“In war every man is expendable. That includes me! Any man who thinks he is indispensable already is not worth his weight in anything. I will get a transfer for such an officer immediately. Every man must be willing to give his life to accomplish the mission, but do not lose your life without making several of the enemy lose theirs. Never die alone. Take several of the enemy with you!
“Any man who starts thinking he is indispensable will start staying away from the fighting at the front. He will spend more time in the rear echelons thinking he is too important to risk going where the shells are falling and men are being killed. This man is a coward twice over. He is afraid of himself and of the enemy. In war every man is expendable.”
Alan Axelrod, Patton on Leadership: Strategic Lessons for Corporate Warfare (Paramus, N.J.: Prentince Hall Press, 1999), 146.
Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 254
Patton on leading from the front
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