Leader Actions to Enhance Soldier Resiliency in Combat

Combat places extraordinary demands on every individual, particularly the junior leader. The cumulative demands of combat may affect the leader’s ability to lead his or her unit, resulting in members of their unit being tempted to quit. However, there are actions that leaders can take to build resiliency in their Soldiers, enabling them to lead their subordinates through the stressors of combat. Within the framework of social psychological contract theory, we outline two general approaches to leadership, the rigid institutional approach and the flexible pragmatic approach. The rigid institutional leader is characterized by (a) performing only those leader actions mandated by directives (such as policies and regulations), (b) demanding that subordinates show them respect based on their position within the organization and (c) forbidding any form of criticism from their subordinates. In contrast, the flexible pragmatic leader is characterized by (a) engaging in actions that are not mandated by policies or directives, such as giving Soldiers time off following high periods of workload, (b) expecting respect shown to them by their subordinates to be based on both their position within the organization and the soundness of their decisions, and (c) encouraging their subordinates to criticize their policies and decisions with the aim to improve unit functioning. Next, based on surveys and focus groups with Soldiers in a combat environment or with Soldiers recently returned from combat, we identify those leader actions that serve to build Soldier resiliency, focusing on both behaviors that leaders should and should not engage in. 1.