Military Leadership and Decision Making: Black and White Low Price Edition

By Agha Humayun Amin

These essays do not occupy more than 100 pages but it took more than 25 years study to write all of them.Orders and Obedience was conceived in 1979 when I started reading Ironsides book on Tannenberg.It was drafted and pieced together as an article in 1985 early and was sent to the Sabre and Lance Journal of the Armored Corps for publication.The editor just filed it.I forgot the article and remembered it only in 1979 when my friend Captain Abid Hamza insisted that I send it to the Pakistan Army Journal for publication.The editor thought that it was politically sensitive in a censorship bound army but suggested that I publish it as a short " Letters to Editor" in Pakistan Army Journals 1989 issue.It was published and did not ruffle any feathers so the brave editor Colonel I.D Hassan finally agreed to publish it.The article was published in Pakistan Army Journals March 1991 issue.I.D Hassan the cereberal bachelor had departed but luckily , another bold editor Colonel Syed Ishfaq Naqvi had taken over.This article is important for a leader as it resolves many contradictions and inner conflicts that a military leader may experience in military decision making.The second article " Resolution-Cardinal Command Virtue" deals with the most important quality in the character of a military leader and decision maker.It was published in Pakistan Army Journals June 1992 issue.That it escaped censorship from the myopic and paranoid Military Intelligence Directorate was a miracle. I say this because it was stated that a quality known as " Docility" was highly valued in a military leader in Pakistan Army.To my good luck Colonel Ishfaq Naqvis successor editor Lieutenant Colonel Syed Jawaid Ahmad was a bold editor behind a gentle and mild faade.The Intangibles behind a military manoeuvre was my final summing up of the Clausewitizian model of military leadership and I regard it as an 18 years long effort .It was culmination of my study of military history from 1975 applied on ground as an independent tank squadron commander in the desert in 1992-93.Plain as well as Subtle aspects of military decision making , I regard as the final summing up of all that is important and salient in military decision making.Its publication was singularly owed to a brave and brilliant editor of the Citadel Journal of Command and Staff College Quetta , Lieutenant Colonel Ashraf Saleem.He later rose to a three star general.Relationship of Organisation to doctrine and conduct of war was a landmark in personal terms as this article highlighted anomalies and weak areas in Pakistan Armys higher command structure.This was 1998.I was lucky that a very bold armor officer Lieutenant Colonel Tariq Khan was the editor and it was only he who could have published it.I can state with pride that the recommendations made in that article were implemented when " Commands " were created in the Pakistan Armys higher

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1546656200
• ISBN13: 9781546656203
• Release Date: May 2017
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 104 Pages
• Weight: 0.47 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.2" x 6.0"