1. PLATOON LEADER: A MEMOIR OF COMMAND 4

2. INDEX 1.ABOUT THE AUTHOR 2.ABOUT THE BOOK 3.INTRODUCTION 4.SALIENT FEATURES 5.OWN IDEAS 6.CONCLUSION

3. ABOUT THE AUTHOR 1.COL (RETD) JAMES R. MCDONOUGH IS A BROOKLYN NATIVE. 2.HE DID HIS GRADUATION FROM BOTH MIT AND WEST POINT AND SERVED AS AN ARMY OFFICER IN THE US ARMY. 3.DURING HIS CAREER, HE WAS AWARDED THREE BRONZE STARS (ONE FOR VALOR), THE PURPLE HEART AND THE DISTINGUISHED SERVICE MEADAL, AMONG OTHERS. 4.HE SERVED US ARMY IN VIETNAM WAR AS A LIEUTENANT IN COMMAND OF 2 nd PLATOON BRAVO COMPANY, 503 INFANTRY (AIRBORNE). 5.POST HIS ARMY CAREER, HE HELD NATIONAL POSITIONS IN DRUG LAW ENFORCEMENTS AND SECURITY 6.JAMES R MCDONOUGH WAS THE AUTHOR OF FOLLOWING BOOKS: a.PLATOON LEADER : A MEMOIR OF COMMAND IN COMBAT. b.DEFENCE OF HILL 781. c.THE LIMITS OF GLORY : A NOVEL OF WATERLOO. d.SKY RIDERS : HISTORY OF 327/401 GLIDER INFANTRY. e.WAR IN THE FALKLANDS : THE USE AND DISUSE OF MILITARY THEORY.

4. 1.BOOK NAME : PLATOON LEADER : A MEMOIR OF COMMAND IN COMBAT. 2.AUTHOR : JAMES R. MCDONOUGH 3.COUNTRY : USA 4.GENRE : MEMOIR 5.PUBLISHER : PRESIDIO PRESS 6.PUBLICATION DATE : 1985 7.MEDIA : PRINT 8.PAGES : 208 ABOUT THE BOOK

5. INTRODUCTION 1.US ENTERED WITH AN AIM TO CONTROL COMMUNISM SPREAD IN SOUTH VIETNAM. 2.VIETNAM WAR WAS A TRAGEDY IN THE MILITARY HISTORY OF US ARMY. 3.IT LED TO THE LOSS OF 58,000 LIVES AND ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF RESOURCES. 4.AN UNPREPARED ARMY, NO KNOWLEDGE OF ENEMY TERRAIN, A DETERMINED ENEMY, NOTHING FAVOURED THE US ARMY. 5.THIS BOOK TOUCHES THE LIVES OF THE YOUNG MEN WHO FOUGHT IN VIETNAM. 6.IT GIVES A GLIMPSE OF THE FEAR, TRAUMA AND HORRORS THAT HIDE BEHINDS THE BRAVERY IN A WAR. 7.THE BOOK SPEAKS OF LEADERSHIP IN SUCH SITUATIONS.

6. INTRODUCTION DISPOSITION OF 2d PLATOON

7. SALIENT FEATURES CHAPTER 1 – THE AUTHOR TALKS ABOUT HIS LIFE POST HIS SERVICE IN VIETNAM. – HOW THE THOUGHT AND NIGHTMARES OF WHAT HAPPENED TO HIS PLATOON IN VIETNAM STILL HAUNTS HIM. – HE WAS AMONG THE VERY FEW THAT CAME BACK WITHOUT LOSING A LIMB OR THEIR LIVES. CHAPTER 2 – IN THIS CHAPTER THE AUTHOR TALKS ABOUT HIS YEARS AT WEST POINT. – HE ALSO TALKS ABOUT HIS PERSONNAL LIFE BEFORE GOING TO WAR. CHAPTER 3 – THE THIRD CHAPTER TALKS ABOUT HIS FIRST DAY AT VIETNAM. – THE AUTHOR GETS THE ORDER TO GO TO THE 173d AIRBORNE BRIGADE. – HE HAS AN UNPLEASANT MEET WITH A LIEUTENANT OF THE SAME UNIT, BRINGING OUT THE MADNESS BORN OF TERROR AND DEHUMANIZING FEROCITY.

8. SALIENT FEATURES CHAPTER 4 – IN THIS CHAPTER HE TALKS ABOUT HIS ARRIVAL IN 2D PLATOON. – HE MEETS THE THEN PLATOON LEADER Lt. TOM ROFLE. – A LEADER WITH NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR HIS MEN, HIS PLATOON BUT THOUGHTS CONCERNED TO HIS SURVIVAL. – HE THEN CHECKS THE PLATOON LOCATIONS, DEFENCES, POSTS ETC. CHAPTER 5 – HE TAKES THE CHARGE OF THE PLATOON. – HE CHANGES THE COURSE OF ACTION FROM DEFENSIVE TO OFFENSIVE. – HE SENDS OUT PTL, LAYES AMBUSHES, HE GOES OUT WITH THE PTLS. – HE MEETS THE PLATOONS SERGEANTS AND PASSES THE FIRST SET OF INSTRUCTIONS AND ORDERS TO THEM. CHAPTER 6 – THE AUTHOR IN THIS CHAPTER COMES ACROSS CRITICAL DECISION MAKING IN COMBAT. – LATER HE IS HIT BY A BOOBY TRAP, HE IS CAUGHT BY FEAR. – ACCORDING TO HIM HE FAILES IN HIS FIRST ATTEMPT AS A PLATOON LEADER.

9. SALIENT FEATURES CHAPTER 7 – IN THIS CHAPTER HE TALKS OF A INTERLUDE IN HIS SERVICE AT VIETNAM DUE TO HIS INJURIES. – THE PERSONAL FEAR THAT GRASPS HIM AS THE DAY OF HIS DISCHARGE COMES CLOSE. CHAPTER 8 – THE AUTHOR RETURNS BACK TO HIS PLATOON. – HE WENTS OUT ON A PTL, WHERE HE COFRONTS HIS FEARS AS HE DIVES DOWN YELLING BOOBY TRAP MISTAKING THE SOUND OG HIS COMPASS HITTING A ROCK WITH THAT OF A BOOBY TRAP. – BUT THE FEAR LEAVES HIM IN RUSH. – HE MAKES SOME TACTICAL CHANGES IN THE ROUTINE OF PLATOON AND FOCUS MORE ON TACTICAL AND WEAPON TRG.

10. SALIENT FEATURES CHAPTER 9 – THIS CHAPTER REVEALS TO YOU VARIOUS CHARACTERS OF THE BOOK. – SOME OF THE IMPORTANT ONES ARE PHIL NAIL, RTO SPECIALIST BARNES CORPORAL JOHN KILLIGAN NGUYEN NHAN, A FORMER VIETCONG TRAN VAN DONG, THE VILLAGE CHIEF CHAPTER 10 – THIS CHAPTER INCLUDES ALL HIS ACTIVITIES PRE HIS FIRST BATTLE. – THE AUTHOR ALSO COMES ACROSS A REBELLIOUS SOLDIER, SPECIALIST KING. – KING THREATENS AUTHOR’S LIFE AND AUTHORITY BY LAUNCHING A GRENADE PAST HIM. – THE AUTHOR REACTS BY PUTTING HIS GUN UNDER HIS CHIN. – IT ALSO NARRATES THE KILLING OF A VILLAGE LADY, TUAN CAO KY BY THE VIETCONG.

11. SALIENT FEATURES CHAPTER 11 – IN THIS CHAPTER THE AUTHOR NARRATES VIET CONG’S ATTACK ON THE PLATOON. – THE ATTACK FAILED BECAUSE THE PLATOON WAS ABLE TO DELAY THEM. – MEANWHILE THE REINFORCEMENT CAME IN FORM OF ATTACK HELICOPTERS AND ARMOURED VEHICLES. – THE US ARMY HAD OVERWHELMING ADVANTAGE OF FIREPOWER AND MOBILITY. CHAPTER 12 – THIS CHAPTER NARRATES THE AFTERMATH OF THE BATTLE. – THE VISITS BY SENIOR OFFICERS, GENERALS. – THE PLATOON WAS REINFORCED WITH AN ARMOURED CAVALRY PLATOON THREE NEW RIFLE SQUADS FROM DIFFERRENT COMPANIES – THIS ALSO CREATED A PROBLEM AS THEY WERE NOT AN INTEGRATED UNIT, THEY WERE NOT BETTER QUALITY SOLDIERS BUT UNWANTED SOLDIERS OF THE RESPECTIVE COMPANIES. – THE SAME NIGHT THE PLATOON OPENS FIRE ON A VIETNAMESE PATROL LEAD BY AN AMERICAN ADVISOR THINKING THEM TO BE ANOTHER VIET CONG PATROL.

12. SALIENT FEATURES CHAPTER 13 – THE PLATOON WAS ONCE AGAIN BROUGHT UNDER FIRE BY THE VIETCONG BUT WAS REPULSED. – THIS CHAPTER ALSO INCLUDES THE ENTRY OF TWELVE MEN AND A WOMAN INSIDE THE PLATOON’S PERIMETER AS A PART OF THE REVOLUTION DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM. – ONE OUT OF THESE TWELVE MEN WAS A VIET CONG, WHO WAS TAKEN AS PRISONER OF WAR WHEN HE TRIED TO DETONATE THE AMMUNITION DUMP. – THE SAME NIGHT THE PLATOON WAS ENGAGED IN A FIRE FIGHT BUT THIS TIME THE PLATOON WAS PREPARED FOR IT, THE ATTACK WAS CRUSHED AND THE PLATOON WENT IN FOR A PURSUIT BUT THE ENEMY HAD DISAPPEARED. CHAPTER 14 – THE PLATOON GETS HOLD OF A SUSPECTED VIETCONG FAMILY WHICH IS TAKEN IN FOR INTERROGATION. – THE AUTHOR IS CALLED IN TO LEAD A RECCE PAATROL TO LOCATE A NORTH VIETNAMESE BN ON THE MARCH. – HE LEAVES THE PLATOON UNDER SERGEANT HERNANDEZ. – DURING THE RECCE, ACCIDENTLY HE IS FIRED UPON BY THE MEMBERS OF THE RECCE PTL AS THEY WERE DISORIENTED DURING DISPOSITION. – THE RECCE PTL IS COMPROMISED BUT THE AUTHOR DECIDES TO STAY THERE UNTIL DAWN AND THEN HE MOVES BACK TO THE RANGER CAMP.

13. SALIENT FEATURES CHAPTER 15 – IN THIS CHAPTER THE UNIT IS ROTATED OUT OF THE FIELD FOR REST AND RECUPERATION. – THE UNIT WAS ROTATED OFF THE FRONT FOR THREE DAYS. CHAPTER 16 – MEANWHILE THE VIETCONGS HAD TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF MONSOON AND THE PLATOON’S ABSENCE. – THEY DUG TUNNELS, SPIDER HOLES, LAYED DOWN BOOBY TRAPS. – THEY BUILT AN EFFECTIVE SIGNAL SYSTEM IF A PTL WOULD GO OUT AT DUSK, A LIGHT WOULD GO ON IN A CERTAIN HUT IF A PTL EXITED TO THE NORTH, A CERTAIN RADIO STATION WOILD BE TUNED IN LOUDLY ON A PORTABLE TRANSISTOR. A NEARBY MONASTEERY WOULD PICK UP THE SIGNAL LIGHTS ITS OWN LAMP AND SOUND ITS GONG. WHEN ALL SQUADS WERE IN, THE LIGHTS WOULD BE EXTINGUISHED. – THE AUTHOR CONFOUNDES THE INT SYSTEM BY CHANGING HIS TACTICS AND TIME PLAN. – LATER HE LAYS AN AMBUSH AT THE MONASTERY KILING THREE VIETCONGS.

14. SALIENT FEATURES CHAPTER 17 – THE AUTHORS GETS HOLD OF A 60MM MORTARAND EIGHTEEN ROUNDS. – THERE IS ANOTHER THRUST THAT IS REPULSED, THIS TIME BY USING THE MORTAR. – THE AUTHOR SENDS A SQUAD TOWARDS THE BEACH WITH THE THOUGHT THAT A DIP IN THE OCEAN WATER WOULD HELP THEIR SORE FEETS. – THIS TURNS OUT TO BE A DISASTER AS HE LOSES TWO OF HIS MEN DUE TO STRONG CURRENTS. CHAPTER 18 – THE AUTHOR APPOINTS KILLIGAN AS HIS RTO, KILLIGAN WAS UNHAPPY ABOUT THIS BUT LIKE A GOOD SOLDIER HE OBEYED. – THE VIET CONGS RAIDED THE ARVN BASE CAMP LEAVING 30 ARVN’S DEAD. CHAPTER 19 – THE AUTHOR IS CALLED INB Y COY HQ TO CONDUCT A RAID ON A PLATOON SIZE STRENGTH. – THE AUTHOR TAKES BULK OF THE PLATOON AND LEAVES THE PERIMETER AFTER LAST LIGHT. – HE CAPTURES A VIETCONG ALIVE AND KILLS FOUR OTHERS. – OUT OF THE FOUR, TWO WERE WOUNDED BUT WERE KILLED BY THE MEDI C AT POINT BLANK RANGE SHOWING HOW WAR CAN CHANGE THE HUMAN BEHAVIOUR.

15. SALIENT FEATURES CHAPTER 20 – THE AUTHOR IS CALLED IN BY THE COY CDR TO CARRY OUT A SADO INTO OTHER COY AREA OF OPERATION. – HE WAS ACCOMPANIED BY TWO OTHER JUNIOR LIEUTENANTS, HE BRIEFED THEM ABOUT THE PLAN. – BUT WAS HIMSELF NOT SURE ABOUT IT AS HE DOUBTED THE CAPABILITIES OF THE YOUNG LIEUTENANTS AND THE CAPTAIN WHO REFUSED TO LEAD THE OP. CHAPTER 21 – ON THEIR WAY BACK THE PTL IS AMBUSHED. – DUE TO KILLIGAN’S VIGILANCY THE PTL DOES NOT ENTER THE KILLING AREA, BUT HE TAKES A GRENADE BLAST AT POINT BLANK RANGE. – THEY CLOSED IN ON ENEMY FROM TWO SIDES USING THE REINFORCEMENT FROM OWN PL AND 1 PL, WHILE ENGAGING HIM FROM THE FRONT. – BUT THE ENEMY WAS ABLE TO BBREAK CONTACT AND FLEE.

16. SALIENT FEATURES CHAPTER 22 – AFTER LAST LIGHT HE LEAVES FOR THE SADO. – HE MOVES TO 3d PLATOON LOCATION TO GET SOME EXRA MEN. – ON THEIR WAY THEY ARE AMBUSHED AGAIN, LEADING TO ONE CASUALITY. – AT 0530, THEY ALONG WITH MEN FROM 3d PLATOON SET UP 4 AMBSH POINTS. – THE ENEMY WALKS INTO TWO OF THE AMBUSH SITES AND IS KILLED. CHAPTER 23 – ON DEC 28, THE VIETCONGS TOOK A HIT ON THE VILLAGE. – THEIR MISSION WAS TO KILL AS MANY VILLAGERS AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. – THE AUTHOR ALONG WITH HIS PLATOON RUSHED UPON THE VIETCONGS AND DROVE THEM TO THE EDGE OF THE VILLAGE. – BUT THE DAMAGE WAS DONE, MANY VILLAGERS WERE KILLED, HALF OF THE VILLAGE WAS DESTROYED, THOSE WHO WERE RESCUED LEFT THE VILLAGE.

17. OWN VIEWS THE AUTHOR LETS YOU SLIP IN HIS BOOT AND SEE THE WAR FROM HIS PERSPECTIVE. JAMES R. MCDONOUGH IS HONEST AS AN AUTHOR, HE TALKS ABOUT HIS FAILURES AND FEARS THE SAME WAY AS HE TALKS ABOUT HIS ACCOMPLISHMENTS. HIS BOOK ALSO QUESTIONS THE REAL MEANING OF A LEADER THROUGH HIS OWN EXAMPLE AND THAT OF THE FORMER PLATOON LEADER. HE GUIDES US THROUGH THE DIFFICULTIES OF ESTABLISHING LEADERSHIP AND AUTHORITY OVER TROOPS AND MOST IMPORTANTLY OVER ONESELF.

18. OWN VIEWS HE ALSO TAKES US THROUGH THE LONELINESS OF A LEADER. A LEADER HAS PATIENT EARS FOR HIS MEN YET NEVER HAS THE LUXURY OF DOING THE SAME. THROUGH THE CHARACTER OF KILLIGAN, HE EPITOMIZE THE MEN’S RESILIENCE, DEDICATION AND COMMITMENT. SERGEANT DORNE AND SERGEANT PALLOMAN WAS ANOTHER EPITOME OF SOLDIERY, NOBILITY AND THE SENSE OF DUTY A SOLDIER CARRIES. THIS CERTAINLY SHOWED THAT NOT ALL MEN ARE SAME, AND THE WAY TO HANDLE DIFFERENT MEN IS NOT THE SAME. HE ALSO DIFFERENTIATES BETWEEN SOLDIERING AND INHUMAN KILLING.

19. CONCLUSION IT IS A REMARKABLE MEMOIR OF SMALL UNIT LEADERSHIP. A MUST READ FOR ALL THE YOUNG OFFICERS TRYING TO PREPARE FOR FUTURE. THE EXPERIENCES RELATED IN THE BOOK REINFORCES WHAT WE HAVE LEARN “DISCIPLINED SOLDIERS WILL FIGHT TO WIN, WIN TO SURVIVE, AND SURVIVE TO FIGHT AGAIN.” IT CLEARLY BRINGS OUT THAT WAR IS A SERIES OF STARK CONFORTATIONS THAT MUST BE FACED UNDER THE MOST EMOTION WRENCHING CONDITIONS.

20. CONCLUSION THE BOOK BRINGS OUT THE FACT THAT DECISIONS ON SMALL LEVEL ARE NOT DELIBRATE AND WELL PLANNED, THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE QUICK AND AT THE SPUR OF THE MOMENT. A LOT DEPENDS ON TH INGENUITY OF THE LEADER AND HIS COMMITMENT TOWARDS THE TASK AND MEN. IT SURELY TEACHES THAT KNOWLEDGE OF ENEMY AND DOMINATION OF AREA OF RESPONSIBILTY IS MUST. THE BOOK IS VIVID AND COMPELLING IT COMPELS YOU TO THINK ABOUT THE FACT THE BEST DEFENSE IS OFFENSIVE ACTION. “A LEADER HAS NO ONE TO LOOK FOR ADVICE ON DECISIONS. HE MUST DO WHAT HE THINKS IS BEST, BUT HE MUST NOT FOOL HIMSELF AS TO THE CONSEQUENCES OF HIS CHOICE.”

21. THE END