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Chapter 8
The NCO ‘Factor’
The NCO’s of the First Platoon, Echo Company were the glue that made our platoon ‘team’ work, Corporal Nelson, Corporal Ingerson, Sgt. Fontaine—our squad leaders—were like co captains of a football team and we worked together like a well oiled machine. S/Sgt. Wenger, our platoon Sgt. was a gruff, tough Marine Sgt. who set the example for these younger Marines. S/Sgt. Wenger was also the ‘conscience’ of the platoon —our Marines would confide in him and he would provide wise and sometimes tough advice such as ‘suck it up Marine’ if someone was complaining about something none of us could do anything about i.e.. the heat—the rain—the hills! Our squad leaders were the ‘disciplinary’ enforcers when necessary. Each squad leader considered himself unsatisfactory if a disciplinary matter found it’s way to my attention—they wanted to handle these matters internally—they looked upon their squad as family. This spirit is the essence of the Marine Corps. —first Marines are trained to be responsible for their own behavior—if there are times when circumstances develop where that becomes an issue then the NCO’s and even fellow Marines will step in and immediately correct the problem—this rarely happened—to my knowledge?! in our platoon. Our NCO’s were the best at providing that small unit leadership that is absolutely necessary in the United States Marine Corps.!
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