LT McDonough had good intuition when picking out bad leaders. This was seen in earlier chapters such the PL he relieved. Additionally, the friendly Vietnamese leadership was nothing more than mediocre. Common themes amongst these poor leaders were inexperience and lack of emotional intelligence. I think McDonough’s frustration with his fellow PL’s is completely warranted. The third platoon leader’s actions were completely undisciplined and dangerous. In a war that ten thousand men were lost to other than enemy fire, an unannounced rendezvous in the dark without proper communication probably was not the smartest idea. LT McDonough seemed to adjust much faster than green platoon leaders. While he initially had just as little experience as them, he was effectively able to learn from poor leadership and recognizes the effect his actions have on his fellow soldiers. Through trial and error, McDonough seemed to pick up on a good balance between apathy and over-aggressiveness. It is clear that either one of these extremes gets you killed even quicker in Vietnam, and LT McDonough tried his best to mitigate risk for his men while simultaneously completing the mission.