Great material in PLATOON LEADER by James McDonough, with a new introduction by the author, was published in 1996. Jim graduated with honors (number 26 out of 800 graduates; around the top 3%) at the United States Military Academy Class of 1969. After graduation, he attended the Airborne, Ranger, and Jungle Warfare schools before his deployment to South Vietnam with the storied 173d Airborne Infantry Brigade, the first major USA ground unit deployed in Vietnam, with Jim arriving at his newly assigned platoon’s base camp on 1 August 1971. His job, as detailed in “Platoon Leader,” was to have his platoon protect the hotly contested strategic hamlet in Binh Dinh Province. I should say here that, contrary to what one may conjure up in their imagination as to what his area looked like, it was not a jungle, as the book’s movie version suggests. It was a coastal plain located on the map just after the Vietnamese shoreline starts bending southward. While Jim’s book includes much advice weaved into his gripping story, I thought I’d share with you some advice he would give to platoon leaders today: “1. Master map reading; you always need to know where you are and where everything else that is important as well, especially the enemy, where you have to go, and how to get there; 2. Understand small unit tactics and how to apply them under quickly changing conditions that invariably mean the difference between life and death; 3. Check everything and maintain standards; avoid easing up to lighten the load on your soldiers only to end up killing them with kindness; 4. Be introspective, learn from your mistakes, consider what impact you are having on others, and try to do better.” Both at small unit level and at the level of operational doctrine, he believes that “defense is important, but you can never win without offense.” Interestingly and as suggested by the book, the principles Jim learned as a champion collegiate boxer carried over directly to his military experience. He believes that a soldier does well to remember to “move, hit, and protect” in various combinations. “Sometimes you move to hit and/or protect; sometimes you hit so you can move and protect; and sometimes you protect as you stage to move and hit.” Jim has followed these principles throughout the rest of his sterling career, with command at every level from platoon through brigade. Great stuff in this book in almost new condition. Just some light shelf wear on covers. Shipping and handling 4.10 Media Mail to US destinations. Canadian residents 23.40 First Class mail. All others welcome but extra postage required and shipped entirely at your risk.