DUM3022 MILITARY LEADERSHIP

GROUP ASSIGNMENT
(Movie Review):

We Were Soldiers (2002)

NAME MATRIX NUMBER CLASS

ALIF AFIQ BIN 2220810 1TSK1
KHARUDDIN
EIDUL MUCHLIS BIN 2220221 1TSK2
SENIN
HAFIZUL HAIKAL BIN 2220225 1TSK1
SHAMSUL
Movie Title: We Were Soldiers
Release date: February 25, 2002 (USA)
Director: Randall Wallace
Story by: Hal Moore, Joseph L. Galloway
Adapted from: We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young: Ia Drang - the Battle That
Changed the War in Vietnam
MOVIE REVIEW: WE WERE SOLDIERS (2002)

The movie We Were Soldiers is based on the book We Were Soldiers Once…
and Young that was written by Lieutenant General Hal Moore and reporter Joseph L.
Galloway. The movie is set in the Vietnam War and concentrate on the 1 st Battalion,
7th Cavalry’s real life campaign in the la Drang valley in 1965, the first significant
fight between the United Stated and North Vietnam.

The story revolves around Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore that is played by
Mel Gibson who has to lead a battalion of 400 American soldiers against a force of
about 2000 North Vietnamese troops. Lieutenant Colonel Moore is commander of the
first Battalion, 7th Cavalry regiment, the same regiment that was fatefully
commanded by General George A. Custer in the 19th Century. General Custer and his
men were slaughtered at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Even though the American
soldiers are heavily outnumbered, Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore manages to achieve
the impossible as He doesn't give in and ends up succeeding when he forces the
Vietnamese troops to leave and evacuate their base in fear of being attack. The movie
doesn’t only depict the situation from the point of view of the American army but also
the Vietnamese army. It shows the horrific nature of war form both point of view as
the war kills both the battalion of both side. There were also a minor plot with the
families of the American soldiers which involves Julie Moore, the wife of Lieutenant
Colonel Hal Moore’s wife where she delivers the telegrams about the soldiers’ deaths
to the family and friends back home.

From the movie, the leadership value that I learn from Lieutenant Colonel Hal
Moore is that leading by example. Setting an example for others to follow entails
living out one's beliefs, which gains a leader followers and respect. Moore makes a
statement to his unit the night before they leave, promising that he will be the first to
enter the battle and the last to leave it, even if he does not guarantee that he will bring
home every single one of them alive. He continues by saying that he won't leave
anyone behind, dead or alive. In keeping with his pledge, he waits until all of his
troops have been taken off the battlefield once the fight is ended before being the last
to leave. Through his heroic deeds and tenacity on the battlefield, Moore frequently
sets an example for other soldiers.

Another leadership value that I learned from Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore is
that treating everyone with respect and dignity. Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore sees
everyone within his platoon is the same no matter their origin. In one of the training
scene, Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore told a story where warriors from a tribe was
nurse by every women from the tribe and called the women in the tribe as mother and
all the older warrior as grandfathers. This was to teach and remind the soldiers to treat
each other as family as when they are in a battlefield, they have only each other to
rely on. After that scene, one the squad member notice that another squad member
was limping and hiding his pain. The squad member took notice it and ask him to
show it to take care of the injury showing that the platoon started to care for each
other. In another scene where a ceremony is held before the inevetable battle,
Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore gave a speech to his troops where he points out that
every member of his unit is important despite their origin. Not only that, in the same
speech, he said that some of the men in his unit may experience discrimination
because of their race and it will be gone as they will enter a war and need to depend
on each other. He was fostering the self-assurance, self-respect, and group cohesion
that would go a long way in guaranteeing that the members of his unit trusted one
another by making sure that everyone was aware of this.

Next leadership value that can be learned from Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore
is his determination and commitment to achieve victory in the war. In the movie,
Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore was told that the size of enemy troops is larger than
that of his own troops but was unbothered by said fact that he was outnumbered. He
was still determine even after knowing the fact and charge into the war with
confidence. While the war was still ongoing, Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore was
ordered by his higher up for him to retreat as they believe that losing a capable leader
is a much bigger lost than losing a few hundred soldiers and Lieutenant Colonel Hal
Moore still ignored the command to continue to fight along side his troops. Not only
that, he also charges into the valley with his troops in tow, disobeying the advise
given to him to avoid the mountains, where a battalion could quickly become lost.
Despite the fact that he could have failed, he puts up a defensive fight with the
assistance of reinforcements from the second Battalion, 7th Cavalry, and ultimately
prevails.

Lastly, being knowledgeable and capable of making critical decision in a

decisive moment. Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore exhibits this traits as it was shown in
the movie that he studies the previous war in history to have a better understanding to
war tactics and why some war is won and lost. It is also shown that he is very fast
thinker as he was able to deduce the tactics used by the enemy when he was in the
battlefield. Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore was able to give instruction to his men
while in a critical and dire situation. When one of the team who handle the mortar
couldn’t use it anymore as it was overheated and can’t be cooled down as they were
lack of water supply, Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore direct the team to pee on the
mortar to cool it down. This just prove that Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore was good
at problem solving.
REFERENCES:

Schmidt, A. (Producer), Wallace, R. (Director). (2002). We Were Soldiers, YouTube