Page 16 - The Wish Stream Year of 2020 Crest

Debate Night
OCdt Palmer-Price
In October, Commissioning Course 202 held a debating competition, a traditional event in the Intermediate Term for OCdts at the Royal Mili-
tary Academy Sandhurst. Two teams took part in the debate, each consisting of 3 members. These were drawn from across the 2 companies of the intake (The Somme and Gaza).
The debate was set up to explore the motion “This house believes that to be an Army Leader it is completely different to the civilian sector. Due to the propensity for violence, it is natural that some ‘dark’ leadership traits are present in the British Army Officer.” OCdts Redington and MacKeller from Gaza Company and OCdt Palmer-Price from The Somme Company pro- posed the motion, while the opposition was made up of OCdts Redfarn and Villiers-Smith from the Somme Company and
thing that those in the civilian sector would find troubling and difficult to accept. OCdt Villiers- Smith provided a stirring argument to counter, by pointing out that this was an accepted part of military life and the very essence of commanding those with unlimited liability demanded the very opposite of ‘dark leadership’.
After this round of speakers, the audience were invited to ask questions. These were well posed and developed the discussion further. Issues, such as whether Padres had elements of dark leadership or if this style of leadership inevitably led to toxic leadership, were covered. Each side were able to answer coherently and facilitated engagement in the moral dimension of our future careers for the entire intake.
OCdt Cuthbertson from Gaza Company. The debate was chaired by the Dean of Academic studies at the Academy, Brigadier (Retd) Ian Thomas who began the evening with taking an initial count of those supporting the motion. The count showed a sixty to forty split across the Officer Cadets and Permanent Staff in the audi- ence, the majority opposing the motion.
Due to the propensity for violence, it is natural that some ‘dark’ leadership traits are present in the British Army Officer.
The final speakers were invited to give each team’s closing state- ment. OCdt Redington began by summing-up the argument of the house. He was able to argue against the points of the previous speakers, particularly dwelling on the opposition assertation that dark leadership was inexorably linked to immoral leadership. OCdt Redfarn took the floor and skilfully wove together the points of his team’s previous speakers, presenting a well-rounded argument that dark
The debate started with initial speakers from both teams defining their coming arguments. OCdt MacKeller opened the proceedings by coherently outlining the direction of discussion that the proposition would take. This would be based around the concept of unlimited liability – the acceptance of the potential need to give their life for a cause, and the use of this acceptance by officers of the British Army. OCdt Cuthbert- son, for the opposition, argued that there was no place for ‘dark leadership traits’ in an Army officer due to the need to uphold the values and standards of the British Army.
OCdt Palmer-Price followed, proposing the need for ‘dark leadership traits’ in Army officers due to the regularity of being involved in dark situations. The exploitation of unlimited liability was some-
leadership and violence were not exclusive to the military. It was the duty of British Army offic- ers to ensure they did not revert to this style of leadership or that situations were not permitted to deteriorate into further violence. He finished with the powerful example of General Sir Michael Jackson resisting the drift into dark leadership in his refusal to escalate a conflict in Kosovo.
With that, the debate ended. Commander Sand- hurst Group, New College Commander and the Dean briefly left the premises to discuss who were to be declared winners of the debate. After a short time, Brigadier Carr-Smith took the stage to announce the deliberations of the judges. He began by congratulating the par- ticipants of the debate and stressing the impor- tance that an appreciation of such matters had
14 SANDHURST