[Night Hides Not]

Well, I did have a few “extra duties” as a Platoon Leader, such as NBC Officer and Energy Conservation Officer. During Tac Evals at Hahn, I was the Army Liasion Officer. I was in the Wing CP all 4 days. I’d catch 40 winks at night, no big deal.

I had great platoon sergeants, all 3 had at least one tour in Vietnam. When we had our own alerts and field exercises, that’s when I did my thing.

There was one time when a senior NCO asked for my advice…lol. We had a new First Sergeant, Infantry, 3 tours in Vietnam. It was during my Battery’s Tac Eval, where I was acting XO. He came over to me, “LT, what am I supposed to do? I know nothing about ADA.”

”Top, you know how to run a CP?” You do that, and I’ll take care of the ADA bull$hit.” The way we worked together was a big reason why we passed, and that was said to me by the Chief Evaluator. The CO just didn’t have it, he read maps about as well as Captain Sobel of Easy Company.

[Seruzawa]

I think that one of the main reasons the Russian Army performs so poorly is the lack of an experienced NCO cadre. Having a corps of experienced NCOs has been recognized as necessary to have a functioning military since before the Romans. That changed for the Russians after the 1917 revolution. They changed to using junior officers after that and have continued on that way. Stupid. A good Platoon Sergeant is irreplaceable.