I think LT McDonough’s frustration with the other Platoon Leaders in his company is warranted. While LT McDonough went off on his own to find the six men lost during their night link up, LT Smalley and his RTO were sleeping, putting both groups of men at extreme risk. Although LT McDonough “barely controlled his rage,” he did not compromise the mission by chastising LT Smalley too severely. I think LT McDonough’s anger resulted from the way in which LT Smalley compromised the safety of his men. I think LT McDonough’s actions were appropriate because LT Smalley was lucky to not have made a fatal mistake, and therefore he needed to learn his lesson. Perhaps this problem stems from LT McDonough’s propensity to take control and assert his authority, while other PL’s fail to assert their own authority and thus defer to LT McDonough’s leadership.
LT McDonough’s “repulsion” with LT Davis’ enthusiasm is warranted as he has just lost one of the most respected members of his Platoon. While LT McDonough admits he perhaps should not have tried to “play God” by sending LT Davis over the gruesome dead body of a young girl in order to sober him up, ultimately LT McDonough recognizes his own young and inexperienced enthusiasm in LT Davis and is attempting to teach him. In both cases of LT McDonough’s frustration with his fellow Platoon Leaders, he reflects on his actions and is self aware of the ways in which his actions were possibly fueled by emotion. Nonetheless, neither of LT McDonough’s decisions threatened the mission and both were intended to teach a lesson and improve company leadership.
It is difficult to comment on the ways in which the night link-up in Chapter 22 could have been improved due to the inability to communicate through radio despite the multiple solutions tried. However, technology is ultimately unreliable in any mission, so perhaps there should have been a more effective contingency plan in place for the separation of platoons and the case of part of the patrol becoming disconnected. At 2200 LT McDonough notices movement slowing and men “in over their heads” and at 2300 he receives the count that reveals 6 of his men were lost. LT McDonough could possibly have altered the order of movement when he noticed the diminishing quality of movement to ensure the patrol stayed connected and he retained the proper count.
After the VC destroy the village LT McDonough states “leadership must be positive” to demonstrate that even of the wake of a shocking and unethical circumstance a leader must “convince men of the importance of their own mission.” Therefore, when a situation occurs challenging the morale and resilience of the soldiers, a leader must reaffirm their mission and motivate soldiers to continue on. While LT McDonough was shocked by the disregard for human morality when the VC attacked their own kin in hopes of drawing the American forces into an unfavorable position, he remains firm in his leadership and continues to motivate his men by providing direction and purpose despite his own contemplations about the “emptiness of their work.”