This page is about playing a video game. It is not medical, tactical, or safety advice for real life, and nothing here should be used as such.
In one line: the platoon leader leads the platoon by personal example, answers for everything it does or fails to do, and acts inside the commander's intent without waiting to be told.
What you do
- Base every decision on the mission and on the intent of the commanders above you.
- Plan the operation, and give each squad a clear task and a clear purpose.
- Maneuver the squads and keep their efforts in step. Think about the platoon's next move.
- Plan and control the platoon's fire, and place its key weapons with the weapons squad leader.
- Ask for supporting assets, and control them when they arrive.
- Put yourself where you can best control the fight.
- Report accurately and on time, and take status from the platoon sergeant and squad leaders throughout.
- Lean on your platoon sergeant. Talk everything through with them.
Keeping the picture
The manual breaks situational awareness into four parts:
- What is happening right now: friendly, enemy, neutral, and the ground.
- What the end state looks like.
- What has to happen to get from here to there.
- What the risk is, all the way through.
What good looks like
- Every squad leader can say what their task is, and why.
- You know the commander's intent two levels up: company and battalion.
- Nobody is surprised by your next order.
What you carry
Kit
A rifle, radios, and a map.
Who you work with
You answer to the company commander and lead the squad leaders, with the platoon sergeant as your second.
By the book
From ATP 3-21.8, paragraphs 1-20 and 1-21.
In game
For us the commander's intent is in the operation order on the briefing page. Read it twice.
Sources
This page is adapted for a game. Where it differs from the source, it says so. Read the current edition at the source for the real thing.
Version 1, updated .