GDG- Gettysburg as learning ground (Will article/editorial)

[George F]

"Officers studying at the Army War College walk
 the ground at nearby
Gettysburg where Pickett's men walked across an
 open field under fire.  They
wonder:  How did Confederate officers get men to
 do that?  The lesson:  Men
can be led to places they cannot be sent."

While I dont disagree with any of this, I think
we all know that there was alot more to it than
that in the ranks of both armies 1861-1865.  

Much of what made those armies willing to march
into walls of flying and artillery projectiles
has been done away with by the U S Army of the
years.  There is more training - of both officers
and men - than ever.  But the soldiers of both
sides during the Civil War were from a world so
different from that of today that it is nearly
impossible for the average officer or enlisted
man to comprehend what motivated them to do what
they did - and how they did it.

Yes, good leadership is always a vital
ingredient, but there was alot more to it than
that.

George Franks
Bethesda, Maryland



       
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