On March 26, 1938, Major General John K. Herr assumed the
position of Chief of Cavalry, US Army. A
dedicated and talented horseman, General Herr became an ardent defender of the
mounted trooper over changes in organization.
Herr spent the last years before the US entry into WWII arguing that the
mission of the cavalry could only be successfully attempted using horses, and
he opposed any effort to modernize this branch of the US military. Events, however, would soon leave him behind;
recognizing the devastating effect of tanks and mechanized infantry on the
modern battlefield, the US Army created the Armored Force in 1940 while phasing
out the cavalry. Major General Herr was
the last Chief of Cavalry.
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| Major General John K. Herr was the last Chief of Cavalry in the US Army, and a staunch proponent of the horse in warfare |
General Herr unfortunately could not adapt to a changing
world. One of his former subordinates,
General Lucian Truscott, concluded “It was General Herr’s misfortune that he
would not recognize that the missions of mechanized and armored elements were
cavalry missions and that the office of the chief of cavalry should have been
in the forefront of the organization and development of such units.” Truscott, like many other cavalrymen
(including George Patton), did recognize that their job was to accomplish the
mission. It was a mission traditionally
done by horse-mounted cavalry, including reconnaissance, breakthroughs, and
raids on enemy supply lines, yet the mission continued after technological
advances rendered the horse generally ineffective on the battlefield. Truscott, Patton, and others would become
highly successful combat leaders in WWII because they could accomplish that
mission using new methods and tools, while General Herr made no contribution to
Allied victory, retiring in 1942. Even
in 1953, two years before his death, General Herr wrote articles and a book
that argued that the horse-mounted cavalry was still vital to the US Army, even
as mechanized infantry divisions fought in Korea and the armed forces began to
experiment with helicopter-borne troops.
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| Major General Herr in his element |
What did General Truscott and the others have that General
Herr did not? They had the ability to
remember that the mission was the point, not the methods. Given a task, General Truscott sought to
accomplish it in any way possible. He
became one of the masterminds behind the first Army Rangers, he utilized new
technologies and concepts like airborne infantrymen with skill, and he
recruited staff officers who were capable, not those who had a certain
background in the peacetime Army.
General Truscott was not afraid to do something new or different, if it
might bring victory – and at times, he even used old methods in new ways. Faced with rugged terrain in Sicily that his
vehicle-equipped troops could not traverse, Truscott used a lesson learned in
his cavalry days: “The general formed a
provisional pack train and a provisional mounted troop.” When the old methods could accomplish the
mission, Truscott would use them as readily as any new-fangled concept or
technology. Because he did, General
Truscott was able to lead his troops on to victory in some of the toughest
battles of the war.
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| General Lucian Truscott made the cover of Life magazine after successful commands at Anzio and the invasion of Southern France |
All too often, leaders in the church are faced with the choice
to follow in the footsteps of General Herr or General Truscott. Methods that worked in the past, often in a
highly effective way, become outmoded.
Church structures that promoted discipleship then become hindrances to
discipleship now. Leadership styles that
connected with people in the past turn people off to the church, and even to
God, in the present. Good leaders become
ineffective, not because they aren’t gifted, but because they lose sight of the
mission; they are wedded so closely to their tried-and-true methods that they
are unable to adapt. And ultimately, the
church that God has called to advance his kingdom mission becomes mired in irrelevancy
and navel-gazing.
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| Major General Herr evaluating an Army "combat car" as Chief of Cavalry |
Pastors, staff, and lay leaders in today’s church have the
same opportunity General Herr had: to
see change coming and adapt to it. God
has blessed us with talents and resources, people and energy to do great,
kingdom-based things. To do so, though,
requires adaptation and innovation, because the world does not stand still…and
God expects us to move in response to it.
Jesus said as much in the parable of the talents (Matthew
25:14-30). When God evaluates how we
have sought his kingdom mission, do we want him to say “Well done, good and
trustworthy servant; you have been trustworthy with a few things, I will put
you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master”? To hear that response, we must keep our eye
on the mission, not the methods…and adapt to a changing world for the sake of
the kingdom of God. Will we keep beating
a dead horse? Or will we try to
accomplish our mission using whatever methods work?
In Christ,
Adam
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