Command Decision

On the evening of Election Day I watched I movie I had never seen before – “Command Decision”, released by MGM in 1949.  Set in England during WWII, it tells the story of a group of general officers in the US Army Air Forces during the strategic bombing campaigns of 1942-43.

The movie essentially centers around three characters: 1) a experienced operational bomber wing commander (Clark Gable); 2) his boss (Walter Pidgeon), whose realm is the world of budget battles and congressional committees; and a senior staff officer (Brian Donlevy), who suddenly is put in charge of an operational unit with its accompanying pressures.

Setting aside the “Hollywood-isms” of the story, I was struck by the realistic portrayal of how different individuals handle stress.  I was fascinated by watching Donlevy’s character struggle with making his first “command decision”: the targets for the next day’s mission.

But it wasn’t about the targets per se – it was about the battle between what he WANTED to do (an easy mission) and what he believed he SHOULD do (higher risk, but more important).  He goes through all sorts of machinations – ordering research, getting staff opinions, etc. – to obtain the data “required” to make the call.

But what he was REALLY doing was looking for an out: a logical, rational, defensible reason to take the safer course.

I can so identify with this.  In my first deployment as an officer-in-charge I faced several key decisions.  As this was my first command deployment, more often than not I chose the safer course.  As a matter of fact, one of my big goals was to bring all my troops home alive uninjured, and to bring the aircraft home intact.  Sounds like lofty goals, right?  But what I really wanted, deep down, was to not fail.  I achieved that big goal, so by that standard my first command deployment was a success.

However, in terms of mission accomplishment we came up short.  It’s not that we didn’t do what we were supposed to do – it’s that we could have done so much more.  That first command taught me a lot about managing vs. avoiding risk, and on my next deployment I had a much broader perspective.

My big surprise: I thought making command decisions would get easier.  Not in my case.  I made better decisions the next time out, but the same pressures were always there.

If you’re at all interested in leadership, I highly recommend renting “Command Decision” (I saw it on Turner Classic Movies).  Some other big names of the era – Van Johnson, Charles Bickford, Edward Arnold – appear as well.  It will be 2 hours well spent.