Lt. McDonough made the tough decision of transferring his Platoon Sergeant under the suspicion that he violated their female captive. I think that this decision was the correct one. Regardless of whether he did or did not, the effect was made. The trust was lost between the two key leaders of the platoon. Trust is obviously an extremely important thing to have between PL and PSG. Exacerbated by the fact that they’re in theater and can expect a firefight with the enemy at any given time. It is because of this loss of trust that I believe he made the correct decision to transfer him.

I believe the risks are worth the benefits. The risks are you lose a man for a period of time, especially a trusted man that has been leading the platoon for a great deal of time. He has garnered trust and respect from the platoon and you will be forced to build that all over again with the next platoon sergeant. However, the benefit remains that McDonough can fully place his trust in the next leader, creating a tight leader bond for the platoon that can act and delegate as required for both mission success and the lives of the platoon.