Case Study: Wisdom Assignment

Wisdom Case Study Situations – choose one of the two situations presented
Thematic Question: How do leaders give value while mentoring, discipling, and coaching
subordinate leaders through wisdom?
Wisdom Case Study: Crushed Aspirations
The Players
 Second Lieutenant (2LT) Billy Mitchell, young Air Force officer in fighter aircraft initial
training
 Captain Chuck Yeager, mid-level Air Force officer Flight Commander and flight
instructor (2Lt Mitchell’s Flight Commander)
 Lieutenant Colonel (Lt Col) Hap Arnold, senior Air Force officer and training squadron
commander (Captain Yeager and 2Lt Mitchell’s squadron commander)
The Situation
2Lt Mitchell is in the basic fighter maneuvers (visual dog fighting) phase of his fighter
aircraft initial training. Already in the training course for a few weeks, he has been struggling to
meet the performance standards required to pass his current phase of training and move on to
more complex mission training. He made it through the first phase, called offensive basic fighter
maneuvers, but he is now stuck and struggling through the second phase called defensive basic
fighter maneuvers (BFM), in which the pilot must survive and defeat an attack from a fighter
aircraft approaching from behind. 2Lt Mitchell had graduated at the top of his initial pilot
training class, and as a result, he was assigned to the Air Force’s top performing fighter aircraft.
There is no doubt that he has excellent pilot knowledge and skills. His flight commander in the
fighter training squadron, a mid-level officer, had been flying with him during his training, but a
new flight commander, Captain Chuck Yeager, just took over the flight. Assessing the situation
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with 2Lt Mitchell, Captain Yeager decided to become 2Lt Mitchell’s flight instructor. Captain
Yeager’s immediate supervisor, his squadron commander Lt Col Arnold, agreed with this course
of action.
Seeing that 2Lt Mitchell had been struggling in both offensive and defensive BFM,
Captain Yeager decided to first conduct an offensive BFM training flight with 2Lt Mitchell, in
which Captain Yeager would ride with 2Lt Mitchell in the back seat of one of the squadron’s
two-seat training aircraft. 2Lt Mitchell passed the training flight, but not without some
deficiencies noted by Captain Yeager. Next, it was on to defensive BFM. In the defensive BFM
phase, in which the student pilot must learn to maneuver the aircraft in relation to an attacking
aircraft that is behind the defender, 2Lt Mitchell could not achieve any standard of performance.
In this phase, the students have four training flights, and on the fourth flight the student must
achieve proficiency in all required tasks to move to the next training phase. On the fourth and
final flight in the phase, due to concerns about performance, Captain Yeager again flew in the
backseat of 2Lt Mitchell’s aircraft. 2Lt Mitchell not only did not achieve proficiency, he
attempted a maneuver that most likely would have resulted in a fatal accident if Captain Yeager
had not intervened. It was this flight that convinced Captain Yeager that the most likely source
of 2Lt Mitchell’s performance issues was that he, for some unknown reason, was unable to
physically achieve the required G’s to maneuver the aircraft in a way that would achieve the
training and mission objectives. A pilot flying a high performance fighter aircraft must be able
to pull and sustain eight to nine G’s without graying or blacking out, while maintaining sight of
the adversary aircraft. 2Lt Mitchell was only achieving a maximum of six G’s consistently, and
he was easily defeated by the adversary aircraft.
Captain Yeager found himself in a dilemma as a new training squadron flight commander
and leader for the instructors and training students in his flight. His decisions regarding Mitchell
would affect Mitchell’s career and Air Force Leadership development. They would also have and
effect on how he handled future cases involving student training. Captain Yeager daily went to
God in prayer and Scripture for help and guidance in his decision making. Mitchell was an
excellent pilot, but he could not achieve the required performance in the high G maneuvering
flight environment. Yeager needed more than knowledge to handle this situation and to
successfully do his part in developing Mitchell into an Air Force leader; Yeager needed wisdom.
He sought that wisdom through prayer, Scripture, and seeking counsel from others, including his
direct supervisor, Lt Col Arnold.
Based on the diagnosis regarding deficiencies in maneuvering the aircraft at maximum
performance, the squadron commander in consultation with his higher commander recommended
additional G-force training at the Air Force’s centrifuge facility rather than immediate removal
from training. Captain Yeager believed that 2Lt Mitchell had already demonstrated an inherent
inability to achieve the required performance for fighter aircraft and should be reassigned to a
different aircraft, but he was overruled by his higher commanders. After additional centrifuge
training, 2Lt Mitchell returned to the fighter training squadron to resume his training. It was
immediately apparent that he was unable to translate the centrifuge training back into the aircraft,
and he was removed from fighter aircraft training and reassigned to an Air Force aircraft that was
not high performance in terms of G capability and requirements. Six months later, Captain
Yeager received a phone call from 2Lt Mitchell thanking Captain Yeager for helping him out of
the fighter aircraft and into his current aircraft. In the Air Force system at that time, if a student
pilot self-eliminated from training, the student pilot was removed from flight status as a pilot and
could not be assigned a different aircraft. Because he was removed from his fighter aircraft
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training by the training squadron and the reason for removal was specific to fighter aircraft, he
could be reassigned to a different aircraft.
Questions for the Case Study
1. Identify two leadership issues or dilemmas, faced by the mid-level leader, Captain
Yeager. Explain your reasoning for picking the issues you pick.
2. Compare and contrast this situation to a similar situation you may have personally faced,
experienced, or observed as a leader, or as one being led, or as an observer on the side-
lines.
3. Using the Module One leadership trait of wisdom as the conceptual foundation for your
mini case study, analyze and explain the importance of wisdom in dealing with this
situation in terms of mentoring, discipling, and coaching others for leadership. Use at
least five lesson topics in Workbook 1: Wisdom to support your analysis and explanation.
You should utilize and cite concrete support from the Scripture, Stories, and/or Principles
to Absorb sections of the Workbook lessons.
4. Within your mini case study, contrast this situation with Paul’s words and instructions in
1 Corinthians 1:18-31 and 3:18-23. Thought Question: How does God want us to
exercise wisdom in our relationship with Him as leaders and in mentoring, discipling, and
coaching others to become leaders?
5. Describe and explain lessons derived from your case study analysis that may be applied
and practiced in a future similar situation in which you may mentor, disciple, and coach
others in their leadership development.

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