Zen and the Art of the Genarl Officer

All boys become men
by learning how to handle pain and fear
by training to be soldiers
in boot camps

No army officer of any rank
should give any soldier an order
especially not a battle order
unless he has served under superior orders
as a soldier himself
and earned his stripes
by rising through the ranks
learning the hard disciplines
of bending the independent will
to the art of obedience

soldiers born with the ambition
to command armies
learn how to win wars in the ranks
via regimented drills
under the command of great General Officers

General training normally
takes a soldier an average of fifty years
and an engagement in a war to prove his worth

West Point
and Sandhurst
have never produced a truly great general officer
and never will
learning order
must come from the bottom up
not the top down

To my knowledge
there are only two men in history
who assumed supreme command before the age of 30
and by learning on the job
became great generals

Alexander the Great
Shaka Zulu

In times of peace
No General Officer
of any Industrial Corporation
should earn his position
via mastering a text book

those born with that ambition
must rise through the ranks
on the mass production line
and earn their mastership
via manual labor