The Need to Fight and Work Together

Lt. Downs describes his unit as "tight." The men are used to working together and doing what they can to support each other in fighting and routine duties. When the platoon has to work with the armored units that are under separate command at the bridges, there is tension. The two units have unnecessary problems because there are ego games between them, like when the armored unit follows the infantry into a fight, and then two vehicles get stuck in the mud. Where a soldiers shirks his duty or malingers, he is generally treated harshly. The new recruit who refuses to fight is threatened with being shot in the head by Lt. Downs. The medic who does not want to do his normal soldierly duties is reprimanded by the battalion surgical officer. At the same time, it is recognized that good soldiers...