Did I think LT McDonough act appropriately? Hell Yes! King returned to the platoon after his recovery and already made himself to be a POS. Neither I or the LT could account for who he was before he got injured during a mortar attack. Though, we can confirm that he fell to the use of drugs by him having it. Discipline is a mark of a good soldier and the fact that he lacked it and blatantly disrespected an Officer by his demeanor and attitude was reason enough to keep a close eye on him. To add insult to injury, King almost killed the LT by “dropping his weapon.” This is where is gets gray.

The LT McDonough’s reaction to the situation was to openly threaten King in front of the platoon. This had a two prong effect: first he established his authority to the platoon and second he made sure King that he wasn’t messing around. In all honesty, I may have acted the same way. This was a different time and war was upon them during every minute of their time. It could also be the fact that he was low on soldiers. He probably would’ve taken action to move him out of the platoon and into another place where he could do no harm to himself or others but he needed the men. Though, during today’s Army, a whole different approach would’ve been taken. He would’ve been given UCMJ from just the simple possession of the marijuana and face jail time. This is why I say that, during this time period, his action was appropriate.