Here are some more caveats from my training. When you issue and order to a
subordinate there are only three answers allowed. They a
1. YES SIR
2. NO SIR
3. NO EXCUSE SIR

But when you are issued an order from a superior officer there are three
answers allowed. They a
1.YES SIR
2. NO SIR
3. NO EXCUSE SIR

Modern-day similarities: 5 responses in Air Force ROTC training
1.Yes Sir/Ma'am
2.No Sir/Ma'am
3.I do not know but will find out, sir/ma'am
4. May I ask a question, sir/ma'am?
5.May I make a statement, sir/ma'am?


And I never ever heard any long discussions
involving diverse opinions on what we should do. Orders were issued and were
followed without question. We knew what we should do and we did it.

Just because you are willing to discuss your plans with your troops
does not mean that it undermines your authority. Often the troops an
officer is commanding are more experienced than them. As cadets, we
are taught by our officers that our NCOs will know more than us, and
we would be stupid to ignore their advice. But the fact that you are
intelligent enough to use the experience available to you will often
improve confidence in you as a leader. The only real way to lose that
confidence is care more about yourself or "discipline" than getting
the mission done. You act with conviction and intelligence and your
men will follow you to the end. You act like a "candyass butterbar"
(one of the first sergeants at McGuire AFB told me this), you will be
having every problem in the book.

And
remember we won that war so maybe we knew something back then that the military
has forgotten since.
Sir, I respect you for your past accomplishments, but this is a
little over the line. It is not the military's management styles that
make a difference, it is the political leadership that has decided the
outcome of the past 50 years of military conflicts.