Platoon (Conclusion)

Decision-Forcing Case

If you have not done so already, you may wish to begin this exercise by reading the first article in the series, which provides background on the protagonist and his unit.

You return to the top of the spur, using the same path (the row of haystacks) and the same method (dashing from one haystack to another.)

On the reverse slope of the spur, you find all twelve of the missing men, each of whom was hiding behind a haystack.

You send the twelve men, one by one, down the row of haystacks on the forward slope. (This time, you are not the first to descend, but the last.)

You receive word that your regiment is taking up defensive positions to the south of your current position. Thus, as the sun goes down, you withdraw to the south, where you find the other three platoons of your company.

You will remain with your regiment until May of 1915. In that month, you are badly wounded at the head of your company. While in the hospital, you begin to write about your experiences, focusing on the concrete lessons to be learned from them.

After the war, you continue to write. As before, the focus of your work is the training of men for the challenges that they will face in combat.

This series of problems is based on one of your most successful publications, Lessons for an Instructor of Infantry. (Between 1930 and 1940, it went through at least one hundred and twenty-nine editions.)