Moore : “…but I can assure you that neither the new technology nor you
status as officers will keep you above the danger. …Now, I hope you gentlemen like training, ‘cause me and Sergeant Major
Plumpley we love it.” It is clear that Moore isn’t afraid to tell his weaknesses as a leader, that all
people including him still need to learn, superiors like Moore and Sergeant Major Plumpley keep still training.
People with a high self awareness not only knowing his weaknesses, but he also knowing his strength. By knowing and using their strength, people become
confidence of themselves, and self awareness of people can be recognized by their confidence. Here, even though American soldiers would be outnumbered, Moore
knows his strengths in mobilizing the battle. Moore has learn and studied the condition in Vietnam and Moore also familiarized himself with the battle
strategies of Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Huu An see picture 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 enclosure.
2. Self Regulation
During training, the American soldiers are practicing to get off the chopper. Here, one of Moore’s platoons is making mistakes. Moore taps-out
soldiers about to exit the freight door You’re dead, you’re dead, you’re dead to which they look back as if he can’t be serious see picture 11 enclosure
Moore : All right Your officer’s dead. What do you do? What do you do
first? All right, he hesitated, he’s dead. What do you do?
Man : get off the chopper Get off the chopper Moore : all right. Hold off the third one. Come on in. Savage, you learn
the job of the man above you and you teach your job too the man below you in rank. That goes for everyman in this outfit.
Understood?
Men : [All] Yes, sir Moore : We’ll be landing under fire, gentlemen. Men will die.
Here, we can see how Moore manages his emotion when his men make mistakes. He picks his word carefully, acknowledging the team’s poor
performance. He would then step back and telling the reason for serious in training, Moore says that they’ll be landing under fire and men will die. Other
leader might punish his men. But he corrects his team’s poor performance and asks his men to learn each other.
During the battle, pressure and stress are faced by Moore. Before landing in Vietnam, Moore thinks that they wouldn’t be outnumbered. Not only they are
outnumbered; they were also surrounded with no way out. There were between 2,000-3,000 regular enemy soldiers.
When they land in the Valley of Death, one of Moore’s men capture a Vietnamese lookout who informs them that the location they were sent to is
actually the headquarters of an entire North Vietnamese division. Then Moore tells his Captain to call in all patrols, to regroup and engage the enemy’s fire. But
it’s too late; an American platoon is isolated some distance from the battalion’s main position, after 2
nd
Lieutenant Henry Herrick saw a scout and ran after him, ordering in the some of the platoon members’ deaths, including Herrick’s and
several wounded. Here, Moore is able to control and regulate his emotion under pressure; he
stays calm, clear and focused when things do not go as planned.
Moore : Hey Hey Calm down Understand the situation and
communicate clearly
From the dialogue above, Moore is trying to calm his men down. When the things are not going as planned, people tend to be not able to manage their
emotion, and it can be impacted to the others. As we can see in the sentence above that Moore is ordering his men to calm down, because if his man is panic when
the communicant communicates with the other communicant then the other communicant could get miss the communication. It is obvious that the ability to
control emotion and manage it can help to reach a successful, especially in working as a team.
As told before, Moore’s men were surrounded with no way out. Moore also did not react quickly in making decision, he was thinking before acting.
Man 1 : Negative Negative Stand by My pilots do not see the
enemy. They can not pick out our friend lies.
Man 2
: Bravo six, do you read?they can not pick our friend lies. Bravo six, say it again.
Man1
: You gotta tell your company commander to pop smoke now. They need to mark the lines right now
Man 2 : We have no lines We have enemies and friend lies mixed
in all over the place. We can not distinguish target. Sir, our perimeters are collapsing, Alpha Company and Bravo
Company can not hold. Charlie’s Company is being overrun. Net call Net call Keep this net clear
Man 3 : [overlapping dialogue] all companies have been notified
the enemy has broken through our lines. All companies have been notified and are popping smoke.
Moore : Hastings Broken Arrow
Hastings : Broken Arrow I say again Broken Arrow
At this condition, Moore looks all around, their perimeters collapsing, Alpha Company and Bravo Company can not hold. Charlie’s Company is being
overrun. For a moment Moore thinks what he has to do see picture 12 enclosure, he finally make a decision to call a last resort Broken Arrow. Broken Arrow
means that the American unit has been overrun; it calls in every combat aircraft for support, and even though it kills some of their own soldiers but eliminating
most of the Vietnamese offensive force. The sign of Moore’s regulation are easy to see. He is thoughtfulness and
comfort with ambiguity and change, as described above.
3. Motivation
