Recently I watched “Saving Private Ryan” again, and it made me have some questions. For example, in the opening scene of soldiers rushing to the beach, most of the soldiers were almost dead before they even got out of the landing craft. If the commander was also killed, what about the remaining soldiers? Who should direct the people? How should each unit perform the tasks assigned before departure?
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Rank and training.
By having a hierarchy of rank, rather than just “commander” and “soldier”, there’s always a man lower on the totem pole to take over. The chain of command is a tree; for a bunch of privates, you’ll have corporals leading a team of 2-4 or so, a sergeant in charge of a few such teams, and then a commissioned officer in charge of several sergeants and their teams (I’m simplifying here).
If the lieutenant is incapacitated, a sergeant can take over. If the sergeant is killed, a corporal can take over. Within ranks seniority or another method determines who takes charge; if a sergeant is take out, the corporals under him know which one will be in charge long before it happens.
Beyond that, good modern militaries train their soldiers to be *able* to function in that higher role when needed. So when it happens, they’re ready for it.
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