No ____ left behind?
For decades or at least years, I wondered why I had never heard of the “No man left behind” military concept.
In my 1966-69 Army active duty I never heard of it in basic training, advanced individual training, Signal Corps Officer Candidate School, duty at Fort Bragg or a year with the First Signal Brigade in Vietnam. I do remember being told in OCS, “The mission comes first. Then comes the welfare of the men.” Sorry, ladies, it seems that you were not even an afterthought in that era of the military.
Nor did I ever hear of it in the Army Reserve in a Civil Affairs Group in Anniston. That included two summer camps.
The 1998 movie, “Saving Private Ryan,” suggested that the doctrine existed during World War II. I see Ryan as a special case, because he had three brothers who already had been killed in the war.
More blatantly. “Black Hawk Down,” made in 2001, had the advertising catchline, “Leave no man behind.”
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 extended the idea to education.
But where, I wondered, did the phrase originate? Eventually I got around to doing an Internet search.
The Ranger Creed includes the passage, “I will never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy.” That creed appears to have been written in 1974, after I was out of the Army Reserves.
Capt. George Galdorisi wrote “Why we leave no man behind,” which appeared in June 2014. He commented, “The concept of the Latin phrase nemo reside or ‘leave no one behind,’ is almost as old as warfare itself. Greek mythology portrayed heroes who rescued those captured by enemies.”
He traced the history through “The Last of the Mohicans” and movies about the U.S. Cavalry. Galdorisi also finds similarities to the Ranger Creed in the Soldier’s Creed and the Airman’s Creed.
But writing his opinion piece in the context of the prisoner swap that brought Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl back to the U.S., Galdorisi noted, “it hasn’t always been that way.”’
His commentary concluded:
“We argue sooner or later, somebody has to go down there and get the downed airman or missing soldier. And hurry up doing it.
“It should be trained, dedicated and fully funded combat search and rescue assets who get there first.
“Our men and women fighting for America deserve nothing less. We will never leave them behind.”
And a March 13, 2015, Stars and Stripes story tells of a “No Man Left Behind” statue depicting a Marine too badly wounded to walk with his arms over the soldiers of two fellow Marines moving him to safety.
A longtime newspaper man, Coke Ellington worked for the Montgomery Advertiser from 1984 to 1997. He taught in the Alabama State University communications department from 1997 to 2014.