James B. Stockdale, the Personification of Honor, Courage, and Commitment

By Marv Serhan, Captain, U.S. Navy (Ret)

I’m offering the following merely to provide another perspective for those who may not know of James B. Stockdale, the teacher, philosopher, fighter pilot, and hero.

In addition to his incredible courage, James Stockdale was one of the most intelligent military officers ever to represent his country in peacetime and in war. He did not rise to such a high level of influence, trust, and confidence by accident. He loved his profession as a Naval aviator and test pilot, earned his status amongst some highly skilled colleagues, and was passionate about leading with both a dedication to the mission and a fierce commitment to the Sailors and Marines under his charge. He lived with the understanding that words are cheap, but actions send the most powerful and meaningful message to those who observe those actions. And that is what James Stockdale did throughout his life, and most significantly while enduring those 7+ years in the world of Epictetus at the Hao Lo prison. He referred to his time in prison as the “The pressure cooker of humanity…the cauldron” where a man’s true character was stressed, fractured, then pieced back together only to be tested again and again by an enemy that was skilled at breaking the human spirit. The challenge to fight back and restore one’s honor and dignity never abated in the pressure cooker. It took a great leader, and a very intelligent person to recognize what had to be done to give his fellow prisoners what they needed to fight back to restore their honor - even when separated from all that was familiar in life - including formal direction from their Chain of Command. Stockdale took charge, set policy, establish a vision, constructed an organization, reestablished a chain of command, and set in motion a resistance movement to challenge Hoa Lo prison leadership. He did all this through covert communications while constantly being subjected to grueling, and inhumane treatment by his captors. Over the course of those 7+ years in prison, he was labeled a hardcore resister, an organizer, and a leader of the resistance who had to be broken. They attempted to neutralize his influence by isolating him. In the process, he accumulated over 4 years of solo time, a metric he considered the best indicator of a prisoner’s effectiveness. As he wrote, “The first thing I want to know about a prisoner is how much solo time he has. If he has none, and about a third of the prisoners over there had essentially none – that tells me he is not making waves, playing it cool, not resisting.” In addition, Stockdale, the hardcore resister, was placed in leg irons and chains for 2 years, and they brutally tortured him 15 times all because he would not submit to their demands. They could break his bones, but they could not break his spirit to lead and bring back his fellow POWs with their honor intact.

James Stockdale had the guts, the creativity, and the intellect to step forward and lead and give guidance to men that were teetering on the edge of mental and physical ruin. He established an organization, set policy (to “Back U.S.,” “Unity above self” “Resist until broken…then resist again”) and he continued to lead within Hoa Lo at great personal risk. Did he have to step forward and subject himself to such a brutal existence for all those years? NO! He could have taken the easy path and stayed quiet, kept to himself, refused to step forward and lead. After all, he was not senior; there were four officers who were senior to him. Those officers chose to take the easy path. They refused to communicate, and that refusal made it even more difficult to hold the organized resistance together. Not James B. Stockdale. He demanded more of himself than he did of others. It was not in his DNA to take the easy path. The enemy tried to muzzle him, but he fought back, not with bullets or bayonets, but through leading the resistance even to the point of attempting to give his life to protest the ill treatment of his fellow POWs.

Beyond Hoa Lo James Stockdale went on to write numerous books, essays, and delivered some incredibly captivating speeches across the country. In October 1977, he was selected to become the 40th president of the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. Shortly after taking command, he wrote to Dr. Joe Brennan, a professor emeritus from Columbia University, to enlist his support in writing and co-teaching a course of instruction that would become part of the moral fabric of the Naval War College and the U.S. Navy for four+ decades and counting. In his communications with Professor Brennan, he stated, “I have come to the conclusion that if I am to leave a legacy here it must be done from the classroom.” Some of the learning outcomes he sought to achieve in writing this course focused on answering questions such as, “What are the philosophic roots of a military profession? What are the watershed distinctions that separate bureaucrats from warriors, winners from losers? I know this is no simple matter to get a layman up to speed to teach such sensitive material—but I want my students to have something more than a few mutually contradictory slogans when their backs are against the wall.” Stockdale wanted to ensure members of the armed forces, destined for high-risk-of capture combat roles, were armed with some philosophical tools to better deal with the stress, and trauma of captivity and to prepare them to deal with an enemy skilled at exploiting any mental or emotional weakness in a prisoner. The “Foundation of Moral Obligation” – otherwise known as the “Stockdale Course” was designed to achieve that outcome.

The Stockdale course was in high demand by the College of Naval Warfare students – typically standing room only for those who were fortunate to register for the sessions. The lessons Stockdale learned from Hoa Lo offered a window into the challenges of leading and following in the most difficult situation imaginable - a POW pressure cooker. A similar course titled, "The Philosophy of American Values," taught by Joe Brennan, came about in 1986 again infusing lessons from Hoa Lo and the classics to teach and inspire officers destined for command. Everything in the course reflected upon the values we hold dear as Americans, that our history is precious to fully understand the origins of our values, who we are as Americans, and why we have a legacy of fighting to preserve our freedoms. This seminar-type course covered topics that reinforced principles relevant to love of country, loyalty to the chain of command, duty, honor, moral responsibility, values, and the significance of fidelity to one’s oath of office to support and defend the Constitution. – particularly in a “Pressure Cooker, the Cauldron of humanity…” The lessons learned in these courses last beyond the uniform. Thank you, James Stockdale, and Joe Brennan and all the NWC Department Chairs since who have kept the Stockdale principles alive and made improvements to course material along the way over these 40+ years.

James Stockdale truly was an exceptional human being. There was not an artificial bone in his body. He simply had an uncanny ability to understand human nature, to understand what made people do the things they do. He clearly knew what it took to lead, how to motivate, and how to elicit the finest performance from others even under the most difficult circumstances. He excelled at creating an organization where trust, honestly, mutual respect, and unity of purpose characterized every human interaction. James Bond Stockdale’s legacy will live on as the personification of those Navy and Marine Corps core values of honor, courage, and commitment. He has earned the everlasting admiration and respect of his fellow POWs and all who knew this great man as I did.