Sheepdog Tip of the Day, During Combat tip 94
The modern concept of a combat leader usually envisions a hardened veteran moving behind a battle line of his men, exhorting, encouraging, punishing, rebuking, correcting, and rewarding them. But combat leadership has not always been like this. Armies have always had leaders, but the Romans were the first to take proven warriors and systematically develop them into professional leaders starting at the lowest levels. Prior to this time, leaders were usually expected to get into the battle and lead from the front, but the Romans were one of the first to also place leaders behind their men in an open order of battle. The influence of this kind of leadership was one of the key factors in the success of the Roman way of war. The process of having a respected, proven, small unit leader moving behind his men and demanding effective killing activity from them has continued to be a key factor in effective combat in the centuries to follow. (The fact that he does not necessarily have to personally kill the enemy provides a diffusion of responsibility, which also enables the killing.) This kind of leadership largely disappeared along with the Roman Empire, but it appeared again in the firing lines of English long bowmen, and then it appeared as a systematically applied factor in the firing lines of the successful armies of the gunpowder era, and it continues up to today.
Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat
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