But there is far more to being a company commander than simply training the soldiers and officers of a unit so that it could execute its assigned mission. A company commander has to do more than educate his young platoon leaders. He has to carefully nurture them, using a variety of skills and techniques that range from psychology to simple common sense. At times a company commander must play the big brother, helping his younger, inexperienced sibling overcome the many trials and tribulations the Army throws at a junior officer. At other times, the Old Man has to become the wicked stepfather, whipping the errant lieutenant into shape. All of this requires a deft hand and a keen sense of judgment and timing that is, unfortunately, all too rare in twenty-six year old captains. In Andrew King, it was totally lacking.

This shortfall quickly became obvious when King came to blows with the officers he inherited from the former company commander. Those young and ambitious professionals, men who had been used to having their own way in how they ran their platoons, didn’t like King’s heavy hand. Frequent “discussions” between himself and his lieutenants were cut short by Andrew declaring, in a firm and uncompromising manner, “Look, I don’t care how you did things before. I am in command now and you’ll do it my way. Is that clear?” While this did have the desired effect of ending debates, King was peeved about having to employ this tack. It did little for unit esprit and cohesion, twin pillars that often make or break a unit in combat.

As King led his company that morning, he concluded that it was critical that he grab the second lieutenant newly assigned to him from the get go and train him properly. What he would say, and how he would deal with Second Lieutenant Nathan Dixon when he reported for duty that morning, was very much on Andrew King’s mind as the creature with twenty thousand legs pounded its way through the chilly North Carolina dawn.

Throughout the tortuous ordeal known in the Army as processing, two hard facts kept slapping Nathan Dixon in the face everywhere he went. The first was that his experience as an Army Brat had done little to prepare him for life in the Army. Though he had begun to suspect as much while attending the Infantry Officer’s Basic Course at Fort Benning, it wasn’t until he reached Bragg that he suddenly discovered how precious little he really knew about the organization he had committed body and soul to. Of course he was familiar with the sights, the sounds, and the comings and goings of military types. He could rattle off the terms and acronyms like a veteran. And he had a knowledge of tactics and military history that was far superior to that of the majority of his peers.