1997).

A swearing commitment to lifelong service is important in any army. The swearing means that the army remains committed to service delivery even in times of difficulties. It shakes away any compromise of service delivery in an army. It builds inner strength with an assurance of a never quit kind of spirit in an army. It also creates a bond between the army officers and makes operations better and more successful.

Various programs could make an army strong and contribute to its success. These are program set to improve the well being of the army members and boosting their morale in the service delivery status. Futuristic Infantry Soldier is an Indian System and the principal modernization program of the army scheduled to start from 2012 to 2020. The first phase of this program incorporates delivery of strong weapons to the army that has multi-functions and later modernizations of the battalions successive to the program. This program has great prospects are will develop the strength of the army both in weapon and skill wise. An army without skill and weapons is as good as dead and cannot serve the role of being an army (Eric, 1997).

There is need for a humanitarian checks and balances in an army. It does not mean that brutal treatments make an army strong. In fact, brutality weakens the army even further (Eric, 1997). From the process of recruitment to the final day of retirement, the U.S. Army has great provisions of diverse and unique lifestyles for the army members. Soldiers have a great opportunity of growth and this develops their capacity. The army provides expert training in many fields providing opportunities for over 150 different jobs within the army. This has always been strength in the army because soldiers work restlessly to climb up the ladder. The more the Soldiers work towards their success, the better it becomes in strengthening the army in all sectors. Once, an army member of the United States said that they develop a great foundation of discipline, confidence, and leadership skills while serving in the army.

It is wise to subject the army to measures and inspections regularly in all cases of service delivery. Inspected armies always serve better than the free army does in the respective operations. There is a need to have external and internal checks in the army regularly to correct any misdeeds and provide a better guide to the army in making it better and stronger in service. In the United States army, the respective units always undergo inspections at least four times every year in all supply operations. The inspections involve Command Supply Discipline Program, Command Logistics Review Program, Command Inspection Program, and the Supply Excellence Award. All these are proper controls in meeting the goals of the army and strengthening it further.

Incentives will always work in service performance even in an army. In the army services, soldiers are committed to work in all dockets but they are not supposed to be forced to do so. Circumstances force the leaders at times to assign duties to the soldiers different from their main roles in an army. In such cases, incentives motivate the army and there are always no leaks in service delivery making it stronger. In other words, soldiers might consume their energy when they strive to overcome inherent problems in the supply system rather than maximizing on the effectiveness of operations. That is why they need something extra for instance an incentive, to make it better for them in their operations.

Eric, a scholarly writer once said that the number of wars, an army has won measures its strength. This statement is very true in all circumstance regarding the evaluations of the army performance. It is always important to have an army well prepared for battle. Loosing a battle for an army depreciates its performance bringing down all plans and possible success. From the history of wars including the World War II and the cold war, armies that won the battle always progressed to win another. The winning boosted confidence in an army and gave them the morale of doing it again without any fear or compromise. This is a part of what the strength of the army holds. It is a secret for the army’s future development in strength for its operations. That is why leaders in an army never accept defeat at any time. They keep on pursuing the enemies regardless of the situation even when all the soldiers are killed or taken captive. This is just to build a strong base to counter the defeat later in another battle (Eric, 1997).

References

Eric, H. (1997). Military capacity and the risk of war: U.S, China, India, Pakistan, and Iran.  Oxford: Oxford University Press.