During chapter 22, LT McDonough and his men are almost killed by members of 3rd platoon as they attempted a night link-up. LT McDonough was unable to reach 3rd platoon using his radio, and even the company headquarters could not reach 3rd platoon with their radios. Due to this, LT McDonough had to perform a “physical link-up” and risked himself and his men being shot by friendly fire as they approached 3rd platoon’s position. One way this could have been avoided would be to have had a secondary communication/signal plan in place just in case the primary communication plan is not working/not possible. For example, they could have designated the radios as the primary communication method and could have designated a certain color star-cluster/flair as a way of secondary communication/signal.

When LT McDonough finally does make it into 3rd platoon’s perimeter, he shows a lot of frustration toward 3rd platoon’s platoon leader, LT Smalley, because he and his RTO were asleep and that’s the reason why they could not be reached via the radios. He then confronted LT Smalley and essentially called him a bad leader. I believe that LT McDonough’s frustration was warranted because LT Smalley had put LT McDonough’s and the rest of his men at risk for being shot by friendly fire. His excuse was that he and his men were exhausted from activities during the day, but he knew that LT McDonough and his men were linking up with them that night so he should have been awake and expecting them. LT McDonough did the right thing by not letting his anger get to him completely because he knew he still had a mission to conduct that night.

When LT McDonough finishes the memoir by saying “leadership must be positive” I believe he means that even though a situation may seem pointless and lost, the leaders who are in charge must continue to maintain a positive attitude. This is important because the men in the platoon look up to the platoon leader, so if the platoon leader stays positive and continues to do the right/necessary things, the men will feel that what they are doing is worthwhile and is useful. However, if the leadership becomes negative, then this will be passed to the men and the whole platoon will lose morale which could prove to be deadly.