LT McDonough’s actions were not contrary to moving slowly in a new leadership position. He positioned himself to watch squads operate while simultaneously maximizing his ability to command and control. The tactics of the platoon favored him to feel out his subordinates’ strengths and weaknesses, learn the local terrain, and master himself in the bush. By learning their capabilities by squads, he would be more capable in bringing the whole platoon together as a single unit. I agree with his approach from the standpoint that there is no better way to learn than to get out and do it. The only thing I would have conducted differently is if he had asked more questions on the patrol that led him to the land mine. He assumes that he had done the right thing by letting the old man and boy run—I wonder if there were indicators that he missed and SGT Donne perceived. LT McDonough sees the land mine and the escaped Vietnamese as two separate issues while I wonder if they led his platoon into the vicinity of mines. Had the booby plant been supported by direct fire weapons, the squad would have been in serious jeopardy. Did SGT Donne sense that the Vietnamese’s behavior was remiss?
 
LT McDonough’s decisive leadership lands him squarely on a land mine (figuratively and literally). His subsequent physical recovery is secondary to his mental recovery where he must master the knowledge that he barely escaped death and he will go back into danger again. This mastery of fear marks these chapters with the theme of self-control in the face of primal emotion. He only completes his recovery when he cries wolf on a land mine when his compass hits the ground and startles him.   After this event he talks about how he takes it all more seriously, he learned that he wouls survive (unlike Wolfe.
 
The rest of the section delves into the importance of personal control to exude competence while also keeping Soldiers busy but alert.