Every EMS agency has a boss like it: dominating and opinionated, immaculately attired and groomed, with close-cropped hair and an abrupt personality. They are hard to understand and even harder to like. They demand respect and are quick to lash out when angered. They demand obedience because "Lives are at stake!" Sometimes they really are veterans of our nation's military, sometimes they aren't. But what they all have in common is a misinterpretation of what "military leadership" really is. The basic misconception of military leadership is that the military demands absolute, unrelenting subservience to the commands of one's superior, that leadership is best done harshly, and that there is no room for error. Yet nothing could be further from the truth.