Early November, minds and hearts turn to veterans. They should, with Veterans Day on November 11. We owe more to our veterans than any or all together, can ever repay. One percent of America is on active duty. Only six percent are veterans. So, let’s remember.
Interestingly, a coincidence – if there are such things – sweeps me this year. General George C. Patton was born on November 11, 1885, 140 years ago.
Many fault him for being insufficiently sensitive, too overbearing, demanding, rough-cut, brash, and acting in ways Democrats hate today.
Actually, he loved his men – all of them. He wept for them. He modeled leadership, for which they loved him, and went everywhere with him.
When he helped Generals Dwight Eisenhower, George Marshall, Douglas MacArthur, Omar Bradley, Hap Arnold, and others win WWII, Americans were in awe, not critics.
True enough, Patton did not suffer fools. But he was as tough on himself as on his men. He was tough on them and himself because he wanted each to perform at their best. That included him. That is leadership.
A young Olympic athlete, he finished fifth in the Modern Pentathlon in 1912, led tanks in the First World War, commanded the 2nd Armored Division at the start of World War II, was in Casablanca during Operations Torch (North Africa) in 1942, and then commanded the 7th Army at Sicily.
After a long step back for slapping a hospitalized soldier, he was granted command of the 3rd Army by Eisenhower. America needed his grit in the western invasion of France. That proved decisive, Patton outperforming expectations daily. His relief of the troops at Bastogne in superhuman time was surreal, epic.
So, what made Patton tick? In an age when brusque, decisive leadership is frowned on, when we have the luxury of self-doubt, social redefinition, and foisting our sensitivities, complaints, and emotional frailties on others, what would Patton say?
First, he would reject all the anti-Christian, anti-Constitutional, anti-American, and anti-male handwringing, nail-biting, and recrimination. He would use a few words to express a reality: The world is dangerous. Preparing for war deters war. When we fight, we have to win.
He might ask his listeners to think – about what the world would look like without America as their beacon of freedom, “a city on the hill,” striving to make real our ideals, defending against evil the God-given rights in our own Constitution. He would push.
He would likely remind people how close the Nazis came to victory, what that would have meant, and remind his listeners that hard things are done by brave men and women so that the rest may not know, and may live in peace.
He might regale us with hard battles, emotion rippling through him as he remembered those he buried where they fell. He did that too often.
Most of all, my sense – having read much that he wrote, much on him – is that he would have talked about action, courage, leadership, the virtues of being decisive. Famously, he barked, “Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.” And he warned: “Do everything you ask of those you command.” He modeled what he expected.
On the power of effort, need for it, he would say: “A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood,” “Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom,” and more broadly: “Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory.”
A fierce anti-communist, he would warn us. He would say they are trying to slip it between our ribs. He would say: “It’s better to fight for something in life than to die for nothing,” and “If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.”
Looking back to look ahead – offering some perspective – we could listen to any WWII generals and likely any enlisted soldier, and learn. The question for us is not what they did, not what veterans have done – but how we will thank them, and now apply the lessons they taught and fought for to our future.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, Maine attorney, ten-year naval intelligence officer (USNR), and 25-year businessman. He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (North Country Press, 2018), and “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024). He is the National Spokesman for AMAC. Today, he is running to be Maine’s next Governor (please visit BobbyforMaine.com to learn more)!
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