This is Jocko podcast number 462 with Echo Charles and me Jocko Willing.

Good evening, I received a text from Lieutenant Shockley.

Have you heard what happened at Er? You better call the talk.

After calling the battalion to see what was going on. at Er, you better call the talk.

After calling the battalion to see what was going on with Alpha Company,

I was given orders to get on the first convoy

I could find and get to battalion headquarters.

I got on a resupply convoy that was leaving at 2,300 hours. On arriving at

battalion headquarters I went directly to the battalion commander's office. He

informed me that I would be taking command of Alpha Company immediately, only a few days after starting

inventories. Normally a few weeks were allowed for a command transition to take care of all the

administrative accountability. The IRAM attack had been the administrative accountability.

The IRAM attack had been the last straw

of many blatant deficiencies in the company

commanders competency as an officer,

let alone the commander of a unit in combat.

The battalion commander's only real instructions to me were to fix it.

Fix it.

All of it?

He said Alpha Company needed a strict hand. He also gave me the ability to fire or remove every person in the company except the First Sergeant. Dismantle entire platooned if you need to, he told me.

The first sergeant was one of the problems that I wished I could remove, but I was stuck with him.

Maybe I could bring him in line and get him to understand my leadership style.

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