Nate1647545505 Posted February 23, 2008 Report Share Posted February 23, 2008 Devil Dogs: First, thank you for serving. Second, I'm curious on your opinion of your platoon officer? Did they play in the dirt along side you and seem adequately trained? Comments? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty2Hotty Posted February 23, 2008 Report Share Posted February 23, 2008 Army side of situation: Depending on where the butter bar came from, he can be utterly worthless sack of fuck or a high speed tabbed out gun-ho killer. My first Platoon Leader was a great guy, but was a stickler for the rules of engagement. My 2nd LT was fresh from West Point, never cused, and was kind of a pussy. With time, he hardened up, and became a great officer even though he got into NCO business too much. My last LT, was a VMI grad, who had gone to Ranger school, and was a hard charger. Somethings I didn't agree with, but I would've taken a bullet for him in a second. As long as they're open to NCO's and the people they lead, there shouldn't be a problem. Take advice from those that know, because all that book smarts ain't worth a fuck under fire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty2Hotty Posted February 23, 2008 Report Share Posted February 23, 2008 Personally, officers are only as good as the men they lead. Doing as I say, not as I do doesn't work in the eyes of young privates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate1647545505 Posted February 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2008 Personally, officers are only as good as the men they lead. Doing as I say, not as I do doesn't work in the eyes of young privates. Scott, I could not agree with you more. I was having a discussion about the branches and their structure/discipline when it comes to organazational leadership. There are many cadets of varying ROTC/Gaurd/Active Duty with the different branches here. The marine cadets (ground oriented) seem to be front line type of troops, often with their platoon while outside of green zones, in the mud, etc. Do you think of your PL officers being similar? Everything I've heard about army infantry officers tends to highlight their sleeping abilities before their combat abilities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akula Posted February 23, 2008 Report Share Posted February 23, 2008 My commanding officer for my submarine was one hell of an officer. If he ask me to go with him into battle today, I would do it. I never met anyone that could take a 2 second look thru the periscope and have the exact bearing, range, speed and classification like he could. He would wake up on sundays and make eggs to order for the crew. On the other hand, the Junior Officers we had didn't understand why he wanted to spend so much time getting to know the enlisted guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty2Hotty Posted February 23, 2008 Report Share Posted February 23, 2008 Scott, I could not agree with you more. I was having a discussion about the branches and their structure/discipline when it comes to organazational leadership. There are many cadets of varying ROTC/Gaurd/Active Duty with the different branches here. The marine cadets (ground oriented) seem to be front line type of troops, often with their platoon while outside of green zones, in the mud, etc. Do you think of your PL officers being similar? Everything I've heard about army infantry officers tends to highlight their sleeping abilities before their combat abilities. Again you'll have varying officers. As far as combat engineers are concerned, a big thing was having sapper or ranger qualified officers. I'll say that you won't see a butter bar getting his hands greasy in the motor pool, or getting a weapons system cleaned and ready. But, with good officers they led by example. Due in part to my shitty NCO chain, my last LT had to stand up. Normally, my driver and I (I was my LT's gunner/Right hand man) had to skip the "chain of command", to get shit done. Good officers pick up where lack of left off. I'll say that I wouldn't have thought twice to take a round for my last PL. The one thing Army officers have over most (combat arms mostly) is the variety of schools they have the opportunity to attend before taking command. My company was stocked full of Ranger Tabbed brass, which made training intense, and more realistic. My CO down to my PL, were a quality group of officers. Any good officer puts himself with his men, come hell or high water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T Rex Posted February 23, 2008 Report Share Posted February 23, 2008 My brother in-law is a 2LT in the army and served at Camp Arifjan in the MI part of town. I know he would have taken a bullet for any on of the guys he had to send in. I guess his boss told him he wasn't allowed to go in with them. I wish I could explain one of the phone calls I recieved from him after he lost two of his guys on a chopper coming home, Ive never heard so much pain in someones voice before. I cant imagine the shit you guys have gone through and I cant tell you how much I respect you guys for doing what you do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lustalbert Posted February 25, 2008 Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 One of the best PLs I had was a female, she understood that her place was doing the paperwork and admin end, and letting our SFC run the show on missions. She would go out with us on missions, and do work, then take care of the paperwork on her own time. To bad she was from Wisconson, and we couldnt bring her back with us. My cuurrent PL on the other hand, is a butterbar with about 1 year of total militaryexperiance, and is constantly getting into NCO business. As a platoon, we cant wait for him to move on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.