The only civilians I came across in my time as lieutenant were range or simulation managers. The retired simulation managers were always very helpful. Range control can be finicky, but I just ensured to maintain my respect and patience so we could minimize lost time.

I appreciate these responses to consider for future challenges.

I leave work when my tasks are done and conditions are set for the following day. As a platoon leader, I would ensure to be the last Soldier home, even if my tasks were done. If the guys were still working in the motor pool, and my office work was done, I would go down and monitor their work. As a staff officer, I would observe maintenance if our…[Read more]

Reading over responses, the two themes that resonated with me and my time in a combined arms battalion were motivation and regulation. Soldiers do not want regulations to be hashed upon them to the point that they feel that they are liabilities. They should see regulations are present as benchmarks for success and opportunities to excel.

Junior…[Read more]

“Leadership must be positive.” I believe that LT McDonough was getting at the deeper truth when the going gets tough, the tough get going. As my grandmother used to say to me, “If you have nothing good to say, don’t say it.” When the village was destroyed, one could ask what was the purpose of it all? As the platoon leader, he did not ponder the…[Read more]

I believe if LT McDonough had gone to beach, he could have prevented disaster. His decision was logical and could have benefited Soldiers’ hygiene. As LT McDonough recounts his duty as pay officer where a jeep is flipped and its four occupants drowned, Vietnam was a very dangerous place. I am not surprised by the lack of consequences for his…[Read more]

While LT McDonough expresses his quote in Chapter 16 in regards to threatening a farmer, I believe the more remarkable case study within the chapter is of the platoon using the buddhist sanctuary as a kill zone. Tactically, LT McDonough understood that the Temple’s light system acted as key terrain. Whoever controlled the signaling within the…[Read more]

In Chapter 11 LT McDonough’s patrol base is attacked and forced to respond. What sticks out to you as he describes his actions during the defense of his position? How does LT McDonough bring all available resources to him into the fight? During the battle LT McDonough is again faced with a tough situation while working with two Cobra gunships.…[Read more]

Have you experienced this pull between serving the unit and leading your Soldiers? How did you balance this contradiction? Was it even a contradiction for you?

As a tank platoon leader, I routinely griped with other leaders as to the demands put on us by Battalion. When I became distribution platoon leader, I began to see the larger picture as I…[Read more]

1) I have never attempted deception as a Platoon Leader as a tank/scout/distro PL. In the mechanized world, I feel that every action is deliberate and leaders believe that ground will be contested simply because the mission is an attack, or that the enemy will attack, since the mission anticipates a defense. This mentality limits creativity, suc…[Read more]

 
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…[Read more]

Similar to COL McDonough, my first platoon sergeant was a small unit instructor before becoming a PSG. His description of his PSG as being wary and weary matches my own senior NCO, when I took charge of a tank platoon. The only difference being, my PSG was a Armor BOLC instructor instead of an RI. I do not know the extent that war affected him, he…[Read more]

Most of our essays are still under review by our Battalion Commander. I decided it would be better late than never to put mine in here.

S3: The Korean War’s winner in 1953 and 2017 was the DPRK. At the conclusion of fighting in 1953, the largest loser was the South Korean people. They had their Army annihilated at the outset of the war, their people suffered a short but brutal occupation by communists, and then strong-armed into an armistice. America failed them at nearly every…[Read more]

HAMMER: Korea was the first war where the US Army rotated Soldiers in and out of theatre in significant numbers, a practice that has continued ever since. In doing so, practical and instructional knowledge is lost and lessons have to be re-learned, sometimes at great cost. How would you change the manner in which we now rotate Soldiers into…[Read more]