Fires: The Chinese treated all POWs the same regardless of rank. This resulted in the degradation of discipline among POWs. Do you think this was the intended outcome or just 2nd and 3rd order effects? In addition what would you do to combat the loss of morale among POWs?

While it is impossible to determine without at least multiple primary sources; based on the first hand account from Sergeant Schlinchter when he was imprisoned at Kunu-ri, it seems pretty evident that refusing to separate soldiers based on rank was done purposefully to further reduce the morale of the soldiers. As Schlinchter recites through Fehrenbach, the Chinese placed the POWs on the most degrading and demeaning leaving leaders at a loss of what to do. With morale all but completely lost, the inability for the leaders to identify ways to maintain unity among the cohort completely destroyed any chance the group would have to formulate any plan of escape or system to take care of one another under the Chinese “lenient policy”. As a direct result of this policy, it can be argued that the Chinese would have been far more successful in “indoctrinating” many of these soldiers into falsely accepting blame for many War crimes, utilize them for communist propaganda, and continue to suppress these soldiers as long as they were in captivity.

What I would personally do to combat the loss of morale among the ranks as a POW is purely speculative, but I think the most crucial part of maintaining morale among POWs is maintaining some sort of chain of command. By this, I mean that you utilize the pre-existing command structure to take care of the most wounded and sick soldiers so that you have a unified purpose: survival. As you maintain keeping track of one another and ensure that as many leaders have a purpose, ensure that those most in need are afforded more food if possible and as necessary, and most important: leaders must do just as much if not more than the men they wish to follow them; in addition, they must be willing sacrifice what rations they have and come together to ensure that the group can survive… Avoiding getting into the weeds, I would maintain some sort of structure and team so that each man can look to another for support if they begin to falter. The mindset of surviving each day, and the ultimate goal of growing strong enough to attempt an escape. As I said earlier, this is merely speculative and I cannot begin to express how challenging this would be to actually practice in real life, the buy in from subordinates and leadership qualities of leaders required would be immense to survive such a circumstance.