Leaderboard

I remember the oral examination when I qualified in submarines and earned my dolphins. One of the things I was required to do was to explain how I would accomplish the boat's mission if various other people in the crew were dead or disabled. I'm sure you remember that as a part of leadership training in the submarine service, Galen. It was NEVER part of leadership training in the Way Corps. If there was a casualty (fire, flooding, etc., small as well as large) aboard a submarine, one of the first things that had to be done was the senior qualified man on the scene had to declare himself "in charge at the scene" and report as much to the officer of the deck. From then on, all communication flowed through the man in charge at the scene, and there were various conditions where the upper levels of command had to trust the judgment of the man in charge at the scene. That was also a part of the exercise, as well as the training for leadership, aboard a submarine. There were several other factors of naval leadership that were ignored in the Way Corps. According to Petty Officer 3&2 the three basic requirements of naval leadership are 1. good moral behavior, 2. personal example, and 3. administrative ability. The reasons were these: 1. if you lie and cheat, your followers will feel it's okay to lie and cheat on you, your followers will NOT treat you with respect if you treat them with disrespect, 2. you have to be able and willing to do yourself anything you ask your followers to do, and 3. administrative ability is tertiary and trainable. There was another principle of leadership that was recognized and discussed in the Navy, but totally ignored in the Way Corps: you cannot delegate responsibility without delegating a corresponding authority, but ultimately, you are still responsible for the responsibilities you delegate. There were several times when I took responsibility as a coordinator for things my twiggies messed up. That was before I went in residence. Leadership in TWI was NOTHING like the genuine leadership I experienced in the military, and Way Corps training I received had NO SUBSTANCE similar to the training I received in the Nuclear Power Program and the Submarine Service. The scales fell from my eyes after Geer read The Passing of a Patriarch on Corps night. Martindale and the top "leadership" exhibited all the leadership skill of deer in the headlights. When Geer was finished, Martindale just dropped the phone lines without say anything memorable. All the Corps were wondering what the hell was going on, and what we needed to do to fix "the ministry". Martindale seemed to be silent about the whole thing for weeks. Finally word trickled down that the problem, according the President of the Way International, was that the people who were running the foundational classes out on the field were too slack. Martindale flipped the responsibility UPSIDE DOWN! HE was the PRESIDENT! He was blaming the people who were FARTHEST from the center of power! The ONLY people who were actually doing ANYTHING to grow the organization! Martindale had NO IDEA of the practical steps that were necessary to run a foundational class on the field, much less to accomplish the mission of taking the Word Over the World. Instead of fixing things in order to accomplish the mission, Martindale simply declared the mission accomplished. That, my friends, was the result of Wierwille's thinking. When I saw that, I realized Wierwille had NEVER allowed real leaders into position near him, but only yes-men and yes-women. I served under some jerks when I was in the Navy. I had to. I couldn't pick and choose. Sometimes ministers can be jerks, but Jesus Christ is NOT a jerk, and I don't think any of his genuine servants are the unmitigated kind of jerks Wierwille and his dedicated followers have been and continue to be. Love, Steve

very very sad, george

That may have been a true statement. A very sad statement about that person's life, if true. George