Leadership must be positive. Throughout this book LT McDonough and his platoon have been through much tragedy, stress, loss and heartbreak. Their lives have been thrown into the woods and war. In order to win the day and to ultimately win the war the soldiers spirit and morale must be maintained at a high level. Soldiers will feed off of their leader as to what the mood is going to be. If the PL is negative and always down on what the mission is then the platoon as a whole will act the same way.  Even in the face of gruesome battles and death the platoon leader must hide their own emotion and be positive throughout. This same mentality must be the same for all leadership within the military. The public looks to the leaders of the military to gather the attitude of its soldiers, sailors, marines an airmen. The leadership will maintain its positive message until the conflict or war has come to an end.