{"id":37009,"date":"2018-03-04T14:28:40","date_gmt":"2018-03-04T14:28:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/03\/04\/commentary-military-needs-a-way-to-honor-a-different-critical-kind-of-courage\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:19:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:19:38","slug":"commentary-military-needs-a-way-to-honor-a-different-critical-kind-of-courage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/opinion\/commentary\/2018\/03\/04\/commentary-military-needs-a-way-to-honor-a-different-critical-kind-of-courage\/","title":{"rendered":"Commentary: Military needs a way to honor a different, critical kind of courage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHow do we, in the military, encourage our war fighters to be flexible thinkers?\u201d I get asked this a lot \u2014 from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2016\/01\/30\/marines-ask-science-fiction-enthusiasts-to-describe-future-threats\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">Quantico<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/mwi.usma.edu\/max-brooks\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">West Point<\/a> to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.atlanticcouncil.org\/events\/upcoming-events\/detail\/us-army-futures-forum\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">Army Futures Forum<\/a> last December. No matter what military gathering I attend, I keep getting a version of this question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our new century requires new levels of creativity to survive, and the armed forces are no exception. In a world where America\u2019s enemies seem to be adapting, evolving and innovating <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/home\/2017\/06\/08\/dods-annual-china-assessment-shows-growing-cyber-ew-capabilities\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">new ways to hurt us<\/a>, sometimes on a day-to-day basis, those in uniform can\u2019t afford the kind of rigid, linear, textbook mindset that got their predecessors through the Cold War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today\u2019s warriors need to be as nimble and imaginative as any tech team in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2016\/07\/03\/from-seals-to-startups-special-ops-drawn-to-silicon-valley\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">Silicon Valley<\/a>. But how?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As an outsider looking in, I\u2019ve observed the problem isn\u2019t intellectual, it\u2019s intestinal. I\u2019ve seen more good ideas in any handful of service members than in all the Hollywood executives put together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The problem is that all those ideas can end a career just as quickly as an enemy round can end a life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s hard for civilians like me to appreciate what being passed over for promotion means. We always have another chance, either in the same job or maybe the next. Hell, in my job, I don\u2019t have to worry too much if my next book fails miserably. I can always write another one.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2017\/09\/21\/marines-sailors-pen-sci-fi-stories-to-help-plan-for-future-wars\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Marine-and-Mule.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Marines, sailors pen sci-fi stories to help plan for future wars<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Stories on future combat operations stir productive debate about enemies of tomorrow.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s not true when you wear the uniform. I\u2019ve learned enough to understand what a guillotine getting passed over is, and how the internal culture of advancement encourages doing everything possible to avoid that falling blade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And yet, that same culture is also built on the bedrock of physical courage. It\u2019s not easy to suppress one\u2019s self-preservation instinct. That\u2019s why armies throughout time have awarded individuals who\u2019ve succeeded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From ancient Rome\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.perseus.tufts.edu\/hopper\/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137:book=22:chapter=4\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">Grass Crown<\/a> to today\u2019s modern medals, physical decorations tell the world, \u201cI had the courage to risk my life for the lives of others.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1194\" height=\"627\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/original.jpg_0e83fb.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-73985\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/original.jpg_0e83fb.jpg 1194w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/original.jpg_0e83fb.jpg?resize=300,158 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/original.jpg_0e83fb.jpg?resize=768,403 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/original.jpg_0e83fb.jpg?resize=1024,538 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1194px) 100vw, 1194px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Max Brooks talks with New York Army National Guard Col. Reginald Sanders, commander of the 369th Sustainment Brigade, about the history of the 369th Infantry Regiment, the &#8220;Harlem Hellfighters,&#8221; the subject of Brooks&#8217; 2014 graphic novel. (Maj. Al Phillips\/Army)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That is why the military needs a new medal \u2014 one that recognizes courage under pressure the same way it already recognizes courage under fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If service members are awarded for risking their careers (which, let\u2019s face it, mean a lot more to some lifers than their actual, physical lives) then it would go a long way to shedding 20th-century groupthink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The medal doesn\u2019t have to be official. In fact, some servicemen and women might prefer it not be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the 1955 movie \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0048380\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">Mister Roberts<\/a>,\u201d Henry Fonda\u2019s character is awarded the \u201cOrder of the Palm\u201d by his men for speaking out on their behalf. In a letter to those men after his transfer, Roberts states, \u201cI\u2019d rather have it than the Congressional Medal of Honor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No successful social system works on negative reinforcement alone. Punishment and praise must be equally balanced. If the U.S. military wants the kind of inventiveness we\u2019re seeing from Russia, China and numerous nonstate actors, those inventors need their Order of the Palm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of course this medal wouldn\u2019t condone direct insubordination. Even the fictional Mister Roberts respected the chain of command. And of course it wouldn\u2019t be called the \u201cOrder of the Palm,\u201d but it could carry the name of a service-specific trailblazer. The \u201cColonel <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1993\/10\/03\/books\/corrupt-from-top-to-bottom.html\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">James Burton<\/a> Citation\u201d or the \u201cOrder of General <a href=\"http:\/\/www.historynet.com\/the-court-martial-of-colonel-bill-mitchell.htm\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">Billy Mitchell<\/a>\u201d would go a long way toward unlocking the kind of latent military talent we need to face the threats around us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And rewarding courage under pressure, not just fire, tells those threats that America will never be outfought, or out-thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"650\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Max-Brooks_headshot.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-73987\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Max-Brooks_headshot.jpg.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Max-Brooks_headshot.jpg.jpg?resize=300,163 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Max-Brooks_headshot.jpg.jpg?resize=768,416 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Max-Brooks_headshot.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,555 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(Courtesy of Max Brooks)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Max Brooks is a nonresident fellow at <a href=\"https:\/\/mwi.usma.edu\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">the Modern War Institute at West Point<\/a>. He\u2019s the author of \u201cWorld War Z,\u201d \u201cThe Harlem Hellfighters,\u201d The Zombie Survival Guide,\u201c \u201cMinecraft: The Island\u201d and, coming May 1, \u201cStrategy Strikes Back: How Star Wars Explains Modern Military Conflict.\u201d He\u2019s online at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.maxbrooks.com\" title=\"\" class=\"\">MaxBrooks.com<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Service members willing to innovate, at the risk of their careers, are key to the success in future fights, writes the author of &#8216;World War Z.&#8217;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":73978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":77,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[77,101,25,14],"tags":[],"coauthors":[5186],"class_list":["post-37009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters","category-opinion"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"ZVFDN7WRKVFZXNEYEGFGZOI66E","arc_canonical_url":"\/opinion\/commentary\/2018\/03\/04\/commentary-military-needs-a-way-to-honor-a-different-critical-kind-of-courage\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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