One 16-year-old recruit had written: "The highlight of the week was bayonet training, where the platoon staff built you up into a rage to make you eager to kill and thirsty for blood.
The soldiers' 101st Airborne Division, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, Bravo Company, 1st Platoon staffed two traffic checkpoints and checked the area roads for improvised explosive devices [IEDs] -- homemade bombs.
I remained on the road with the platoon sergeant, Staff Sgt. Eric Elizey, and a medic.
"I love all of you like family, just as I love Corporal Amaya," said their platoon sergeant, Staff Sgt. Michael L. Hayes.
Rice found his platoon commander, Staff Sgt. William Langham, and they drove with Stege-moller to the hills.
"Sometimes I don't know what to think," said Staff Sgt. William Persuhn, a platoon sergeant in the Second Armored Cavalry Regiment.
When the full battalion arrived in Nawa in early July, the Taliban "knew we were too powerful for them" and left, said Staff Sgt. Michael Placencia, a platoon sergeant in Company C. But he predicted the Taliban would stand and fight if Marines were to assault Marjah, describing them as a "more efficient" foe than the insurgents he saw as a squad leader in Anbar in 2005 and 2006.
Further astonishment awaits at our palatial hotel, the George V, with its platoons of elegant staff, revolving doors, chandeliers, centuries-old tapestries and a painting of the sky where the ceiling should be.
In July 1959, Schwarzkopf was assigned his first overseas assignment; as a staff officer alternating with duties as a platoon leader, liaison officer, and reconnaissance platoon leader with the 6th Infantry Division in West Germany.
By the time Winfield returned to F.O.B. Ramrod from his furlough, Staff Sergeant Gibbs had joined the platoon.
