By MAJ Proto and 2LT Phocas
It would not be much of an exaggeration to say that nearly every junior officer has seen at least some part of the HBO hit Band of Brothers during their formative professional military education. It might even be safe to say that certain moments throughout the show are pretty overused and beaten to death. Movies and shows have become critical forms of communication in society, and this is no different in the military. It’s easier to make sense of complex situations if they can be played on screen right before our eyes.
Andor’s season 2 provides no shortage of complex situations for the junior leader to chew on. The show is a gritty, dark, and thrilling depiction of asymmetric conflict that departs dramatically from the black-and-white depiction of good vs. evil that the original trilogy created. This is not the franchise some of us remember from our youth.
But this deviation from what we know offers a perfect opportunity to assess and learn. The show depicts moments of morality and leadership that are perfect for sparking discussions and challenging your own views.
The season opens almost immediately with a very poignant situation, and we will warn you, spoilers ahead. After successfully conducting an infiltration of an Imperial research facility in which a prototype starfighter is stolen, Cassian Andor is captured by a band of stranded rebels waiting for their leader to return at his link-up location on Yavin 4. Very quickly, it is shown that this group is split into two factions, each dominated by one individual, essentially the squad leaders within a platoon. In the absence of their leader, unit cohesion quickly crumbles to the point of violence.
This absent leader, who is only mentioned tangentially, was obviously charismatic enough to command the loyalty of these NCOs, one of whom is devoted to the leader, while the other is grudgingly obedient. However, this personal charisma is not effective leadership, as the removal of the leader immediately results in a breakdown of cohesion. The lesson here is that there are junior officers out there who try to do everything themselves and drive the platoon over the finish line through strength of will alone. While this type of leadership may be effective in the short term, it can become detrimental very quickly once that leader is no longer present. The timeless story is that when that leader goes on leave, the unit immediately falls apart.
Junior officers should strive to be what is called transformational leaders – ones that not only lead from the front but also empower their subordinates and transform them in the process. It’s unrealistic to imagine that a platoon leader can make their section leaders best friends outside of work, but they should try to foster a culture that demands tight-knit professionalism and adherence to standards from all unit members, even when the unit leader is not physically present.
Fast-forwarding several episodes, two of Leuthen’s agents, Cinta and Vel, tie in with a cell of clearly untrained locals to conduct a linear ambush on an isolated imperial logistics vehicle. The ambush itself is extremely well prepared, including both ROC drill and full dress rehearsals on the objective prior to initiating the ambush. The initiation of the ambush with a command-activated landmine and the use of separate assault, support, and security groups was a good tactical touch. However, where the rebels failed in their preparation and execution was in their failure to conduct proper PCCs and PCIs of their team, resulting in one of the security team members having a weapon that he wasn’t supposed to have and not having a real plan for how the security elements would cordon the objective. These failures quickly turned messy, resulting in fratricide. This scene provides several interesting talking points for junior leaders: How could the professional rebels have better controlled their partner force during the ambush? What other rehearsals could they have done to develop a proper security plan?
On the Imperial side of the coin, there are several quite blatant examples of poor leadership that aren’t up for much discussion. Obviously, the junior officer on Mina-Rau, who is poorly trained, out of shape, and sexually assaulting the locals (yes, this happens in a Star Wars show), is an unarguable failure of the Imperial Military to develop its junior officers. The lesson is obvious: don’t be like that guy.
The massacre at Ghorman, however, does provide its share of moral dilemmas for junior officers to ponder. The Imperial officers and bureaucrats throughout the show demonstrate what is often termed the ‘banality of evil’, a term originally used to describe the utterly mundane and unassuming nature of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. Throughout the show, we see ordinary people working for the Empire, who are doing things that, to viewers, are obviously bad, but in their world, it is simply a job – a task given to them that they must accomplish if they want to keep their job or potentially progress in their careers. This can be seen in the behavior of the junior Imperial army troopers who are sent into the crowd of protesting Ghorman. These soldiers are shown on screen to not be sadists or psychopaths; they’re young troopers fresh out of basic training who are ordered into a crowd of angry civilians. The squad leader, Sergeant Bloy, attempts to argue the order with his commander, Captain Kaido, but is threatened with imprisonment and forced to lead his men out into the mob. After taking fire, and naturally thinking it to be coming from within the crowd, Bloy orders his men to open fire on civilians before he himself is shot by the Imperial sniper on the roof.
The lesson here, as important as it was in 1945, is that ordinary people can do horrific things if ordered to, despite not having any malice within them. While we may believe that American soldiers are not capable of this, places such as My Lai demonstrate that this is a universal act that humans are capable of. It is up to junior officers and NCOs to ensure this doesn’t happen.
While in the Imperial military there is no way to refuse an order, the US military does have a way. If an order is illegal, immoral, or unethical, a subordinate not only has the ability but also the responsibility to not comply with that order. As a junior leader who will be given complex, seemingly impossible tasks and told to execute, it’s important to understand the circumstances under which orders should not be obeyed and when to be told to shut it and do your job.
The last important lesson we could find in Andor was Cassian’s trip to Coruscant near the end of the show. Despite being ordered directly not to, Cassian disregards the order, believing that his tactical situational awareness is grounds to override his commander’s guidance and execute his mission. This is in and of itself worth discussing through the lens of disciplined initiative (ADP 6-0), but what is more worth noting is that, in this instance, Cassian is wrong. The rebel leaders on Yavin are worried about the strategic fight, while Cassian can only see the tactical. Before leaving, he is warned that it could well be a trap set by the ISB to lure the rebels out and pinpoint the location of their hidden base. Cassian cannot recognize this because he is entirely wrapped up in his own corner of the battlefield. This often plays out in real life during training exercises. A platoon leader on a screen line may be able to kill a BMP because they’re ‘within the engagement criteria’ but lacks the higher-level understanding of the battlefield to recognize the second and third order effects of destroying a lone enemy vehicle. There is no perfect formula, which provides us with an interesting discussion point: is there a balance between demonstrating initiative at the tactical level and the higher-level fight? How can commanders effectively communicate the higherhigher-level level fight to their subordinates so as to guide their initiative?
These lessons are an incomplete list, and we encourage our readers to watch this show themselves and draw their own lessons that they can discuss and take with them in their careers. The bottom line is that Andor provides several very valuable and uncomfortable topics that are extremely relevant to junior officers at the sharp end of a fight. This show is just one example of many that exist outside the traditional PME sphere of books and movies that we all know. It’s important to break out of the ‘reading list’ mold and find other ways to learn and develop as officers and people.
MAJ Proto is an Armor Officer currently assigned as the Battalion XO for 1-335IN, 157 IN BDE. He has previously served as Squadron XO for 1-16 CAV, 316 CAV BDE providing DSTE to USAARMS courses at Ft. Benning.
2LT Phocas is an Armor Officer in the 3rd Infantry Division. He is a 2024 graduate of the US Military Academy with a bachelors in Defense and Strategic Studies.
