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- Newsgroups: sci.military
- Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!gatech!hubcap!ncrcae!ncrhub2!ciss!law7!military
- From: Patrick V Kauffold <cga66@ihlpl.att.com>
- Subject: Re: Swiss military preparedness??
- Message-ID: <Bzq2J0.448@law7.DaytonOH.NCR.COM>
- Sender: military@law7.DaytonOH.NCR.COM (Sci.Military Login)
- Organization: AT&T
- References: <Bzo8zo.CKC@law7.DaytonOH.NCR.COM>
- Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 17:13:48 GMT
- Approved: military@law7.daytonoh.ncr.com
- Lines: 29
-
-
- From Patrick V Kauffold <cga66@ihlpl.att.com>
-
- >>The second important point, is that your report has probably not shown you
- >>the very poor motivation and morale of swiss soldiers. Most young men are
- >>not motivated at all by the army, Even worse, there is a lot of anger
- >>against the army, mainly because of its fundamental lack of respect of
- >>people.
- >>
- >>What you have seen is basically the propaganda of the swiss army. In real
- >>cases, Things would be much poorer than what you have seen.
-
- Sounds like a leadership problem. That's a pretty gratuitous remark from
- someone who knows nothing first-hand about the Swiss Army, I know, but
- here's just another OPINION.
-
- A state of poor morale does not necessarily invalidate the concept of
- universal military service and/or the Swiss model. It could simply mean
- that the Swiss Army needs to find a leadership style that is better
- suited to the political and social realities. What was effective in
- 1945 is probably not going to work too well today.
-
- I recommend John Keegan's book _The Mask of Command_ for a very provocative
- treatment of different styles of leadership.
-
- My guess is that the Swiss, being as intelligent and well-mannered as
- they are, will adapt their style and keep the model pretty much as it
- is.
-
-