Jocko Podcast #9 General Patton

Jocko Academy

• War is the ultimate human struggle
• Patton thought he was reincarnated- that he was a warrior over and over again - for hundreds of thousands of years
• He was a mysterious guy with a lot of different facets to him.
• People’s strengths can be their weaknesses: Patton was hyper aggressive. That was negative in some cases and worked well in others.
• Patton was an unrepentant aristocratic snob.
• Quote from Patton: May god have mercy on my enemies - they will need it.
• Patton is the most aggressive of anyone I’ve ever heard of.
• The disease of victory: rots from within leading leaders to underestimate their enemies and overestimate their own battlefield prowess. The only antidote is defeat.
• His number one characteristic was discipline.
• Always capture the highest terrain feature in your vicinity and stay on it.
• The best is the enemy of the good. By this I mean that a good plan violently executed now it better than a perfect plan next week. The determining characteristics are self confidence, speed and audacity - none of these things can ever be perfect.
• If someone can’t give you their orders in one page that means their orders are too complicated - they need to simplify their plan.
• Training: More emphasis will be placed on the hardening of men and soldiers.
• There is a tendency for the chain of command to overload junior officers by excessive requirements of training and reports. You will alleviate this burden by eliminating non essential demands.
• Patton: Any commander who fails to obtain his objective and who is not dead or severely wounded has not done his full duty.
• Patton: Remember praise is more valuable than blame.
• Patton on courage: Do not take counsel of your fears.

War As I Knew It by General Patton

No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

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Listen to David's podcast Founders on Apple Podcasts or the web.