John J. Pershing was notably one of the America’s most accomplished generals whereby he is famously known for having served as the commander of the American Expeditionary Forces in the World War I (New York Times).  In 1918, Pershing’s troops bolstered the spirits of Europe allies where they played a very significant role in defeating Central Powers. Subsequently, Pershing was promoted to the rank of General of the Armies of the US in the year 1919 by Congress. Historically, it’s only him and George Washington who were awarded the honor. 

Pershing was born in the year 1860 in Missouri United states of America. While still a teenager, Pershing became a teacher at a school for African American Students. In the year 1882, he applied and got accepted at the Military Academy at West point where he later graduated in 1886 ranking 30^th position in a class of 77 students.  In Montana, he became the first lieutenant to be promoted of the 10^th Cavalry making him one of the first white officers to command an all-Black regiment. 

In his successful career in the military over the years, Pershing was depicted to have a variety of leadership attributes. One of his leadership attributes is that he focused on developing others which he achieved through training leaders for future challenges. To illustrate this attribute, in the 1930s, he raised alarms about Adolf Hitler. However, these warnings were ignored. Luckily, his reforms and the leaders he had mentored successfully enabled the US to respond to the attack on Pearl Harbor in 9141 with counterattacks against both Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany within one and a half years (Scott). Secondly, Pershing was a courageous leader. He depicted this attribute when he was requested to take charge of AEF by President Woodrow. When France and Britain wanted raw recruits to replace their 10 million casualties, joining a combined force led by their generals, Pershing insisted that American soldiers would serve under their generals. The third leadership attribute is learning agility, a quality linked to Pershing's preparedness to lead through education and experience. Pershing demonstrated this attribute in 1899 when war broke in the Philippines, showing his brilliance at diplomacy and leading military campaigns. 

During his military career, Pershing made a variety of leadership accomplishments. Whereby firstly, when he returned to America in the year 1919, he successfully managed to serve the role of the chief of staff of the US Army (New York Times). During this time, Pershing was able to reorganize the Army, making key achievements such as updating military training techniques, emphasizing physical fitness, and starting professional schools for the officers. 

Studying Pershing is very important today due to his critical role in reorganizing the Army staff to look like the wartime headquarters he commanded, hence making today's Army G-4 position a permanent part of the force. 

Having studied Pershing, I know his significant role in the United States military is notable. He portrayed critical leadership qualities worthy of emulating by other leaders in the military, aiming at making a distinct mark in the field, for example, being courageous, focused, and ready to learn.  

The New York Times. "Leadership, Personal Courage, Devotion to Troops Won for Pershing Affection of Nation", 1948. Accessed on December 9^th 2022, from: https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0913.html

Scott Smith. "Gen. John Pershing Shows You How To Do More With Less", 2022. Accessed on December 9^th 2022, from: https://www.investors.com/news/management/leaders-and-success/gen-john-pershing-shows-you-how-to-do-more-with-less/