The Battles of Peace

One company commander’s battle against drugs and racial conflict in the war to rebuild the post-Vietnam army. In 1974 being a soldier was neither an easy nor a popular profession as Captain Michael Lee Lanning found out when he assumed command of Company A 2nd Battalion 30th Infantry 3rd Infantry Division in Schweinfurt Germany. . The start-up problems of the all-volunteer forces were still painfully evident in the United States Army. Morale was low drug abuse high racial conflict frequent discipline poor and criminal activity common. Even the barracks were a pathetic shamble. . These were just some of the problems Captain Lanning faced as he struggled to make Alpha Company “combat ready.” What followed is a shining testament to how leadership by example can make a difference. In eighteen months Alpha Company went from being an unruly unprofessional drug-infested unit to the best in the battalion racking up top marks honors and commendations. They became a company to which Lanning could honestly say: “You are the best soldiers in the best company in the best army in the world.”