BOOK REVIEW

• Pages: 05

CRISIS IN COMMAND

Gabriel, Richard A,, and Paul L. Savage, Crisis 211 Co .CItsnzaiiagerne#tt z?i the Arm# * Ken York, N.Y: Hill

1978. Pp. 242. Cost: $10.00.

Revieived by Lieutenant Colonel John Schmidt III-- The United States Army in Vietnam WBE not a cohesive, fuunctional organization, and most of its failures can be attributed to an abandonment of leadership responsibilit? by its officer corps. This lack of cohesiveness has carried over into the era af the all-volunteer Army of the 19i0'8, and places the Army in a situation of doubt as to its abilit? to function efficiently in peacetime, but more importantly, in the next war.

In Cnsis in Command - Mtsmanagement zn the Army, Professors Gabriel and Savage allege that the United States Army and its officer corps require significant reform. This is needed, say the au-thors, because the Army's leaders have forsaken traditional military ethical values in favor of the free-enterprise system's pursuit of individual values and goals. They believe the officer corps has last its ability to inspire confidence, loyalty, and cohesiveness among the Army's soldiers. It is their position that strength of character, integrity, and honor have been replaced by a philosophy of managerial efficiency nhieh emphasizes short-term goals at the expense of long-term efficiency.

The book focuses on the operational performance and behavior of the United States during the Vietnam years. According to the authors, two things became obvious during that time. First, despite ten years of efforts, the Army would not win the Vietnam war. Second, an internal decay of traditional military ethical values aas taking place. Indicators of decay were the high drug use rate, re-fusal to execute combat orders, increased desertion rates, and at- 'This book %as briefly noted at 82 MII. L Rei 215 (1919).''Armor, Umfed States Army Deputy division chief for command and manage-ment. Administrative and Civil La!, Division, The Judge Advocate General's School Charlaiteswlie, Virginia, 1977 to present. Graduare of the UniLed States Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenrorrh. Kansas. 1977.

tempts to assassinate officers through "fragging" and misdirected fire while in combat. 4s Gabriel and Savage state. "the Army began to border on an undisciplined. meffemre. almost anomic mass of individuals who collectively had no goair asought only to survive the length of their tour

Those of us who served in Vietnam can agree with man? of the assertions set forth in the book. R e should understand. ho\\ever, that, while the authors have assembled impressive data to support this thesis. they lay the blame for the state of the Army almost solely on the lack of leadership, integrity. and high ethical standards of the officer corps. In so domg, they have addressed only one aspect of the entire system and have failed to ahoa that external forces played as much of a part, if not more, in any decline of quality of leadership within the officer corps. But even with this thought inmind, the book is an excellent analysis of many of the factors which drive our officer corps today. As one i\eil-known sports announcer is prone to my, Gabriel and Savage "tell it like it is!"

Gabriel and Savage posit that the lack of an officers' code or creed, such as that formulated by the U.S.

Army War College study on military professionalism,2 has given rise to the problem. Because it has no such code, the officer corps has degenerated to the point that ethics and honor have given way to a philosophy of "don't rock the boat." "it all counts for tuenty," and "you can't tell the general that," to insure career enhan~ement.~

They claim that officers hare become so concerned with pleasing their bosses and avoiding that one mistake which is career destroying. that they have subverted that ethical behavior which has been traditionally accepted as a pil-lar of strength far leaders. This managerial careerism. ahich has befallen the officer carps, has resulted in the prevalent practice of blacking, distorting and diluting almost any data that might result in personal performance being suspect of anything less than perfectim4 The practice of "ticket punching" and advancement at any-one's expenre is the norm rather than the exception.

Gabriel and Savage submit that this decay began immediately

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Gnbriel & P Saiage. Cilsie I" Command - Mismanagement in the .Army

iollowing the Second World War, as the Army adopted more and more corporate business practices. Internal control practices increased until. with the McNamara years, we had progressed to the point that the officer corps began not to lead but to manage the Army. The Army not only had adopted modern business corporation technology, but it8 language, style and ethics. The Army ceased to he a true military eatabliihment in the historical and traditional wnse.5

How do we conirront this dilemma? As implied above, the authors propose that an officer code or creed be adopted iihich exemplifies the virtues and ethics necessary for effective military leadership. Adoption and enforcement will be difficult, however. as those in power uho could make the change are the same ones nho have manipulated the system to advance to their current positions.6 An external force therefore is necessary to demand a return to, and instill in young officers, the traditional military ethical behavior. where the concept of "looking upward" is nut the driving force in an officer's behavior. Ta this end, Savage and Gabriel propose that the "up or out" system be abolished. This system, they say, perpetuates the drive for career management at the expense af leadership, honesty, and integrity.

While ue may agree uith much of what the authors suggest, the fact remains that desirable changes will be difficult to implement in today's environment.

A brief note on the construction of the book I personally found Crisis in Conimnnd - .Mismanagement zn the A m y to be the finest examination and collection of data on contemporary officer corps behavior to be found anyahere. It is well researched and is documented with exceptional footnoting. The book also contains a splendid biographical essay. The biggest flaw in the work must be its length. Although relatively short in number of pages, the entire text could easily have been condensed ta half their number. Repetition is the word in many cases; I found myself re-reading the same idea five or six times throughout the book. A little more editing and organization uould have improved the message immensely.

Would I Suggest this book far others to read? For an officer with

" I d , at 19'id , 68-89

BOOK REVIEW

A REFERENCE FOR LABOR RELATIONS LAWS IN WESTERN EUROPE

Murg, Gary E., and John C. Fox, Labor Relattans Lac: Cazado, Mexico aid Westem Europe,' New Yark, S.Y.:

Practicing Law Institute, 1978. Two volnme8. Vol I, pp. xxix, 738; vol. 11, pp. ix, 695,

Revieud by map^ Dennis F. Coupe."';

Volume One of this book contains information on the labor rela-tions laws of Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy. Volume Two covers labor relations in West Germany and under the Common Market agreements. The complete texts of Title VI1 af the Treaty Establishing the European Community and the West German Ca-Determination Act of 1976 are in-eluded as appendices.

Far each country considered there is a concise, narrative discussion of indigenous labor relations systems, followed by model coileetive bargaining clauses and charts or tables depicting average uage scales, hours of aork and pension levels. Indices of Statutory and decisional progressions in the labor relations histories of each cauntry are also provided

Although directed primarily to multinational corporate attorneys, Labor Relations Laic nil1 be useful for those judge advocates dealing with international contracting, claims and labar relations laws. Of particular interest to Army judge advocates are the ninety-five pages of discussion in Volume Two devoted to labor relations in West Germany.

Civilian personnel la\\ and labor relations with local national em- ployees and third nation workers are complex and important parts

*Brieni noted at 82 Md L Rev 218 (1979)

of the workload of many Army judge advocates assigned in Europe. Large numbers of the Army's 80,000 member civilian workforce in Europe are foreign nationals, whose relationships with their employer are controlled by principles of the labor law of the host countries, by Article IX of the SOFA, and by the aupplementary agreements. tariffs and regulations.'

Training in foreign labor relations can be expedited and reliance upon local expertise can be minimized if a good reference 80um 1s available. Labor Relatzilns Lax does not answer a great number of questions of concern to labor counrelors in Europe. but it does provide a good initial reference point for further research

The &'est German and Scandinavian experiences with Industrial democracy date from 1920, and have had a profound influence on the development of labar relations in many common market countries. As the writera of Labor Relatzons Lau observe, helpful initiatives for resolution of labor relations difficulties in the United States may be discovered by looking abroad: "[Bloth corporate and union representatives from the United Stater and Canada, in gaining an understanding of West German labar lam, may also obtain a glimpse of issues which may increasingly confront labor and business on the North American continent."2

West German labor law recognize tu0 complementary aorker rights: union representation ohich has parallels in the United States under our National Labor Relations Act. and industrialized democracy nhich has almost no counterpart in the United States.

Industrialized democracy IS the term used to describe the direct contacts of worker groups with management officials, without...