The School of Hard Knocks: Combat Leadership in the American Expeditionary Forces

Acknowledgments

xi Growing up in northern Georgia on land crisscrossed with the trenches of the Atlanta Campaign of 1864, I, perhaps understandably , developed an interest in the Great War. Although I cannot remember when I first became fascinated with the First World War, I know that my love of history came from my parents, Larry Faulkner and Gloria Nan Faulkner. To them I owe the deepest thanks for my abiding passion for the military and the study of the past. I, and this work, have also been shaped by twenty-three years of service in the United States Army. I enlisted in the Army Reserve as a sophomore in college and thus was able to gain a personal familiarity with the challenges and rewards of training and leading citizen soldiers . This time also gave me the rich first-hand experience of being on the receiving end of leadership as a back ranker. The Regular Army that I joined as an armor officer in the mid-1980s was a force with a solid tactical doctrine, organization, training focus, and weapons base. In short, “my” army generally had all the benefits that the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) lacked, including the most important advantage: the time to correct its shortcomings. I have tried to keep the differences between my army and the AEF from influencing my view of the latter, but my service as an officer, to include commanding a tank company in combat, unquestionably informed my understanding of the realms of the possible and impossible when it came to developing officers and noncommissioned officers (NCOs), training units for war, and the challenges of leading soldiers in battle. Over the course of my military career I had the privilege of learning the art and craft of combat leadership from some of the republic ’s finest commanders and NCOs. I am in the debt of Cols. Richard Geier, Edward Kane, Thomas Wallace, and Michael Alexander for mentoring and teaching me how to be an officer. I am also humbled and indebted to the soldiers and NCOs with whom I have served for schooling me in the skills of leading the American soldier. I must especially single out M.Sgt. Thomas Thacker and Sgts. Maj. Robert Hayden and Samuel Colter for my thanks for exemplifying the highest standards of noncommissioned officer professionalism. Acknowledgments xii Acknowledgments This work would not be possible if not for the assistance of a number of friends, colleagues, and talented scholars. I am grateful to Emory Thomas, John Morrow, Michael Ramsay, Mark Parillo, and Charles Sanders and my other professors at the University of Georgia and Kansas State University for their efforts to shape me into a scholar and, ultimately, my thoughts into this book. While serving as a history instructor at the United States Military Academy, I had the privilege of serving with Robert Doughty, Lee Wyatt, Gian Gentile, Evan Hoffer, Ty Seidule, and the other talented members of the history department. These gifted soldier-scholars offered me sage advice, access to sources, and friendship that materially aided and fueled my quest to be a historian. I owe my comrades at the Department of Military History, United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, most notably Scott Stephenson, Marlyn Pierce, John Suprin, Chris Gabel, and Sean Kalic, my deepest thanks for their support, wise counsel, and friendship. Due to their efforts and dedication, DMH is truly a fun and rewarding place in which to work. I give special gratitude to Jim Willbanks for encouraging me in my efforts to obtain a PhD and for granting me the sabbatical needed to complete the work that led to this book. This book also rests upon the hard work and assistance of numerous dedicated librarians, archivists, and researchers. The efforts, understanding , and kindness shown by Timothy Nenninger and Mitch Yockelson of the National Archives; Mike Browne, Kathy Buker, and Elizabeth Merrifield of the Fort Leavenworth Combined Arm Research Library; Alan Aimone of the West Point Library Archives; Sandra Reddish and Robert Smith of the Fort Riley Cavalry Museum ; Jonathan Casey of the Liberty Memorial and National World War I Museum; and David Keough of the Military History Institute at Carlisle Barracks were essential to the crafting of this work. Their commitments to helping this novice researcher navigate the records of the Great War have won my undying gratitude and admiration. I must also thank Mary Lenn Dixon and the staff of the Texas A&M University Press for their patience, understanding, and hard...