leadership
...cted that his officers kept the men informed. He sought to be advised of all training developments. Lead by example. 8. As both men had high standards and were willing to put people offside to achieve their task, they also expected their troops, especially the officers, under their command to have the same high standards, and they did this by setting the example and expecting the troops under their command to follow the example they were setting. 9. Prior to the opening of the Royal Military College General Bridges knew the standard he sought and selected staff to operate the college with a view to produce the type of officer the military required. They had to be of good character, with excellent references; in addition they needed to have the knowledge of defence and the ability to pass this information to the cadets. 10. There was much ‘argument as to who and where the officers would come from to instruct at the college’ , General Bridges believed that the ‘officers should be from England and not Australia as he felt that English officers had better training' . He believed the English officers had a greater depth of knowledge and expertise than the Australian officers. 11. Similarly Galleghan was a man of high standards. He set a high standard for himself and expected his subordinates to maintain this standard. When he took charge of the 2nd/30th Infantry Battalion in Malaysia he found that the troops were very lazy and ‘that some men would even be shaved by servants before they even got out of bed for roll call’ . As he did not find this acceptable for himself, it was unacceptable for his men, so he ‘instituted weekly parades in full ceremonial dress’ . This annoyed a lot of his troops and his subordinate officers, as it was very hot and sweaty conducting these parades. Train the men as a team and employ them to their best abilities. 12. Both commanders believed in creating a force of well-trained troops who could work together as a team and employed them to their best abilities. This principle is highlighted when Galleghan took command of the Eighth Division and when Bridges was training his men in Egypt. 13. Upon his arrival and command of the eighth division in Malaya, Brigadier Galleghan found that the ‘troops were fairly lazy and lacking self-discipline’ . He believed his troops would need to change their behaviour and display more self-discipline. To overcome this problem, he introduced a wide variety of sporting activities to cut down on the troop’s abundance of spare time. Realising that as soldiers they also needed to keep up their battle fitness and the fact that they were in Malaya to fight a war he introduced battle exercises, where they would war game scenarios in the jungle as preparation for any situation they might face. 14. These moves were later to prove very good as it kept his men physically and mentally fit for what they would face in the future. It also improved the men’s moral, with healthy competition between the troops. They stayed alert and prepared for what was to come. 15. General Bridges did not have the same views when it came to training his troops and giving them outlets for the rest periods. He was ‘uninterested in sporting activities’ he did not support or arrange any physical activity for the 20000 men under his command. He was a ‘firm believer of intense training at lower levels and only if time permitted would train at divisional level would occur’ . This lack of preparedness in his troops was evident when the ANZAC corps started training at divisional level and it was seen that his troops were not as prepared as others were. ‘However Bridge’s enforced the strict rule that if anyone brought a bad name to the Australian Army, that person would be sent home and a month later there were troops being sent home’ . 16. In the cases mentioned above each commander had different views on the best way to train men to their best ability and maintain moral. The use of sports training helped with moral and ensured fitness was maintained. In spite of the different views of each commander, it is evident that Australians have always been prepared for battle and have performed well under pressure. This has been demonstrated in the way they fight and the outcomes of battles in which they were involved. Make sound and timely decisions. 17. The abilities of well-trained personnel will go to waste if the commander does not make sound and timely decisions to best use his men. This leads to the seventh leadership principle; a commander must make sound and timely decisions for all circumstance they face. 18. On the day that General Bridges landed on the beach of Gallipoli, he had been given orders ‘to take the beaches and push in land’ , but the British plan did not go as smoothly as anticipated. After the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) had landed and General Bridges had made an assessment as to what was happening, he realised that they had landed too far north and that the Turkish forces were better prepared than expected. 19. After consulting with other officers and seeing the situation for himself, he reali...