The Last Patrol
There are several themes that emerge in this episode, as members of Easy Company occupy an observation post in the town of Haguenau. The central theme centers on the concept of tension. By tension, I mean the kind of tension that exist when two forces are pulling at the opposite ends of a rope. As the episode opens, you can observe the reaction of the battle weary soldiers to the return of Pvt. Webster, who is fresh from recovery at the hospital. There is also a kind of tension between the character of Lt. Jones and that of Capt. Winters. One is a naïve "by-the-book" officer, fresh from West Point Military Academy...the other a battle weary, experienced leader that has earned the respect of his soldiers. Still another, and more dramatic example is the tension that exists when Winters must decide between risking additional deaths of his soldiers, against following orders to carry out a senseless mission. These examples all demonstrate that:
Leaders must learn to be comfortable in the presence of tension
As you continue to advance on the path of leadership within the fire service, you will become exposed to increasing states of tension. This is especially true when making decisions regarding risk assessment. The decision by Winters to order his men to rest, and report that they had completed the second patrol with no prisoners, was a very risky decision. He weighed the risk of losing more soldiers, against what may have happened to him personally if his deception was discovered by his superiors. It was a bold decision, but ultimately one that protected his soldiers from unnecessary loss of life.
Discussion questions to consider...
- Did Capt. Winters make the "right" decision?
- How did Webster overcome the tension between himself and the other soldiers?
- How are the situations of tension in the episode similar to situations in the fire service?
- As a leader in the fire service, what are some situations where you find yourself in tension?
Captain WInter’s decision came by putting his men first. He knew the potential for greater risk and loss of life for a second mission being that they would need to travel farther into the town. The request for a second mission seemed to be one coming from those way above Captain Winters, not directly engaged in the fight. Captain Winters chose common sense, risk vs gain and looked out for his men. I believe he made the right decision.
ReplyDeleteWebster didn’t seem to really do himself any favors by seeming like he was trying to avoid missions when the other men had been to hell and back in his absence. Webster tried to make friends by sharing information with them, only to find out they weren’t going to let him off easy. Webster needed to prove himself under fire. He needed to step up and carry his weight to get back the respect and ease the tension.
The tensions from this episode resemble the fire service in ways where certain decisions are made from the top and not all of the information of “why” or the vision isn’t clear. Captain Winters didn’t believe the vision of the mission would help win the war but it would certainly have a fatal impact on the men. A good example would be personnel on a strike team. Orders coming from the top, who don’t have a relationship with the boots on the ground, don’t know what the days or weeks prior have truly been like and then a task is given that doesn’t make a lot of sense or requires a great deal of work that will not contribute to the end of the battle. At times we need to be able to refuse orders due to the risk or the fatigue of the personnel. It is better to be part of the solution than become part of the problem (IWI).
I believe there to be a number of ways that tension can rise in the fire service. I stated previously of an example of tactical tension. Another example that seems to cause tension is the vision from the overhead. The tension comes when Chief Officers or Company Officers need to share the vision from the top and engage others to not follow in the vision but motivate them to want to lead and be apart of the vision. We may all be alike (know what the mission is) when we are on incidents either fire or EMS but take away those calls and we are not the same. Free time can cause tension amongst personnel. In either example given the leader in the fire service needs to constantly maintain a positive influence, motivate the personnel to know the greater good and empower them to be the good, not the tension.
Keeping in mind that this series is based on real events, written into a story likely manipulated for entertainment purposes. For the sake of conversation, this question of whether Capt. Winters made the right decision is presumptive. Without the second patrol occurring there's no way to know for certain what stood to be gained. Only that injury or death was likely avoided.
ReplyDeleteI try not to view my decisions as right/wrong. Being that my goal is to serve the community, my crew, my leadership and my fire district, I don't believe that I will make any "wrong" decisions. By this I mean my decisions will land on a scale of good to great. If this seems over confident, try to understand this through my perspective. If I look at training my probie, developing my crew members, mitigating emergencies, maintaining readiness, etc., through the lens of the Mission, Vision & Values, I cannot fail. My efforts should fall somewhere on the scale of good to great.
Regarding Webster overcoming the tension between him and his company, I believe the episode was written to make his actions on the patrol as what brought him back into the fold. This tension was portrayed as due to his perceived prolonged absence from the company. Other injured members returning earlier than expected begat an expectation of rapid return of injured members.
I would liken the addition of Lt. Jones to Easy Company to that of a new hire coming to us with experience elsewhere. Regardless of the pedigree, or lack thereof, we tend to treat our new hires either with a cautious optimism or just caution.
I find myself in tension in the situations where there is no playbook or defined standard. There may be multiple options on handling a situation; I find the tension lies in determining which options is the best.