Description
Mr. Connelly discusses his philosophy of leadership and its foundations.
Duke Connelly
Dennis Connelly assumed his name ‘Duke' shortly after enlisting in the infantry. His older brother, whose nickname was Duke, had been killed overseas in the Second World War. One of his former officers mistook Dennis for his brother, and the name stuck. Mr. Connelly did one combat mission late in the Korean War, and later went to Cyprus on a United Nations peacekeeping mission, where he was in charge of all surveillance and reconnaissance tactics. He also did infantry and paratroop training for the Canadian Armed Forces. He left the army to become a park warden in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.
Transcript
Very good NCOs, when I first went to the Patricias. One of them, Robbie Robertson, had been up and down the ladder himself, Second World War Vet. First thing, he took us and took the section I was with and said that if you ever are fortunate enough to get a promotion, the first thing you do is take care of your men, and to hell with everybody else. And then I had Rick Caesar (sp), who was very, very strong and the same thing, but everybody hated him, in a sense. But you knew that they took care of you and all they had to do was say do something, and no matter what the consequences were, you done it, and you know you were not going to get in trouble. I had a philosophy that I took care of everyone. I knew what their problems were, but I did not become close to anyone because you knew that you had to get things done. I was very selective, what I would say close friends, and I did not get involved in their personal affairs, unless I knew there was a problem, and they come to me. Then I would, otherwise I just treat them normal - piece of shit. There were some, not only sergeants, officers, that had problems that they had no control over. And some took the, the, like, the motherly effect, that they were the mother and everything else. Well, if I took it from my mother, it was just a swat and get going. So, it was my upbringing a lot that did that, and being independent.