When LT. McDonough got his command post, he had no knowledge on what he was working with. Then he came to the quick realization that he was completely on his own but he also realized that the first moments of his leadership was crucial – as if it was going to set the tone for the rest of stay. In chapter 5, he made decisive decisions such as setting up patrols however, there was a lot running through his mind. Just how we discussed in class today, we are able to see what people present but we wouldn’t know what happens intrinsically. Which is why it is pretty awesome to be able to read and understand through his perspective because if we were reading it as if someone else was writing about his story, we would have assumed that he was a mentally strong, amazing leader that is not afraid of anything so being able to read his internal views gave us a sense of reality. But we can tell that he was trying to show his command presence by going out on patrols with every squads. I believe that he was looking from bottom up than top down to see what and who he was working with in terms of personnel because instead of going to squad leaders, he actually went on patrols with his men. Once he felt that he developed the presence of his leadership, he commanded his RTO to get all his key personnel. His decisions that he made during his first few days as the platoon leader set the disciplined structure within his platoon.

When he encountered his first combat experience in chapter 6, he failed in his first combat action and also became a casualty. In chapter 7, he was in the hospital but he was discharged on day 20, but he was only to monitor the radio communications of the ambushes and patrols of the battalion units in the field. But he quickly was back onto the field. He was slowly building his confidence because towards the end of the chapter, he didn’t worry about himself, he was more so worried about how he was going to assess and control the situation.

As a leader, we will be dealing with inevitable, unfavorable situations – the military will put us in unfortunate circumstances but it is up to us as future leaders to continue to stay disciplined and continue to lead our soldiers and keep them motivated.

Throughout chapters 5-8, LT. McDonough could have been mediocre in his leadership after he had gotten hurt however, because of his discipline, he was able to get back into the field and lead his men. At first, he was afraid of dying and leaving all this loved ones behind but towards the end, he stopped worrying about his end state whether it was life or death, he was more focused on leading his men towards success in combat.