As it turns out, Star Wars: The Last Jedi wasn’t just a science fiction movie. In reality, it was a lesson about sexism that we men badly needed. Or something.

According to those who find a misogynist under every rock, Poe Dameron’s rebellious attitude toward Admiral Holdo was sexist. Vanity Fair published an article titled Star Wars: The Last Jedi Offers the Harsh Condemnation of Mansplaining We Need in 2017, in which Laura Dern declares “I think we’re waking up to what we want feminism to look like.” A website called Den of Geek wrote, “In The Last Jedi, Poe is presented as a character who needs to stop with the mansplaining and learn from the more seasoned female leaders in his life.” MTV said “EPISODE VIII PROVES THAT WOMEN RUN THE GALAXY.”

These articles list Poe’s impulsive decision to destroy a First Order dreadnought, which cost the Resistance its entire bombing fleet, as evidence of his masculine failings, and his refusal to heed General Organa’s orders as evidence of his chauvinism. But the real nail in his coffin was his mutiny against Holdo.

As we know, Holdo gave orders to “stay the course” and keep running from the First Order despite the apparent inevitable destruction of the Resistance fleet. Poe demanded to know her plan to save the Resistance, she told him to shut up and follow orders, but he mutinied and acted on his own. Then, of course, when Holdo’s masterful plan was finally revealed and she heroically sacrificed herself to save the remnants of the Resistance, Poe finally realized what a sexist loser he’d always been.

From the perspective of those who view society as a struggle against patriarchy/whiteness/heteronormativity/whatever kinda ism, it’s all cut and dried, really: Holdo was a great leader, Poe was just too chauvinistic to see that, his toxic masculinity unnecessarily got people killed, and he didn’t truly mature until he finally appreciated Holdo’s strength and grace. On the other hand, from my perspective as a former Marine, retired Soldier and combat vet, Holdo’s plan sucked and she displayed terrible leadership.

YES, HOLDO’S PLAN SUCKED

Holdo decided to run from the First Order, sacrificing smaller ships and a few lives, until her cruiser was close enough to the planet Crait to use nearly-invisible transports to evacuate what was left of the Resistance. That’s not a terrible plan, and seemed to be the only option she really had. But she didn’t tell her subordinates anything about this plan. To them, it must have simply looked like they would run until they expended their fuel and died.

Many times throughout history, a small military force has been left with no other option but to attempt the near-impossible and hope for the best. The Resistance fleet was certainly in that situation. Had Holdo explained, “The situation sucks, I can only think of one option, and that might not work. Anyone have any better ideas?”, I would have no complaints about her leadership. But instead she refused to share information, dismissed her subordinate leader’s reasonable concerns, and made herself look like she was “vapor locked,” fixated on a plan that had no chance of success.

But let’s forget about what the situation looked like to the Joes inside the ships. However bad it seemed to them, Holdo’s secret plan was great – unless something went wrong. Which means it sucked, because any plan that requires the enemy to act exactly as you desire or predict is too inflexible to survive the inevitable surprises of combat. Good leaders expect surprises, make contingency plans, and understand that “the enemy gets a vote.” They don’t just hope nothing goes wrong.

And of course, something serious did go wrong: the transports weren’t invisible after all. And since they were unarmed and unarmored, they could do nothing but explode dramatically as they were picked off like sitting ducks. Holdo’s solution to this apparently completely unforeseen development was to kamikaze her cruiser into the pursuing Star Destroyer. That was heroic, but it shouldn’t have been an “oh crap” reaction to a problem she reasonably should have foreseen.

MILITARY LEADERSHIP: FICTION VS REALITY

Many viewers, and undoubtedly almost everyone who made The Last Jedi, think military leadership is how movies usually depict it: overbearing, egotistical (male) brutes getting their way by treating everyone below them like crap. But despite what the typical civilian might think, leadership isn’t simply screaming, cursing and berating subordinates.

Saint Mattis, loved by his troops because he truly cared for them.

True leaders listen to their troops, share as much information as possible, praise in public, discipline in private, and show their soldiers genuine concern and respect. The best leaders I’ve ever known treated me more as an equal than subordinate, sought my advice, explained what I didn’t know or understand, and almost never relied on their rank to gain compliance. I can think of three officers in Afghanistan whose orders I would have followed even if I knew, without question, that those orders would get me killed. I knew they would send me to my death only if there was literally no other way to save other lives.

On the other hand, leaders who don’t respect their subordinates often become targets of subtle displays of hostility, or even overt signs of hatred (like one lieutenant I heard of, whose soldiers all fired a blank in unison in a formation as a sign that he was about to be symbolically “fragged”). Soldiers will respect a leader who makes honest mistakes and owns up to them, as long as he/she cares for and respects their troops. But a leader who refuses to share critical information with subordinates while simultaneously appearing to freeze under stress, like Holdo, won’t be followed or respected.

I was fortunate to have had only one terrible leader. Nobody wanted to talk to him, because he seemed to despise his subordinates. Many of us were sure this leader would have sacrificed us all to further his own career. Over a decade after I served under his command, I still hear soldiers express their seething hatred of him.

No, Holdo wasn’t anywhere near that bad. And any leader who sacrificed herself for her troops as she did deserves respect. But she was still, during the Resistance fleet’s run to Crait, a bad leader.

WHEN A LEADER VAPOR LOCKS 

As I watched the Resistance fleet running, and dying, I was reminded of a quote from Black Hawk Down. In that true story, as a lost convoy’s soldiers were shredded by bullets and RPGs, one man muttered something under his breath: “We’re just going to keep driving around until we’re all f**king dead.” That man, stuck in a humvee and unable to do anything about what he saw as the pointless destruction of his unit, probably doubted his leader’s capability to handle the situation. Maybe he thought all the senior leaders were paralyzed with indecision.

While I was fortunate to never have a leader freeze up in combat, I’ve seen some vapor lock and nearly panic when a plan failed during training or even routine tasks. In one memorable incident a company first sergeant was badly running a rifle range, and her inefficient plan was bottlenecking an entire battalion. When I and other soldiers pointed out the obvious problems and suggested easily-implemented alternatives, she vapor locked; visibly shaken and overwhelmed, she simply said, “We’re gonna stick to my plan, and that’s it!” Under stress, all she could do was fall back on what she was already doing even though it was failing.

Years ago I read a book by a military historian who noted the WW2 Soviet Army’s “penchant for lost causes.” Soviet troops were infamous for pressing doomed attacks on Germans even when everyone on the battlefield plainly saw that the Soviets could not possibly prevail. According to this historian, the Soviet response to failure was “If it doesn’t work, do it faster.” So they’d repeat the same failed tactic over and over, until they lost too many men to go on. This wasn’t done out of bravery or dedication; it happened because Soviet leaders often vapor locked when their plan didn’t work, and were either too unimaginative or terrified of superiors to adjust to reality.

Like every other leader, I had my own problems in this regard. Training and experience corrected it. We train so that we can discover and correct our leadership flaws before we encounter a real enemy. In training we have the luxury of allowing a leader to fail, take corrective advice, and learn when to adjust or abandon a failed plan. In a real world crisis, if a leader vapor locks they could literally kill everyone under their command.

Mutiny is generally a bad thing. But if there’s ever a time for it, that time is when the plan has failed, the leader has vapor locked, and if nobody takes action the fleet will “just keep flying along until we’re all f**king dead.” Poe Dameron, when faced with a leader who refused to abandon an apparently-doomed plan and refused to even explain her decision to her subordinates, can be forgiven for acting on his own to save his fellow rebels’ lives.

SO, SERIOUSLY, HOLLYWOOD… 

Shut up. Stop preaching. Get back to doing what you do best (you know, like sexually harassing actresses), and stop trying to teach me morality. Don’t try to show me “real” leadership, when you obviously know nothing about real leadership. Swim back to the shallow end of the pool.

When I go to the movies, I just want to see a damn movie. I go for the entertainment, not to be told how toxic I am. I don’t need Vice Admiral Holdo to show me that women can be real leaders. I already have Leigh Ann Hester, who fought through an insurgent ambush in Iraq. I have Captain Jennifer Moreno, an army nurse killed during a patrol in Afghanistan. I have Ann Carrizales, a police officer who was shot in the face but still helped chase down her attackers. I have my mother, who managed to finish her degree while working full time and raising five children. I have the stories, videos and photos of the brave Kurdish and Yezidi women fighting ISIS.

So please, Hollywood. I’ve been watching Star Wars for forty years. Don’t ruin it, don’t put your own personal crusades into it. Don’t spoon feed me your ideology. Just make a good movie.

Special thanks to my ten-year old, Star Wars fanatic son Elan for making sure I had the movie details right. 

Chris Hernandez is a 23 year police officer, former Marine and retired National Guard soldier with over 25 years of military service. He is a combat veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan and also served 18 months as a United Nations police officer in Kosovo. He writes for BreachBangClear.com and Iron Mike magazine and has published three military fiction novels, Proof of Our Resolve, Line in the Valley and Safe From the War through Tactical16 Publishing. He can be reached at [email protected] or on his Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/ProofofOurResolve).