Courage doesn’t disappear with responsibility, it rises with rank. The soldier on the ground routinely reveals raw courage, while generals continually muster moral courage. As Multinational Force-Iraq Command Chaplain, Hoyt had the opportunity to observe such moral leadership first hand.
One of the things that’s always going around in the back of their minds (general officers) is “what is the appropriate level of risk?” It’s not risk to their careers as some people would like to say. For the four star billets, it’s the risk to the country. And they are obsessed with getting it right for the sake of America.
“My two MNF-I CGs are men of incredible intellect, valor, and purpose. It is an honor to pray for them” Hoyt said.
Generals must keep open the broadest number of options for America. A general officer is exercising the military might of the United States. That’s serious business. That’s life and death. If you make a strategic decision to clean up Ramadi, then that decision will get people killed. That’s all there is to it. It can’t be done nicely.
With 3,500 civilian deaths a month, Iraq was peaking in “Iraqi on Iraqi violence” in 2006. Violent Iraqis justified their crimes through the idea that someone had it coming to them because of their sense of loss. Revenge often stemmed from centuries-old conflicts. Hoyt saw similarities with his deployment to Bosnia.
The difference in Iraq was that it was being manipulated by Al Qaeda and covered with religious verbiage that created a mirage for the poor and disenfranchised that said, “If you really want to be religious, this is what you have to do.” So they took advantage of chaos and leveraged it to their side.
To respond, the generals had to weigh the right thing to do given the risk involved. They knew that extending tours of duty or increasing the number of troops through a surge would increase risk.
“The problem when you get up into the higher echelons of decision-making is that black and white is rarely available. You often have to choose between bad choices in an ambiguous environment. Then you choose as wisely as possible. War rarely presents a lot of good choices. Implementing national policy on foreign soil and conducting theater level war is volatile and unpredictable,” Hoyt said.
Rising in the ranks requires moral courage and risks for the right reasons.
God, thank you for the courage it takes to be a leader. I pray for those generals as they weigh the risk and costs to America. Give them wisdom.
“So the three mighty men… drew water from the well… and carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out before the LORD. ‘Far be it from me, O LORD, to do this!’ he said. ‘Is it not the blood of men who went at the risk of their lives?’ And David would not drink it.” (2 Samuel 23:16–17)