In 2010, Rick Witt was a new SEAL team commander preparing his unit to deploy to Iraq when one of his subordinate platoons encountered leadership and cohesion problems. Faced with the hard choice of replacing the platoon commander, Witt made that change, which likely had direct consequences when that platoon found itself engaged in a firefight and taking casualties. Witt watched this chain of events unfold from his command post knowing the decisions he made prior to deployment and that day impacted the situation on the ground.
Few books have had the impact on generations of young soldiers as Jim McDonough’s Platoon Leader: A Memoir of Command in Combat. First published...
In October 2008, Maj. Nick Eslinger was a lieutenant on his first deployment as a platoon leader in Iraq. While on patrol one day,...
During a deployment in Afghanistan, Chief Warrant Officer 4 Dylan Ferguson was flying an Apache, providing close air support to a special operations ground...