0:00:00 – Opening
0:04:44 – On The Psychology of Military Incompetence. Norman Dixon.
2:28:21 – How to stay on THE PATH.
2:51:59 – Closing Gratitude.
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What if Rumsfeld, etc were committed to other agendas behind the scenes…..and therefore….it wasn’t due to their psychology or to incompetence….but, rather a commitment to other hidden agendas.?
Just an alternate theory….
Good morning. I noticed there is no download to MP3 option for this podcast…
Hi Jocko,
Something one has to consider at the time of the Crimean War etc was that the Upper Classes, as a throw back to feudal times, didn’t consider the “men” to be men. But merely objects or tools. They believed their physical possessions were more valuable than their men and that the men were indeed their possessions, but easily replaceable. They could not believe the men had a valuable contribution to make as they were considered as sub-human to them. And disciplined was enforced by drill and whip.
Arrogance was bred into the officers, and had no compunction of being wrong
Hi Jocko,
What one has to consider at around the time of Crimea and similar wars is that the officers valued their possessions more than their men. Although they did to some degree view the men as their possessions but also disposable commodities. They believed the men as subhuman and so could not make any valuable thoughts. Discipline was imposed by Drill and the whip.
The officers through their upbringing that they were semi-godlike and so could not be wrong or be questioned.
Things have changed but not fully and not everywhere .
Great episode
A great movie that illustrated how
Incompetent the British where watch the Australian Movie Breaker Morant
Shows how quickly the command structure was to throw their troops under the bus
Norman Dixon’s understanding of childhood influences on personality development were agreed upon at the time he wrote “Military Incompetence” in 1976. Since then, the DNA Revolution and numerous identical twin studies has largely reversed the heavy weight placed upon childhood influences. Extremely negative events in childhood (rape, violence, abandonment ) can alter a child’s personality. However, genetic influences (DNA) have the overwhelming influence on personality if you account for extreme situations.
In essence, Jocko’s experience that the family culture in which his colleagues were raised had no predictive power over their character is born out by what we know from DNA and identical twin studies.
Thanks for doing this podcast on this book. I ended up buying the book and wanted to thank you for discussing this serious topic. I decided to transition back to the real world after three months shy of 12 years BECAUSE of the military incompetence discussed in this podcast (before listening to this for the record). Before you write me off as a POS/shit bird, understand I voluntarily pulled my meritorious Gunny package because I was filled to the brim with BS. Whoopdy whoop, right? It is scary how these problems that I have been talking about for the last decade were identified in 1976… Something needs to give, and we need to fix this trash ASAP. I am determined to give a paperback copy of this book to my CO upon my exit. It is not because he’s a bird but because he has potential. Thank you, again. It is good to know that I am not crazy.
Marshall fired people..to the benefit of the US operation, but Vietnam and on- nobody got fired..so the incompetents or miscast stayed in place…and it often wrong person in wrong place/time vs incompetencr