I was field artillery, so my main things as a lieutenant were quadrants and deflections, not leading a platoon. At the time the Army general Don Starry made a big thing about how lieutenants should "Listen to their NCOs." Great advice, as far as it went, but the U.S. Army underwent a sea change in 1965 when the last of the WW II veterans retired. In spite of Don Starry's good intentions many of the NCOs circa 1978 were fairly half-assed minimum-effort type of guys as well. I wasn't that great an officer, but I was honest about my deficiencies, and I refused to throw up a facade of "excellence" to fool people into thinking how great I was.
Aside for Ken: I might not have been a great officer, but I truly love the Army.
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