Mr. Laverty,

I agree that you should be good at your job first and foremost. I also agree that if you’re on the line, additional duties are generally more of a distraction rather than an enriching activity. I do think I learned quite a lot from my additional duties, a number of which directly correlate to serious legal repercussions in the intelligence world. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to indoctrinate myself on what right looks like early on in my career so that I can contribute more now.

I’m not sure we’ll be able to see eye-to-eye on the IO issue, but I respect your point of view.

I agree with applying analysis to your property book and I feel that probably deserves its own discussion entirely.

In regards to your question, I was somewhat afraid to talk to my BN XO when I was a 2LT. He was supremely competent and capable, and I felt that I had to prove to him that, I, too, could be competent and capable. Looking back now, I believe that there were times that I needed to figure it out on my own without his guidance, but I think there were a lot of times that I could have still gone back to check in with my XO, give him a quick SITREP, and be on my way. Had I done that, I think I could have received more mentorship from him and I could have ensured I was meeting his intent. Later when I was a PL, I saw one of my peers use this overcommunication method and I think he had great results. The commander never had to pull information from my peer; my peer was always anticipating the information the commander would/want need and communicating that information to the commander. The commander provided guidance as needed to my peer, but otherwise allowed him the latitude to lead his platoon.

Thanks for your input and discussion points!

– Rose