PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The response to the pandemic sometimes gets termed as a "war." So what does a man who knows something about the battlefield have to say about the COVID-19 fight?
Retired U.S. Army Col. Jeff McCausland is a CBS News military analyst, whose new book, written with Tom Vossler and titled, "Battle Tested! Gettysburg Leadership Lessons for 21st Century Leaders." He said it uses the lessons of Gettysburg to examine how leaders can succeed in a time of stress and uncertainty.
"Certain principles and concepts of leadership are enduring, and that's what we talk about in some detail in 'Battle Tested,'" he said, "whether that's leading your boss, emotional intelligence, effective communication, strategic thinking, the role of technology, strategic vision, and communicating a vision. All these things we see played out today, all those things they say played out in 1863."
McCausland pointed to a young Union medical officer, John Letterman, who told his superiors what needed to happen to help bring victory at Gettysburg.
"'What we need to do is change our organization to put a surgeon in each regiment so there's more immediate access to medical care.' Second, he invented the first field ambulance to more quickly and more efficiently move casualties back to aid centers where they can get treatment," McCausland recounted.
"Third, he invented the concept of triage — to this very day, that concept is applied in mass casualties. These two organizations, the Union and the Confederacy, the Union army innovates in that particular regard; the Confederate army does not."
McCausland said as the war reached its midpoint, a result of Letterman's decision was a higher survival rate among Union soldiers, who then returned to the battlefield.
"The Confederacy doesn't do that, and we see then a larger percentage of those who are wounded dying, and of course they're suffering from the beginning by the fact they have a lower population," he said. "So that innovation was really key and essential in many ways to that long-term Union victory."