"The commander in the field is always right and the rear echelon is wrong, unless proved otherwise"
About this Quote
Powell is arguing for epistemic humility at the top. The field commander lives with friction, incomplete data, and consequences that land in real time. The rear echelon lives with maps, briefings, and the seductive clarity of spreadsheets. His phrasing flips the normal bureaucratic hierarchy. Rank may flow downward, but reality flows upward, and it arrives mangled by distance. So he rigs the default setting: trust the people who can smell the smoke.
The kicker, "unless proved otherwise", is where the statesman shows. This is not romantic worship of the frontline; it's a demand for disciplined dissent. If you're in the rear, you can overrule - but you owe proof, not vibes. In a Pentagon-era context of sprawling staffs and risk-averse career incentives, the quote functions as a check on micromanagement and scapegoating. When plans fail, HQ often rewrites the story to preserve its own logic. Powell preemptively assigns credibility to the operator, not the institution, and dares the bureaucracy to earn the right to interfere.
Quote Details
| Topic | Decision-Making |
|---|---|
| Source | Evidence: One of my fundamental operating premises is that the commander in the field is always right and the rear echelon is wrong, unless proved otherwise.. This line appears in Colin Powell’s autobiography (with Joseph E. Persico) in the Iraq/Desert Storm section; Random House’s official book page reproduces the passage containing the quote. I did not locate a reliable, earlier primary publication/speech/interview predating the 1995 book; many later quote sites point back to this memoir. Some secondary sites cite a page number for later reprints (e.g., Ballantine/Random House trade paperback/ebook reissues), but page numbers vary by edition, so the first-edition page could not be confirmed from the available primary excerpt. Other candidates (1) Journal of Special Operations Medicine (2003) compilation95.0% ... Colin Powell's leadership primer on my desk top for reference and pull it out regular- ly to remind myself of ...... |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Powell, Colin. (2026, February 8). The commander in the field is always right and the rear echelon is wrong, unless proved otherwise. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-commander-in-the-field-is-always-right-and-35165/
Chicago Style
Powell, Colin. "The commander in the field is always right and the rear echelon is wrong, unless proved otherwise." FixQuotes. February 8, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-commander-in-the-field-is-always-right-and-35165/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The commander in the field is always right and the rear echelon is wrong, unless proved otherwise." FixQuotes, 8 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-commander-in-the-field-is-always-right-and-35165/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.
