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There isn’t much worse for a grunt than having to let the Platoon Commander tag along during a field op or a range. Generally, field ops and ranges are fairly hands-off. The Platoon Commander stays in the COC (the ‘Cock,’ as its known) and the squads are left to do their business on their own. Obviously not all Lieutenants are boots, but no one likes to babysit; or especially be babysat.
Still, there’s not really any stopping it. If the LT wants to join you, he will. Maybe he just wants to see something cool like rockets being fired (if you’re an 0351), or he wants to get a feel for how his platoon is operating. Eventually, he will tag along and it will be miserable.
Flashback to PTA on the Big Island, running the large platoon-sized attack range with fully operational SMAW firing. Not only our Platoon Commander, but the Company CO himself decided to tag along with one of the Assault sections to see the climactic SMAW shot on the objective. Apparently not fully understanding the functionality of the SMAW, our CO found himself in the largely inconvenient position of being directly within the backblast radius of the weapon, to which our section leader at the time had to violently pull him to the ground before the rocket did it for him. This obviously isn’t to say that officers are inept, but rather that they simply aren’t fluent in the small-unit operations of each squad or section, and can find themselves in precarious situations simply because they aren’t familiar with the way each team works.
But anyway, it’s just a rant. In the end, no one likes it when their boss is standing over them while they work, no matter who you work for.
In other news, I just want to give a shout out to Saul Elbein for writing his small piece on me in the Men’s Journal this month. If you haven’t had a chance, go check it out! It should be on shelves now, it’s the one with Jimmy Fallon on the cover. On another random note, I noticed a lot more really fucking weird people on the FB page lately. I suppose any publicity has the potential to attract good and bad attention, but I prefer to keep things on the lighter side.
Terminal Lance is fundamentally about having a good laugh, so lets keep it that way.
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